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Rock Band Nominations - For Those About To Rock

Nich

stuck in baby prison
(he/him)
HELLLOOOOO, TALKING TIME! We're about to launch on a 50-group tour of rock bands, but we need your input before the bus can hit the road. So send in your ranked lists of your own personal top 25 rock bands OF ALL TIME.

Two points to address:

1. What is Rock?
You know what Rock is when you hear it. I won't be enforcing any limits or disqualifying entries based on whether or not I personally feel something is Rock or not. Classic rock, punk rock, alternative rock, pop-rock, the blues (Ur-rock), butt rock, metal, emo, prog, Fraggle, Schoolhouse, whatever--it's still rock 'n roll to me.

2. What is a Band?
This, however, I am going to be a stickler on. A band is a group of musicians that has a collective name. Ozzy Osbourne, Joan Jett, and Elvis Presley are rockers, but they are not bands and I will not count votes for them. Often times, an individual is famous alongside a band, such as Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, or Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. In cases like these, I'll accept nominations for only the band. If you believe the New Power Generation, sans Prince, was one of the greatest groups in rock, more power to you and I will count that vote. But I would not count a vote for "Prince and the New Power Generation," because I feel it's getting in on the strength of the individual and not the band, which is what we're celebrating here.

Are there weird edge cases here? ABSOLUTELY. Bon Jovi is a band, but it's also its frontman's last name, and the frontman released two albums also under his own name later on? It might seem pretty borderline, but I'd count 'em. They Might Be Giants later added the "Band of Dans" to augment their sound--so under the Tom Petty Rule, does only the Band of Dans count? Nah, because even at the outset, TMBG was multiple people operating under a group name. When in doubt, go back to the ruling up top: is it a group of musicians with a collective name? Then you're probably good. If you have questions about other borderline cases (one of which will be fairly high on my own list), I'd be happy to answer them over PM.

I'll be using the now-standard scoring system of 11 points for #25 on a list and 35 for #1. PM me your lists by 11:59 PM on March 8th for inclusion. See you in the pit! (That is a joke about rock shows. Actual list will not be conducted in The Pit.)
 

Adrenaline

Post Reader
(He/Him)
What about a quasi-band like Tame Impala? It sounds like the name of a band and they tour as a full band, but one guy writes and records their albums basically himself.
 

Nich

stuck in baby prison
(he/him)
I'd be a hypocrite not to allow it. Still trying to figure out which way I'd lean for something like the Patti Smith Group--on their debut album cover, it just says "Patti Smith," but it's the same group who continued to work together and were credited as the PSG on their later releases. If I leaned "yes" on that one it's probably the most borderline an example I'd allow.
 
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Ixo

"This is not my beautiful forum!" - David Byrne
(Hi Guy)
What’s your stance on fictional bands a la The Blues Brothers, Spinal Tap, or Dethklok?
 

Nich

stuck in baby prison
(he/him)
Go for it. (And thanks for asking; I meant to address this in the rules post but forgot.) That said, a fictional band should have at least one actual song that's possible for real human beings to listen to.
 

4-So

Spicy
Compiling this list has made me realize that while there are a lot of songs and albums I enjoy, there's actually blessed few bands where - to borrow a phrase from one of the Bobs in Office Space - I celebrate their entire catalog. Perhaps even more than half of my list is comprised of bands I appreciate for one reason or another but don't necessarily listen to with any regularity. A Top 50 Rock Songs or Top 50 Rock Albums would be decidedly more difficult to complete.

Now I'm just trying to decide if I rank on personal preference entirely, knowing that several are not going to make the final list, or if I take a broader view, such as a band's contributions to the genre, even if I don't necessarily enjoy the band or listen to them.
 

BEAT

LOUDSKULL
(DUDE/BRO)
Ended up just writing down 25 bands I like, and putting them in a sort of order. I could have thought long and hard but ehhh, I didn't.

Not voting for JEFF ROSENSTOCK and ROB ZOMBIE in direct violation of the "Bands are not just one guy" rule nearly killed me, but I persisted.
 

BEAT

LOUDSKULL
(DUDE/BRO)
That said I will hate ALL OF YOU PERSONALLY If [REDACTED] doesn't make the list.
 

Violentvixen

(She/Her)
Sent. I got it down to 30 a few days ago and have been constantly swapping and reordering. I finally accepted that I'm never going to find a list that I'll stick with for an extended time. Very curious to see how this all shakes out! And Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers are one of my favourite bands so that was tough too, ha!
 

Nich

stuck in baby prison
(he/him)
Thanks to VV and everyone else who's submitted a list! I've got 10 entries so far, and there's a little over a week left now to get your responses in.
 

conchobhar

What's Shenmue?
Sent mine in. This was one of the toughest top 25s I've done: while I decided on my top 15 or so fairly easily, figuring out which of the other 30+ bands I'd earmarked deserved the last ten spots was agonizingly difficult. Lots of second guessing myself. Looking forward to the final list!
 

Violentvixen

(She/Her)
Sent mine in. This was one of the toughest top 25s I've done: while I decided on my top 15 or so fairly easily, figuring out which of the other 30+ bands I'd earmarked deserved the last ten spots was agonizingly difficult. Lots of second guessing myself. Looking forward to the final list!
Same. I know that when I see the final list I'm likely to go "oh no, I should have put band X higher so they would outrank band Y", but am also just as likely to go "sweet, I sure am glad I ranked band A higher than band B so they got that spot".

And then feel the exact opposite way the next day. Music is hard yo!
 

Falselogic

Lapsed Threadcromancer
(they/them)
I had to stop thinking about things and just put them on the list and send it in. Or else I'd still be working on it. A bugger hang up for me was trying to figure out if a band was "rock n roll" enough to put on my list. I kept taking things off or putting them on as I tried to determine whether it was rolk n roll or just country (they were the same thing for a long time) or if this band was more folk than rock....
 

Nich

stuck in baby prison
(he/him)
Got it and entered into the sheet now.

A little worried that this has happened with others, so here are the lists I have so far. If your name isn't here, please resend me your list:
Torzelbaum, Adrenaline, Johnny Unusual, Issun, clarice, Violentvixen, WildcatJF, BEAT, Tomm Guycot, conchobar, falselogic
 

Ixo

"This is not my beautiful forum!" - David Byrne
(Hi Guy)
Submitted! I surprised myself with who I put on top, but remained consistent with including at least one very silly entry.
 

Kirin

Summon for hire
(he/him)
This *is* a tough one. Aside from two or three bands that I knew would top my list, a lot of my favorite acts that come to mind are solo artists, so I had to resort to looking at the full artist list from my mp3 collection and picking out bands. Of course, that's way way too many, so I made the hard choice to immediate disregard any band I only have one song from, even if I love that one song. That actually got things down to a reasonable 45-ish that I just need to cut down and sort.

One quick question on the guidelines - it sounds like
When in doubt, go back to the ruling up top: is it a group of musicians with a collective name?
would *technically* cover a duo that's consistently known by the combination of their names (like "John and Smith"), though it feels like it's pushing it. Any guidance?
 

Nich

stuck in baby prison
(he/him)
Someone asked me on Discord if Tegan and Sara would count, and the answer is yes.
 
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