Sunday, May 11, 2003

Did Someone Say Thirty?

A few years back, my pal Jeff Johnson (of Spunk Studio fame, not of NFL picks fame) declared REM to be "the greatest American rock 'n' roll band ever." While I like REM just fine, in my head they're in the category titled Cute Little Singles Band. And truly, nothing is wrong with that - in fact, it's kinda noble. Hearing the debut single off of REM's latest album was a radio highlight from the mid-eighties through the mid-nineties. (The only REM album I ever listen to is Eponymous.) But in honor of the 20th anniversary of the release of Murmur, here's my list of Twenty American Rock 'n' Roll Bands That Are Better Than REM:

Aerosmith
Alice Cooper
Creedence Clearwater Revival
Guns n' Roses
J. Geils Band
Lynyrd Skynyrd
MC5
Metallica
New York Dolls
Nirvana
Pearl Jam
Public Enemy
The Replacements
Paul Revere and the Raiders
Run-DMC
Soul Asylum
The Stooges
The Temptations
Van Halen
Wilco