Music Blogs

Ah, the Jam Bands. Over the years this has turned into an industry and like most industries has toughened up the regulations and made it more it more difficult for groups to gain entry. You have to play and look a certain way. If not, they kick you out of the fraternity. When picking the "classic" jam bands, I decided to throw the rules out. Just because the Grateful Dead could play for 12 hours and had three million people following them in a Volkswagen brigade doesn't automatically make them a shoo-in for the top slot. Around here you have to earn your stripes. Or at least tickle my fancy.

There are plenty of worthy jammers out there, I'm sure. But these are the 10 I settled on. You may settle differently. And for those wondering "Where's Phish?" Be on the look-out, I'm also compiling a list of the "next-generation" that embraces, well, the next generation.

10) Television: Tom Verlaine and Richard Lloyd may have made their reputation at CBGBs, but their musical chops were far beyond the punk aesthetic that they got lumped in with. Long, extended solos were pretty routine and when they got going they outlasted the competition and sent them home crying.

9) The Allman Brothers Band: I never need to hear "Whipping Post" for as long as I live. But these southern gentlemen were far more than just that one over-played tune. And it really isn't their fault. Royalties are royalties. Get paid. And if you can do it while noodling around on an organ--which means you're being paid to sit down--all the more power to you.

8) Frank Zappa: Frank Zappa recorded something like 5,000 albums. Apparently, he recorded in his sleep. Scientific laws certainly suggest what he accomplished was near impossible, but the man did very little else with his time. And somehow found enough able-bodied people to accompany him on his journey. Anyone have an extra year to spare?

7) The Meters: Not a jam band in the traditional sense--I'm not big on tradition--the Meters were one serious musical entity who rolled up R&B and funk into a New Orleans-styled gumbo that other bands would try to duplicate and usually fail horribly. Some bands make it sound too easy.

6) The Grateful Dead: Of course these guys would be here somewhere. They didn't invent the genre, but they persisted at it longer than anyone else and created the world's largest cult following in the process. To think young inexperienced bands used to "jam" to pad out their sets because they had to in order to make their paltry set lists last all barroom night and then these guys come along and do it voluntarily. They easily could've played a 90 minute set and called it quits. But they didn't. Because they never knew when they were tired?

5) Mahavishnu Orchestra: I'm always hesitant to put "jazz-fusion" groups on my list since it opens up a potential can of worms. How can I leave off (fill in the blank)? But at the same time when it comes to jamming and exploring new sounds in outerspace you have to sometimes bend the rules and let a little jazz-fusion into your heart.

4) Amon Duul II: This crazy German collective could space out to the point that no one knows where they are by the time the song ends. The guitar player is probably in the bathroom and the bass player has probably gone home with a few random strangers. Just keep the tape machine rolling and consider it genius.

3) Neil Young And Crazy Horse: Once Neil turns the amps all the way up, watch out. Crazy Horse are arguably the least technically proficient band Neil has ever worked with. But what they lack in finesse, they make up for with dry-humping elephant noise. And dry-humping elephant noise is a major component of all great rock n' roll.

2) Funkadelic: George Clinton practically invented his own musical language and with Eddie Hazel on guitar the two were a formidable one-two punch. Often not considered in the "jam band" aesthetic, Funkadelic could teach a few new lessons to these burned out hippies who think it's all about the noodling. It's about the groove. And staying out late!

1) The Jimi Hendrix Experience: Jimi liked to play his guitar. And while his estate has seen to it that he's now played with more musicians that he never met than any other dead musician, that's no reason to discount his actual abilities. Any live album will show you what he could do. Even when he's tired and his equipment is malfunctioning he's got it going on. You could even argue that he's better when he's worse. Crazy, huh?