Power Trios

Playing an instrument and singing at the same time is harder than doing those things independently. So I assume it's even harder as a member of a trio when your instrumental chops can't just blend in. That makes me appreciate power trios a little bit more than your average 4 or 5 piece band, and as such I find my personal library littered with a bunch of them. Most notably the entire discographies of Green Day, Alkaline Trio, Blink-182, and Nirvana. But who started the rock'n'roll trio genre? If you accept that what makes a power trio truly powerful is the guitar amplifiers, then the earliest power trio is said (by wikipedia) to be Buddy Holly and The Crickets.

More importantly, though, which power trio has been the best? I would expect a lot of people to say Cream here, but I don't know if they were around long enough (4 LPs) to be the best. I would submit that it's actually Rush who are the best, most prolific power trio of all time because even though I'm not a big fan it's amazing to listen to the sound they produce with three people in a live performance, like this one. I also realize The Jimi Hendrix Experience would be a nice choice here, but I disagree for the same reason I hate the Cleveland Cavaliers and Lebron James, it's all one guy, not enough team.

Anyway, Rolling Stone did some sort of actual survey about this, and HERE are the results. A few surprises like The Beastie Boys, but otherwise I'm okay with this list.