Pearl Jam - The Best American Rock Band

Here's a shocker. I was reading this article last week that was in a rock and roll mag somewhere. And it had the results of an informal survey where they polled American music fans about who they say was the best rock band in American music history. So, here's the shock: The voters overwhelmingly picked 90s grunge rockers Pearl Jam.

Now, I wouldn't have disputed it if they were doing the best alternative bands, or the best band of the 1990s or something along those lines. But this was literally every band in the last 60 years or so.

I just didn't buy the idea that Pearl Jam somehow ranked ahead of other far more classic groups out there. And it's not as if I don't like Pearl Jam, I just wonder how it came to be.

But then I really got down to thinking about it, and there are lots of great bands, but maybe not more than Pearl Jam.

There are dozens of bands one could have considered for this contest: everything from Jimi Hendrix to the Clash, Alice Cooper to Nirvana. But none of them really stacked up to Pearl Jam.

So, after thinking about it for a good long while, I guess Pearl Jam really does kind of deserve their position. They've really been consistently at the top of their game ever since Ten came out in the early 90s. And they've just sort of stayed there, producing awesome music.

I am honestly surprised to be saying this, but I'm on board with the masses on this one in crowning Pearl Jam the greatest American rock band of all time. It really is a deserved honor.

But Pearl Jam has truly been a breath of fresh air in the world of corporate-run rock acts and high-wage attention whores. They've just managed to keep it real while not falling into the personality or drug problems that plague so many other groups. And that's why I have to give it to the band, they're great.

Round tablecloths are perfect for casual dinnerware sets.