Best Rock Bands of All Time List Update

originally posted November 2005

UPDATE (5/14/08): Had to update this list after seeing Radiohead at Nissan Post Pavillion this past Sunday. Radiohead was always one great album away from moving ahead of monster bands like the Beatles, Pearl Jam, and R.E.M. - at least in my book. Well, since I last updated this list, Radiohead released the excellent In Rainbows. Also, seeing them live again pretty much cemented them as the best live band I've ever seen, despite enduring the most awful weather conditions during a concert.

UPDATE (5/10/06): Pearl Jam bust a major move into the top 5 after releasing a classic album, up from 7. U2 slowly but steadily climbs another spot, and the Beatles drop down as a result. Radiohead's next album could move them up, but only time will tell. The Red Hot Chili Peppers make their presence felt as an Honorable Mention.

I've always enjoyed ranking bands. Distinguishing the great bands from the rest has always been a subjective and even frivolous way to pass some time, but at least it's fun to attempt to sort through the veritable cornucopia of bands that I've listened to over the years.

One thing that critics and fans have always failed to do is differentiate between their favorites and the best artists.

It's something I've always been guilty of myself.

Recently I've come to suggest that there are three distinct categories with which to judge artists: "favorite" (the bands an individual prefers without regard to talent/ influence/ success), "important" (influence and contributions to their genre both during their heyday and after their time), and the obvious "best" (the superlatives, the giants, taking into account everything previously mentioned in an attempt to rank based on merit).

Obviously, using these categories as guidelines, anyone can justify putting Enrique Iglesias as their favorite artist because they think "Escape" is bar none the best song to dance it out to, but not as the best without making a serious audiophile laugh.

I also enjoy breaking down bands by decade or period (for example I consider '65-'75 and '87-'97 or thereabouts the two best ten year periods of rock n' roll), but I'll probably wait to compile such a comprehensive list.

For now, I'll reveal my best of all time (a rather grandiose title considering rock is only 50 years old) lists pertaining to both bands and individual artists. For sake of argument, people like Tom Petty and Bruce Springsteen are considered individually, despite working with well-known backing bands such as the Heartbreakers and the E Street Band. Bob Marley had the Wailers, and even Bob Dylan had the Band backing him for a time. These also go to 11...


Best Rock Bands of All Time

1. the Rolling Stones (2)
2. Led Zeppelin (3)
3. the Who (1)

4. U2 (4)

5. Radiohead (8)

6. Pearl Jam (5)

7. The Beatles (6)

8. R.E.M. (7)
9. the Velvet Underground (9)
10. the Clash (10)
11. Green Day (11)

Honorable Mention: Metallica, Red Hot Chili Peppers*, the Kinks, the Band, the Pixies, Pavement, Wilco

Best Rock Solo Artists/ Singer-Songwriters of All Time

1. Bob Dylan (1)

2. Jimi Hendrix (2)
3. Chuck Berry (3)
4. Neil Young (5)
5. Bruce Springsteen (7)
6. Tom Petty (4)
7. David Bowie (6)

8. Johnny Cash (8)
9. Bob Marley (9)
10. Eric Clapton (10)
11. Van Morrison (11)

Honorable Mention: Warren Zevon, Sheryl Crow, Ryan Adams, Patti Smith (thanks to c from scatter o' light for pointing out that the ladies know to rock, as well)

it's been a while

That's the name of a painfully average Staind song. It's also the amount of time since my last post. I've been pretty busy and lazy, which is a strange and effective combination for not updating this thing. I'll try to have some updates more frequently, along with a new layout. All this light brown has to go.

2007 World Series of Poker

The 2007 World Series of Poker is wrapping up with the Main Event, featuring a first prize of over $8 Million.

One of my fraternity brothers from Duke, John Armbrust, is in the top 30 and survived onto Day 6. The very least amount of money he will stand to win is $285,000, but he has a nice chip stack ($2.6 million) and he's a great player, so anything can happen.

He was in last place and down to a a couple hundred thousand chips before making a furious comeback. Here's a picture of him before making the run:


















Here's an article on John written by Craig Cunningham of Pokerworks. Craig (cc) was a frequent commenter on this blog for a while before he got busy with his own website, Quest of a Closet Poker Player.

Check out John's blog to keep tabs on his experience, which he's been keeping since playing in a couple of other events. It's quite detailed and poker-heavy.

Best of luck to John the rest of the way, no matter what happens he's already made a great accomplishment and set himself up for a nice poker career, not to mention a good financial situation for the next few years!

John Armbrust's WSOP Blog
World Series of Poker Official Site
Card Player

Better Than Ezra @ Power Plant Live in Baltimore 06/22

A few weeks ago, my girlfriend mentioned that Better Than Ezra was playing a free show in downtown Baltimore and asked if I wanted to go. Better Than Ezra? Free? I'm there.

BTE has always been one of my favorite bands. They've consistently produced great music starting in one of the golden ages of rock in the mid-nineties. Of their 5 major studio albums, not a single one has been bad. In fact, I'd venture to say that all of their output is excellent.

Better Than Ezra also seems to like playing in Baltimore. They've played the same venue, also free of charge, for the past four or five years straight, and they've come here consistently for most of the past decade. As for as bands go, they're like your favorite cool uncle that comes to visit over the holidays and gives you a bunch of cash and goes out drinking with you. Actually, that's a stupid analogy and I don't have an uncle like that, but hopefully you get the point. I love me my annual live BTE fix.

As for the show itself, a good time was had by all. The band played a quality set with a bunch of staples and spanned their catalogue fairly well. They didn't play a couple of my favorites, "Live Again" and "Daylight", but I can't complain. As usual, "A Lifetime" and "In the Blood" were great to hear.

For your listening pleasure, wholesome MP3's follow the setlist below.

setlist

Burned

Good

Pull

Sincerely Me

A Lifetime

Extra Ordinary

King of New Orleans

Southern Thing

At the Stars

Laid (James cover)

Miss You (Rolling Stones cover) ---> Juicy

Desperately Wanting

encore

Jolene (cover)

Girl of the North Country (Bob Dylan cover)

Misunderstood

In the Blood

MP3: Better Than Ezra - "Desperately Wanting"

MP3: Better Than Ezra - "Good"

MP3: Better Than Ezra - "A Lifetime"

MP3: Better Than Ezra - "Misunderstood"

MP3: Better Than Ezra - "Breathless"

MP3: Better Than Ezra - "Daylight"

a couple of good new tunes

Just testing some file sharing spots with two new songs, the much-welcomed first single from the Smashing Pumpkins, and a nice song from Spoon's latest.

MP3: Smashing Pumpkins - "Tarantula"

MP3: Spoon - "The Underdog"

OUCH

Badass of the week: Julio Franco

Something which I forgot to mention which caught my eye recently: Julio Franco of the New York Mets hit a home run in a 5-3 victory over the Arizona Diamonbacks on May 4th. Now, normally someone hitting am opposite-field dinger isn't a big deal, but Franco became the oldest player in major league history to hit a home run - at 48 years, 8 months, and 12 days. Basically, the guy is 50 years old and he's still good enough to make a major league roster and hit bombs. The dude could easily be my dad.

Big Julio was born in 1958, in the midst of the early stages of the Cold War. Dwight Eisenhower was president of the United States, and in Cuba, a young, brash Fidel Castro was busy pissing off his neighbors to the north. NASA was yet to put a man in space, and the world's population was less than 3 billion, less than half the current population.

Over 15,000 players have played the great sport of baseball, and Julio Franco is the oldest of them all to hit a home run. Needless to say, Franco's accomplishment deserves some applause.

Lollapalooza looking good

This year's Lollapalooza lineup was recently announced, and the roster looks like one of the best they've had in a long time. Pearl Jam will be headlining an American festival for the first time in over a decade, and Muse will join them as the two best acts on the bill.

Here are just a few of the bands which highlight the dozens of bands:

Pearl Jam
Muse
Interpol
My Morning Jacket
Spoon
Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
Blonde Redhead
Ted Leo and the Pharmacists

The event will be held August 3-5 in Chicago, the same weekend the Police, Smashing Pumpkins, and the Beastie Boys headline the V Festival here in Baltimore.

some tunes for your enjoyment:

MP3: Pearl Jam - "Alive"

MP3: Pearl Jam - "World Wide Suicide"

MP3: Pearl Jam - "Daughter"

MP3: Pearl Jam - "Rearviewmirror"

MP3: Muse - "Time is Running Out"

MP3: Muse - "Map of the Problematique"

MP3: Muse - "Plug In Baby"

MP3: Muse - "Stockholm Syndrome"

MP3: Interpol - "C'mere"

MP3: Interpol - "Obstacle 1"

MP3: Spoon - "The Way We Get By"

MP3: Spoon - "I Turn My Camera On"

MP3: My Morning Jacket - "Off the Record"

MP3: My Morning Jacket - "One Big Holiday"

MP3: Ted Leo and the Pharmacists - "Under the Hedge"

The Sopranos last stand

Later tonight, "The Sopranos" begins its final series run with the first of nine episodes. Easily one of the best TV series ever, the show has been captivating ever since it premiered in 1999 and has helped cement HBO as a creative force for some of the best television shows and series since (Band of Brothers, The Wire, Deadwood, Curb Your Enthusiasm).

Even though the show has dropped off a little in quality since about Seasons 3 and 4 - a little too much time was spent with the Vito coming out of the closet storyline over the past season, for example - "The Sopranos" has consistently maintained a high level of output in bringing us the mob world of New Jersey. Picking up from the Martin Scorsese's gangster world of Goodfellas, the show has been a great ride, no matter how gratuitously violent or expletive-laden.

Things are going to go down in a glorious fury during these final episodes, and rumor has it that two main characters will get whacked/killed off. My guess is that Junior and Paulie will bite the bullet; Junior's dementia and desperation are too much for him to handle, and Paulie's hot temper and past trangressions will probably be his downfall. Christopher would be a prime cadidate, but he should survive. Silvio is too level-headed and careful to get whacked, and while it would be interesting to see the writers kill off Tony in the end, I don't think we'll see it happen (although another attempted hit against him wouldn't be surprising).

Regardless of what transpires, these last nine episodes should be a fuckin' blast.

Here's a video of every single death/whacking on the show:

MP3: A3 - "Woke Up This Morning" (Sopranos Theme Song)

Greg Oden the man-child

How in the hell is this guy a teenager?? Image courtesy of a hilarious caption from The Onion. (Greg Oden On Final Four Appearance: 'I'm Happier Than I've Been In 30 Years')

MP3: Neil Young - "Old Man"

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - Baby 81 / "Weapon of Choice" MP3

On May 1, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club will release their fourth full-length record, Baby 81. Following 2005's Howl, which was a predominantly bluesy record without the band's trademark shoegaze electric guitars, BRMC have returned to their more rocking, gritty form. "Weapon of Choice" is the lead single from the album, a fast-paced number which serves as a good sampling of their sound.

MP3: Black Rebel Motorcyle Club - "Weapon of Choice" [buy]

Here are some other tunes from their earlier work. BMRC have released consistently good albums (see the BRMC review archive here), and Baby 81 continues their run of strong records. I look forward to more output from these guys.

MP3: Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - "Stop" [buy]

MP3: Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - "Ain't No Easy Way" [buy]

MP3: Black Rebel Motorcylce Club - "We're All in Love"

MP3: Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - "Complicated Situation"

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club Official Site

new Arctic Monkeys - "Brianstorm" MP3

The Arctic Monkeys are back with a new single, "Brianstorm", a hard, frantic rocker that's a little heavier than most of their songs. Last year's Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not was one of 2006's better records, and certainly an excellent debut. With some bands, like Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, releasing disappointing follow-up records, a strong sophomore effort would be welcome. Their newest LP, Favorite Worst Nightmare, hits stores in late April.

MP3: Arctic Monkeys - "Brianstorm" [buy]

Here's my favorite song from last year, "A Certain Romance", a catchy guitar-driven tune, along with a couple others:

MP3: Arctic Monkeys - "A Certain Romance" [buy]

MP3: Arctic Monkeys - "The View From the Afternoon"

MP3: Arctic Monkeys - "Mardy Bum"

new tunes I've been digging

some MP3's for your listening pleasure... enjoy.

MP3: the Killers - "Read My Mind" [buy]

MP3: Incubus - "Dig" [buy]

MP3: Bloc Party - "I Still Remember" [buy]

MP3: Arcade Fire - "Intervention" (live on SNL) [buy]

Let me know what you think.

Muse - "Starlight" MP3

Recently, it's been nice to hear "Starlight" - the latest single from Muse - on the radio a good bit. A great band from the UK, Muse are one of a plethora of bands which go unappreciated here in the U.S. in favor of thoroughly awful music. Earlier this year, they sold out shows at Wembley Stadium in their own country, but in the U.S. they merely open for My Chemical Romance. Needless to say, we've got it backwards here.

Off of last year's Black Holes and Revelations, here's an MP3 of the tune for your listening enjoyment:

MP3: Muse - "Starlight"

the official Muse site

also, check out the "Starlight" video:

Duke vs. Maryland

Tomorrow night at 9 PM, Duke faces off against Maryland in college basketball. Maryland always plays Duke tough, and tonight should be another great game.

Below is a video clip of one of my favorite games between the two schools, from 2001 when Duke came back from 10 points down and less than one minute left to play, tying the game at the end of regulation before ultimately winning in overtime. It remains as perhaps my favorite sports moment, and I was lucky enough to have witnessed it in person.

After the win, Maryland started regularly beating Duke at home and away at Cameron Indoor; perhaps the 2001 comeback was a big reason for Maryland taking their play to another level against their hated ACC rivals.