In way of clean-up, the original post states:
All former band members must still be alive.
Ergo, the following nominees are ineligible:
1) The Replacements. Robert Stinson RIP 1995.
2 and 3) The mingus quartet with dolphy curson and richmond and
any coltrane group after 1959. Among others Mingus and Coltrane, Ithnik, are dead. (BTW, I only recall one Mingus quartet and no Mingus recording that did not employ Dannie Richmond). Also, Eric Dolphy barely out-lived JFK. (N.B.: If I could bridge the valley of the shadow of death, to bring back one band, it would probably be this Mingus group so, capnreverb, I say hats off to you.
4) led zep circa 1973. Duh, John Bonham.
5) The Grateful Dead. I'm not going to honor this with a clarification.
6) The Dizzy-Gillespie-era Cab Calloway Band. Oh, for fuck's sake.
7) The MC5. Fred Smith? Rob Tyner?
The Kinks. Mick Avory (drums) 1984.
9) The Beatles. Two guesses. Also, what the fuck? I mean, what the fucking fuck?
10) The Beach Boys. Hint: They're both named Wilson, but neither named Brian.
11) Morphine. What did that guy do? Oh yeah, sing and write all the songs.
God knows how many I've missed. I don't listen to much of this crazy kid stuff.
Am I the only one who reads the obituaries?
That's why I will not add Richard Hell and Voidoids (Robert Quine, RIP 2005).
When I used to teach at Miami of Ohio and the University of Iowa, I always told my students: "RTFQ. That is "read the . . . question."
I will, however, second nominations for:
1) Television.
2) The Mercy Seat.
And add:
1) Little Village (provided they play no Little Village songs short of "Don't Think About Her When You're Trying to Drive.