Best Commercially Successful 70's American Rock Band?

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This argument came up between drunk friends recently... your input??

― Lonny Clavender, Tuesday, 25 October 2005 09:16 (twenty years ago)

Blue Oyster Cult

― NickB (NickB), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 09:18 (twenty years ago)

Aerosmith

― m coleman (lovebug starski), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 09:53 (twenty years ago)

Funkadelic

― Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 09:55 (twenty years ago)

Funkadelic

If Only!

I expect its Kiss or Aerosmith.

― Last Of The Famous International Pfunkboys (Kerr), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 10:27 (twenty years ago)

eagles (hell freezes over)have sold more dvds than anyone.
america (hearts,harbour,holiday,homecoming)shoulda sold more.
i think they've sold more than Kiss.

― retrogurl, Tuesday, 25 October 2005 10:38 (twenty years ago)

http://199.249.170.183/bb/charts/videos/comp_musicvideos.jsp
eagles have 2 number one dvds plus cd/album sales.

― retroboy, Tuesday, 25 October 2005 10:41 (twenty years ago)

Zep.

― The Good Dr. Bill (The Good Dr. Bill), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 10:43 (twenty years ago)

AMERICAN

― americanidiot, Tuesday, 25 October 2005 10:48 (twenty years ago)

My first thought was BOC. But it's zeppelin.

― when something smacks of something (dave225.3), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 11:01 (twenty years ago)

The Eagles is the logical choice, and according to http://www.riaa.com/gp/bestsellers/topartists.asp, also the correct one with 89m units. Followed by Aerosmith (65m), Van Halen (56m) and Journey (41m).

For some reason I thought Kiss would be up there, but according to Billboard they only rate 19m - wa-a-ay down the list.

― mitya can't remember his frigging password, Tuesday, 25 October 2005 12:20 (twenty years ago)

Not all of you seem to be answering the same question.

― Frank Kogan (Frank Kogan), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 12:21 (twenty years ago)

I assumed "best" was just drunk friend english for "most," although I given the choices above, I'd still go with the Eagles. Although I hardly think of them as "rock" anymore.

To me the question smacks of the classic "Who is better, Journey or Styx? No, REO Speedwagon!" arguments of junior high school.

― mitya can't remember his frigging password, Tuesday, 25 October 2005 12:29 (twenty years ago)

The Eagles is very illogical if you read the first word of the thread title.

― when something smacks of something (dave225.3), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 12:29 (twenty years ago)

Dude, you're disqualified cos you said Zep ;o)

― NickB (NickB), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 12:31 (twenty years ago)

xpost

Eh, get off your elitist indie high horse. The Eagles were a monumental band. Maybe not to everyone's taste but impossible to ignore historically.

― mitya can't remember his frigging password, Tuesday, 25 October 2005 12:32 (twenty years ago)

Sales best = The Eagles, obviously.

My favourite commercially successful USA '70's rock band - Blue Oyster Cult. If you widened it to "North American" then it would be Rush.

― Pashmina (Pashmina), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 12:34 (twenty years ago)

Were Steely Dan not a rock band then?

― Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 12:39 (twenty years ago)

Fleetwood Mac?

― chad beck (chadly), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 12:39 (twenty years ago)

P-Funk.

And if they weren't commercially successful enough (or "rock" enough), then it's B.Õ.C.

― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 12:41 (twenty years ago)

Oooh, Steely Dan! Definite contenders (tho I wouldn't've thought so a year ago.)

― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 12:45 (twenty years ago)

If they count as a rock band then they win by the proverbial country mile

― Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 12:46 (twenty years ago)

Uh . . . Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band = pretty damn good 1973-1979 and pretty damn successful starting in 1975. And then there's The Band, which only made it halfway through the decade but was rather fine from a quality standpoint, and at least OK commercially. If you could do a paired entry of The Band and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, that would cover the decade very strongly.

I can see arguments for The Eagles, though. Fleetwood Mac, too, if only they weren't 60% non-American. Even, depending on your taste and definition of "rock" (and "success")Steely Dan, The Grateful Dead, The Ramones, Stevie Wonder (though not a "band") or Earth, Wind & Fire. Not Blue Oyster Cult. Not even Aerosmith.

― Vornado, Tuesday, 25 October 2005 12:56 (twenty years ago)

Lynyrd Skynyrd. Period.

― xhuxk, Tuesday, 25 October 2005 12:57 (twenty years ago)

Though most of the other bands mentioned on this thread (even the Eagles) might be worth arguing for. (Not Led Zeppelin, though!)

The Ramones were not commercial successful (at least not in the '70s).

― xhuxk, Tuesday, 25 October 2005 13:00 (twenty years ago)

Were Steely Dan not a rock band then?

I'd argue that they were. They were packaged like a rock band. For their first couple of albums they had a regular band line-up. The facts that the later albums were done with session musicians and that they stopped touring didn't turn them into something else. I think that excluding groups that used session players on their recordings would eliminate lots of groups that we normally think of as "rock bands" and would be needlessly puritan.

― o. nate (onate), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 13:05 (twenty years ago)

Well I thought they were, I was just surprised no-one had mentioned them until I did!

― Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 13:06 (twenty years ago)

Boston!

― zaxxon25 (zaxxon25), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 13:08 (twenty years ago)

Devo

― sexyDancer (sexyDancer), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 13:14 (twenty years ago)

Were Donna Summer's band American? (Wasn't she born in Boston or something, before moving to Germany? Maybe I'm getting that wrong.)

― xhuxk, Tuesday, 25 October 2005 13:27 (twenty years ago)

She's American

― Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 13:29 (twenty years ago)

not really rock either

― sexyDancer (sexyDancer), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 13:30 (twenty years ago)

To me the question smacks of the classic "Who is better, Journey or Styx? No, REO Speedwagon!" arguments of junior high school.

This actually works really well as a joke:

Q: Who's better, Journy or Styx?

A: REO Speedwagon

― Hurting (Hurting), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 13:38 (twenty years ago)

Al Green & His Merry Players

― miccio (miccio), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 13:41 (twenty years ago)

argh! I tried to cancel that answer when I remembered they're not really "rock." sorry.

― miccio (miccio), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 13:42 (twenty years ago)

Ok, my answer: Neil Young & Crazy Horse

― miccio (miccio), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 13:43 (twenty years ago)

Fleetwood Mac, with Steely Dan a close second.

I hate the fucking Eagles.

― Brooker Buckingham (Brooker B), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 13:44 (twenty years ago)

Oh bugger, I forgot all about Neil Young (xpost)

― Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 13:44 (twenty years ago)

Waht about Pink Floyd?

― Hurting (Hurting), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 13:45 (twenty years ago)

limeys, yo

― sexyDancer (sexyDancer), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 13:45 (twenty years ago)

If I was going for high points rather than endurance (Neil's boring ace in the sleeve), I guess I'd say Aerosmith.

― miccio (miccio), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 13:46 (twenty years ago)

Sparks!!!!!!!!

― Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 13:47 (twenty years ago)

... ergo, Todd Rundgren

― Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 13:47 (twenty years ago)

But Todd not v. successful commericially?

― Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 13:48 (twenty years ago)

GRAND FUNK RAILROAD?

― Tripmaker (SDWitzm), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 13:52 (twenty years ago)

I don't think I get what you're going for...

― Tripmaker (SDWitzm), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 13:52 (twenty years ago)

I thought about Todd. But best? Hmmm...

Worrabout Blondie?

― NickB (NickB), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 13:52 (twenty years ago)

Blondie was the very first thing I thought of, but I thought they had more hits in the 80s?

― Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 13:54 (twenty years ago)

naw, just "Tide is High" and "Rapture" in '80. They wrapped it up by '82.

― sexyDancer (sexyDancer), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 13:59 (twenty years ago)

All these bands suck (with the exception of Blondie). But my answer is:

CHEAP TRICK!!!

― Matt Carlson (mattsoncarlhew), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 14:16 (twenty years ago)

i have absolutely no idea what the question is at this point, but i do suspect neil young might raise an eyebrow at being called an american.

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 14:44 (twenty years ago)

Crazy Horse is an American rock band, though! They did it all in LA, dude.

― miccio (miccio), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 14:46 (twenty years ago)

Crumbs! Well spotted! Except I believe he is an American citizen (xpost)

― Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 14:47 (twenty years ago)

crazy horse is american, but not exactly commercially successful without neil y! and if neil is american, then so are any number of brit rock stars who maintained flats in ny or la. which changes the question slightly. whatever the question is.

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 14:51 (twenty years ago)

I'm votin for CCR - yeah, more of their stuff was released in the '60s but they had great '70s material as well -- all of Cosmo's for starters. They were successful AND they rocked.

― TRG (TRG), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 15:01 (twenty years ago)

"Neil Young & Crazy Horse" is an American band. If you don't like it, go to Russia!

― miccio (miccio), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 15:02 (twenty years ago)

I mean is the Talking Heads a Scottish band?

― miccio (miccio), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 15:03 (twenty years ago)

Only David Byrne is

― Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 15:09 (twenty years ago)

i'm moving to russia and voting for the famous american rock band the rolling stones!

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 15:09 (twenty years ago)

Alice Cooper

― walter kranz (walterkranz), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 15:10 (twenty years ago)

Alice Cooper, now that's a good one

― Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 15:10 (twenty years ago)

really, i'd say the contenders are CCR, steely dan and neil young/crazy horse. i might give the edge to neil, personally. xpost

― Special Agent Dale Koopa (orion), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 15:10 (twenty years ago)

Keith Richards & The X-Pensive Winos may well be an American band!

― miccio (miccio), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 15:12 (twenty years ago)

I mean if he lives in america and nowhere else, like Neil has since the age of 18.

― miccio (miccio), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 15:12 (twenty years ago)

Boston seconded.

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 15:13 (twenty years ago)

Plus he is a US citizen, unlike David Byrne! (xpost)

― Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 15:14 (twenty years ago)

http://acc6.its.brooklyn.cuny.edu/~phalsall/images/usflag.jpg

― miccio (miccio), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 15:15 (twenty years ago)

eally, i'd say the contenders are CCR, steely dan and neil young/crazy horse. i might give the edge to neil, personally. xpost

CCR was a 60s band though.

I think Aerosmith, Cheap Trick, Neil Young & Crazy Horse, Lynyrd Skynryd, and Steely Dan are all good picks. I don't know if I could choose between them..

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 15:17 (twenty years ago)

CCR were not a strictly 60s band - some of their great songs were '70s

― TRG (TRG), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 15:21 (twenty years ago)

more to add: Allman Brothers, Runaways, War. okay, the second wasn't hugely successful and the third wasn't rock, but then again half of the bands up there aren't American.

― gear (gear), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 15:23 (twenty years ago)

following your logic, The Stooges

― sexyDancer (sexyDancer), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 15:25 (twenty years ago)

Ha ha, maybe, if the thread was about Best Commercially Unsuccessful 70's American Rock Bands

― Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 15:26 (twenty years ago)

I wouldn't vote for them as the best but considering some of the other bands mentioned on this thread I thought I should throw the name Santana out there.

― walter kranz (walterkranz), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 15:30 (twenty years ago)

Grand Funk Railroad, Santana, Steely Dan, Funkadelic, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Montrose (first two albums only)

― pdf (Phil Freeman), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 15:33 (twenty years ago)

Yee-hah!
(Is the second Montrose album really that good?)

― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 16:07 (twenty years ago)

These words are ambiguous to me in this context: 70's, rock, band.
These words and phrases seem ambiguous to others: best, commercially successful, American, rock, band.

For clarity, mods please change title to "?"

― M. V. (M.V.), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 16:35 (twenty years ago)

Throbbing Gristle!

― sexyDancer (sexyDancer), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 16:40 (twenty years ago)

Steely Dan made good records; their first two/three albums are the work of a "band." I agree with whoever made the comment about worrying about use of studio musicians as "needlessly puritan," since I love the Byrds' '60s work, and a lot of that used Hal Blaine and those guys.

I agree with Chuck on this one--it's Skynyrd. BOC had their moments--I love "Tyranny and Mutation"--and the Eagles made some good records, even though I am somewhat opposed to that whole school of rock music. Fleetwood Mac is the only group I think is a contender, besides Lynyrd. Steely Dan, I'm just so ambivalent about them, and while I really like "Countdown to Ecstasy," which I think is their best album, the stuff I really like is the later, slick shit which I find hard to put down, and which doesn't strike me as the product of a "band," or really "rock" music so much. I think the Allman Brothers were good, a bit diffuse, though, whereas I think Skynyrd always got to the point, just so fucking good. And yeah, I have some problems with "Sweet Home Alabama" and some of their southern-mythos shit, but no more than I do with Steely Dan and their pretensions to bebop.

― edd s hurt (ddduncan), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 17:28 (twenty years ago)

>(Is the second Montrose album really that good?)

It's good enough. And anyway, Montrose's place in rock history is assured because they're the only band ever to go downhill when Sammy Hagar left.

― pdf (Phil Freeman), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 17:32 (twenty years ago)

but before I get outta here, I mean James Brown's bands were pretty incredible; the Meters; Funkadelic, etc. who says a funk band can't play, etc., sure, but sticking to "rock band," I don't think those groups necessarily qualify. for my money, give me the Hi Rhythm Section, easily as good as Skynyrd as players, but Ronnie V.Z. was one genius songwriter, too, which puts LS over the top too.

― edd s hurt (ddduncan), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 17:34 (twenty years ago)

Walter Kranz hit the nail on the head with the Alice. From 71 to 75 there was no bigger live (american) attraction in the states. Um, I think that's right.

― jim wentworth (wench), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 17:43 (twenty years ago)

If by "commercially successful" you mean simply "grossed the most" someone once told me it was far and away The Grateful Dead b/c all they did was tour.

Anyone verify that?

― DZ, Tuesday, 25 October 2005 18:37 (twenty years ago)

Walter Kranz hit the nail on the head with the Alice. From 71 to 75 there was no bigger live (american) attraction in the states.

Actually, I think the answer to this -- as well as the most successful act in terms of chart singles, which may not be the best way to answer the original question -- is Three Dog Night.

― Joseph McCombs (Joseph McCombs), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 18:41 (twenty years ago)

"Best" is not equal to "Most"

You could look it up.

― Wub-Fur Internet Radio (wubfur), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 22:59 (twenty years ago)

1. bruce springsteen 2. neil & crazy horse 3. cheap trick

― polyphonic (polyphonic), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 23:04 (twenty years ago)

P-Funk

― Mr. Snrub (Mr. Snrub), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 23:06 (twenty years ago)

Not yet mentioned, I think, offered purely for the sake of argument and in no particulat order:

The Doobie Brothers

The Cars

Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band

Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers

Cheap Trick

The Jefferson Starship

Kansas

Poco

― Wub-Fur Internet Radio (wubfur), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 23:14 (twenty years ago)

MAC

― vacuum cleaner (electricsound), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 23:19 (twenty years ago)

Cheap Trick edge out Skynyrd for my tastes, but that's just because I dig the pop genius more often than the Southern solos...

― js (honestengine), Wednesday, 26 October 2005 00:38 (twenty years ago)

Unfortunately, as good as the first Montrose album was, the band was never even remotely commercially successful. Being managed by Bill Graham kept them propped up for two albums after Hagar left. The last album, Jump On It, is pretty good actually, but not what Montrose fans wanted at all.

Most of the rock bands -- American -- in the US achieved success only with some radio and singles action. This wasn't always the case, but it was often the case. BOC wasn't going places except with a rep as a good live act until "Reaper" became their hit.

Grand Funk had huge sales with their hardest albums, also packing a charting single, "I'm Your Captain/Closer to Home." Then they became distraught after separation from Terry Knight and the belief that they were on a downward plunge. "We're an American Band" changed that, plus "Locomotion." Even "Rock and Roll Soul" might have charted slightly.

Alice Cooper was on the radio a lot with "I'm Eighteen" and "School's Out." Even more after dumping the band for "Only Women Bleed." By then the show was a solid joke. I saw it, it was completely lame except for the dueling guitars of Hunter and Wagner.

Kansas worked hard in the mid-size venues for the first three albums, had some FM play for "Song for America" but broke big on Leftoverture.

Ted Nugent never had much radio action outside of "Cat Scratch Fever" but was about the biggest grossing stadium draw, I believe, for a few years in the mid-to-late 70's.

ZZ Top also became a stadium act in the 70's. At one point they were toting around a menagerie they were putting onstage, a buffalo, a rattlesnake in a cage. The show was pretty absurd. I had the fortune to see it with co-headliner BOC. At the time BOC was hauling around a military grade laser battery.

― George the Animal Steele, Wednesday, 26 October 2005 00:56 (twenty years ago)

KISS sold more records (and dolls etc.) than anybody if commercial is the criterion.

Skynyrd was the best though. And NY (Canada is part of america) & Crazy Horse, ZZ Top, Alice, The Band/Tom Petty combo.

Eagles and Steely Dan aren't rock bands. Neither is Barry Manilow.

― steve ketchup, Wednesday, 26 October 2005 16:39 (twenty years ago)

it's probably the Eagles (especially if you count solo/side stuff), though if you annex the early 80s material of either Foreigner or Journey, they'd have it locked. Doobies are close but too inconsistent, Cars only have two years to work with, and I don't think Bruce could really be argued as a band (though if he could, I guess he'd get this).

And of course the Eagles and Steely Dan are rock bands.

― The Good Dr. Bill (The Good Dr. Bill), Wednesday, 26 October 2005 16:45 (twenty years ago)

The Isley Brothers. Full stop.

― veronica moser (veronica moser), Wednesday, 26 October 2005 19:36 (twenty years ago)

Steely Dan, easy.

― kornrulez6969 (TCBeing), Wednesday, 26 October 2005 21:49 (twenty years ago)

I'll throw in another vote for Steely Dan. Fleetwood Mac would be close, but they're too British to qualify.

― John Fredland (jfredland), Wednesday, 26 October 2005 23:02 (twenty years ago)

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