American rock bands certainly exist, but it’s amazing how easy it is to sit around thinking of rock bands going, “Wait, they’re British too…”
We did think of the Eagles. I don’t like Aerosmith, but I’d still put them ahead of the Eagles.
We thought of Springsteen and the E-Street Band, but that felt like cheating. I’d put Hendrix in the same category.
It certainly does matter what you call rock, and what you call “greatest” (which we felt was restricting us to big names with big sales or legacies, not just to bands that made great music). This conversation was some time back, and I think back then I tended to break music up into way more categories. Now I’d be way more tempted to include Nirvana, the Talking Heads (@anon15383236), R.E.M., the Ramones, and Parliament Funkadelic/P-Funk All Stars (which I don’t see as a mere extension of George Clinton) in a discussion of “rock” bands. If you include all that then my immediate instinct of derisive laughter was totally appropriate (did I mention I don’t like Aerosmith?).
