h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Thank you: will look into it!

My apologies, most of the band ARE American, but Christopher (Haden)-Guest although I think he was brought up in America is/was entitled to and did take his seat in the House of Lords.

Some of these have been mentioned a looooong way back but some American stuff that was/is quite good:

Pixies
Miles Davis
Stooges
Doors
Velvet Underground
Hendrix
MC 5
Television
Patti Smith
Black Flag
Husker Du
Ramones
Zappa

Don't get me started on Best UK bands....... not enough time!

I always hear MC5 mentioned all the time. But I've never got around to listening to any of their stuff. What are they like? Genre? Are they actually any good?

Ste

Firewater
Ass Ponys
Tom Waits
B-52s
Blondie

and others that were previously mentioned, but I am shocked, deeply, deeply shocked that They Might Be Giants was only mentioned once. And what of The Residents?

MC5 stands for "Motor City Five", a five-member band from Detroit (aka Motor City). Makes sense, eh? Anyway, they were part of the earliest foundations of what became punk rock. Very loud, obnoxious, anarchic music. Other notables: formed in 1964, disbanded in 1972; influenced bands like their contemporaries from Detroit, The Stooges (which featured the likes of Iggy Pop), and present-day punkadelic band Primal Scream; managed for a time by the infamous John Sinclair (founder of The White Panther Party and other political movements); guitarist Fred "Sonic" Smith was a founding member. You may have heard many versions of their classic "Kick Out the Jams," featuring the trademark howl, "kick out the jams, motherf***ers!!"

- JD (no such thing as too much rock-n-roll trivia)

Heh, well Cristopher Guest (who played Nigel Tufnel, whose guitar "went to 11") is married to Jamie Lee Curtis and was born in New York, New York, USA. He apparently became a member of the House of Lords, which makes him British in my book. The other two "members" of the "band" Spinal Tap were played by Michael McKean (b. in New York City as well), and Harry Shearer (b. in Los Angeles).

I wouldn't even say that Spinal Tap were a REAL band, but their spoof was of both Led Zeppelin and Aerosmith, probably because of the well-known antics of each by the time the movie came out in ... what was it, '84?

- JD

But... "Spinal Tap" went on to release various CDs... the characters all played and wrote the songs... so maybe they were a real BAND, in a strangely insincere sense? How confusing.

Just throwing my two pennies in...I can ascertain that Christopher Haden-Guest is extremely British.

Intriguing. Howso?

His brother is a friend of mine...

Amongst the Giants I count:-

Santana
The Eagles
Bread
The Band
War
The Beachboys

On a more recent timescale - I love the Counting Crows.

Santana is good! So is Meatloaf!

Not even a single mention of Journey?!?

As crows go, Black Crowes are better, IMO

Also good:
Trans-Siberian Orchestra
matchbox 20
Aerosmith
Creed
Van Halen

I don't know that it's possibe to say any one is the 'best' over many others that are equally as good, in the field of music in general it really is comparing apples to oranges to kumquats (to borrow someone else's phrase).

I was surprised to see Alabama and Dixie Chicks up there, tho. I had always been given that country music was somewhat of an 'Americanism' that hadn't found much international acceptance. Alabama is a good band tho, perhaps the best in their genre if you like that sort of thing.

a lot of good stuff out there.

I would probably 2nd the mention of the great blues guitarists...

as well as hendrix...

peace.

and I'd also mention the bluegrass and old time stuff...

peace.