There’s only one correct answer….

I’m ok with #1 and #2 but wouldn’t have picked the Beatles over some of your also rans

The Kinks were massively popular in the United Kingdom but were too quintessentially English to make it big over here. Also, for reasons disputed, they got banned from touring here in the United States in the sixties when they would have had the biggest impact. They make my top three, though, because the first rock song I fell in love with was "You Really Got Me" when it came out in 1965 when I was nine years old.

I’d replace the Beatles with The Monkeys, but other than that it looks good to me.

I'd pick Herman's Hermits over the Beatles.

1. The Police 2. The Rolling Stones 3. The Beatles I got to think how many times am I actually putting on a Led Zeppelin song. Not much tbh.

Out of every band listed so far I listen to the Police by far the most. Keep in mind I’m a child of the 80s so I grew up with them. 2nd most would be Rush. But I respect the OGs so to speak so I respect Motorheads list.

dang. all good.

Narrowing it down to 3 is tough. And for my taste, I probably draw from your “BS’ list, along with some others you might consider to be “BS’ but didn’t list. Not mentioned in the thread yet, but worthy of being discussed, in my opinion, would be U2, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Eagles, Van Halen, Journey, Fleetwood Mac, Kiss, Def Leppard, Bon Jovi, Genesis, and probably more I’m forgetting.

The Rolling Stones Led Zeppelin For the third band, I can't decide between Springsteen and the E Street Band, Talking Heads, Eagles or Fleetwood Mac.

Agree with The Beatles The Rolling Stones But for the third band it would be a toss up between The Who, Cream, Bruce Springsteen and the E street band with Clarence Clemons

Zeppelin wouldn’t be on the list without Stairway to Heaven. Stairway to Heaven wouldn’t exist if they hadn’t ripped off Spirit Taurus. I think that disqualifies him from the top three personally. I would probably put the Allman Brothers band or Pink Floyd in their slot.

AC/DC Rolling Stones Aerosmith

I never got a lot out of classic rock. I was never that into the Grateful Dead, but in the early 1990s I saw them with Santana at the UNLV stadium. It was an amazing concert and experience. Not many bands have had that sort of subculture grow up around it over decades. I also thought it was classy that they unanimously broke up the band when Jerry Garcia passed. Yeah, I know that they probably aren't a hit with the more conservative members here, but they had an amazing run.

I gotta go with U2 as top 3 all time. If it were strip club bands I’d go: Def Leppard Motley Crue Maybe Van Halen And yes I love when the ladies dance to the 80’s rock

Grateful Dead, The Who, Creedence Clearwater Revival

If it’s just bands - I’m going with… Queen Wham Air Supply Also - the Butthole Surfers were pretty good too! I once had a chat with the drummer while taking a piss at a club they were playing. You have to give G G Allin special mention for commitment to his art!

You misspelled most influential rock bands… lol greatest is subjective but you can actually prove who was more influential and these three are definitely the most influential.

The Beatles The Who Led Zeppelin Honorable mention to classic rock group Yes. The Rolling Stones don't even make my top 10.

i'll go along with motorhead's list. of all the other bands listed here i noticed that 65% were influenced by that big 3 in some capacity.

Floyd for sure, Stones, Zep or E Street with Clarence Among Others receiving votes: Dire Straits on the strength of Knopfler, VH on the strength of Eddie, Allmans

@OP All of those bands you mentioned mohead were heavily influenced by Chuck Berry, Muddy Waters, and Elvis Presley

Top three for me are undoubtedly Led Zepplin The Rolling Stones The Who The rest of the top 10 would include The Doors Guns N Roses Aerosmith Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band U2 Pink Floyd The Clash I really want to include Nirvana because they absolutely changed rock in a great way, but they simply weren't as prolific as the others due to their short career before Cobain died.

Cash. WHAM !?!? You are taking away a few points from your Man Card with that answer. :-).

The Beatles sucked! Most overrated band of all time. The old farts are rally showing their fartness. And the Beatles are not rock, fucking elevator music. Of all time? GOAT rock bands... I like the Doors and CCR, but they were more folk music than true rock. I like Led Zeppelin, but glamour rock is a strictly defined genre as well. U2 also sucks. Nirvana is grunge, another separate genre. The Rolling Stones and Van Halen created several timeless classics and have universally recognized names after decades of performing, so they are the top two. AC/DC rounds out the top three. A lot of their music began to sound the same, but they are still a quintessential rock band whose hits continue to be played and covered everywhere.

The Smith's Little Richard The Beach boys

^^ I never understood the massive popularity of U2. I wouldn't even hire them as wedding singers.

OP, what do you have against The Who? My list … The Who Fleetwood Mac Stones

I wouldn't try to make an argument that they belong in the all-time top three, but the Scorpions would be on my personal list of favorites. As far as singers, Klaus Meine has one of the greatest and most immediately recognizable voices ever. And Matthias Jabs is severely underrated as a lead guitarist - the guy is fucking great. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=tK0dBW3csSI

Never liked U2 at all. I remember at their peak in the 1980s, if you said you hated U2 in a public place there was half a chance you'd get lynched.

Led Zeppelin. Not my personal favorite but likely considered best of all time.

What? Nobody for The Carpenters? Captain and Tenille?😂

In all seriousness, any list has got to include Simon and Garfunkel and the Moody Blues

Docsavage is right, the Kinks! They were (the only) band banned from the US, due their violent fighting among themselves.

Cashman really put Wham?

Others opinions are completely different than mine which is fine. The bands that I have personally listened to the most are Danzig, Metallica and The Doors. With those bands the best songs are always not the shit that would get played on the radio but songs many people don't know. Probably the best live band not as much for the music but for the incredible energy show was Kiss. They influenced many bands.

The Rolling Stones, Creedence Clearwater Revival, and The Allman Brothers Band.

For me. AC/DC Kiss Poison Motley crew

My favorite would be Zepplin, but I really like some less popular bands that were favorites at some point in my life. They were Montrose, UFO and Triumph. Some bands I saw in concert made me more of a fan than I was and those were Styx, Rush and even a pop guy like Huey Luis. I had a chance to see BB King before he passed and he had one of the tightest bands I'd ever heard. The Eagles were also a great show before Glen Frey passed. Some of the worst bands I saw were Molley Hatchet and George Thoroughgood. That might have been because of how intoxicated they were though.

I'd pick Rush, The Rolling Stones, Black Sabbath, and The Who over the Beatles any time. Also as Mike Said BB King was awesome, not to mention Bo Diddley. I even saw Bo Diddley, Jerry Lee Lewis and Check Berry give a concert at the steps of one of the casino's in Reno in the 1990's, and they were still better than most the bands around now.

If I had to pick three bands that I grew up with and still listen to today Van Halen Aerosmith Rolling Stones

Allman Brothers Santana Kansas I feel bad leaving out Clapton. Some of my favorite songs, but I guess missing longevity with one band. Buddy Guy? Albert King? Too pure blues when the question is specifically "rock". Black Sabbath? Blue Oyster Cult? Had to limit it to 3. (but see how I snuck them in anyw