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

Please give your reasons for your answers
But I think that they will always be

As with anything to do with music, or any other kind of art, it's a matter of taste

I could think of many reasons why they may not be, and many reasons why other bands may, but ultimately it all comes down to personal preference, and the fact that there are now and have been just too many other good bands to count only one of them as the best.

heres some reasons

1) theyre rubbish
2) bono is a willy
3) theyre the reason david gray exists

No. The Smashing Pumpkins were the best band to ever exist. Reasons why?

1) Wide variety of rock music - the songs written on acoustic are just as good as the layered electronic stuff.
2) Billy Corgan shaved his head half-way through their existence.
3) They have a good mix of emotion, some of the best lyrics in the world, and nothing can beat the intro riffs to "Bullet with..." or "Today"
4) They were on The Simpsons before U2 were (I think)...
5) Everyone hates Billy Corgan.
6) There is no album I could pick apart and hate...
7) BUTCH VIG, FLOOD and ALAN MOULDER all produced the albums. Emphasis on BUTCH VIG...who also donned a giant pig's head for the home video "Viewphoria"...
8) Kurt Cobain was jealous of Billy Corgan's talent...
9) Billy Corgan is God. His music excellence outstretches nearly all musicians...few can match him. He can write anything.
10) The Siamese Dream album.

All things that U2 could achieve. I think it is just a lazy attitude of people to name them the best rock band. There's only one song of U2's that is worth listening to..."Sunday Bloody Sunday"...nothing much else.

U2 are dull and old. Smashing Pumpkins are dull, irrelevant, and very cheesy.

Ste

moreover, i dont think its really possible to say that any band is the best.

what about the album adore? or machina? they werent very good, now were they. i *did* like mellon collie, however. have you ever seen martin grech?

>dull irrellevant and cheesy<

Bulls**t. You know not what you say young man.

The best thing about these U2 threads is that they accidently invoke a link to that enigmatic forgotten Researcher with the to-die-for U-number.

Come to think of it, that's the only good thing about these U2 threads.

Pin

I do. The first album was alright, but they just degenerated into a pastiche of themselves. Corgan's voice is appaling, and mellon collie was a bloated and boring apart from two songs. They take themselves too seriously, so end up being silly.

I prefer U2, at least they could write a good tune. A few years ago.

theyre a bit pretentious. ok, very rpetentious. and quite pompous, but i rather like his voice, and you cant beat the riffage.

U2, way past their prime
Smashing Pumpkins, Great up to Mellon Collie. Have lost interest since then.

The best rock band in the world is Pearl Jam, still writing good albums, still packing stadiums, still rocking in the free world.

I don't think anyone can claim to be the greatest band in the world.

U2 are certainly a great band. They are the only "Live Aid"-era band to have retained their credibility (largely thanks to the 1991 "turnaround" of the band's image and sound) and the fact that they have released two brilliant singles in the last couple of years ("Elevation" and "Electrical Storm") shows they still have what it takes.

They are past their best, but the fact that they are still convincingly going after more than two decades is extremely impressive.

Easy answer: No.

Reasons: They're pathetic.

Re: The Smashing Pumpkins.

I like a lot of their stuff. "Siamese Dream" is a brilliant album and they have released some cracking singles ("Today", "Bullet With Butterfly Wings"). The thing I find confusing about them is that they started out as a grunge-ish alternative band and by the time they split up, they looked like a Goth act and Corgan had changed into a mixture of Uncle Fester and Gary Numan.

Having said that, US alt rock is probably a great deal poorer without them.

Would say that U2 are more of a Pop band than a rock band but I guess that is just splitting hairs.

U2 are a great mainstream band but I guess the reason for the negative responses is that this is not really a mainstream site.

IMO U2 were good up until around Actung Baby and then they disappear up there own bottoms for a while. They seem to have returned lately with a load of quality pop songs a la Beautiful day.

I used to be a huge Pumpkins fan but I think they ( for 'they' read Billy Corgan ) also went up their own bottoms at around the time of Adore. I think it would have been good for them at them time of Jimmy's jail sentence to take a rest and think about their direction. Machina is good though. And, I cant wait for Billy's new band Zwan to release a new album. I think it is due sometime around march.

For me, to be a bona-fide 'Best Rock Band in the World' you have to have something a bit 'Tap' about you. In fact, The Tap are probably the worlds best rock band - the others are just vying for second place. The fact that they are fictional only adds to the status.

OK, so I'm in my 30s, but I much prefer Queen's music to U2's. Go and listen to a Queen album, any album (except "Hot Space", because it was crud).

Queen were capable of a great variety of music on their albums, their live shows were very, very special, and Freddie Mercury had one of the most versatile rock/pop voices ever.

Queen never had any of U2's emotional depth, which is a pity, but given the choice between listening to Freddie or Bono, give me Freddie 8 out of 10.

R.E.M. - there is noting more to say...

I think bands that don't exist anymore, like Queen, don't really qualify because they're not "in the world" anymore.

R.E.M are pop.....but that's besides the point. Are they not a bit past it as well. U2 are at least trying something different ( and I am not standing up for U2 ) but R.E.M keep knocking out clone albums......

1: R.E.M. are NOT past is...

2: Every album is a renewal, and I am pleased to discover a change and development every time a new album comes out...

3: They are SO NOT Pop, they are alternative rock...

and

4: