Great American Band Challenge

bort · **Posted:** Tue Aug 12, 2014 9:34 pm

http://grantland.com/features/the-ameri ... ship-belt/

In case we wanted to talk about music.

FT · **Posted:** Wed Aug 13, 2014 10:04 am

mostly solid, but his rule excluding "and the" bands is ludicrous, because it leaves out tom petty and the heartbreakers, among others

also, while I agree with the bands he did list for 1978, you simply cannot exclude the cars from that year

shiv · **Posted:** Wed Aug 13, 2014 12:37 pm

FT Wrote:

mostly solid, but his rule excluding "and the" bands is ludicrous, because it leaves out tom petty and the heartbreakers, among others

also, while I agree with the bands he did list for 1978, you simply cannot exclude the cars from that year

Also, he said he broke his "and the" rule twice so I don't know what he's thinking.

Yail Bloor · **Posted:** Wed Aug 13, 2014 2:12 pm

I thought he got a little lazy towards the end.

Dick Meatwood · **Posted:** Wed Aug 13, 2014 2:40 pm

Black Keys are a terrible choice. They had their breakout in, what, 2003? And probably were at their peak creatively and commercially somewhere between there and maybe 2010? How have they mattered in the past four years?

Everything else is defensible as some guy's opinion of what was important and good. The inclusion of Deerhunter was a pleasant surprise. I think it's kind of hard to justify if you're trying to claim any kind of larger cultural impact, but I'm generally going to be more in favor of picking a band that's actually good over one that's more popular or "important".

shiv · **Posted:** Wed Aug 13, 2014 3:20 pm

Drinky Wrote:

Black Keys are a terrible choice. They had their breakout in, what, 2003? And probably were at their peak creatively and commercially somewhere between there and maybe 2010? How have they mattered in the past four years?

Everything else is defensible as some guy's opinion of what was important and good. The inclusion of Deerhunter was a pleasant surprise. I think it's kind of hard to justify if you're trying to claim any kind of larger cultural impact, but I'm generally going to be more in favor of picking a band that's actually good over one that's more popular or "important".

Music for commercials.

billy g · **Joined:** Mon Oct 25, 2004 1:41 pm **Posts:** 9020

shiv Wrote:

FT Wrote:

mostly solid, but his rule excluding "and the" bands is ludicrous, because it leaves out tom petty and the heartbreakers, among others

also, while I agree with the bands he did list for 1978, you simply cannot exclude the cars from that year

Also, he said he broke his "and the" rule twice so I don't know what he's thinking.

And is there a more egregious violation of the "and the" rule than Sly and the Family Stone?

And is Diana Ross really more critical to the Supremes than Brian Wilson was to the Beach Boys?

I don't really like a lot of his picks in general but its the inconsistent application of his rules that bugs me.

Also, the foreign born members is ok if the band formed in the US is identified with the U.S. seems like it was written to sneak The Band on the list which he didn't do. Would anyone have really objected to the Velvet Underground because Cale isn't American? Weird.

bort · **Posted:** Thu Aug 14, 2014 9:48 am

Also no mention of Green Day.

Dick Meatwood · **Posted:** Thu Aug 14, 2014 10:12 am

bort Wrote:

Also no mention of Green Day.

Kudos for that

Yeah this list definitely could have been a lot worse

Yail Bloor · **Posted:** Thu Aug 14, 2014 6:07 pm

Drinky Wrote:

Black Keys are a terrible choice. They had their breakout in, what, 2003? And probably were at their peak creatively and commercially somewhere between there and maybe 2010? How have they mattered in the past four years?

.

You're kidding, right? Black Keys sells out arenas and goes platinum now, not really something they were doing in 2008.

Dick Meatwood · **Posted:** Thu Aug 14, 2014 6:37 pm

I guess I don't really keep track of that sort of thing.

But all kinds of old and irrelevant bands sell out arenas so whatever.

Yail Bloor · **Posted:** Fri Aug 15, 2014 10:25 am

Drinky Wrote:

I guess I don't really keep track of that sort of thing.

But all kinds of old and irrelevant bands sell out arenas so whatever.

I was only harping on the "commercial" part of your comment.

I mean, I get your point, my favorite Black Keys album is Rubber Factory, but they are undeniably the biggest American rock band of the last several years.

Lrr · **Posted:** Fri Aug 15, 2014 6:36 pm

Drinky Wrote:

How have they mattered in the past four years?

Not a fan of the word choice, though I get what your're saying. What does any band matter? To who? All relative, man.

Great American Band Challenge

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