Best this and Best that. Impossible to determine.

Isn't asking if Jimi Hendrix is the best guitarist just as bad as asking, isn't a freshly baked brownie covered with french vanilla ice cream and hot fudge the best desert in the world? How can anyone determine who or what is the best in anything art related? To me it makes no sense and it's just a waste of energy that could be spent on chronicling one's musical past, or picking one's nose or banging one's head against a somewhat forgiving wall. The role of an artist is to make the art. The role of the fan or detractor is to share and critique, promote or dissuade. To rank art is to demean art, in any form. You can have favorites and least favorites, but even those change over time, for most of us. There is no fucking way anybody can prove to anybody else that any artist is the best. It is impossible. Prove me wrong.

It is just as impossible to prove something is the worst this or the worst that. Sheeple need to get a grip. Come on.

Pointless as hell thread.

Jimmy Page was the best guitarist.

(Clapton, Stevie Ray Vaughn, and Jeff Beck would say the same thing and have).........don't even think of mentioning anyone born after 1975...........

Led Zeppelin best rock band ever................Period.

(Don't even think of mentioning any Rock band after 1980)

U2 best 80s band............I'll make this point 10 different ways

Point made..........talk how those 3 statements are not true?

Yes, in fact, you can make the statements "best", and it is not simply a matter of opinion.......

Speaking of "Yes"...............notably by all music effitionados as best progressive band.......before you argue that, don't name some 90s and after band ....progressive. They won't meet the definition.

dhop

R.E.M. > U2
ELP > Yes
Led Zeppelin > Guns N' Roses (I'll give you that one... barely)

 Interesting...............I'm inclined to agree with you on ELP/Yes but I can't. As much as I like ELP, they didn't have enough material or longevity to be considered "better" than Yes..............& Yes had enough commercial hits to stay in the picture for much longer than ELP.......

 Can't agree about Zepp & G&R........it's not even close really..........I like Guns & Roses but Zeppelin had what no one else ever did..........or probably ever will.

 Of course this is all subjective............there's some people here that think the 00"s had the best music ever

 But that's why it makes for good discussion.

Hugh, I'll give you that REM was really good....but the only album that they beat in the 80s was Automatic for the People which beat October but none of the others....but U2 put October (REM arguably beat October, but October still was great and did almost as well in the college scene which, as you know was the only place that REM flourished, until Automatic for the people)....but the U2 albums War, Unforgettable Fire, Joshua Tree, and Achtung Baby catapulted them to super megastar status and better in more ways than just musical tastes, owned the 80s.......If the ego maniac Sting had not left the Police in '83....they would have perhaps given a run for their money. Sychronicity is not even my fav Police Album. Regatta de Blanc is.....They couldn't have gotten along even if they stayed together to top what Synchronicity. Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland hated Sting, rightfully so.

Yes

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Genres	Progressive rock, symphonic rock, art rock,
Years active	1968 – 1981 1983 – 2004 2008 – present
Labels	Atlantic, Atco, Arista, Victory Records, Sanctuary, Eagle
Associated acts	Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe, Asia, UK, Cinema, Flash, XYZ, Circa, The Buggles, GTR, Jon & Vangelis
Website	Yesworld: The Official Yes website
Members
Steve Howe Chris Squire Alan White Benoît David Oliver Wakeman
Former members
See: Personnel section

Yes are an English progressive rock band formed in London in 1968 and generally regarded as one of the archetypal bands of the genre. Despite many lineup changes, occasional splits within the group and the ever-changing trends in popular music, the band has continued on for over forty years and still retains a large following.^[1]

The band's music blends symphonic and other 'classical' structures with their own brand of rock music, which is marked by sharp dynamic contrasts, long songs, abstract lyrics, and a general showcasing of instrumental prowess.........
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Led Zep vs GnR  can be debatable, until you observe every single Zep album was great, and they made twice as many, and did far more stadium shows, etc. Count Zeps # of true music fans as GnR........ I can only name 4 GnR songs, but I like them.
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Hugh

I can't name perharps Arcade Fire and Kings of Leon as being decent, and perhaps throw in The Killers, but after 2000, that's it and really stretching it.........


Hugh and Mugg, good as always. I just wanted to make the point to the author of this thread, because when 9 of the top ten guitarists, not the populus, but 9 of the best guitarists in the world all name Jimmy Page as the best, I'll take their word for in, and not some silly comparison between flavors of ice cream, etc. like the guy who started this thread.

Absolutely, intelligent people like you Mugg and Hugh, and myself, that are true historians and purists, have enough actual knowledge to come within a slight shadow of any doubt who was the best of what we 3 speak of.........jmw as well and a few others that occasionally pop in here. The first post was so silly in this thread, I had to make the valid and accurate point......

Either I need glasses or you need to work on your formatting skills dennis.



As for Led Zeppelin vs. Guns N' Roses, I wasn't really trying to argue GNR was better (I was going off what you said about not mentioning anything after 1980, in which case we should probably throw Metallica into the mix as well). Never a big Zepplelin fan to begin with, but you have to give it to them for bringing the harder edge to the Rock genre.

Hugh that last post was as big as a Buick....

The unreadable part was that while I like REM a lot, 90% of their stuff was mostly limited to college towns and University radio stations, until "Automatic for the People" whisch was arguably great, but out of U2's 80s albums ...War, Unforgettable Fire, Joshua Tree, and Achtung Baby were all better......and by Joshua Tree, U2 was filling Stadiums up. Saw the Joshua Tree in the Pontiac Silverdome for example. If REM played and filled a stadium, I don't recall it.....Hugh, I am in fact a big REM fan though...
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Sugarhouse,

There is no fucking way anybody can prove to anybody else that any artist is the best. It is impossible. Prove me wrong.

 I love Led Zeppelin....every album was epic.   Fuck, I even liked CODA.  

I can appreciate that H-L............for some reason, I never got into the Stones. Like Tom Petty, The Who, David Bowie.........I like a lot of their songs but never bought any of the albums/CD's. I like & respect the Stones..........but they just don't "do it" for me.

 What I find amazing is the number of people who have claimed that The Beatles are/were overrated.  I think many forget that there was very little R&R when they started in the early 60's............& they try to compare the Beatles stuff to what's come out since 1970.

Hi Henry....I'll check those links out.....

Mugg, I think the Stones give about the worst sounding sloppy live performances of any of the "huge" bands.......

In High School I had a lot of their albums, but haven't given a shit about them since....

 Henry.....I love Led Zeppelin....every album was epic.   Fuck, I even liked CODA. 

When I lived in the Bay Area, I had some stupid little account out in Tracy. I had to drive up and over that Altamont Pass. Everytime, I reflect on that historical Stones concert, Hells Angels, all of it.......

.....I still can't believe it happened there. It just looks like a little farm ranch nestled in towards the top West side of the past.

Henry, thanks for that link. I'll check it out and see if I can download it off Limewire and get it into my itunes and Pods........

 Very cool H-L..........you're a good man. I did that with my daughter (who is now 22). I never pushed it on her, but whenever we drove somewhere I had on some type of classic rock & although she still went through her "Hanson's" stage she eventually started to see the difference between fad music & artful music. When I showed her some concert footage of Supertramp, PF, Led Zeppelin, etc. she "saw the light". I took her with me to the Roger Waters show in Seattle (5 rows from the stage) & she loved it.

 All we can do is put it out there & give future generations an opportunity to grasp it.......

Where's the proof, meathead? There should be an emoticon for Suck it.