The question was posed to me as to who where the greatest of the Rock and Roll groups ... ouch! But, I did think about it, not only in the context of their music but the time they came out of, the message they had and their impact when they came to town.
First off - Beatles are eliminated as they just broke ground for all whom followed.
Secondly, where as I may love The Grassroots, Bread, Beach Boys, Paul Revere and the Raiders - none of them had a major impact, per my rules above ....
Hmmmm ......
And I have to say, I think I have a tie. The Guess Who, whom almost no one remembers anymore meet all of my qualifications.
But, there is a another group whom also meets all of those qualifications as well and honestly I would not want to have to make the choice between them!
The Guess Who, strongly anti war, pro peace, pro drug - literally moved the youth of the late 60s and early 70s. Their music still has a retained message, were it to ever get any air time! Similar groups were Chicago, Three Dog Night and Creedance Clearwater Revival. But, they were just edged out by The Guess Who.
My final choice: Electric Light Orchestra, aka ELO, needs little introduction in America but not so well known even in their native England!
They brought lasers to concerts, the first to do so, they had synchronized lights - in short they put on an innovative show which all groups since have followed. They message was generally about life, backed by synthesizer and full orchestras. Talk box and many other tricks of the trade they used to their advantage.
Think of all of the "showmanship" groups to arise in the late 1970's and into the 1990's - all based on ELO's work.
Just one problem, they predated the music video! So you will need to be satisfied with a reunion tour example of their work. And to really date yourself, this song was used in which very successful movie?
As a comparison, remember this is pre-video and not much film seems to be out there.
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