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