20 Greatest British Rock Bands

[Hobbayne]

I suppose they are only doing the top 20. There are far too many great bands that will have to be left out. But still, Blur?

[EliasMooseblaster]

[quote name='No. 8 Wire' timestamp='1510309876' post='3405452']
Its done the trick though, generated loads of hits from people who wouldn't normally hit evening standard clickbait. Got to pay Osbornes fat cat salary somehow...
[/quote]

Years ago, back on another forum, a lot of people used to know of a proxy server which allowed them to link indirectly to Daily Mail articles in such a way that we could all have a good chuckle at the rubbish they were printing without them getting the ad revenue...I wonder if anything similar exists for the Evening Blandard?

[Rich]

It should have said this:

[EliasMooseblaster]

[quote name='Rich' timestamp='1510313102' post='3405488']
It should have said this:


[/quote]

Ha!

Many a true word in jest, and all that - I just popped "british rock bands" into Google, and pretty much got Mr Fletcher's top 10: https://www.google.co.uk/search?source=hp&ei=0o0FWuSRJpD2kwXJkICICA&q=british+rock+bands&oq=british+rock+bands&gs_l=psy-ab.3..0l10.2289.4980.0.5137.18.14.0.0.0.0.270.1681.1j7j3.11.0....0...1.1.64.psy-ab..7.11.1677...0i131k1.0.Dt9gDsFYFh4

[Rich]

On what planet exactly are The Jam and Blur 'rock' bands?

[Nicko]

[quote name='NancyJohnson' timestamp='1510307659' post='3405421']
[font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]I suppose it brings into question what greatness is. Sales? Size of fan base? Releases? Innovation? Influence on others? It is pretty subjective and it's a nonsense. I know we're talking bands (so no Bowie/Elton John, Kate Bush etc.), but even so, Super Furry Animals?[/font]

[font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Looking at the list (see below), I do wonder about the obviousness of some of the includees and absentees. No Yes? No Fleetwood Mac? No Sex Pistols? The Police? I'd also throw in bands/artists like Japan, Duranduran, ELP, Genesis, Muse, Mott The fecking Hoople, Depeche Mode, Cream.[/font]

[font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]To save you the bother of clicking the link, here's the list:
20. Joy Division
19. Super Furry Animals
18. The Jam
17. T. Rex
16. Roxy Music
15. The Who
14. Black Sabbath
13. Blur
12. Queen
11. The Kinks
10. The Stone Roses
9. The Clash
8. The Cure
7. Oasis
6. The Smiths
5. The Rolling Stones
4. Pink Floyd
3. Radiohead
2. Led Zeppelin[/font]
[font=tahoma,geneva,sans-serif][size=3][size=4][font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]1. The Beatles[/font][/size][/size][/font]

[font=tahoma,geneva,sans-serif][size=3][size=4][font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif][b][EDIT] [/b] I add for your deliberation two post comments by someone called petrometro1 on the ES webpage. Pretty succinct.[/font][/size][/size][/font]

[font=tahoma,geneva,sans-serif][size=3][size=4][font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]1)[/font][/size][/size][/font]
[i] when will journalists and the media ever get a grip on the English Language? Firstly, the most overhyped word bar none is "Iconic". An Icon is an Orthodox Religious Painting for heavens sake. Secondly; If this list is of the most iconic bands how is that at all possible? Its either Iconic or it isn't. Journos have a problem with unique. Fairly unique, very unique. Get real; its either unique or it isn't. As Nigel [/i][another commentator] [i]states.. this list does NOT contain bands that were clearly playing before he [/i][the author of the piece, Harry Fletcher] [i]was born. It doesn't contain Jethro Tull, Eric Clapton, Hermans Hermits, Yes, ELP, The Nice, King Crimson, Supertramp Genesis... in essence the article is not worth the paper its written on. To compare Oasis with Pink Floyd and the Rolling Stones is pathetic.[/i]

2)[i] as thought. has been with The Standard since September 2017. Resume for linked in is written entirely in the first person singular. He was in 6th form in 2010 so suspect he was born around 1993. That's about as credible as this list gets.[/i]
[/quote]

Clearly another message board full of opinionated people who cant get their facts straight. It says "[i]this list does NOT contain bands that were clearly playing before he [/i][the author of the piece, Harry Fletcher] [i]was born." [/i]and then goes on to list a whol ebunch of late 60s and 70s sh1te. As far as I know the Beatlesand the Stones preceded all of the omissions listed.

No real surprises in the list apart from Super Furry Animals and the assertion that releasing an album in the Welsh language is somehow a good thing. Th piece is badly headlined, it talks about great bands, and then describes how influential the selected bands are. On that basis how can you include Joy Division who would not have existed had the founders not been blown away by the Pistols and leave out the Pistols themselves.

I understand people not liking Oasis, but they were successful and influential, although you could argue other less successful bands were forging that path before they came along.

[NancyJohnson]

[quote name='Nicko' timestamp='1510315097' post='3405509']
Clearly another message board full of opinionated people who cant get their facts straight. It says "[i]this list does[b] NOT [/b]contain bands that were clearly playing before he [/i][the author of the piece, Harry Fletcher] [i]was born." [/i]and then goes on to list a whol ebunch of late 60s and 70s sh1te. As far as I know the Beatlesand the Stones preceded all of the omissions listed.

No real surprises in the list apart from Super Furry Animals and the assertion that releasing an album in the Welsh language is somehow a good thing. Th piece is badly headlined, it talks about great bands, and then describes how influential the selected bands are. On that basis how can you include Joy Division who would not have existed had the founders not been blown away by the Pistols and leave out the Pistols themselves.

I understand people not liking Oasis, but they were successful and influential, although you could argue other less successful bands were forging that path before they came along.
[/quote]

I believe the uppercase/capitalisation usage of the word NOT is assertion of bands listed in the sentence that follows, rather than the ones he's already included (Pink Floyd/Roxy Music etc.).

Also, I wouldn't go so far as to just put Yes, Supertramp, ELP etc. into the sh*te category either simply from a musical heritage perspective...these [i]sh*te[/i] bands are still major influences on a lot of current bands. Whether you like them or not, had Yes/ELP etc. not been about, we wouldn't have had Rush, Dream Theater or Muse. Likewise, without Yes or ELP there wouldn't have been punk kicking off.

Edited November 10, 2017 by NancyJohnson

[ahpook]

[quote name='Nicko' timestamp='1510315097' post='3405509']
No real surprises in the list apart from Super Furry Animals and the assertion that releasing an album in the Welsh language is somehow a good thing.
[/quote]

Makes perfect sense for a Welsh band....and it's a rather fine album as it happens.

[Nicko]

[quote name='NancyJohnson' timestamp='1510315681' post='3405516']
I believe the uppercase/capitalisation usage of the word NOT is assertion of bands listed in the sentence that follows, rather than the ones he's already included (Pink Floyd/Roxy Music etc.).

Also, I wouldn't go so far as to just put Yes, Supertramp, ELP etc. into the sh*te category either simply from a musical heritage perspective...these [i]sh*te[/i] bands are still major influences on a lot of current bands. Whether you like them or not, had Yes/ELP etc. not been about, we wouldn't have had Rush, Dream Theater or Muse. Likewise, without Yes or ELP there wouldn't have been punk kicking off.
[/quote]

Well the journalist is a youngster - probably no older than 30.

One mans influential is another mans sh1te. Personally I can't stand the ELP/Yes type self indulgent thing. I'm not sure how they influenced punk, other than punk rebelling against the obvious excess and ridiculousness of it all, but then you could say that about most of the big 70s groups.

[SH73]

[quote name='No. 8 Wire' timestamp='1510309677' post='3405448']


Technically heavy metal is sub genre of rock so it fits. In any case Maiden is heavy rock compared to what gets touted as metal now.

+1 for Maiden though, must be the most overlooked yet most successful, influential and popular British band of all time.
[/quote]
To be even more precise. Maiden was seen as a new wave of British heavy metal.

[No. 8 Wire]

[quote name='SH73' timestamp='1510318432' post='3405543']

To be even more precise. Maiden was seen as a new wave of British heavy metal.
[/quote]

Yes, but a lot of what was once thought of as metal is now seen as hard rock. Kind of irrelevant though as all heavy metal is still a kind of rock.

[Barking Spiders]

While I've no issue with the term 'rock' used for the 20 bands here, I don't know what the basis is for this sh1te list but most of the bands in it don't qualify either on the basis of sales, long lasting popularity or significance/influence. The likes of The Kinks, Blur, Stone Roses, Super Furry Animals, T Rex, Roxy Music and The Jam are barely known outside the UK and even within Britain their sales are pretty modest, and probably unfamiliar to most people under30. I can't abide Radiohead but I guess they should be among the top 10 while both The Who and Queen (also non faves) are probably top 5.

Edited November 10, 2017 by Barking Spiders

[Jimothey]

what about Saxon, AC/DC, Stereophonics or Manic Street Preachers? I personally can’t stand the band but surely U2 should be on the list

Edited November 10, 2017 by Jimothey

[Nicko]

[quote name='Jimothey' timestamp='1510321200' post='3405575']
what about Saxon, AC/DC, Stereophonics or Manic Street Preachers? I personally can't stand the band but surely U2 should be on the list
[/quote]

Last time I looked U2 were definitely not British.

[Jimothey]

[quote name='Nicko' timestamp='1510321934' post='3405589']


Last time I looked U2 were definitely not British.
[/quote]

Half the band is English (The Edge was born in Barking, Essex and Adam Clayton was born in Oxfordshire) and the other half of the band is Irish so maybe they could be classed as a Irish/British band????

Edited November 10, 2017 by Jimothey

[No. 8 Wire]

[quote name='Jimothey' timestamp='1510322749' post='3405598']


Half the band is English (The Edge was born in Barking, Essex and Adam Clayton was born in Oxfordshire) and the other half of the band is Irish so maybe they could be classed as a Irish/British band????
[/quote]

British in the sense of British Isles?

AC/DC are fair dinkum aussies though, someone mentioned them above.

Surprised no one has mentioned Fleetwood Mac?

[Jimothey]

[quote name='No. 8 Wire' timestamp='1510323661' post='3405605']


British in the sense of British Isles?

AC/DC are fair dinkum aussies though, someone mentioned them above.

Surprised no one has mentioned Fleetwood Mac?
[/quote]

My mistake I always thought they were British because of Brian Johnson 😳

Technically Fleetwood Mac are classed as British-American rock band so the line is a bit blurred

Edited November 10, 2017 by Jimothey

[SH73]

[quote name='No. 8 Wire' timestamp='1510318803' post='3405545']


Yes, but a lot of what was once thought of as metal is now seen as hard rock. Kind of irrelevant though as all heavy metal is still a kind of rock.
[/quote]

Up the Irons!

[blue]

[quote name='hiram.k.hackenbacker' timestamp='1510276532' post='3405312']
Should make blue happy, but the other 19 have a few notable omissions. Makes no mention of how this 'greatness' was measured, so I guess it's in someone's humble opinion.

Who would you kick off the list and who would you put in their place?
[/quote]

I've never been a fan of lists of any kind.

Like you said, how is greatness measured. Seems like a few influential pioneers we're left out.

No Yard Birds, or did the author think he had them covered with Zep?

Well, I guess The Yard Birds would make the greatest British blues band list

Blue

Edited November 10, 2017 by blue

[Donnyboy]

In terms of British "rock" bands how about ..

The Faces

Stereophonics

Muse

Motorhead

Status Quo

[blue]

[quote name='Jimothey' timestamp='1510323848' post='3405607']

Technically Fleetwood Mac are classed as British-American rock band so the line is a bit blurred[/quote]

Didn't The Jimi Hendrix Experience break big in England first. Maybe another blurred line since Jimi was American.

Blue

[No. 8 Wire]

[quote name='Jimothey' timestamp='1510323848' post='3405607']


My mistake I always thought they were British because of Brian Johnson 😳

Technically Fleetwood Mac are classed as British-American rock band so the line is a bit blurred
[/quote]

Brian Johnson must have been convicted of something at sometime so that makes him an honourary Aussie. Besides he's possessed by the spirit on Bon Scott....

Fleetwood Mac - which was greater, Peter Green era or Rumours era?

[Jimothey]

[quote name='blue' timestamp='1510324717' post='3405624']


Didn't The Jimi Hendrix Experience break big in England first. Maybe another blurred line since Jimi was American.

Blue
[/quote]

That was the point I was making is the fact that the band was formed somewhere in the British Isles make them British or Is the fact the members of the band were born somewhere in the British Isles make the band British???

[blue]

I haven't read all the responses. Isn't there an argument for Cream?

Blue

[tinyd]

[quote name='Jimothey' timestamp='1510325111' post='3405632']
That was the point I was making is the fact that the band was formed somewhere in the British Isles make them British or Is the fact the members of the band were born somewhere in the British Isles make the band British???
[/quote]

The reason why the term "The British Isles" is not used much these days is precisely because most of the people who live on one of the islands are definitely not British.