The Beach Boys and...?

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

I'm watching what is almost definitely Marv Albert's last broadcast. The Bucks are crushing the Hawks in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals and Marv is set to retire. 

Yes, I know, Marv did this and that back in the 90s and it was deviant and awful. I'm not sweeping it under the rug -- oof, that's an awkward way to put it considering Marv's famous toupee. 

Anyway, I'm opening with a nod to an all-time great broadcaster. That doesn't mean he is the best guy in the world. Oh and I'm aware of the tweet the likened tonight to Vin Scully's last broadcast. Trust me. I laughed.

Oh, yeah, none of that had to do with the title of this post. A site that I often read called Ultimate Classic Rock ranked the top 50 American Bands. We've done this dance before and, at the time, I was fairly certain that I thought the Beach Boys was the correct choice. UCR agrees with me on that.

The full list is here and, of course, I don't remotely agree with a lot of it but that's the nature of this stuff.

Now they take a cop-out in my opinion, eschewing solo acts (OK, so no Billy Joel, Prince, etc) but others tended to work quite a bit with a...er...band. Like, BAND was the extended name of the act.

Put it this way: despite making solo albums, it wasn't just Tom Petty. It was Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers (who, for what it's worth, was listed at number two). 

So the Top 10 is this:

1) The Beach Boys
2) Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
3) Van Halen
4) Credence Clearwater Revival
5) Aerosmith
6) The Doors
7) Talking Heads
8) R.E.M.
9) Eagles
10) Simon and Garfunkel (er...a band?)

How Nirvana or The Ramones, for instance, aren't in the top ten is a matter of taste, I suppose, and I'd willingly drop Talking Heads and Aerosmith out to make room. That's an example.

This, of course, is all flawed and subjective. My head nearly exploded when I saw the likes of Bon Jovi (45), Boston (42), Journey (41), and Cheap Trick (40), and Kiss (25). And The Flaming Lips (49)? Oh, dear. How edgy. How inspiring. 

How insipid.

Those left out are plentiful, of course, and you don't need to be a genius to figure out some of the ones I'm thinking of.

A little ol' act from north of San Francisco...Start spreading the NEWS...

But how about some love for The Monkees or Earth Wind and Fire or The Go Go's?

Of course, there's the gray area of "American Band" so does that take The Monkees out because Davy Jones was English or The Band because they were mixed Canadian/American?

So, yeah, it's quite imperfect.

As always, the goal is clicks and they've achieved that. It creates conversation and they've certainly done that also.

I look forward to reading your thoughts.

The Bucks have just won. Marv's career has indeed come to an end. From a broadcasting perspective, I tip my headset.