Post your top 5 rock bands of all time

[Buck]

I'm interested in seeing what era most people's favorites come from and if there are more US bands or UK bands (or Scandinavian if you're Reaper16)

Clean sweep for the Brits for me.

1. The Beatles
2. Rolling Stones
3. Led Zep
4. Pink Floyd
5. The Who

Define band however you want. If you want to throw Elvis on your list, do it.

[rabblerouser]

Originally Posted by htismaqe

"Headless Cross" is...um...ok...

No, it's not.

exactly.

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

What's "missing" is Ritchie Blackmore and Tony Iommi.

Precisely.

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

Vivian Campbell has never been a good songwriter. He doesn't write cool riffs and he's nothing more than a mediocre Gary Moore clone (before Gary went Blues in the 90's).

That's the most common criticism, yes.

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

and he's in a new Dio "Tribute" band, now that Dio's dead.

Yeah, he's making money off of it now. It was "trash" before but now it's worth doing again.

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

Chris was married to Kate Hudson for a few years but that's been over for a long time. She's moved on to another rock star.

Nope, it was the other one.

[rabblerouser]

Originally Posted by Dr. Johnny Fever

No I haven't. I'm not a big blues lover but I like some stuff. Haven't delved deeply into the genre because I've heard a lot of stuff I don't care for. I'll check them out though.

So is Driving Wheel a band? It's always struck me as a band name and a good one.

Yeah, gonna be at Mike Kelly's Westsider on Dec 07. we're on reverbnation. www.reverbnation.com/drivingwheel we're ok, trying to get better...making our first real record, and it's been...an experience.

You can also stream or download live shows on archive.org (we're an 'open-taping' band)

There are shittier bands that make more money, but we're still capable of ****ing up all the big gigs, and usually do. Somehow, no one pretends to know the difference...

[rabblerouser]

Originally Posted by htismaqe

Nope, it was the other one.

Rich was married to Emma. She was WAY hotter than Kate.

That's been over for awhile too.

[rabblerouser]

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

Without providing any real details, this is it in a nutshell.

Too many drugs, too much money, too much fighting between the brothers, so on and so forth.

So, nothing significant on the events specifically related to Marc and Ed leaving in Aug-Sept '06?

[rabblerouser]

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

What's "missing" is Ritchie Blackmore and Tony Iommi.

Vivian Campbell has never been a good songwriter. He doesn't write cool riffs and he's nothing more than a mediocre Gary Moore clone (before Gary went Blues in the 90's).

He plays in cover bands around Hollywood and he's basically a cover band guy in Def Leppard. He occasionally plays with the reformed Thin Lizzy, which is a complete joke since Phil WAS Thin Lizzy and he's in a new Dio "Tribute" band, now that Dio's dead.

He's a waste of oxygen, IMO.

Viv Campbell has to be the luckiest hack on the history of the planet - he takes Noel Redding, because you KNOW the DL gig has a decent paycheckZ

[siberian khatru]

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

What do you want to know?

Well, now that you ask ...

You have any extra insights into the infamous "Union" album by Yes? Where Jonathan Elias used session musicians (such as Jimmy Haun) for many of Steve Howe's and Rick Wakeman's parts -- without telling them? (They didn't know until they heard the album that they had been replaced.) At least part of that was recorded in L.A.

If you've got any stories of that, or Jonathan Elias in general ...

[DaneMcCloud]

Originally Posted by Driving Wheel

Not a big fan of the little, squashed compression sound. It's lifeless; even in the hands of the best players, it really seems sterile.

At the time, the Rockman was revolutionary. People could play guitar without an amp, whether it was plugging into a live console, an SSL or a pair of headphones. The sound of the Rockman inspired musicians, composers and producers to create music that had previously not existed.

And Hysteria is one of the most respected albums ever made to this day. Its sound is extremely unique. The production values are amazing. While that sound isn't for every artist and every band, it works for those songs and that band.

That's all that matters.

Originally Posted by Driving Wheel

Part of the way an instrument sounds is dependent on the room it's played in. Take away the room, and it takes away from the overall sound and ambiance.

That's really not true. An overwhelming number of albums have been recorded with amps recorded in amp closets or surrounded by Gobo's to deaden the room sound. In the 70's, guys taped terry cloth towels to their drum heads to deaden them, an enormous number of bass guitar tracks were recorded direct into the console and not through an amp and guitars have been recorded direct forever.

Listen to most 70's rock records and you're hearing damped drums, DI'd bass and guitar amps covered with Gobo's and in some cases, blankets.

Originally Posted by Driving Wheel

Like, to me, Hysteria wouldn't sound as dated if they had broken out the Marshalls and cranked it up. Of course, that's not Mutt Lange's style - the only band he did that with was AC/DC (no accident that those are the Best records of his career).

It's not "dated" at all. It was innovative. If he had recorded Hysteria with Marshalls, live drums, etc. instead of Rockman's, Linn and Oberheim drum machines while recording each vocal take into a Synclavier, I seriously doubt that the record would have long standing impact today.

Originally Posted by Driving Wheel

That's why I don't like Foreigner - I LOVE Mick Jones and Ian McDonald; can't stand the records, the sterility of them. rock and roll is an inherently imperfect art form - it should never BE perfect; that 'perfection' washes away the very mojo that makes it beautiful, ya know??

I disagree. That's like saying that orchestral musicians should not play their instruments perfectly, that it somehow takes away from the music or the art to use world class musicians for film scores and orchestral and chamber music.

There's a difference between a "raw" performance and imperfection. Imperfection occurs when the players aren't top notch or world class. I can guarantee you that you're not walking into a session, whether it be a 70's police show or The Family Guy if you're not a world class musician that's incapable of making mistakes.

Capturing the rawness of a band is completely different, although that was as rare in 50's, 60's, 70's and 80's as it is today.

Originally Posted by Driving Wheel

It's like, we got away from that BS in the 90's and now it's cycled back, only now everything is through cakewalk/protools plugins and bands 'run tracks' live.

At the end of the day, the job is to entertain the audience. That's all that matters.

Originally Posted by Driving Wheel

So you KNOW what I'm talking about, and WHY I don't like that music. I'm not being a dick; it's a tanglible thing. All those songs are ran through the same box, and plugged right into the board. That's why they literally all sound the same, exactly.

You don't have to like it. But you should appreciate the effort and appreciate the beauty of what they accomplished as a band and what Mutt Lange accomplished as a producer.

Much like what Terry Manning achieved with Eliminator, it's a very unique sound and unique record.

Originally Posted by Driving Wheel

Amplifiers hum, that's how rock and roll sounds when you turn it up, ya know?? and the same amp with the same guitar on the same settings in the same room will sound different from day-to-day, just because the air is different, and then any recording you make will be different...it results in a different snapshot of that day.

Well, I have to disagree with this. If you have properly maintained guitars and amps, there shouldn't be any variance in recorded sound from day to day. That's the job of the amp and guitar tech and if it doesn't happen, they're fired.

If you want different sounds every day, have 20 or more guitars, basses, amps and drums on hand.

[DaneMcCloud]

Originally Posted by Driving Wheel

So, nothing significant on the events specifically related to Marc and Ed leaving in Aug-Sept '06?

Dude, I can't share intimate details in a public forum. That's just not cool.

[DaneMcCloud]

Originally Posted by siberian khatru

Well, now that you ask ...

You have any extra insights into the infamous "Union" album by Yes? Where Jonathan Elias used session musicians (such as Jimmy Haun) for many of Steve Howe's and Rick Wakeman's parts -- without telling them? (They didn't know until they heard the album that they had been replaced.) At least part of that was recorded in L.A.

If you've got any stories of that, or Jonathan Elias in general ...

I don't really have any stories about that period. The only person associated with Yes that I know/knew, was Trevor Horn, and that was about a decade ago.

All I can say about him is "Weird dude".

Sorry, man!

[Reerun_KC]

Was waiting for Dane to show up.

I am interested in his takes...

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by Driving Wheel

Rich was married to Emma. She was WAY hotter than Kate.

That's been over for awhile too.

Yeah, like I said it was in the late 1990's, IIRC.

[siberian khatru]

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

I don't really have any stories about that period. The only person associated with Yes that I know/knew, was Trevor Horn, and that was about a decade ago.

All I can say about him is "Weird dude".

Sorry, man!

That's OK!

Weird how? Too-weird-for-a-public-forum weird?

[DaneMcCloud]

Originally Posted by Reerun_KC

Was waiting for Dane to show up.

I am interested in his takes...

Eh, I might be able to shed some light or background on some artists, recordings, etc. but I'm not going to bash anyone's musical taste.

Music connects with the listener on a very deep level, something that goes beyond description. If Ratt or MC5's or Eric B. & Rakim is what makes you happy, that's great! It's not for me to judge anyone's musical taste and interest.