Most talented band of all-time

Let's try to find out the most talented band of all-time. Popularity does not count, neither does album sales or number of number one hits/albums or time spent on record charts - this would just give bands like The Beatles and Queen (both the bands are the leaders in terms of album sales and time spent in charts - the Beatles particularly in album sales, and Queen particularly in chart positions - although both bands have done exceptionally well in both the departments) at an unfair advantage. All the considerations made are important and are in no particular order.

1. INSTRUMENTAL PROWESS:
An easy one, this. The Beatles probably score the least in this department (none of the Beatles members were virtuoso musicians), while the winners are clear. These are the bands which often in their live performances go beyond their already highly-complicated stuffs on record. These are the bands whose live albums proudly claim something along the lines of "What you are about to hear is exactly what was heard at......", while 'live' albums like Led Zep's "The Song Remains The Same" and Kiss's "Kiss Alive" are heavily edited from the real live renditions. Plus, the drum set of Neil Pert (Rush) would make the drum sets of even Roger Taylor or Keith Moon or Bonzo Bonham look like toys (okay that's a big exaggeration, but you get the point).

Edge: Rush, Dream Theater, Yes


2. MUSICAL SENSIBILITY:
Difficult one, but the artist, to score in this section should be able to create high-quality music in different genres. Queen definitely scores in this regard, because when they did heavy metal, they did the REAL heavy metal sans blues influence (at a time when Sabbath/Priest did mostly blues). When they did rockabilly, you would have sworn it were an Elvis song written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. Even "Hot Spaces", the Queen album I myself hate, was an inspiration to Michael Jackson (he said "If there was no Hot Spaces, there would be no Thriller"). Listen to Queen songs like "The March of The Black Queen" - preferably with good quality headphones - and you'll know about their true musical sensibility.

Edge: Queen


3. EPICS
Here epics mean songs over 20 minutes of length. Anyone can do epics, but I'm talking about epics that you'd actually want to listen to. The only things that come to my mind are Led Zep and Floyd.

Edge: Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd

4. DIVERSITY OF GENRES

Diversity absolutely counts - listening to the same kind of stuff gets a bit tedious after time. This is about how good artists are in many different genres. Queen is definitely the edge here, because not only they've done over 40 genres (see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3vwlfyzvX4 ) - but they were the kind of band that actually came up with a hell lot of different genres. Led Zep also did quite a lot, although not in par with Queen. Queen guitarist Brian May said "There are many stuffs in our albums you'd not expect - that's why they're there". Mr Bungle gets a mention as they've done Death Metal, jazz, blues, gospel, bossa nova, what not, although they haven't done anything to reinvent the wheel, so  that's a minus.

Edge: Queen, Led Zeppelin, Mr Bungle


5. CONCERT PRESENTATION
Nothing to explain here. Freddie Mercury is definitely the greatest showman of all-time, and Brian/Roger/John aren't boring to watch at all (okay maybe John sometimes, but he has his wild moments), plus other factors make Queen the leader here. To quote Wikipedia, a diverse catalogue of songs, massive sound systems, huge lighting rigs, an arsenal of pyrotechnics and many extravagant costumes helped turn Queen shows into entertaining, theatrical events. And even without all the glitter, their performance in "Live Aid" proved that they can definitely play without costumes, lights, backdrops, in broad daylight. Guitarist May on Live Aid: "It all comes down to whether you can play or not, really". Queen frontman Freddie Mercury: "If its planned, its boring" and "Our concerts are not just live rendition of our songs, its a theatrical event."

Edge: Queen

6. PROFICIENCY IN DIFFERENT INSTRUMENTS

This is about technical skill on each individual instrument, the way the instruments contributed to his or his band's overall sound or ambiance, versatility, and compositional ability. Everyone from from Queen could play a pretty good number of instruments. Notable to mention are Ian McDonald (King Crimson/Foreigner), Stevie Wonder, Ian Anderson (Jethro Tull), Anton Newcombe (The Brian Jonestown Massacre), Jonny Greenwood (Radiohead), Steve Winwood (Traffic), Kerry Minnear (Gentle Giant), Phil Shulman (Gentle Giant), Ray Shulman (Gentle Giant), Derek Shulman (Gentle Giant), John Paul Jones. Yes, almost everyone from Gentle Giant.

Edge: Gentle Giant


7. SONGWRITING
Funny how this made it so late to this list, while this is probably the single most important factor. There are mainly two types of notable songwriters - the songwriters that can write hit songs, and the songwriters that can write great lyrics. I'll take both into consideration - the songwrites who are brilliant AND have managed hits. The Beatles, Queen, and Pink Floyd shine here. Everyone from The Beatles and every one from Queen have written decent songs, I also like Waters from Floyd. Queen has probably the most diverse kind of lyrics - everything from catchy lines ("I want it all, I want it all, I want it all, and I want it now"), love songs, philosophical songs ("If there's a god or any kind of justice on the sky.. if there's a point if there's a reason we live or die.. if there's a answer to the question we feel bound to ask.. know yourselves destroy your fears release your mask"), highly energetic lines ("But its been no bed of roses, no pleasure cruise... I consider it a challenge before the whole human race and I ain't gonna lose"), wise lines ("What is left of your dreams? Just the words on your stone. A man who learned how to teach. Then forgot how to learn."), party songs, breakup songs, and many, many more types of songs. Flyod has songs like "Echoes" and albums like "The Wall".

Edge: The Beatles, Queen, Pink Flyod

8. CONSISTENSY

This is the measure of how consistently a band performs throughout its career. There aren't many bands that have maintained the same image throughout the years regardless of member changes/fame/whatever. Okay, there are many, but only Iron Maiden and Pink Floyd comes to mind. We need to remember that the last Led Zep albums sucked. Queen did five epic albums in row in the 70's (Queen II, Sheer Heart Attack, A Night At The Opera, A Day At The Races, News of the World), followed by zero in the 80's - they did one final epic album (Innuendo) in the 90's. Plus, their disco album "Hot Spaces" is a torture to listen to me - all the other albums (with the exception of "Flash Gordon") are fine, but this one is below-average in my ears. I know there are people who just consider this a different moment rather than a weak one, given the fact that its an early form of the current mainstream music (most of it), but for me its definitely a weak moment for this one. The Beatles were insanely cool in their time, that's definitely not the case right now. They were a "rock band" in their time, but for me they just did simple pop songs.

Edge: Iron Maiden, Pink Floyd

9. INNOVATION

What's the point of a band if it does no original stuff? Shawn Lane was technically one of the greatest guitarists who ever lived, but he never wrote a decent song, so to me he did nothing to contribute to the evolution of music.  Johnny Cash, on the other hand, could play about ten chords and he wrote countless pieces of music cherished by millions. But let's talk bands here. The Beatles were pretty innovative. Led Zeppelin were pretty innovative too, and with albums like "The Wall" and "Dark Side of The Moon", so is Pink Floyd. Queen did a lot to reinvent the wheel as well - they changed the face of heavy metal, arena rock, progressive rock, glam rock, pop, etc. music. Queen fronto Freddie Mercury said: "The whole point of Queen is to be original".

Edge: The Beatles, Queen, Pink Floyd

NEPALI POP BAND

Inspired by the growing influence of Western pop music, many young Nepalese at the end of the 1980s picked up Western instruments themselves. Those who had the means, mostly students from upper and middle class families, began to follow the lead of the Hillocks, a Pop Nepali songs band of the early 1980s. They formed their own Pop Nepali song bands and covered their favorite Pop Nepali songs. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, a generation of Pop Nepali songs musicians from high school and college students organized themselves into Western cover bands, and performed in dynamic concerts of Western hits in English. Popular groups included Wrathchild, Crisscross, Chimpanzees, the Elegance, Prism (which originated in Darjeeling), and Next. The concert scene included not only auditoriums in schools but also large public spaces, such as Kathmandu Durbar Square, in a party to celebrate the Nepal Sambat, or New Year’s Eve on the Newar calendar. Out of this spirit of youth-centered excitement later emerged a new sound that would come to be known as Pop Nepali songs. Some of the Pop Nepali song bands were beginning to compose and perform original Pop Nepali songs, most in Nepali. A few of these Pop Nepali song bands were beginning to make recordings, although affordable recording technology and professional sound studios did not become abundant in Kathmandu until the early 1990s. Performing Western covers was a kind of musical training for many Nepali musicians who would later form some of Nepal’s leading Pop Nepali song bands, including Rock Yogis, Nepathya, and Mongolian Hearts.

Initially popular sounds included heavy metal (especially that of Iron Maiden, Anthrax, Aerosmith, and Metallica), Pink Floyd, and the Beatles. Western styles that were later prominently incorporated into Pop Nepali song bands included disco, reggae, rap, grunge, and alternative rock. Weaker influences from punk and from blues, jazz, and Spanish guitar could also be heard. Not incorporated into Pop Nepali songs were the sounds of gospel, soul, country and western, country rock, beach music, Motown, psychedelic rock, and vocal pop groups (such as New Kids on the Block and Boys II Men), although all these sounds could all be heard on MTV and Nepali FM radio. In the exciting period of the mid to late 1980s, some young Nepali musicians were doing more than just covering Western, English-language music. Some were also listening to aadhunik geet and lok geet, and to older Pop Nepali song singers and musicians like Harish Mathema, Sunil Upreti, Om Bikram Bista, the latter of which was the first prominent Pop Nepali song singer to start to use Western popular instruments into his recordings (Zeepee). They began to contemplate ways to incorporate Western musical influences into Pop Nepali song music.

The primary fan base of Pop Nepali songs were middle- and upper-class, educated, urban young people, mostly in high school or college. The influence of Pop Nepali songs also reached into the lower classes with some success, particularly in the cities. Accordingly many listened to Pop Nepali songs up to their early thirties.

Pop Nepali song is the urban music. It was most popular in Nepal’s cities. Kathmandu was the largest market, but the Pop Nepali song music was also popular in the smaller cities of Pokhara, Dharan, Narayanghat, Butawal, and Biratnagar. Pop Nepali felt more close to their immediate cultural concerns, because it was primarily in their national language, Nepali, and because they could hear in it distinctive rhythms, melodies, and timbres of Nepali music. Although Pop Nepali songs incorporated some musical influences from folk music, in most respects it participated in a growing disjuncture between folk and urban cultures in Nepal.

NEPALI POP BAND