My Music: Five All-Time Favorite Rock Bands!

In my SC State University Radio Production class I am asking the students to write a blog post and produce an audio recording of their five or 10 favorites. Favorite what you ask? The theme is music so the task is to share their favorite singers, bands, musicians, guitar players, rappers, etc. So to give the students a better idea what I'm looking for I am putting this together. 

Click here to listen to my audio production that includes bits of music from each group and what I like so much about each. I'm not ranking them, which would be very difficult, but giving you my five favs.

My Favorite Rock Bands: 

SILVERSUN PICKUPS

I credit my wife Alesia for exposing me to this excellent group from California. She listens to Sirius XM's Alt Nation a lot in her car. I began to hear songs I REALLY liked by a group called Silversun Pickups that I had never heard of before. I have since heard so many of this band's songs that I like that on my Amazon Music tunes I have 17 Silversun Pickups songs. They have many, many songs that are so catchy and well composed with great vocals, guitar, drum and bass jams. Alesia and I saw Silversun Pickups in March 2020 in Asheville just before the world shut down due to the Covid pandemic. See my blog post on that awesome show!. 

LED ZEPPELIN

I've been getting my lead out with this iconic British band since I was a teenager. Led by Jimmy Page's brilliant guitar work and Robert Plant's soaring vocals...Oh, and the sonic drumming of John Bonham and the potent bass of John Paul jones, Zeppelin was at the forefront of heavy metal in the 1970s. The band could go very hard core rock but also had a gentle touch in softer ballads. And in their best known song, "Stairway to Heaven," they combined both hard and soft. Their run of selling out concerts and platinum album sales came to an abrupt end in 1980 with the alcohol-fueled death of drummer John Bonham. 

THE DOORS

This seminal psychedelic sixties band remains a fan favorite all these decades since singer Jim Morrison drowned in a Paris bathtub in 1971 at age 27. It was in 1967 that the Los Angeles-based band broke through with its hit single "Break on Through" on its debut album. Their run was short, sweet and influential. Jim Morrison was never replaced after his death just four years into the band's career. But the handful of albums the Doors produced was full of songs that could be dark, dour, and disturbing. "Light My Fire," "Riders on the Storm," and "LA Woman" were hits that sound today as vibrant and powerful as they did way back then. I never saw The Doors in concert but I have seen Jim Morrison's grave in Paris. See it in my blogpost from 2017. 

THE ROLLING STONES

The Stones were a favorite of mine from my early teenage days. They were part of the "British Invasion" that brought to America starting in 1964 The Beatles, The Who, The Kinks and of course The Rolling Stones. These guys were the bad boys compared to the "mop top" lovable Beatles (at least early in their legendary career). You could say The Stones are just as legendary. They have certainly been more profilic and continue to perform to this day, with leaders Mick Jagger and Keith Richards in their late-70s. The Rolling Stones' inventory of songs is incredible: "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction," "Brown Sugar," "Honky Tonk Woman," Jumping Jack Flash," "Wild Horses," "Gimme Shelter" and on and on and on. I saw The Stones in concert in Hampton, Va. in 1981, I think it was. 

U2

This Irish band has been maybe my favorite all-time band since the late 1970s when they really started to blow up around the world. On my Amazon songs I have 18 songs by this group, the most of any band or solo artist. So you think I'm a fan?  Lead singer Bono and guitarist The Edge not only have cool names (not their real names) but their songwriting skills and on-stage performances and concert over-the-top productions are legendary. "New Year's Day" from 1983 is a great rock anthem and is one of my favorite songs of all time. Alesia and I saw U2 in concert in September 2009 at Soldier Field in Chicago. And, yes, it was amazing! 

Well, that's my list of my favorite rock bands. What do you think? Here are my five honorable mention favorite rock groups:  Aerosmith, The Beatles, Cream, Interpol, and The Police. I'm Patrick Harwood. Thanks for listening!