Best Rock Band Ever

Okay, let's just get this out of the way up front. I think the Beatles are the best pop band ever. I may even be wililng to grant them the status of best over all. But, they're not the best rock band.
The best rock band ever is hands-down, Soundgarden. "What?" you say. "Didn't the win the Grammy for best Heavy Metal band or something?" Well, the Grammy was actually for "Best Hard Rock" band, which greatly surpriesed lead singer, Chris Cornell, who considered his band to be a "Rock" band. Me too.
I guess I need to lay out what genres I break music down into. There are essentially a few major categories, and then some sub-categories for each. I think the main groups are Jazz, Gospel, Opera, Classical, Country, Hip-hop, Pop and Rock. I listen to all of these genres, but enjoy some less than I do others. I mostly listen to Rock and it's sub-genres, Pop, Hip-hop and Jazz. That is when I get to choose the music. My brother is a hardcore Country music fan, if not actually into hardcore Country music (he's more a Pop-Country kind of guy).
In furthering my effort to get stuff out of the way so I can talk about Soundgarden, I'll leave the non-rock categories only at their highest level and say at the moment, best Jazz is John Coltrane and best Hip-hop is Outkast. I see Rock being further broken down into Soft Rock, Hard Rock, Alt(ernate) Rock, Prog(ressive) Rock, Psychadelic Rock, Butt Rock/Hair Rock and Heavy Metal. I don't really have favorites in those last two, just groups that I hate less than others. So, Soft Rock - Coldplay, Hard Rock - Jerry Cantrell, Alt rock - The Shins, Prog Rock - Modest Mouse, Psychadelic Rock - Jefferson Airplane (w/ Jane's Addiction a very, very close second).
I guess that soon I will have to list all of the sub-genres and my favorites. I'll have to do a top five for each (to honor 'High Fidelity' of course).

I have all 5 Soundgarden albums on my iPod, not to mention all 3 of Mr. Cornell's solo albums. I have a few of the "other" songs, from movie soundtracks, compilations, etc. I don't have any of the new/side projects for Ben Sheppard or Matt Cameron, not counting Pearl Jam. But what makes this band the best? Well, it's harder than I thought to just list reasons, other than, "I think they're the best." I really like their voal stylings, especially when mixed with the driven lead guitar. The bass and drums are always solid and lend to the blend, but don't stick out particularly, which is not a bad thing. I think the lyrics themselves are very thought provoking and in some cases pure poetry, both for content and syballince.
I'm the first to admit that I'm biased, but I think choosing the best of anything necessarily is. I came of age with Grunge and cut my teath on Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Mudhoney, the Screaming Trees, the Afghan Wigs, etc. etc.
I think another big reason taht I really like this band is that each album took them further along a path. You can listen to a song and palce the album immediately, because their sound was continuing to grow across the arc of their work.
Plus, I think they're cool.