FWIW, the first Van Halen album was purely incredible! I grew up listening to that, and I'd be remiss to not mention my fave band as a schoolkid, Aerosmith.
I guess I'm glad they've stretched their careers all this way out- I've always thought their music became treacly, sugary pi$$ after they stopped doing drugs and started recording BALLADS...
I'll always regret I never saw the Heads when they were still together. Saw David Byrne play a "solo" show, with accompaniment at the Bijou in Knoxville several years ago- was OK, but underwhelming.
Did you say Ballads? The kings of the power ballad were the Scorpions!
The greatest riffs in Rock are from Randy Rhodes.
Did anyone mention Southern rock/blues? The various incarnations of The Allman Brothers Band, one of my all times favorite songs is Sweet Mellisa, if I am in that mellow frame of mind. The guitar work in One Way Out is timeless.
"The soundtrack from "Guardians Of The Galaxy" is worth seeing the movie even if you care less about the genre."
True, dat!
When I was a kid, summertimes were spent at a place called Hermitage Landing (now called Nashville Shores, not NEARLY as cool now)- this place had it ALL. Pretty girls everywhere, Olympic pool and diving boards, sandy beach on Percy Priest lake, floating concert stage, concrete skate/skateboard paths, water flumes down a huge hill, plus a tree-high tram that would take you to a BIG cove where they'd installed a CABLE waterski loop!
They always had the radio on, 103.3 WKDF, and in the 70's, there were always some great tunes. Even now, I've the bad habit (GF not amused, but kinda) of belting out, at any moment on a nice day...
"Summer Breeze, Makes Me Feel Fine, Blowing Through The Jasmine In My Miinnd.... (mouth-miming the geetar lick badly)... Music aint what it used to be!
Fast- THAT was a guitar lick! "I'm on a midnight train to Memphis, Lord, run if ya can!" (Prolly jacked that lyric.)
I have seen no mention of one of the greatest guitar players and composers in history;
Frank Zappa!
Plus he put the whoop ass on Tipper Gore.
Loved Boston, but all their albums sounded the same. Saw them in concert half a dozen times in Colorado at the Mile High Stadium.
Kansas was absofreakinglutely one of the best live shows I have ever been to. Too bad the drones at one particular show thought the concert was over after the first set. We stormed the stage and got the crowd chanting encore and they came out and played another hour.
Believe it or not THE best live performance I have seen was DEVO in a small venue in Socal. They put on a fantastic show and I ended up meeting them again in a bar in Hawaii months later when I was heading out on WESTPAC. Bunch of freaks.
Rush is in the top 3 for live and recorded music.
Pink Floyd is also at the top of the recorded list (old and new), but live always seemed to be lacking.
Van Halen did OK, but they were always drunk and drugged when I saw them.
If you look at my collection, I have every Pink Floyd album ever made (and a few bootlegs), Every Rush album (no bootlegs), 90% of the Frank Zappa albums (couple of boot legs that may or may not be listenable after so long on cassette).
My first concert ever was Bad Company. My sister took me when I was way too young to be allowed in, so I wouldn't rat her and her boyfriend out to mom. Somehow I was allowed inside.
He was truly one of the savants, found a clip of Dweezil jamming with Ana Popovic a while ago, on another muzak thread.
Bangles! I got to go to a show in Daytona Beach for free, whilst on spring break- they were a really good band!
"ARE WE NOT MEN?!"
The Unknown Hinson lately has THE tightest live show...
Look up Scott Miller and the Commonwealth- a "local" boy, GREAT songwriter... and his buds, Mic Harrison and the High Score.
Also- I did see Ray Wylie Hubbard play live at the Shed, first time with Gurf Morlix, AWESOME, then a few more times- Ray's son is getting the guitar really right, lately...
I saw George Thurogood in a really small club in Boulder CO. He was not on the bill, but walked in the Blue Note for drinks a couple of days before a show at the university. After some prompting he got up and played a few songs. Nice guy too. He sat on stage for 15 minutes answering questions.
Remember White Heart?
I saw them before they became just Heart and then several times after. I went to a show in Colorado before I joined the Navy, then saw them a week after boot camp in San Diego, then again a couple months later near Orlando. Each time I had a sign that read: "Remember White Heart". Ann singled me out during a break and asked if I was stalking them...
One of my favorite Pink Floyd remakes was done by The Austin Lounge Lizards...
Lets not forget our Canadian friends, Guess Who. "American Woman" from "Live at the Paramount" is friggin awesome.
The baddest concert I ever saw was at the Lakeland Civic Center. Kansas, The Outlaws, and ZZ Top. The encore was a 45 minute all hands on deck blues jam.
Little flecks of palmetto fiber from the ceiling came drifting down from the sheer power of the music.
Cue "Devil left Chicago"
I sort of saw the Floyd at Orlando Arena, but that one is a bit foggy. It was billed as the most powerful sound system ever at a concert, in quad. Now cue the opening to "Brain Damage".
For what it's worth, I bought tickets to take my 2 sons (11 and 16) to see Alice cooper and Motley Crue this summer. I figure it might be my last ditch effort to turn them from Taylor Swift and Maroon 5. No ear plugs allowed.
I never felt sorry for a band until Blue Oyster Cult played Rochester NY.
First, the Fire dept. ordered the lasers not be powered up...... but nobody told the band. At songs climax lots of guitar waving and.......nothing.
Then the Godzilla ( nice one, too) had his head jam. Spotlight eyes blinding a section of the War Memorial. The CO2 fog machine jammed too, and the stuck wide open jaws drooled smoke like a rabid dog.
The set ends.........people are leaving. The band valiantly comes right back out for the encore. Don't Fear The Reaper begins and three bars in the amps lose power. The band kicks the monitor speakers around and finishes the song at much reduced volume.
I and a few dozen fans left on the floor cheered them on and the remaining crowd got a quiet thank you.... a gig I bet the band still remembers.
Queen!
I have the same earworm problem with "Green Grass and High Tides". I suggest Meatloaf.
. Green Grass and High Tides may be struck in my head for days! 
