Are the Eagles America's best band?

[VAisForEagleLovers]

This article is in anticipation of tonight's concert in Atlantic City, but these guys ask the question and give it a good discussion. I felt it deserved it's own thread as surely people here will have opinions on it, especially about who else might at least be contenders.

http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/l...b2061d9e0.html

[UndertheWire]

Interesting. If you'd asked me three years ago who were the most successful american band, I wouldn't have guessed Eagles. I had no idea. And yet, I struggle to name many big american bands. Individual artists, no problem, but for a band, I've got to look to the british ones.

Why are there so many great british bands and so many great american solo artists?

[VAisForEagleLovers]

Interesting. If you'd asked me three years ago who were the most successful american band, I wouldn't have guessed Eagles. I had no idea. And yet, I struggle to name many big american bands. Individual artists, no problem, but for a band, I've got to look to the british ones.

Why are there so many great british bands and so many great american solo artists?

Great minds and all that. I was thinking the same thing in another thread when we all listed our top ten bands, and it occurred to me that so many were British.

ETA: I wonder if it's a culture thing... Like Led Zeppelin, Plant did the lead vocals. Perhaps in the US, the band would have been Robert Plant & the Led Zeppelin band. Like Bob Seger and the Seger Sound Machine (or whatever they were before he hooked up with the Silver Bullet Band). Springsteen and the E Street band, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. It was common for bands here to have more than one lead singer, or at least an occasional song by another. CSNY, etc.

[Freypower]

Great minds and all that. I was thinking the same thing in another thread when we all listed our top ten bands, and it occurred to me that so many were British.

ETA: I wonder if it's a culture thing... Like Led Zeppelin, Plant did the lead vocals. Perhaps in the US, the band would have been Robert Plant & the Led Zeppelin band. Like Bob Seger and the Seger Sound Machine (or whatever they were before he hooked up with the Silver Bullet Band). Springsteen and the E Street band, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. It was common for bands here to have more than one lead singer, or at least an occasional song by another. CSNY, etc.

There are plenty of American bands with one frontman whose name isn't in the title like Journey, Metallica, Van Halen ,Toto. REM, Pearl Jam, Green Day, Aereosmith etc. I used to love REM & then they fell apart, plus I listened to their pre Out Of Time work & I didn't think it was as great as critics claimed. As I have said before, the Eagles are the only American band in my top 10.

[Funk 50]

I'm surprised that no-one has mentioned The Beach Boys. I'm not a fan of The Beach Boys but if there was an American band to rival the Eagles, they'd be my top choice. Are Bon Jovi and The Monkees huge in America?

I suppose you had to be ultra ambitious to be a national success in the USA, and earn the support of a big studio. GB is so much smaller, Bands had to aim national to earn a living.

I think mainland Europe was very welcoming to British bands too.

There's a whole thesis in there somewhere.

[SoaringRockyMountainWay]

I would definitely say the Eagles are the greatest American band. They did have the BIGGEST selling album of the 20th century.

[UndertheWire]

I'm surprised that no-one has mentioned The Beach Boys. I'm not a fan of The Beach Boys but if there was an American band to rival the Eagles, they'd be my top choice. Are Bon Jovi and The Monkees huge in America?

I suppose you had to be ultra ambitious to be a national success in the USA, and earn the support of a big studio. GB is so much smaller, Bands had to aim national to earn a living.

I think mainland Europe was very welcoming to British bands too.

There's a whole thesis in there somewhere.

It's been done:

The top 20 artists, in order, are The Beatles, Michael Jackson, Madonna, Led Zeppelin, Elton John, Pink Floyd, Mariah Carey, Celine Dion, AC/DC, Whitney Houston, The Rolling Stones, Queen, ABBA, The Eagles, U2, Billy Joel, Phil Collins, Aerosmith, Frank Sinatra, and Barbra Streisand. The list is perfectly split between 10 solo artists and 10 groups. Eight of the 10 solo artists are from North America, while eight of the 10 bands are from outside America, the majority being British. Remarkably, the country that invented rock and roll has not produced any of the top seven rock bands. America's strongest contender, in at No. 8, is often-derided soft-rock stalwarts The Eagles.

(The link was to a Big Lebowski clip)

http://www.theatlantic.com/entertain...erican/277472/

[Fleurette767]

I'm surprised that no-one has mentioned The Beach Boys. I'm not a fan of The Beach Boys but if there was an American band to rival the Eagles, they'd be my top choice. .

I also considered The Beach Boys since I love that band. They have the record for the most singles in the U.S. Top 40 for a U.S. Band, incredibly influential, honored frequently (especially Brian Wilson), and they definitely have a range of material. However, I'm thinking the article was a musing that began with The Eagles being honored by the Kennedy Center.

I think when most people think "band" they're envisioning a scenario where band members play their own instruments (both in studio and on tour) and some (or all) of the members play a part in collaborating with songwriting and/or arranging most songs.

The Beach Boys are different. While The Beach Boys have always played their own instruments on the road and on tour, Brian Wilson began to more and more use studio musicians (The Wrecking Crew) on the recordings. Obviously, the guys still sang their own parts on the recordings and, for those mega-fans, let me add I'm simply summarizing some very complicated info in a shorthand way -- there's a very intense debate (with musician's union sheets being researched, etc.) in their fan community to have Carl, Denny, Al, Bruce, etc. more recognized for their instrumental efforts in the studio, whether on demos or released tracks, because casual fans think The Wrecking Crew played all the tracks for every record from Surfin' onward.

And of course, there's the issue of songwriters. Brian Wilson used many collaborators outside the band (Gary Usher, Tony Asher, Van Dyke Parks). Mike Love was recognized as songwriter on a few of the songs then sued (and won) in the '90s to to have his name included as co-writer on like dozens more mid-60s hits. And people are still debating the legitimacy of that as well. LOL.

To me they're such a special case in the sense of "band." Often, these days, Brian Wilson is the one exclusively honored (Music Cares and Kennedy Center honor) rather than the Beach Boys as a group; and more and more, people are no longer thinking of Beach Boys as a traditional band situation.

That being said, I love their music in all forms: surfing and racing songs, ballads, heady Smiley Smile, etc. LOL.

[Brooke]

It's obvious to me, of course it's the Eagles! And I'm not just saying that because they are MY favorite band. Firstly, they are all American. Their numbers tell the story in album sales alone. And also when you look at the other criteria. Many bands and solo stars have said they were influenced by them, country stars included. Don H, Glenn, and Joe were top solo stars in their own right. And the classic songs top it off! Some of their songs will still be sung and heard 50 years from now.

The only contender for me would be Fleetwood Mac, but over half the band are actually British.

UtW, as we're looking for American bands here, British bands don't qualify.

[AlreadyGone95]

I can name plenty of American bands(Van Halen, Aerosmith, Styx, Lynyrd Skynyrd etc), but none that have the staying power and the amount of hits that the Eagles have. They are THE American band. I knew that even when I was a casual fan.

Of course, only 3 out of my top 10 bands are American. The rest are British.