Best band ever vote?

[Andrew2014]

Which band do you think is the greatest out of these five?

The Beatles
Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band
The Velvet Underground & Nico
Radiohead
The Rolling Stones

[Kingoftonga]

Why not rank them?

1. The Beatles
2. The Velvet Underground & Nico (I assume this is counting the albums made without Nico as well)
3. The Rolling Stones
4. Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band
5. The Doors

[Andrew2014]

I actually just replaced The Doors with Radiohead, so you can update that if you want to.

[JimmyJazz]

1. Beatles
2. Rolling Stones
3. VU
4. Radiohead
5. Captain Beefheart

[Stephan]

1. The Rolling Stones
2. The Velvet Underground (& Nico)
3. The Beatles
4. Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band
5. Radiohead

[jimmyj]

1. The Beatles
2. Rolling Stones
3. Radiohead
4. VU
5. Captain Beefheart

[Starringo]

The Beatles
Rolling Stones
The Velvet Underground




Captain Beefheart
Radiohead

[Honorio]

Mmm, Andrew2014, with all due respect I could not consider Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band a true BAND. It was more a solo act with an ever-changing line-up of musicians backing him. Just click on this link to see that every album featured a different line-up, so the sound of the band despite the changes relied on the strong music personality of Don Van Vliet himself.
Of course you can say the same about the Velvet Underground but in this case there were two leaders (at least on the first two albums), Reed/Cale. And bands like Radiohead, even if also mainly show the strong music personality of a single leader (Yorke in this case), got a stable line-up of musicians.
Anyway, my list is:
1. The Beatles
2. Radiohead
3. The Rolling Stones
4. The Velvet Underground & Nico
5. Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band

If you are interested in artist list you can check our polls. You can find here the result of our last artist poll. The Top 25 bands (removing the solo acts) were:
1. The Beatles
2. Radiohead
3. The Rolling Stones
4. The Velvet Underground
5. R.E.M.
6. The Beach Boys
7. The Clash
8. U2
9. Led Zeppelin
10. The Who
11. The Kinks
12. The Smiths
13. Pink Floyd
14. Nirvana
15. Talking Heads
16. Pixies
17. Blur
18. The Cure
19. Simon & Garfunkel
20. Arcade Fire
21. The Doors
22. Joy Division
23. Oasis
24. Pavement
25. Creedence Clearwater Revival

Yes, no Captain Beefheart on it. He (even) ended outside our Top 500. Undeservedly I should say (even I'm not a fan of him).
And, if enough people participate in this mini-poll, probably we will reproduce the same Top 5 (with Beefheart replacing R.E.M.). But let's see what happens...

[Gillingham]

1. Radiohead
2. The Rolling Stones
3. The Velvet Underground
4. The Beatles
5. Captain Beefheart

But why these five specifically?

[PlasticRam]

1. The Beatles
2. The Rolling Stones
3. Radiohead
4. The Velvet Underground & Nico
5. Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band

But I am a fan of Beefheart. It's just that pretty much every other album by him pales in comparison to Trout Mask Replica.

I think those bands are a pretty good representation of the greatest bands of all time. Maybe you could add definitely Pink Floyd for some 70s person, The Impressions or something like that for a guy like Bruce, The Smiths for someone, another 80s band for Moonbeam, Nirvana for a 90s person. Then I think from that list the vast majority of people would have their favorite band on the list.

Edit: Or idk, I guess you could just go on and on of adding bands to that list. And I think Beefheart sort of has a place in that list, for someone like Scaruffi.

[PlasticRam]

Yes, no Captain Beefheart on it. He (even) ended outside our Top 500. Undeservedly I should say (even I'm not a fan of him).

He was 230th. If you mean our Acclaimed Music artist poll. Ahead of Frank Zappa (prolly cos of me).

Edit: Oops! I mean that was just the 2010 artist poll. 2013 is here: http://acclaimedmusic.net/forums/viewto ... f=2&t=1292 Beefheart was 230th in 2013.

Someone should add that to the history of the polls thread.

[Honorio]

Edit: Oops! I mean that was just the 2010 artist poll. 2013 is here: http://acclaimedmusic.net/forums/viewto ... f=2&t=1292 Beefheart was 230th in 2013.

Someone should add that to the history of the polls thread.

Sorry, you're right, there was another poll last year. This is the Top 25 of bands (numbers in brackets are the position on 2010 poll):
1. The Beatles (1)
2. The Rolling Stones (3)
3. Radiohead (2)
4. The Beach Boys (6)
5. Pink Floyd (13)
6. Led Zeppelin (9)
7. The Velvet Underground (4)
8. R.E.M. (5)
9. The Who (10)
10. The Clash (7)
11. The Smiths (12)
12. Nirvana (14)
13. U2 (8)
14. Arcade Fire (20)
15. The Cure (18)
16. Pixies (16)
17. The Kinks (11)
18. Creedence Clearwater Revival (25)
19. Kraftwerk (40)
20. Simon & Garfunkel (19)
21. Talking Heads (15)
22. Beastie Boys (28)
23. Joy Division (22)
24. Public Enemy (32)
25. Outkast (29)

[JimmyJazz]

If you wanted a general, Top Ten bands, well here's mine:

1| The Beatles
2| The Rolling Stones
3| The Velvet Underground
4| Radiohead
5| The Clash
6| Nirvana
7| The Kinks
8| The Who
9| The Beach Boys
10| The Smiths

[Matski]

By 'best' I have taken that to mean rating them in order of personal preference. If you were asking us to list them all based on something else (consistency, volume of great albums, influence, etc) then it would look completely different:

1. The Velvet Underground
2. Radiohead
3. The Beatles
4. The Rolling Stones
5. Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band

[Blanco]

If anyone is interested, these are the best 10 bands in Latin America and Spain according to my project in progress (only based on rankings of songs, not albums):

1. Soda Stereo
2. Café Tacvba
3. Caifanes
4. Los Fabulosos Cadillacs
5. Molotov
6. Os Mutantes
7. Sui Generis
8. Maldita Vecindad y los Hijos del Quinto Patio
9. Aterciopelados
10. Héroes del Silencio

[DocBrown]

Which band do you think is the greatest out of these five?

The Beatles
Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band
The Velvet Underground & Nico
Radiohead
The Rolling Stones

How about none of the above?

Currently, on my band list they are:

11. Radiohead
25. The Rolling Stones
57. The Beatles
182. The Velvet Underground
Not Ranked - Captain Beefheart

After the 2013 poll, I took a long look at my methodology for ranking artists vs. ranking songs and albums, and decided that I relied far too much on received wisdom and far too little on what I actually listened to. And while I find Captain Beefheart very interesting, the band I most often listen to is The National. So they're now my number one. (Admittedly, I'm using stats from the past five years, which gives contemporary artists an edge over classic artists, but still, friends, haven't the Beatles had their day in the sun? And judging by recent photos, hasn't Keith Richards had far too many days in the sun? Like a raisin?)

Edit: While the frequency of play is a major factor in my artist rankings, I may have implied that it was the ONLY factor. It is not.

[PlasticRam]

Which band do you think is the greatest out of these five?

The Beatles
Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band
The Velvet Underground & Nico
Radiohead
The Rolling Stones

How about none of the above?

Currently, on my band list they are:

11. Radiohead
25. The Rolling Stones
57. The Beatles
182. The Velvet Underground
Not Ranked - Captain Beefheart

After the 2013 poll, I took a long look at my methodology for ranking artists vs. ranking songs and albums, and decided that I relied far too much on received wisdom and far too little on what I actually listened to. And while I find Captain Beefheart very interesting, the band I most often listen to is The National. So they're now my number one. (Admittedly, I'm using stats from the past five years, which gives contemporary artists an edge over classic artists, but still, friends, haven't the Beatles had their day in the sun? And judging by recent photos, hasn't Keith Richards had far too many days in the sun? Like a raisin?)

I get your point and I think it's good to rank them by that standard. I am a little guilty of that received wisdom too, but I also have thought about particularly The Beatles. I have come to the conclusion that I truly think they are the greatest artist of all time, because I do listen to them the most often and enjoy their discography the most. And I bet people here still listen to their albums from time to time, I'm talking about the people who think they are THE greatest ever.

[DocBrown]

I get your point and I think it's good to rank them by that standard. I am a little guilty of that received wisdom too, but I also have thought about particularly The Beatles. I have come to the conclusion that I truly think they are the greatest artist of all time, because I do listen to them the most often and enjoy their discography the most. And I bet people here still listen to their albums from time to time, I'm talking about the people who think they are THE greatest ever.

Actually, the Beatles barely moved when I re-ranked my list. About all I can say for sure is that I like the Beatles more than Moonbeam does. But I do respect that they are the most acclaimed, and among the most-loved artists of all-time.

[Luke JR68]

1. Beatles
2. Velvet Underground
3. Radiohead
4. Rolling Stones
5. Captain Beefheart

[Sweepstakes Ron]

For me it's:

1. Beatles
2. Stones
3. Radiohead
4. VU
5. Craptain Beefheart

As for my actual favorite artists, the Beatles would easily be #1, but anything after that, I can't even get an approximate. I'll get back to you in a year or two, or three, or five, or fifty.

[Moonbeam]

VU out of the choices listed.

[Stephan]

Someone should add that to the history of the polls thread.

I don't have the time to actively monitor polls and add them, but any links suggested to me in the 'History' topic will be added, so feel free to suggest them there. I've added the 2013 artist poll.

[Bruce]

1. The Beatles
2. The Rolling Stones

The Cowsills
The Archies
The Partridge Family
The Osmond Brothers
The Banana Splits
Josie And The Pussycats












Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band
The Velvet Underground
Radiohead

[Brad]

I believe that the Beatles are the "greatest."

However, here's my list in order of favorite:

1. The Rolling Stones
2. The Beatles
3. The Velvet Underground
4. Radiohead
5. Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band

The Doors would rank between Radiohead and Beefheart.
I do like Beefheart quite a bit.

Most listened to since 2010:
1. Bob Dylan
2. Pavement
3. The Rolling Stones
4. R.E.M.
5. David Bowie
6. The Beatles
...
27. The Velvet Underground
54. The Doors
63. Radiohead
73. Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band

[McJagger]

1. The Velvet Underground
2. The Rolling Stones
3. Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band
4. Radiohead
5. The Beatles

[Jirin]

With those options I'd say:

1. The Rolling Stones
2. Radiohead
3. The Beatles
4. VU
5. Captain Beefheart

I don't get trying to make a distinction between 'Greatest' and 'Favorite' when responding to these kinds of polls. I just assume when people ask me what the best bands are they're really asking for my favorites. Any attempt to separate the two is just replacing one subjective measure with another and labeling it objective.

If you're asking, who is the most historically relevant or most iconic band, Beatles win easily. But that's different from being the 'Greatest'

[Brad]

If you're asking, who is the most historically relevant or most iconic band, Beatles win easily. But that's different from being the 'Greatest'

That's where we disagree. I believe you're defining "greatest" with that very sentence. I feel a need to differentiate, so I do. The thread asks for "Best"... I don't want to assume the author's intent; I'd rather be clear that this is my opinion of who I like best, not who actually is the "best" - I have no idea who that would be or how it would be measured.

[Jirin]

For me if there were a true measure of 'Greatness' it would be a measure of talent, innovation and performance charisma, it wouldn't have anything to do with how materially successful they were.

If the Beatles recorded all the same music and never once played it for anyone, it would not change whether or not the music was 'Great'.

[Henry]

The ranking of VU among the greatest never ceases to amaze me. Captain Beefheart in the top 200 is no less amazing.

[pablonovi]

My All-Time 5 Favorite Artists
1. Led Zeppelin
2. Pink Floyd
[gap]
3. Rolling Stones
4. Moody Blues
[gap]
5. Beach Boys

The Beatles would not be in my Top 25
VU would not be in my top 100
Captain Beefheart would not be in my top 1,000

[stone37]

By popularity (record sales, tours, hit singles, etc.):

1) Beatles
2) Rolling Stones
3) Radiohead
4) VU
5) Beefheart

In terms of influence (music only):

1) Beatles
2) Rolling Stones
3) VU (but could make, I think, a strong argument for them at #2)
4) Radiohead
5) Beefheart

In terms of influence (wider culture, development of celebrity culture, fashion, etc.)

1) Beatles
2) Stones
3) VU or Radiohead (not really sure here)
5) Beefheart

According to me:

1) Beatles
2) Stones
3) Radiohead
4) VU
5) Beefheart

As others have noted, the Magic Band is kind out of their depth on this list. Could make a stronger case for a lot of other acts (e.g. Clash, Ramones, Nirvana, CCR, Sly and the Family Stone, Byrds, REM, U2, Led Zeppelin, Kinks, OutKast, Cure, Smiths, etc).