Best Power Trio in Rock History?

[TheProle]

Cream

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Emerson, Lake & Palmer

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Hüsker Dü

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James Gang

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Jimi Hendrix Experience

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Nirvana

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The Police

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Rush

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ZZ Top

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20 votes, 0 passes | Time left: Unlimited
	Cream
	3 (15%)
	Emerson, Lake & Palmer
	1 (5%)
	Husker Du
	0 (0%)
	James Gang
	1 (5%)
	Jimi Hendrix Experience
	2 (10%)
	Nirvana
	1 (5%)
	The Police
	1 (5%)
	Rush
	9 (45%)
	ZZ Top
	0 (0%)
	Other: So few slots, so many bands
	2 (10%)
	0 DU members did not wish to select any of the options provided.
Show usernames Disclaimer: This is an Internet poll

[TheProle]

1. My Honorable Mentions

Green Day

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Morphine

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Muse

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Placebo

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Triumph

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Violent Femmes

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Zebra

&list=RDLVC5I_CpoodtI&start_radio=1&rv=C5I_CpoodtI&ab_channel=DavidDavis

[Hugh_Lebowski]

4. Good choices, esp. Green Day and Muse :) (nt)

[FuzzyRabbit]

2. Grand Funk Railroad

All their fans are now collecting social security. And probably still rocking out.

[TheProle]

3. Yep. Good one.

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[happybird]

14. This is one of the songs I just recently realized what it was about

even though they tell the story pretty darn clearly. Dude is dying, man! They killed him!

I think it’s from growing up on classic rock radio. Lyrics are learned through osmosis, without much thought involved, especially if you are a kid.

Another one is One Way Out by the Allmans. Was singing along and it suddenly clicked. It was like a lightbulb going on over my head.

I still get surprised by Beatles songs that I somehow know the lyrics to without ever having put in any effort to learn them,

[ificandream]

5. How could you leave these guys out?

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Dick Clark introduces them on American Bandstand.

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And here they are in 2005, still rockin' hard ....

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[FuzzyRabbit]

11. Yes, great choice!

[panader0]

19. Oh yeah. As this article mentions, Clapton called them the first heavy metal band. Oh and

Owsley Stanley had a product called Blue Cheer which was great. The following is from Wiki:

Blue Cheer is often credited as one of the very earliest pioneers of heavy metal and their version of "Summertime Blues" has been cited as the first heavy metal song.[8] According to Tim Hills in his book, The Many Lives of the Crystal Ballroom,[33] "Blue Cheer was the epitome of San Francisco psychedelia." Jim Morrison of The Doors characterized the group as "the single most powerful band I've ever seen"[34] and Eric Clapton defined them as "probably the originators of heavy metal".[35] Blue Cheer influenced such late 1970s bands as East-European psychedelic hardcore band Galloping Coroners.[36]

Blue Cheer was also widely recognized as the loudest band ever at the time when they emerged.[37][38][39][40][41] Billy Altman reported that at a 1968 concert the band was "So loud, in fact, that within just a few songs, much of the crowd in the front orchestra section was fleeing."[41]

"Blue Cheer" was the name of a variety of LSD made by chemist and Grateful Dead patron Owsley Stanley[42] and the band was probably named after that, although the name existed earlier, as the name of a laundry detergent[43] after which the LSD variety itself was named.

[ificandream]

26. Ah yes, Blue Cheer laundry detergent ....

I remember that ...

[Shermann]

6. Rush was the total package

They were a power trio that sounded like a power quintet.

They had 20 studio albums, countless tours, and chart success. Their musicianship is unmatched in many ways.

The best thing about Rush is they remained friends throughout their careers with no drama or fallings out that I can recall. That is unheard of in rock and roll.

Here's my honorable mention:

Plenty of "power" there.

[Hugh_Lebowski]

7. Goo Goo Dolls were pretty respectable too ...

[2naSalit]

8. Others...

Stray Cats!

[Drum]

12. Kickin' for the Cats!

Meow!

[underpants]

9. Voted Cream. Husker Du was powerful too

Cream’s sound always seemed overwhelming totally surrounded the space.

Lots of good ones.

[happybird]

10. I love Rush

but had to vote for Cream.

Edit: My honorable mention is Khruangbin

[TeamProg]

13. I voted for Rush, but these bands aren't all "POWER TRIOS".. nt

[ProfessorGAC]

24. I Share That Issue

They're all trios, but they aren't all power trios.
The Police & James Gang seem obvious examples.

[LudwigPastorius]

15. Robin Trower's trio deserves a mention.

(But, I voted for Hendrix, because without him, no Trower)

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[Doc_Technical]

16. West, Bruce, and Laing

[DFW]

17. I thought Crosby, Stills and Nash weren't too bad

Most of the recordings (notable exception--the James Gang clip) had studio-enhanced additional guitar tracks. The combination of Guitar-bass-drums, no matter HOW brilliant the guitarist, can sound a little empty live. I know, because I played in such a group for a while. We did have a rhythm guitarist, but we still did gigs as a trio when he couldn't make it. We did fill in more on many numbers, because besides playing the bass guitar, I also played keyboards using my right hand for the organ and the left hand doing a keyboard bass, like the Doors. The Doors were essentially a four instrument trio, with Ray Manzarek doing both organ and bass. It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. Of course, having Morrison as vocalist and front man, especially when he was sober, helped a lot, too.

If you listen to "Crossroads" on the live part of Cream's "Wheels of Fire" double album, you'll hear that even with Clapton's virtuoso solos, the sound is a little sparse with just Jack Bruce's bass to fill in. The lack of a middle range instrument, whether a rhythm guitar or a keyboard, is really noticeable. Even Hendrix, who was brilliant live, had a second guitar track behind his lead on the Crosstown Traffic recording, as did Cream on the clip in this thread.

[sarge43]

18. The Supremes

https://ww.

[Emile]

20. Jimi Hendrix hands down!

[Earth-shine]

21. For me, Rush stand alone and above.

I also love Floyd, ELP, Yes, Alan Parsons, and a bunch of others. But nothing compares to Rush lyrically and musically.

[highplainsdem]

22. Interesting to see all the votes for Rush. I've never been a Rush fan, mostly because of Geddy

Lee's vocals. They're great musicians, though.

[Earth-shine]

27. The question was about "power" trio.

To quote a friend from a long time ago about the band Rush, "How can three guys make so much noise?"

In their early days, Geddy's voice was not actually pleasant, but it went well with the intensity of the music.

Over the years, his singing got progressively lower in key.

[highplainsdem]

23. Cream, live in 1967 - "Sunshine Of Your Love":

The video title has the date wrong.

[VGNonly]

25. Hot Tuna

The Nice

Motörhead

Glass Harp