I’m talking about the toughest test there is, the test of time. I lived through Beatlemania. I saw hysterical girls at Shea Stadium, being carted off by caring police officers. Lenon/McCartney are the only team in pop music history, thus far, to rival George and Ira Gershwin. The Beatles’ record sales REVERSED ENGLAND’S BALANCE OF PAYMENTS WITH THE REST OF THE WORLD. That is a staggering economic achievement. I respect and enjoy The Beatles and Led Zep; I have every one of the latter’s albums. What I am also saying is that there are other bands who merit consideration, based not only on my taste but also on observing the taste of my clients for high-end audio systems. Those bands include Queen, The Rolling Stones, Cream, Traffic, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, The Who, for whom I can argue are the best rock band of all time (exceptional songwriting, CREATED the rock opera genre) had arguably the best male rock singer thus far in Roger Daltry (competition would be Robert Plant, Freddy Mercury, David Bowie and perhaps Richie Sambora), the second-best drummer in rock history (Keith Moon, who was rock ‘n’ roll incarnate, but who lacked the skills and passion of Cream’s Ginger Baker), and who had, incontestably, the highest level of live performance energy thus far in history; and I’ve seen Queen, The Stones, and Jefferson
Airplane in cincert. To be a bit generous, Journey. I am tempted to include Bowie and The Spiders From Mars in this list, because it’s the only time, of which I am aware, that David included himself in a defined band. In terms of World Popularity Metrics, it’s easy to make a case for Queen. To repeat myself, like what you like. But there is far more to ultimate rock ‘n’ roll than The Beatles and Led Zepplin.
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