Aerosmith vs. The Eagles

[mkirsh]

The correct answer is Led Zeppelin.

Gotta go Rolling Stones. But close call between them and Rush and AC/DC.

[CrazyNotCrazie]

But I wanna take it to the limit. One more time.

I've got a peaceful, easy feeling about this

[jv001]

Both great, but The Eagles were the greatest.

[OldPhiKap]

I would argue that The J. Geils Band was a better Boston act than Aerosmith.

[-jk]

I would argue that The J. Geils Band was a better Boston act than Aerosmith.

Not, well, Boston?

-jk

[OldPhiKap]

Not, well, Boston?

-jk

The live J. Geils Band albums are incredible. Boston has that one guitar effect that is pretty much every song to me.

[CrazyNotCrazie]

Not, well, Boston?

-jk

A friend of mine just saw The Lemonheads in concert. Also from Boston. Not equivalent to the others being mentioned but amazed that they are still touring after almost 30 years.

[plimnko]

The Beatles aside...give Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

[CameronBornAndBred]

I would argue that The J. Geils Band was a better Boston act than Aerosmith.

Not, well, Boston?

-jk

A friend of mine just saw The Lemonheads in concert. Also from Boston. Not equivalent to the others being mentioned but amazed that they are still touring after almost 30 years.

The best Boston band is the Pops.

[burnspbesq]

The best Boston band is the Pops.

The best band ever assembled in Boston was a one-off, a group of Berklee students assembled to play with Mark O’Connor on his visit to the school sometime around 2009. Julian Lage and Courtney Hartman on guitar, and Sierra Hull and Jacob Joliff on mandolin. Completely ridiculous. I believe the clips are still on YouTube; search for “mark O’Connor berklee.”

[camion]

The best Boston band is the Pops.

And the Moms?

[ClemmonsDevil]

I like this topic but I feel that rock is a pretty fungible idea. I have a text thread of folks with a musical background and music history background that I don't possess, so that I farmed this out to. We kind of agreed that greatest has to have some combination of popularity, longevity, critical acclaim and influence. One of them lobbed the grenade at me that I thought rock music began in 1989 because I was all country, all the time growing up. Hurtful, but fair.

They had almost Universal disdain for Aerosmith. And they thought the Eagles were not a pure rock band at all. So their list was Lynyrd Skynyrd, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Guns and Roses, Foo Fighters. If the argument is greatest bands in the Rock era they would open it up to REM, Nirvana, Metallica and the Chili Peppers as also being on that list. For the true aficionados they think that wilco, Drive By Truckers and many others are more talented, but aren't on the list because they aren't checking the popularity box.

[burnspbesq]

In terms of sheer instrumental prowess, it would be hard to top the band that Joni Mitchell had for the 1979 tour that gave us the “Shadows and Light” album: Pat Metheny, Lyle Mays, Jaco Pastorius, Peter Erskine, Don Elias. Although by Lou Reed’s famous standard (“if it’s got more than three chords, it’s jazz”), that was definitely not a rock & roll band.

[mpj96]

The Band.

[rsvman]

Agree with the others that Aerosmith versus The Eagles doesn't make much sense. There are probably at least 20
American bands that I would take over either of those.

[ClemmonsDevil]

The Band.

One of my favorite things on here is announcing how little I know about classic rock. Have no idea who they are. Looked them up. Mostly Canadian.

[duke74]

The best band ever assembled in Boston was a one-off, a group of Berklee students assembled to play with Mark O’Connor on his visit to the school sometime around 2009. Julian Lage and Courtney Hartman on guitar, and Sierra Hull and Jacob Joliff on mandolin. Completely ridiculous. I believe the clips are still on YouTube; search for “mark O’Connor berklee.”

Speaking of Berklee, if you love Tull (like me), here’s a full cover of TAAB by students. (And the flautist is way cuter than Ian.)

https://youtu.be/V46DQzKzh7Y

[Reilly]

The best band ever assembled in Boston was a one-off, a group of Berklee students ...

With the possible exception of when Sarah Jarosz practiced alone at NEC ...

[mpj96]

One of my favorite things on here is announcing how little I know about classic rock. Have no idea who they are. Looked them up. Mostly Canadian.

You should dig in a bit. They were amazing. The Last Waltz is a pretty good place to start. My folks had their stuff, John Prine, Tom Waits, Neil Young, Talking Heads, Allman Brothers, Paul Simon, Grateful Dead, CCR, Jimi Hendrix in rotation quite a bit.

Fair point that The Band are mostly Canadians. I'd forgotten that. They got their start there. They wrote and recorded most of their great stuff in Woodstock, NY at the pink house. They don't sound Canadian to my ear or even like they are from upstate NY. Levon Helm gave a distinctly southern flavor to many of their songs.

Fun topic, but there are roughly a jillion bands I'd pay to see before either The Eagles or Aerosmith.

I met Steve Tyler a few years ago at the final four in Arizona. Really sweet, nice guy.

[wavedukefan70s]

A friend of mine just saw The Lemonheads in concert. Also from Boston. Not equivalent to the others being mentioned but amazed that they are still touring after almost 30 years.

Damn I feel old. I miss the smithereens.
Really fun band to see.