The Best UK Band???

[demographic]

The Stones has to be up there, just for sheer quantity I can listen to.
Queen.
Eurythmics.
Siouxise And The Banshees (I reckon Siouxsie Sioux has to be one of the best female vocalists anyway.)
The Kinks?

David Bowie has to be somewhere in it but he wasn't not really a band is he?





Led Zep aren't even bloody close to the list let alone near the top.

[Greenman]

S Club 7 without a doubt...

The Clash, UB40, Sex Pistols!

[hawker]

Steps

Well Thanks for a genineLOL!! after my long time awayfrom the Site following m life-threatening head-injury, I was under the foolish impression that I might maybe trigger a serious dicussion about , well y'know, the Best UK Bands like them Beatles vs, the Stones the Who, Floydbut yep instead got suggestions likeIron Maiden FFS!! , Echo abnd theBunnymen?? and nowthis one with someone's tongue firmly jamed in their cheek Ihope??!! But Thanks for the daft suggestion regardless! Even Black Sabbath with Ozzy would have been more sensible??
More fool me, eve with my head-injury!!!

So any more, sensibleideas this time??

[Supermofo]

head-injury

Maybe this is why you discount the mighty Iron Maiden!

By 2017, Iron Maiden had sold well over 100 million copies of their albums worldwide,[23][24][25] despite minimal radio and mainstream media support.[26] As of 2021, the band's catalogue's sold over 200 million copies worldwide, including albums, singles, compilations, and videos.[27][28][29][30][31] By 2022 their releases have been certified silver, gold and platinum around 600 times worldwide.[32] Iron Maiden have become one of the most influential and revered rock bands of all time and helped spawn an entire genre of music. Critics have stated that the band elevated heavy metal to an art form, proving that academic and musical inspirations can coexist.[33][34][35][36] The band is also hailed as one of the greatest live acts of all time.[37]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_Maid ... influences

Iron Maiden are up there with Metallica and AC/DC as one of the biggest not only hard rock but rock bands full stop. I wouldn't be surprised if all 3 outsold The Who, much as I like The Who which I do. And all with almost no radio play or mainstream promotion at all. Some feat.

Plus as I said music is so subjective. The Wildhearts aren't even big in the UK but I'd go see them over any band in the world even if I had a chance to see Led Zep at their peak, and I've already seen the Wildhearts close to probably 70 times.

[Slenver]

Was Spinal Tap a UK band?

Everyone knows they were formed in Squatney in East London, so yes.

[Mr. Dazzle]

I don't think there's a metal band in existence who don't list Iron Maiden as one of their influences, it's almost a cliché

I've also seen a lot of musical types who say The Beatles are the most influential band in popular music. I suppose they're so influential that you think they sound boring and unoriginal a lot of the time, whereas in reality it's more the case that everyone sounds like The Beatles.

[Count Steer]

It's a crossover with the 'You know you're old when....you got to see all the great bands*'

Slight twist on the theme but there have been bands that seemed like a crucible for producing or developing stellar performers. eg John Mayall Blues Band/Bluesbreakers, Yardbirds so they were great in their way. Then there are the (usually shortlived) 'supergroups' like Blind Faith and the groups that blazed brightly but not for long like The Stone Roses.

TBH can't think of one that I'd say were the greatest consistently. Zeppelin, first 2 albums then lost interest, Stones, first album and Goats Head Soup and never bought anything else. Probably have/had more Shriekback and Cabaret Voltaire albums and 12in singles than any other UK bands and seen them live more than any others. Being my favourites may not qualify them as 'greatest' though.

Tempted to suggest King Crimson though for longevity and multiple iterations.

* when they were young and not doing 'the pension fund tour'

[Slenver]

The whole conversation is of course pointless because it's 100% subjective, and even 'best' isn't defined

But, in the interest of adding some scientific rigour, nobody yet has actually listed the top British bands by album sales yet, and that's as good a place as any to start. Of course, you could argue that this is just a measure of populism, but whaddyagonnado?

I've excluded solo artists btw as the OP said 'band'. Though defining 'British' is also tricky.

1. The Beatles
2. Led Zeppelin
3. Pink Floyd
4. Queen
5. The Rolling Stones
6. Fleetwood Mac
7. Bee Gees (part-British)
8. Coldplay
9. Dire Straits
10. Def Leppard

All pretty predictable really, though who knew Def Leppard were so big?

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

Fleetwood Mac's album sales are down to Lyndsay Buckingham, he's American and so is Stevie Nicks

Freddie Mercury is from Zanzibar

[Slenver]

Fleetwood Mac's album sales are down to Lyndsay Buckingham, he's American and so is Stevie Nicks

Freddie Mercury is from Zanzibar

Exactly. Where do you draw the line though?

[DefTrap]

Freddie Mercury is from Zanzibar

Freddy was born in the Sultanate of Zanzibar in 1946, at this time it was governed from Kenya, which was part of the British Empire.
His parents were Indian, and as such British as that was also part of the Empire at that time.
He was schooled in English boarding schools in India, and moved with his parents to England in the early 1960’s.

Arguably more British than you are.

For good or bad, I was brought up as British. I could've been born on the moon and governed by space donkeys, and I could live away from Britain for the rest of my life, it won't change a thing.

I still find it crazy that Freddie's been dead over 30 years now.

[Yorick]

Fleetwood Mac's album sales are down to Lyndsay Buckingham, he's American and so is Stevie Nicks

Freddie Mercury is from Zanzibar

Man Utd have foreign players. Does that mean they aren't a British club ?

[mangocrazy]

Fleetwood Mac's album sales are down to Lyndsay Buckingham, he's American and so is Stevie Nicks

The band that made their two mega-platinum albums in the late 70s/early 80s are a half Brit/half Yank affair, it's true. But the roots of the band are entirely British, and purists would argue that the earlier incarnation that had Pete Green as lead guitarist (before he went away with the fairies) is the superior one musically.

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

I don't care, Faye Tozer was in Steps therefore they're great.

[Slenver]

purists would argue...

You mean anyone with ears, surely?

[gremlin]

Steps

Well Thanks for a genineLOL!! after my long time awayfrom the Site following m life-threatening head-injury, I was under the foolish impression that I might maybe trigger a serious dicussion about , well y'know, the Best UK Bands like them Beatles vs, the Stones the Who, Floydbut yep instead got suggestions likeIron Maiden FFS!! , Echo abnd theBunnymen?? and nowthis one with someone's tongue firmly jamed in their cheek Ihope??!! But Thanks for the daft suggestion regardless! Even Black Sabbath with Ozzy would have been more sensible??
More fool me, eve with my head-injury!!!

So any more, sensibleideas this time??

Ah, but you see Mr. H., it was meant to be a flippant riposte in order to highlight that which has already been pointed out, that trying to establish the 'Best UK band' is a fool's errand. It's hard enough to establish what a UK band is, let alone grapple with people's pre convictions and myriads of taste in order to find the best, whatever definition of best is.

Therefore, my answer stands: Steps.

Or possibly Black Lace.

Or Jedwood.

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

I think we need to first decide what constitutes a UK band, then what makes them the best.

For me a band has to be a group of people that play all the instruments and sing all the lyrics on the songs they perform.

UK means all the members have to be UK citizens, otherwise they're foreign or multi national.

Best means I have to like the band and the music they perform.

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

Steps

Well Thanks for a genineLOL!! after my long time awayfrom the Site following m life-threatening head-injury, I was under the foolish impression that I might maybe trigger a serious dicussion about , well y'know, the Best UK Bands like them Beatles vs, the Stones the Who, Floydbut yep instead got suggestions likeIron Maiden FFS!! , Echo abnd theBunnymen?? and nowthis one with someone's tongue firmly jamed in their cheek Ihope??!! But Thanks for the daft suggestion regardless! Even Black Sabbath with Ozzy would have been more sensible??
More fool me, eve with my head-injury!!!

So any more, sensibleideas this time??

Ah, but you see Mr. H., it was meant to be a flippant riposte in order to highlight that which has already been pointed out, that trying to establish the 'Best UK band' is a fool's errand. It's hard enough to establish what a UK band is, let alone grapple with people's pre convictions and myriads of taste in order to find the best, whatever definition of best is.

Therefore, my answer stands: Steps.

Or possibly Black Lace.

Or Jedwood.

Aren't Jedwood very Irish?

[gremlin]

Well Thanks for a genineLOL!! after my long time awayfrom the Site following m life-threatening head-injury, I was under the foolish impression that I might maybe trigger a serious dicussion about , well y'know, the Best UK Bands like them Beatles vs, the Stones the Who, Floydbut yep instead got suggestions likeIron Maiden FFS!! , Echo abnd theBunnymen?? and nowthis one with someone's tongue firmly jamed in their cheek Ihope??!! But Thanks for the daft suggestion regardless! Even Black Sabbath with Ozzy would have been more sensible??
More fool me, eve with my head-injury!!!

So any more, sensibleideas this time??

Ah, but you see Mr. H., it was meant to be a flippant riposte in order to highlight that which has already been pointed out, that trying to establish the 'Best UK band' is a fool's errand. It's hard enough to establish what a UK band is, let alone grapple with people's pre convictions and myriads of taste in order to find the best, whatever definition of best is.

Therefore, my answer stands: Steps.

Or possibly Black Lace.

Or Jedwood.

Aren't Jedwood very Irish?

I believe so. Not really a band either. And not best at anything.

And there's my point.

I think.

[Mussels]

I think we need to first decide what constitutes a UK band, then what makes them the best.

For me a band has to be a group of people that play all the instruments and sing all the lyrics on the songs they perform.

UK means all the members have to be UK citizens, otherwise they're foreign or multi national.

Best means I have to like the band and the music they perform.

What's the minimum number to make a group, Ed Sheeran in a group of 1?
Would a duet count? Would it still count if they have Scottish accents?