The Third Bracket

Here's the line-up for the Southwest Bracket in my upcoming Battle of teh Bands feature on Dr. John's Record Shelf. I might mention that there was more spillover out of this region than any other-- you'll probably spot groups from Southern California and Texas in most of the other brackets. That gives you some idea of the number of fine groups emerging from those areas in teh 1960s especially (not too surprising in the case of SoCal, what with the ready access to the entertainment industry-- especially TV and record labels). Anyway, I'm still willing to hear any comments if I've left anyone out (keeping in mind the operative dates of 1954-1974):

Southwest Bracket:
1. The Byrds
16. Thee Midniters

2. The Beach Boys
15. The Mothers of Invention

3. The Doors
14. The Seeds

4. The Eagles
13. Love

5. The Allman Brothers (I probably should flip these guys with the Turtles)
12. The Bobby Fuller Four

6. The Monkees
11. Spirit

7. The Association
10. The Sir Douglas Quintet

8. The Grass Roots
9. The Doobie Brothers

Remember that the seedings are based on an admittedly subjective balancing of popular success and some notion of the band's influence on others.