Interesting question. When this topic comes up, the comparison is always against the British bands. But the British bands are strictly from the British Invasion era and they are basically centered around the same style - with variations like Zepplin. The tough part about picking a USA band is that there were (are) too many styles or genres - Motown, West Coast, East Coast, Southern; then throw in heavy metal, punk, hard rock, soft rock, and on and on. When comparing with the British groups, they were basically limited to the late 60s, early 70s.

But...to answer the question, I think you would have to go with Bruce and the E Street, although I lean heavily on Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young or the Eagles.

Keep on Rockin' in the Free World.