Do you all agree when Prince said the 60s, 70s and 80s were the golden ages of music?

Yes @coltrane1, The Band are too subtle for some listeners. They were for me, it taking me a year of listening to finally "get" Music From Big Pink. Perhaps you need to listen to them some more, or perhaps you, like some musicians I know, will never get them. No pejorative implications intended.

As for "previously published hit tunes", what the heck are ya talkin' bout? The s/t brown album contains 100% Band member composed songs. So does Music From Big Pink, with the exception of

1- "Tears Of Rage", co-written by Band pianist/singer Richard Manuel and Bob Dylan. Dylan rarely writes with anyone else, a sign of the respect he had for Manuel's songwriting talent.

2- "I Shall Be Released', written by Bob Dylan during the year (1967) he and The Band (then still known as The Hawks) spent recording publishing demos in the basement of Big Pink. They contributed to the development of the song, so imo have some right to consider it part of their original repertoire.

3- "Long Black Veil", recorded by Country & Western artist Left Frizzell (hardly a "Rock artist") long before The Band did. They included the song on MFBP for an artistic reason, the explaining of which would take up too much time and space.

So, of the 23 songs included in their first two albums, none was a "previously published hit tune by other Rock artists". I mean, unless you consider Lefty Frizzell a Rock artist, and "Long Black Veil" a "hit tune". 

I couldn't agree more @stuartk. The album's cultural significance is one thing, it's music quite another. Reminds me of how Atlantic Records' President Ahmet Ertegun characterized Cream's Disraeli Gears album when he heard the tapes: "Psychedelic horsesh*t".

Rubber Soul is a much better album, as is Revolver and the s/t white album. As are The Band's first (1968) and second (1969) albums, but you already know that. ;-)

@coltrane1: Give a listen to "Rag Mama Rag" by The Band. On this song pianist Richard Manuel takes Levon Helm’s place on the drumset, organist Garth Hudson moving over to piano. Hudson is very much a fan and student of Jazz (he loves the playing of Bill Evans. Who doesn’t? ;-), and on this song he displays his abilities in the "stride" style of piano playing, popularized by the likes of Fats Waller. And that's just one song on this "perfect" album.

When The Hawks (The Band’s name up until 1968) were playing the clubs in Toronto in the early-to-mid 1960’s, they were taking in shows of USA artists who were passing through town, artists such as Cannonball Adderley and Ray Charles. When The Band headlined a show at The Hollywood Bowl in 1970, they were given carte blanche to pick their opening act. They chose Miles Davis. I can’t think of another Rock band who would do that. Miles’ drummer Jack DeJohnette and Levon Helm became very close friends, and when DeJohnette himself headlined the 2017 Playboy Jazz Festival at The Hollywood Bowl, he included The Band’s "Up On Cripple Creek" in his set.

Also listen to The Band’s live album Rock Of Ages, recorded at The Academy Of Music in NYC. For those shows they hired Allen Toussaint to write horn charts for their songs, and to hire the players to perform them. The horns provide a real New Orleans (Toussaint’s hometown) feel, very cool.

Another Rock ’n’ Roll band with a heavy Jazz influence is NRBQ. Pianist Terry Adams is particularly fond of Thelonious Monk and Sun Ra. Terry himself plays with wild abandon live, pounding out wild runs on his electric piano and clavichord. If NRBQ ever comes to your area, don’t miss their show! One of the greatest live bands I’ve ever seen and heard. Most fun too.

"I'm not suggesting there's no Rock guys who played Jazz." True @coltrane1, you far more than suggested it:

"Motown's musical backbone was having music preformed by Jazz musicians. Rock can't claim that. Only Motown can."

By the way, James Jamerson, Jr. is my all-time favorite bassist. His playing on "What Becomes Of The Brokenhearted" is absolutely thrilling! 

Earl Palmer (New Orleans) and Jim Keltner (Tulsa) both come from Jazz backgrounds. Palmer is the drummer heard on Little Richard’s 1950’s Rock ’n’ Roll records, and on some of Phil Spector’s 1960’s procductions (along with Hal Blaine, also a Jazz guy originally). In the 1990’s I and a lot of other drummers went to Chadney’s in Burbank to listen to Earl play in his Jazz trio.

Keltner plays drums on a lot of Rock albums, including those by John Lennon, George Harrison, Ry Cooder, Bill Frisell (definitely a Jazz guitarist, but he dabbles in Americana), Randy Newman, Bob Dylan, The Traveling Wilbury’s, LOTS of others.

Zappa had lots of Jazz musicians in his band over the years, and Steely Dan did on their albums. Jeff Beck’s drummer Vinnie Colaiuta comes from Jazz, as did Toto’s Jeff Porcaro. Steve Smith of Journey too (he’s now back to playing that music). Guitarist Danny Gatton played Jazz AND Rockabilly. I could cite a hundred more examples. To say there are no Jazz players in Rock reveals ignorance, not superior taste or standards.

As others have said, what about the 1950’s, 40’s, and 30’s? I would also include the 20’s, but there wasn’t much recording being done then. The seeds of Rock ’n’ Roll (what most of us are talking about. To bring up J.S. Bach is not only silly, but disingenuous.) were planted before the 50’s, the Hillbilly element in the rural south---Virginia, Tennessee, and other southern states, the "Folk" music brought over from England and Ireland by our ancestors ("our" referring to we of Anglo-Saxon descent, of course).

The Rhythm & Blues element was being played by Negro musicians from Los Angeles (a hotbed of R & B activity in Post-War L.A.), down to Memphis Tennessee and Muscle Shoals Alabama, up to Chicago and Detroit (blacks fleeing the south moved there to get work in the car factories---booming after WWII, performing music in clubs at night.).

Sam Phillips was recording Blues and R & B singers (including Howlin’ Wolf) for the "Race" (Negro) market, proclaiming that if he could find a white singer with the black feel he would sell a million records. Enter Elvis Presley, who loved Hillbilly (he heard Bill Monroe and other Bluegrass artists on The Grand Old Opry radio show.), R & B (he was visiting Juke Joints on the other side of the tracks to hear black singers and bands, and listening to radio stations that played their music.), and the Gospel music sung in Baptist churches, both back and white (remember, even churches were segregated back then.). Sam didn’t sell a million Elvis records, but RCA sure did. John Lennon referred to Elvis as the Big Bang of Pop music, but actually thought more highly of Chuck Berry.

It was when I finally heard Jump Blues music that I realized where Rock ’n’ Roll came from. It was the Jump Blues feel that Elvis appropriated for his uptempo Sun Records recordings (and later for his pre-Army RCA recordings.), plain as day. Performing Bill Monroe’s "Blue Moon Of Kentucky" as a Jump Blues? Genius!

By the way: I’m sure you’ve heard that 1950’s Rock’n’ Roll shows started getting banned in some cities, the city fathers claiming the shows were prone to outbreaks of fighting, in some instances claiming Rock ’n’ Roll was a degenerate form of entertainment (I’m sure schubert concurs ;-) . Do you know the REAL reason? Fear of racial integration. Those Rock ’n’ Roll shows drew both white and black audiences (the blacks most often relegated to the balcony seats.), and there were those who didn’t want the "races" (aren’t all humans members of the human race?) mixing.