Biggest/best current band in the world?
 

Who is it? From 2000 onward, mid 90's at a push.

I know someone will say it's subjective but I mean for example, in past generations you had plenty of choice and big hitters, The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, Pink Floyd, Black Sabbath, Queen, The Who, Led Zep and so on, but today?

I think there are plenty of good bands, but where are the bands who can come close to the icons of the past?

Arctic Monkeys, Muse, Arcade Fire, Radiohead, QOTSA, Kings Of Leon, McBusted?

Where are the modern day Led Zeps and Rolling Stones?

I think I said it in the past QOTSA are one of the best rock bands in the last 14 years so u could make a case for them I don't know what kinda crowd they Pull in tho ..???? in terms of numbers not has much has they like thats 4 sure


I throw some names in the hat

Korn

Incubus... even tho there on hiatus

jack white and all his bands

and def Slipknot

That's a tough question to answer but I'll contribute by saying Tame Impala, Young The Giant, Muse, The Offspring, of course Green Day. And I'm a girl who loves all music by any great band.

Yeah, basically what I'm trying to get at is who is the current band that is taking the world by storm the way the icons mentioned did.

Personally don't think Slipknot come close to Black Sabbath.

Agreed, although Sabbath didn't come close to Zep or the Stones or the Who or some others. They would've opened for Zeppelin. But they are VASTLY bigger than Slipknot.

The first band that would come to my mind would be Radiohead, although tbh I haven't really been paying attention in this decade.

Tbh I actually prefer Sabbath but from what I've heard other people say who were around at that time Led Zep probably were 'bigger'.

I would go for them too tbh. Can't really think of anyone else.

Coldplay? :o:

I didn't wanna mention them because I loathe those guys with every particle of my soul. But, unfortunately, yeah, they're that big. Sadly U2 probably would be too, but at least I like their earliest work, esp the War album.

Anything from The Joshua Tree on can die in a fire

in terms of sales and ticket butts in seats slipknot is out doing black Sabbath past and present jus saying and they haven't even dropped a album in like 3 years

Black Sabbath sold well over 70m worldwide, even more if you include Ozzy's solo stuff.

Slipknot have sold 20m.

Also didn't Sabbath just sell out their world tour? I know tickets here are about 60 quid, about 120 dollars, so not cheap either.

Nowadays there is no such thing as Beatles or Zep were. Nowadays everone's music tastes are much more divided thanks to internet.
So there are probably good bands out there but none of them can grow as big as the biggest bands once were.
You can say that on some degree Beatles symbolizes the sixties and Zep (like it or not) symbolized the nineties... But then, who symbolized the eighties or the nighties or 00's.

Well, Justin Bieber is really well-known, not that I like his music, but you got to admit: everyone knows him. One Direction as well, I don't know anybody that doesn't know them. Katy Perry / Rihanna / Beyonce / Taylor Swift are all very famous people as well. I don't like their music, just want to make that clear, sorry haha

I don't think there's been any groundbreaking rock bands since Nirvana. In a sense Nirvana was the last gasp of rock music's glory days and when Nirvana came out, rock n' roll was already losing ground on the charts to rap music and mainstream dance pop music.

Early in the 2000s I thought the Strokes might restore rock to it's rightful place but they fizzled out on their second album and never found a large audience for their music. Radiohead still has a large following but their experimental methodology is somewhat outside of the rock music framework. U-2 ran out of ideas after about 5 or 6 albums. R.E.M. also lost momentum toward the end of the 80s.

Most of the current pop music is either prefabricated girl/boy vocal groups, pretentious artpop singers like Madonna, Katie Perry and Lady Gaga, or former reality show competition winners... It's really a dismal music scene.

I hold on to the eternal hope that some magnificent rock band will come along and have the same seismic impact of the Beatles, the Stones, Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, the Sex Pistols, the Clash or Nirvana. When the Beatles arrived in America in 1964, rock and roll was all but dead and over with and they revived the entire genre with one appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show.

^ The Strokes don't do anything for me musically, but I agree with everything else in that post.

I agree with all you said expect that part about Strokes.
But you said it well, I was going to say something similar but you said it better than I could ever say it.

Why does there have to be one band that becomes massively successful? Times have changed. There are now so many faces of music that it's impossible to have one that arches over all of it. And I am glad this is happening. It's music showing that it can evolve. There's a lot more diversity now and music isnt just about white english speaking guys playing guitars.

Music is in a great place currently. God forbid you have to actively look for it. We dont need a figurehead

I agree with Gavin B. I wouldn't say it's about wanting a hugely successful band or figurehead, it's simply a desire for a band to come along who are as talented and influential as The Beatles, The Stones, Led Zep etc. It's about wanting truly great music, music that blazes a trail for others to follow.

There are many of those now that dont sell out stadiums.

But we've got those kinds of bands. They're just a bit under the radar these days.

I'm not dissatisfied with today's music, there's loads of great music around, but are any of today's artists as talented as The Beatles, Hendrix and their ilk? I don't think so.

Yes. Those groups aren't magically the best just because they're from the sixties, or because the hippies in charge of Rolling Stone won't shut up about them. They're as good as any other bands from any other era.

It has nothing to do with them coming from the sixties (I suspect for a few bands/artists it has something to do with them growing up as kids in post WWII times, but that's another discussion), it's to do with the body of work they created. That's what defines greatness, not when they were around, or how many people sing their praise. It's about the music they made.

What makes those older artists that you mentioned more talented than any current band?

The breadth, quality and consistency of their work. They'd put down an amazing album, and do it again, and again, and again, with few exceptions.

And we still see people doing this today, just not any of the big names.

I guess this will just go to opinion but I mean Hendrix only put out 3 albums, I only consider 2 (maybe 3) Beatles albums "great", 1 great Led Zep album, 1 (or 2) great Stones albums, etc. There are numerous 00s bands that id consider having put out more consistently great albums than them.

And Nirvana and the Sex Pistols were brought up earlier too. Not much consistency there either.

One only great Zeppelin album? Assuming you mean LZ4?

I think all of their first six are great.

Nah II is my favorite. Actually III and Houses of the Holy are really good too so they could be fringe greats. Never been huge on IV tbh but its still probably better than Physical Graffiti or I.

I think it's pretty hard to argue against Radiohead in terms of consistency, reviving musical interests, and experimenting with popular sounds. Even in their experimentation they're validating popular forms. If you want to argue it's not "rock" enough I think we're narrowing the focus too much for a discussion of modern popular music. I really don't buy that we can only have greats from Nirvana on back; Radiohead have had a huge contribution and have had more albums AND have practically as consistent, especially considering they're still ongoing.

Actually Z4 is not as good as their first three.

And I like new music as well as older, but I have not yet heard any newer artists that could be better than The Fab Four.
But maybe it is just because they were indeed Fad and someone has to be the best anyway.
But those who say that some new artists, as good as they are, are as talented as, for example, Beatles, I would be thankful if you mentioned some names. If there is such great music, then I wanna know about it too.
But, though, these things are always subjective.

Mr. Bungle pushed the envelope and consistently put out great albums


And the legendary Zu, who have sadly broken up


Sunn O)))


I could go on and on, but I'm not sure that these videos will convince you because my taste is kind of out there sometimes. I highly suggest doing some research on new music because you may be very surprised with what you find. Try scanning the top rated lists and user-made charts on RateYourMusic for a good resource.

I've got a prediction going that Tame Impala is going to be The Next Big Band.

BTW, for current bands/artists, for better or worse I think Adele could be the biggest thing going. After all, her album 21 was the first album EVER to be the best-selling album on the Billboard charts for two consecutive years in a row.

The problem with having this discussion is that we are currently in the timeline for it. We have to wait another 10 to 20 years and then look back to see someone's entire body of work and then claim that they were the standout for that generation in terms of quality with their body of work.

I agree. But you can certainly notice the hype of current artists, but that doesn't necessarily mean quality albums.

green day are pretty big, and for a good reason. But nothing is really as good as the beatles or led zep...

The next arena filler, the next festival liners, the next to truly crack every overseas market and have international appeal?
Tame Impala?
I don't see it

Also, who says there's going to be 'the next big' anything, as Ninetales pointed out. Music has changed. I sure as hell don't mention the talent and quality of an artist on sales and marketability.
Bands like The Beatles got as big as they were because they were allowed to be. Had they never been picked up on and pushed to the moon, they wouldn't have had the chance to have the success they did.

TILTS TILTS TILTS
*devours copious bongs*

Yeah, good point.

There are not many hyped bands that I like, but The White Stripes and The Black Keys are big bands who put out some decent records.

Will have to second Queens of The Stone Age. One of my favorite bands in our modern times that are highly regarded.