Who is The GARRBOAT?

Asking the question… Who is the greatest American rock n roll band of all time?

Music fans have long since declared the greatest rock n roll bands of all time are most likely to be of British extraction (The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin). But what happens if you take the Brits out of the equation…? What you quickly realize is that, while the USA is the undisputed birthplace of rock n roll, our greatest rockers have mostly been solo artists: Elvis, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Buddy Holly, etc. But as the inventors of rock n roll, there must be a “greatest rock n roll band” from the USA, too. But who would it be??

After reflection, what you’ll find is that the difficulty in answering lies in the complexity and deconstruction of the question:

After decades of reflection, I’ve found that the difficulty in answering lies in the complexity and deconstruction of the question:

1. GREATEST: What does “greatest” mean? What does it take to be the greatest?
2. AMERICAN: How do you define “American” in this day and age?
3. ROCK ’N’ ROLL: Is rock n roll a look, a sound, an attitude or all of the above? And who gets to define it?
4. BAND: Does a “band” need to feel like a gang of friends against the world or can it be a duo? A single person backed by hired hands? And what happens when original members leave?

Without delving into these deeply specific intricacies of the question, we’ll never really find the answer. Luckily, that’s not the point of this exercise. I’ve meditated on this question for years, and I know what I think, but the more interesting part has been dissecting all of the above themes and finding out how complex this question really is. Hopefully, you’ll enjoy that ride as well.