Dire Straits.
They were all exceptionally good, but Mark Knopfler is just on a category of his own when he grabs a guitar
Edit : RIP Jack Sonni, nicknamed "The Other Guitar Player"
Lol. Somehow the first cassette tape copy my friends had of this was just the Amanda White and Charley Knighten calls, and it cut out a very key part of the Amanda white call, where as the guy is answering the phone, Mark is seemingly telling a friend that “this bitch will f*** anybody - Oh hello is Amanda there?”
I was hailed as a hero when I discovered through another group of friends that there was a full series of calls and the key first 3 seconds of the Amanda call.
We referred to each other as “you sick, swampy, sonofa bitch” for years.
Oh man. 30 years later and I still drop quotes from this.
‘You dress your mammy’
‘Mark Knopfler. Please try to pay attention’
‘Let me put my glasses on so I can see who I’m talking to’ when taking a phone call.
99.9% of the time no one gets it, but when they do, it’s magic.
I didn’t even realize it until now, but I use “please try to pay attention” on a weekly basis, and that’s obviously where I got it from.
“You dress your Mammy” is also fantastic. “I said it, I hope it makes you mad enough so’s I can see ya face. You sick bitch.”
Rolling Stone still has the cover article from 1973 on their website. Might be the only William Miller piece that survived the era.
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/stillwater-almost-famous-cover-story-1165517/
Plus that last album CCR put out where the other band members took over songwriting as they were jealous of John's dominance-- it was a disaster. Nothing could have proved John's talent was head and shoulders above them like that did.
Yeah, CCR pretty much broke up when the other guys wanted to contribute to the songwriting. In a fit of malicious compliance, he demanded that they each contribute 1/3 of the material on the Mardi Gras album and also refused to do anything on their tunes other than play guitar. The result was some extremely mediocre tracks on a mediocre album.
Fogarty was an egomaniac and kind of a dick, but he also wasn’t wrong.
Wings was really a band in name only. Like, the other people were just hired by Paul. They didn’t share royalties or songwriting credits or anything. That’s one of the reasons it was so short lived. The others got fed up with him. Well, apart from Linda.
This is more common than we probably realize as far as band structures go. I remember being surprised when James Mercer just replaced everyone in the Shins, but it turned out it had always been this kind of arrangement.
LCD Sound system, Tame Impala, Toro y Moi just to name a few others. Dunno if the financials are set up the same, but they follow the single producer in the studio/full band live for sure.
It seems pretty popular in that sort of electronic rock genre. I guess there’s a lot one person can do by themselves in a DAW, but good luck playing 5 instruments alone, live.
If you don’t know them, check out Pond. I’m not sure what Tame Impala’s current live lineup is but they were basically Kevin’s touring band. They have a bunch of their own stuff, which is excellent.
Sort of.
*Wings at the Speed of Sound* was conceived to give some of the other members of the band an opportunity to write and perform their own work. Of course, all that did was show that Paul's songs (IMHO) were far better. Not that the other members' songs were *bad*—it's just that...well, you know, *Paul McCartney*.
Also, regarding the "short-lived" comment: Wings recorded from 1971 to 1979, and the Beatles recorded from 1962 to 1969. So technically, Wings had a longer span of recording output than the Beatles did. Granted, the Beatles were together for several years before they started putting out albums.
Mike Love would like a word, actually, he would like multiple words... actually, he would like a 9 minute speech, and he'd also like to tell you that he definitely, totally wrote all those songs.
This was my answer, and they actually did the experiment to prove it! The members complained that John Fogerty "Got all.the credit," so they released a group effort album (Mardi Gras), which was deemed " The worst release from a major band ever". John was CCR , too bad the other guys didn't realize it, they killed the goose that laid the golden egg.
Eh the blame was to be spread around. Fogerty's ego is so huge (deserved, but still...) that he practically goaded the rest of the band into Mardi Gras just to prove how good he was.
By all accounts they just wanted a more collaborative effort with a hair more input, and John effectively said "no, the whole circus is yours for this album and I will step completely out of any role except performing."
Everybody knew that wasn't going to go well, and in a weird f'd up way, they still did exactly what John asked.
Todd In The Shadows does an episode on his "Trainwrecords" series about the CCR album "Mardi Gras" and how the album was mainly written by the other 3 members. The resulting album isn't great at l for that reason.
I went down the rabbit hole on YouTube after George passed (plus when one of their songs was in GTA)
A comment on one of the videos was something to the effect of "What exactly does Andrew do in this band?"
Someone replied "to make tea and pleasure* George"
Hah never forgot about that.
*the "pleasure" part was a bit more NSFW language.
Have you watched the movie about Wham!?
It’s fantastic. Andrew is a peach, and he really seems to have celebrated the talent of his bff George.
This documentary definitely made me fall in love with that band.
Omg it was so good, Andrew is like the sweetest human and the way him and George interacted was beyond classy, it's beautiful to see they had no bitterness and only love for each other.
Wham! Bam! I am a man!
The documentary was a real treat. From that, it seemed like Andrew was needed to help bolster George's confidence prior to going solo. Plus, it exposed me to Wham Rap for the first time. That didn't make it on radio in the States.
The original line up of Devo. They were all great musicians and did their parts very well but Alan Myers was an animal on the drums.
He just seemed to operate on a slightly different plane to the rest of the band
He did a bunch of the music for *Thor: Ragnarok* as well, and a handful of other movies.
Stewart Copeland of the Police has also had a fair bit of success writing music for other media, not least being the soundtracks to the *Spyro the Dragon* trilogy of video games. Some pretty formative stuff for a lot of kids and young adults of the 90s, and the guy who wrote them is best known for playing drums on a bunch of pop rock songs about depression and suicide.
Noel wrote songs for Liam that he couldn't sing himself. The Masterplan is probably my favorite song of theirs, sung by Noel. But I can't imagine they'd be as successful as they were if songs like Supersonic or Live Forever were released with Noel on lead vocal.
[The way Liam sings the chorus at the 2:54 mark during this performance just sounds so killer.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmdbgQGDWRk) Noel and Liam needed each other.
I saw them live earlier this year and they were making fun of themselves. They basically said "we could pull any of you up here to play guitar or bass, but none of you could do what Travis does. Some parent came to me after a show and said "my 9-year-old learned "All The Small Things" in thirty minutes.""
I agree 100%, and I would argue that a decent portion of amazing songwriters out there are far from the most technically-proficient players. When it comes to making music that stands out, originality trumps technical skill any day of the week.
I know many amazing singers/musicians whose music is just… derivative. I also know some singers/musicians who aren’t traditionally good at their instrument(s), but they evoke such emotion and passion through their writing that they captivate an audience every damn time. If it were as simple as becoming amazing at the technical stuff, anyone could be a famous artist.
Most definitely. There was a behind the scenes when they were recording the self titled I think? And Travis got out a marching snare and went to town. A ways in you hear Mark say something to the tune of “and I can hardly play my bass!” As he watched on
Edit: just saw that u/iMeanWhatEvenIsThis found and posted the video in another comment thread here
Ironically... Art Garfunkel was considered (by most) the better singer of the group.
Apparently he was an asshole in the studio and constantly arguing with Paul about being late or missing rehearsals, or whatever.
I wish people would give him even more credit than he's already gotten. Just imagine, the guy is working ALONE! There's no John or George, it's just him. Then late in his career he comes out with Rhythm of The Saints which I personally think is his best album. Genuinely deep, philosophical, and musically amazing.
Nah, Garfunkel’s voice was ethereally, angelically beautiful.
Simon is a profoundly skilled writer.
But Garfunkel didn’t just look like a frontman. He had tremendous and exceptional musical skill as a singer.
Going in the other direction....
I'm gonna introduce you to this guitar player who played guitar with the same line up for 40+ years, toured nonstop through all the Suburbs, and sold millions of albums, top songs on the Radio and no matter what he did, he still got third billing behind a top 5 drummer, and a top 5 singer/bass player.
Unbelievable. At least I'm just trying to live up to a couple of family members who are lawyers.
It's especially impressive given that Peart only really sounds like one guy, himself, he's just *really fucking good*; Geddy and Alex between them sound like 2+ people each.
Geddy sings, plays bass, plays keys, plays synths, and is routinely doing two and sometimes *three* of those at the same time. Alex pretty much only plays guitar (occasionally backup vocals) but is so proficient and both lead and rhythm, and so often playing such intricate lines, that it frequently sounds he's playing lead *and* rhythm in the same part of the same song.
They had the depth, complexity, and "wall of sound" of bands like Yes and King Crimson who had five and anywhere from five to *eight* members, respectively, with only three people.
Geddy is an astounding bassist, perhaps the greatest to ever do it given the complexity he plays at. Then you have to consider he’s pairing that with intense vocals that follow a complex rhythm, along with synths/keys at the same
time. Like 3 really good musicians in one.
Neil is perhaps the greatest percussionist rock will ever know (that’s always a debate I know). To maintain rhythm and time signature changes with those fills in between and managing it all without losing stride or swagger is genius.
Alex may be the “lesser” here because, shit, look at those other two. But you said it best, third billing but would be top dog by miles with any other group. He’s a facemelting virtuoso on that guitar and its lunacy that he is sometimes an afterthought on people’s compiled lists of guitarists. His solos, transitions and genius fills will give me chills until I take my last breath.
His ability to texture the songs the way he does alongside the out-of-this-world incredible rhythm section of Neil and Geddy is a remarkable feat within itself. Even if Alex never played a solo his rhythm parts are mind-blowingly good.
Add in the longevity factor that had their sound changing dramatically over the years and his ability to adapt to new instrumentation, the wide variety of compositional styles that they utilized, I mean I could just go on and on
Alex Lifeson is an unsung hero and one of the most legendary rock guitarists of all time. Geddy and Neil are amazing but Rush would not be Rush without Alex.
The two Mels did most of the heavy lifting in the group vocally. It's no coincidence that Mel C had the most successful solo career, in the UK at least.
I think once Murray stepped away from the Wiggles, the band lost its edgier rock identity.
If you can’t tell, I just finished “Hot Potato: The Wiggles Story” documentary on Prime.
Wendy said in an interview that Prince was secretly jealous of Lisa, because she was the only other musician in the band who could play her instrument better than him. in other words, he could play everyone else’s instrument better than them, except hers.
I love that the drummers in this thread, myself included, are all jumping up.
Mitch is an all timer.
Sure, Jimi is a god, but so is Mitch.
If you can not only support, but deliberately frame and enhance what JIMI is doing, you are amazing.
Most people would be lost and just staring at Hendrix. Mitch was collaborating, on as high a level as imaginable.
Tool. While they're all musically talented, great composers and Maynard is a legendary songwriter... Danny is so, so far ahead of them in technical ability.
Danny Carey is a lead drummer.
There’s a great video of Travis doing marching band drills on a drum pad while Mark and Tom watch and at one point it cuts to either mark or Tom and he goes “we can barely, BARELY, play our instruments”
“There’s thousands and thousands of people here today, there’s like semis and fucking…buses, and multiple bands and all kinds of shit. I wish now I would have taken bass lessons. Sorry.”
-Mark Hoppus, *The Mark, Tom, and Travis Show*
As a big blink fan I’ve got to agree. Tom and Mark are not bad musicians, they’ve written some great guitar riffs over the years and made some great music but Travis is on a whole different level.
This was the first band that came to mind because Travis is a fantastic drummer. But I reread OP’s post and they aren’t clear on if we’re talking straight musicianship. So while Travis is head and shoulders the best musician in Blink, Mark and Tom have the songwriting element. Both excellent songwriters. Which is kinda the most important thing. You can be the greatest drummer in the world but it doesn’t mean shit if your band’s songwriters are trash.
What makes a great 3 piece is usually the ability for everyone to add extra to their parts, so it doesn’t sound like a 3 piece. And the other 2 absolutely add a lot.
But geez listen to most blink songs and the complexity to his drumming is ridiculous. Sure there are better drummers out there, but this guy is the perfect blend of depth, range, and variety.
You mean Travis Barker from the Aquabats! I loved this band when I was young, but even back then I knew the drummer had no business going so hard in a comedy rock band. It’s kind of funny how even on Blink-182, one of the most commercially successful bands of all time, Travis seems like he was “wasting” his talent. This man had a wild life!
I just wish she was able to drum more. Saw sone footage of her and she was INCREDIBLE. And looked SO genuinely happy to be doing that. I just feel so bad for her - eating disorders are terrible things, and she was a beautiful woman, inside and out. Pity she couldn't see that for herself due to her illness.
Phil is an absolute monster, metronomically perfect but more importantly he can move anywhere in the pocket and still keep perfect time and has a preternatural sense of what a song needs. The level of restraint only a proper Brit could exercise.
And yet he's incredibly unassuming and is rarely mentioned in conversations about drummers.
Everyone in Radiohead is a phenomenal musician--Thom is actually a super underrated guitarist.
Yeah I’d prob disagree with including Radiohead here, all great musicians. Casual fans might not be aware how many of the complex guitar parts are played by Thom.
I think I might disagree with you on Slayer. No question that Lombardo set the bar for metal drumming, but Hanneman and King were both riff masters and lead beasts. Slayer really are one of those bands that's a perfect storm of musicians.
Absolutely. There is nothing easy about playing as fast and aggressive as slayer does. 80s thrash metal is a feat of endurance no matter which instrument you play, and don’t even get me started on the slayer guitar solos!
As a musician, not taking into account songwriting or producing, etc.
Mick Taylor-Rolling Stones
Jeff Lynne-ELO
Buddy Holly- The Crickets
Derek Trucks-Tedeschi-Trucks Band
Steve Winwood in every band he was associated with, including Blind Faith.
While Mick Taylor plays great leads and is a key part of The Stones’ best run of albums, Keith might just be the riff master of rock music in general. Overall musicianship Keith is still incredible even if he didn’t have the chops Mick T had.
Beggars Banquet they didn’t have Taylor yet and Brian Jones was not really helpful as a performer. That music is all Keith. Sympathy for the Devil has a really great groove on the bass and a really interesting and unusual guitar solo. Keith played both bass and that lead.
Hell that lead riff on the main part of Can’t You Hear Me Knocking is Keith, Taylor is supporting Keith there until he comes in on the extended jam to play that jazzy solo.
All that to say that Taylor is a great soloist but Keef is an all time great when it comes to riffs, feel, and groove.
Edit: I almost forgot to mention too that Let It Bleed only has a couple performances from Mick Taylor. The vast majority of that record’s guitar performance is Keith. Especially since Brian Jones basically couldn’t play anything at all at that time. All of that lovely guitar work on Gimme Shelter is 100% Keith, for instance.
Double Trouble. Producers even told Stevie that he should find other musicians and he refused. Honestly, they were a really tight rhythm section, but Stevie was on his own level.
Pasting from the other VH entry…
If “front man” is an instrument, it would be hard to argue that David Lee Roth wasn’t light years ahead of the competition. It all looks ridiculous now (and it is), but that was a mountain most fake metal singers were trying to climb, but there was only one at the top.
Funny you worded it like that, I remember hearing a story on I believe the Howard stern show with Axl Rose ( Guns n Roses) and Sebastian Bach (Skid Row) where they went out to a part with DLR and got in a limo with him. He in the most DLR fashion said they and everyone else in the 80s rock scene were just pretenders to his throne. DLR wasn’t the best vocalist but he as shit was the best frontman around at the time imo only rivaled by Ozzy. DLR doesn’t get enough credit on his vocals though because he was once capable of some mighty screams. For example;
[On Fire- Van Halen](https://youtu.be/nJJoGtDKQeo?si=5EaSvOMZ7WMMdqzV)
Jeff and Kerry are both exceptional metal guitarists and riff writers. Dave is a great drummer no doubt but he’s not noticeably in a different league to his band mates. I think he’s definitely a more versatile musician based on his career outside slayer but that’s a whole other conversation.
Jeff and Lombardo in my opinion, and in the same sense. Lombardo is not just a good musician, he is creative, he applies his skill to his own drum ideas and style. People overlook his style today, because it was so influential. Jeff wrote all the most classic riffs from Angel of Death, Raining Blood, South of Heaven, Seasons in the Abyss, all the greats. Kerry never had that music writing skill, even though his musicianship is solid.
Dire Straits. They were all exceptionally good, but Mark Knopfler is just on a category of his own when he grabs a guitar Edit : RIP Jack Sonni, nicknamed "The Other Guitar Player"
He can play the honky tonk like anything
But he actually \*does\* make that guitar cry or sing...
Some say he knows all the chords
They said an old guitar is all, he can afford
Mark Knopfler is in a category of his own when it comes to exceptional human beings
Except for that series of prank phone call tapes he made in the eighties, an absolute treasure.
Lol. Somehow the first cassette tape copy my friends had of this was just the Amanda White and Charley Knighten calls, and it cut out a very key part of the Amanda white call, where as the guy is answering the phone, Mark is seemingly telling a friend that “this bitch will f*** anybody - Oh hello is Amanda there?” I was hailed as a hero when I discovered through another group of friends that there was a full series of calls and the key first 3 seconds of the Amanda call. We referred to each other as “you sick, swampy, sonofa bitch” for years.
Oh man. 30 years later and I still drop quotes from this. ‘You dress your mammy’ ‘Mark Knopfler. Please try to pay attention’ ‘Let me put my glasses on so I can see who I’m talking to’ when taking a phone call. 99.9% of the time no one gets it, but when they do, it’s magic.
I didn’t even realize it until now, but I use “please try to pay attention” on a weekly basis, and that’s obviously where I got it from. “You dress your Mammy” is also fantastic. “I said it, I hope it makes you mad enough so’s I can see ya face. You sick bitch.”
I’ve been lucky to meet a lot of famous musicians over the years and he, by a very large margin one of the nicest people I’ve met in my life too.
Stillwater
Russel's guitar sounds are incindiary... *incendiary.*
Hey man I’m incendiary too!
Nah you’re just one of the blurry guys in the background
I heard his look was becoming a problem
Rolling Stone still has the cover article from 1973 on their website. Might be the only William Miller piece that survived the era. https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/stillwater-almost-famous-cover-story-1165517/
Never saw this, how cool!
"I'm the front man. You're the guitarist with mystique."
"I look for the one guy who's not getting off and I make him get off. THAT...you can print!"
God I fucking love that movie.
FEVERDOGGGGGG
How can you tell? I'm just one of the out of focus guys"
He was a golden god
IM ON DRUGSSSSS!!!!!
Jason Lee’s entitled whining is soooo spot on. And most people who ever spent time in any rock band have had the pleasure of working with That Guy.
Very happy that someone spoke this truth.
My favorite thread today, and the correct answer
CCR was all John
Instantaneously started chuckling to myself about how CCR sued John for sounding too much like CCR on his solo album and fucking lost
I think it was his former record label that sued him, not the former band.
Either way, still proves he *was* the band
Plus that last album CCR put out where the other band members took over songwriting as they were jealous of John's dominance-- it was a disaster. Nothing could have proved John's talent was head and shoulders above them like that did.
Yeah, CCR pretty much broke up when the other guys wanted to contribute to the songwriting. In a fit of malicious compliance, he demanded that they each contribute 1/3 of the material on the Mardi Gras album and also refused to do anything on their tunes other than play guitar. The result was some extremely mediocre tracks on a mediocre album. Fogarty was an egomaniac and kind of a dick, but he also wasn’t wrong.
I think an easy answer to the question is Wings
Deprogrammer: I did get Paul McCartney out of Wings. Homer: You idiot! He was the most talented one!
One of my absolute favorite Simpsons jokes.
Wings was really a band in name only. Like, the other people were just hired by Paul. They didn’t share royalties or songwriting credits or anything. That’s one of the reasons it was so short lived. The others got fed up with him. Well, apart from Linda.
This is more common than we probably realize as far as band structures go. I remember being surprised when James Mercer just replaced everyone in the Shins, but it turned out it had always been this kind of arrangement.
LCD Sound system, Tame Impala, Toro y Moi just to name a few others. Dunno if the financials are set up the same, but they follow the single producer in the studio/full band live for sure. It seems pretty popular in that sort of electronic rock genre. I guess there’s a lot one person can do by themselves in a DAW, but good luck playing 5 instruments alone, live.
If you don’t know them, check out Pond. I’m not sure what Tame Impala’s current live lineup is but they were basically Kevin’s touring band. They have a bunch of their own stuff, which is excellent.
There are "normal" bands that are really just one guy + hired guns that don't share ownership too, like Panic at the Disco
Panic at the Disco got started as a regular band, but they split from creative differences, and Brendan Urie turned it into a solo project.
Sort of. *Wings at the Speed of Sound* was conceived to give some of the other members of the band an opportunity to write and perform their own work. Of course, all that did was show that Paul's songs (IMHO) were far better. Not that the other members' songs were *bad*—it's just that...well, you know, *Paul McCartney*. Also, regarding the "short-lived" comment: Wings recorded from 1971 to 1979, and the Beatles recorded from 1962 to 1969. So technically, Wings had a longer span of recording output than the Beatles did. Granted, the Beatles were together for several years before they started putting out albums.
Are you saying that had a longer...Wingspan?
The band the beatles could have been
The beach boys. The band was Brian Wilson + good singers.
And the Wrecking Crew!
Mike Love would like a word, actually, he would like multiple words... actually, he would like a 9 minute speech, and he'd also like to tell you that he definitely, totally wrote all those songs.
...while wearing a Beach Boys hat.
The drummer Dennis Wilson released a solo album that’s absolutely incredible.
Well, not really. It’s true that Brian was the musical genius, but some of the others were pretty good songwriters too.
John Fogherty in comparison to the rest of CCR.
This was my answer, and they actually did the experiment to prove it! The members complained that John Fogerty "Got all.the credit," so they released a group effort album (Mardi Gras), which was deemed " The worst release from a major band ever". John was CCR , too bad the other guys didn't realize it, they killed the goose that laid the golden egg.
Eh the blame was to be spread around. Fogerty's ego is so huge (deserved, but still...) that he practically goaded the rest of the band into Mardi Gras just to prove how good he was. By all accounts they just wanted a more collaborative effort with a hair more input, and John effectively said "no, the whole circus is yours for this album and I will step completely out of any role except performing." Everybody knew that wasn't going to go well, and in a weird f'd up way, they still did exactly what John asked.
Todd In The Shadows does an episode on his "Trainwrecords" series about the CCR album "Mardi Gras" and how the album was mainly written by the other 3 members. The resulting album isn't great at l for that reason.
Wham!
If you're going 80s, Culture Club is really just Boy George and a bunch of other guys
That's suprising! I really liked George Michael.
Cold 😄 picked an act with just two official members... I wonder who's the more talented one? lol
I went down the rabbit hole on YouTube after George passed (plus when one of their songs was in GTA) A comment on one of the videos was something to the effect of "What exactly does Andrew do in this band?" Someone replied "to make tea and pleasure* George" Hah never forgot about that. *the "pleasure" part was a bit more NSFW language.
Have you watched the movie about Wham!? It’s fantastic. Andrew is a peach, and he really seems to have celebrated the talent of his bff George. This documentary definitely made me fall in love with that band.
Omg it was so good, Andrew is like the sweetest human and the way him and George interacted was beyond classy, it's beautiful to see they had no bitterness and only love for each other.
Wham! Bam! I am a man! The documentary was a real treat. From that, it seemed like Andrew was needed to help bolster George's confidence prior to going solo. Plus, it exposed me to Wham Rap for the first time. That didn't make it on radio in the States.
The original line up of Devo. They were all great musicians and did their parts very well but Alan Myers was an animal on the drums. He just seemed to operate on a slightly different plane to the rest of the band
But Mark Mothersbaugh wrote the theme songs to all the 90s cartoon
TIL the Mark Mothersbaugh that I see doing tons of TV and film soundtracks is in fkn Devo... mind. blown.
He did a bunch of the music for *Thor: Ragnarok* as well, and a handful of other movies. Stewart Copeland of the Police has also had a fair bit of success writing music for other media, not least being the soundtracks to the *Spyro the Dragon* trilogy of video games. Some pretty formative stuff for a lot of kids and young adults of the 90s, and the guy who wrote them is best known for playing drums on a bunch of pop rock songs about depression and suicide.
Still is in Devo.
Seriously, every new wave band was comprised of three art students and one guy who absolutely slayed either bass or drums
This is a perfect example. Alan was incredible.
Oasis but the answer depends on which brother you are talking to.
Noel wrote songs for Liam that he couldn't sing himself. The Masterplan is probably my favorite song of theirs, sung by Noel. But I can't imagine they'd be as successful as they were if songs like Supersonic or Live Forever were released with Noel on lead vocal. [The way Liam sings the chorus at the 2:54 mark during this performance just sounds so killer.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmdbgQGDWRk) Noel and Liam needed each other.
In the original line up Noel was the only one with any real musical talent.
And the cocky fucker was well aware of it lol
I once saw Blink182 referred to as 2 Honda Civics revving their engines, while a bugatti purred in the background. thats my answer
Mark and Tom would probably agree with you 😆
It’s a funny quandary, because they all know Blink 182 is way below Travis’s level of talent, but it’s also by far their most lucrative project.
I saw them live earlier this year and they were making fun of themselves. They basically said "we could pull any of you up here to play guitar or bass, but none of you could do what Travis does. Some parent came to me after a show and said "my 9-year-old learned "All The Small Things" in thirty minutes.""
Blink never went far up their asses, which is why I'll always love them
Even from their inception they were like “we don’t make that much sad music cause we were white guys from California in the 90’s it was awesome”
they’re absolutely killer songwriters though which in and of itself is a musical talent
I agree 100%, and I would argue that a decent portion of amazing songwriters out there are far from the most technically-proficient players. When it comes to making music that stands out, originality trumps technical skill any day of the week. I know many amazing singers/musicians whose music is just… derivative. I also know some singers/musicians who aren’t traditionally good at their instrument(s), but they evoke such emotion and passion through their writing that they captivate an audience every damn time. If it were as simple as becoming amazing at the technical stuff, anyone could be a famous artist.
Most definitely. There was a behind the scenes when they were recording the self titled I think? And Travis got out a marching snare and went to town. A ways in you hear Mark say something to the tune of “and I can hardly play my bass!” As he watched on Edit: just saw that u/iMeanWhatEvenIsThis found and posted the video in another comment thread here
Blink 182 - Travis Barker (Mark & Tom both acknowledge this, even calling him their "secret weapon")
Paul Simon was musically leagues above Art Garfunkel
He’s streets ahead!
Stop trying to make that a thing! Its not a thing!
You're obviously streets behind.
Are you trying to Garfunkel me?
Coined and minted
Ironically... Art Garfunkel was considered (by most) the better singer of the group. Apparently he was an asshole in the studio and constantly arguing with Paul about being late or missing rehearsals, or whatever.
He was definetly the better singer, but Simon is one of the great songwriters of the century I‘d argue
I wish people would give him even more credit than he's already gotten. Just imagine, the guy is working ALONE! There's no John or George, it's just him. Then late in his career he comes out with Rhythm of The Saints which I personally think is his best album. Genuinely deep, philosophical, and musically amazing.
Paul Simon's solo career is fantastic. One Trick Pony is a favorite of mine, underrated album.
Nah, Garfunkel’s voice was ethereally, angelically beautiful. Simon is a profoundly skilled writer. But Garfunkel didn’t just look like a frontman. He had tremendous and exceptional musical skill as a singer.
Paul Simon js genius level songwriter. Top 5 for sure. Art is a great singer but just pales in comparison.
His first name is Paul? I've been calling him Al this whole time!
“But what was Simon without Garfunkel?” “WILDLY successful”
Rancid. While the guitar players, Tim especially, are legendary in their own right, Matt Freeman is IMO the top punk bass player of all time.
I still have dreams about the Maxwell Murder solo sometimes
11 seconds of greatness
I'm so excited to see Rancid next year, I'll stay for Green Day but 100 percent going for Rancid.
Matt's a great bass player, but Rancid is only Rancid because Tim is one of the best songwriters in punk.
And his vocals are one of a kind.
Going in the other direction.... I'm gonna introduce you to this guitar player who played guitar with the same line up for 40+ years, toured nonstop through all the Suburbs, and sold millions of albums, top songs on the Radio and no matter what he did, he still got third billing behind a top 5 drummer, and a top 5 singer/bass player. Unbelievable. At least I'm just trying to live up to a couple of family members who are lawyers.
My kids know Rush as the band that sound like six guys playing but it's only 3.
It's especially impressive given that Peart only really sounds like one guy, himself, he's just *really fucking good*; Geddy and Alex between them sound like 2+ people each. Geddy sings, plays bass, plays keys, plays synths, and is routinely doing two and sometimes *three* of those at the same time. Alex pretty much only plays guitar (occasionally backup vocals) but is so proficient and both lead and rhythm, and so often playing such intricate lines, that it frequently sounds he's playing lead *and* rhythm in the same part of the same song. They had the depth, complexity, and "wall of sound" of bands like Yes and King Crimson who had five and anywhere from five to *eight* members, respectively, with only three people.
Geddy is an astounding bassist, perhaps the greatest to ever do it given the complexity he plays at. Then you have to consider he’s pairing that with intense vocals that follow a complex rhythm, along with synths/keys at the same time. Like 3 really good musicians in one. Neil is perhaps the greatest percussionist rock will ever know (that’s always a debate I know). To maintain rhythm and time signature changes with those fills in between and managing it all without losing stride or swagger is genius. Alex may be the “lesser” here because, shit, look at those other two. But you said it best, third billing but would be top dog by miles with any other group. He’s a facemelting virtuoso on that guitar and its lunacy that he is sometimes an afterthought on people’s compiled lists of guitarists. His solos, transitions and genius fills will give me chills until I take my last breath.
Rush was just such a virtuosic group that Alex wouldn't have even been there in the first place if he wasn't a top tier guitarist.
For sure, you don't keep company with guys like Geddy and Neil without being incredible.
His ability to texture the songs the way he does alongside the out-of-this-world incredible rhythm section of Neil and Geddy is a remarkable feat within itself. Even if Alex never played a solo his rhythm parts are mind-blowingly good. Add in the longevity factor that had their sound changing dramatically over the years and his ability to adapt to new instrumentation, the wide variety of compositional styles that they utilized, I mean I could just go on and on Alex Lifeson is an unsung hero and one of the most legendary rock guitarists of all time. Geddy and Neil are amazing but Rush would not be Rush without Alex.
Mel C vs the rest of the Spice Girls!
100% the best voice in the group
The two Mels did most of the heavy lifting in the group vocally. It's no coincidence that Mel C had the most successful solo career, in the UK at least.
I saw an interview recently where Victoria Beckham basically admitted she didn't do very much while she was in the group.
The Spice Girls may have well been Mel B and C, featuring the Spice Girls.
Destiny's Child if you want to go that route
Diana Ross and The Supremes as well.
Bez was by far the best musician in the Happy Mondays.
I won't be Bez, I want to be in there on merit
Don’t think you’ll make it on merit mate.
Man of many talents. Maraca virtuoso.
The triangle player in Russell Crowes’ band.
Meanwhile, Russell Crowe is fightin' 'round the world.
I think once Murray stepped away from the Wiggles, the band lost its edgier rock identity. If you can’t tell, I just finished “Hot Potato: The Wiggles Story” documentary on Prime.
You should see their “Like a Version” they are actually incredibly talented. https://youtu.be/a13WnqsRc5g?si=gtkjlv3G_ssOXL3j
Milli >>> Vanilli
I agree, his lips were definitely more synced.
Prince from Prince and The Revolution.
Prince is in his own dimension. But the Revolution is a KILLER band..e.g. Wendy is one of the dopest guitar playsr
Yeah basically all the guitar in “Purple Rain” up until the solo is her. I imagine Prince wrote the part, but still. Legendary track.
Wendy said in an interview that Prince was secretly jealous of Lisa, because she was the only other musician in the band who could play her instrument better than him. in other words, he could play everyone else’s instrument better than them, except hers.
"Prince was jealous of me." You could put that on your tombstone.
Prince was so good and so much the boss that his band members were basically just his other instruments.
Russian circles. The drumming by Dave Turnkrantz is from a different planet. Those singles...
Noel and Mitch were great, but Jimi was the show.
Nah, Mitch was different
Noel was serviceable. Mitch is criminally underrated.
When I go back to listen to Hendrix, aside from the guitar, the drumming really stands out.
I love that the drummers in this thread, myself included, are all jumping up. Mitch is an all timer. Sure, Jimi is a god, but so is Mitch. If you can not only support, but deliberately frame and enhance what JIMI is doing, you are amazing. Most people would be lost and just staring at Hendrix. Mitch was collaborating, on as high a level as imaginable.
Mitch Mitchell is an absolutely phenomenal drummer
There might be no Jimi as we know him without Mitch.
Mitch is top 10 in rock ever bro
Muni Bettencourt from Extreme is one of the best guitarists around. Edit: yeah Nuno, not sure how it got to muni haha.
Nuno?
Tool. While they're all musically talented, great composers and Maynard is a legendary songwriter... Danny is so, so far ahead of them in technical ability. Danny Carey is a lead drummer.
Danny is a drumming god for sure. Watching him play live is just crazy
I had to scroll too far to see this. [Obligatory video as proof](https://youtu.be/FssULNGSZIA?si=2WLNXI-c6LlCZ-NV)
WAY too far down. Danny Carey's limbs all have different dreams.
Wings
Creedence Clearwater Revival was John Fogerty and three guys who were fortunate enough to play with John Fogerty.
blink-182, Travis Barker is far and away the best musician
There’s a great video of Travis doing marching band drills on a drum pad while Mark and Tom watch and at one point it cuts to either mark or Tom and he goes “we can barely, BARELY, play our instruments”
I need to see this
Found it: https://youtu.be/H0RgXBd7EY0?feature=shared
“There’s thousands and thousands of people here today, there’s like semis and fucking…buses, and multiple bands and all kinds of shit. I wish now I would have taken bass lessons. Sorry.” -Mark Hoppus, *The Mark, Tom, and Travis Show*
It’s mark and he’s like “I can barely play my instrument”
As a big blink fan I’ve got to agree. Tom and Mark are not bad musicians, they’ve written some great guitar riffs over the years and made some great music but Travis is on a whole different level.
This was the first band that came to mind because Travis is a fantastic drummer. But I reread OP’s post and they aren’t clear on if we’re talking straight musicianship. So while Travis is head and shoulders the best musician in Blink, Mark and Tom have the songwriting element. Both excellent songwriters. Which is kinda the most important thing. You can be the greatest drummer in the world but it doesn’t mean shit if your band’s songwriters are trash.
What makes a great 3 piece is usually the ability for everyone to add extra to their parts, so it doesn’t sound like a 3 piece. And the other 2 absolutely add a lot. But geez listen to most blink songs and the complexity to his drumming is ridiculous. Sure there are better drummers out there, but this guy is the perfect blend of depth, range, and variety.
You mean Travis Barker from the Aquabats! I loved this band when I was young, but even back then I knew the drummer had no business going so hard in a comedy rock band. It’s kind of funny how even on Blink-182, one of the most commercially successful bands of all time, Travis seems like he was “wasting” his talent. This man had a wild life!
Karen Carpenter
I just wish she was able to drum more. Saw sone footage of her and she was INCREDIBLE. And looked SO genuinely happy to be doing that. I just feel so bad for her - eating disorders are terrible things, and she was a beautiful woman, inside and out. Pity she couldn't see that for herself due to her illness.
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I agree about how talented Greenwood is but that whole band is insanely talented. I'd even go with Philip Selway as the most talented.
Phil is an absolute monster, metronomically perfect but more importantly he can move anywhere in the pocket and still keep perfect time and has a preternatural sense of what a song needs. The level of restraint only a proper Brit could exercise. And yet he's incredibly unassuming and is rarely mentioned in conversations about drummers. Everyone in Radiohead is a phenomenal musician--Thom is actually a super underrated guitarist.
Yeah I’d prob disagree with including Radiohead here, all great musicians. Casual fans might not be aware how many of the complex guitar parts are played by Thom.
His ability to keep really strange time signatures on guitar or piano while singing is insane to me as a terrible musician.
Yes... oh man yes. Learning the chords to Pyramid Song, easy. Playing those chords in the correct time while singing, fucking brutally difficult.
Quiet riot before randy left he could play circles around the rest of the band, mudvayne none are bad but Ryan is on another level
I think I might disagree with you on Slayer. No question that Lombardo set the bar for metal drumming, but Hanneman and King were both riff masters and lead beasts. Slayer really are one of those bands that's a perfect storm of musicians.
Absolutely. There is nothing easy about playing as fast and aggressive as slayer does. 80s thrash metal is a feat of endurance no matter which instrument you play, and don’t even get me started on the slayer guitar solos!
Blink 182. Travis barker is on another level than the other 2, as a musician and like… mentally
Ian Anderson of Tull. Whole band was great but he was the show.
Clearly the dancing guy from Mighty Mighty Bosstones.
Sorry if this is fairly obvious, low hanging fruit, but...Jackson Five? That Michael kid sure had it.
Mark Tremonti from Creed
Dire Straits.
As a musician, not taking into account songwriting or producing, etc. Mick Taylor-Rolling Stones Jeff Lynne-ELO Buddy Holly- The Crickets Derek Trucks-Tedeschi-Trucks Band Steve Winwood in every band he was associated with, including Blind Faith.
While Mick Taylor plays great leads and is a key part of The Stones’ best run of albums, Keith might just be the riff master of rock music in general. Overall musicianship Keith is still incredible even if he didn’t have the chops Mick T had. Beggars Banquet they didn’t have Taylor yet and Brian Jones was not really helpful as a performer. That music is all Keith. Sympathy for the Devil has a really great groove on the bass and a really interesting and unusual guitar solo. Keith played both bass and that lead. Hell that lead riff on the main part of Can’t You Hear Me Knocking is Keith, Taylor is supporting Keith there until he comes in on the extended jam to play that jazzy solo. All that to say that Taylor is a great soloist but Keef is an all time great when it comes to riffs, feel, and groove. Edit: I almost forgot to mention too that Let It Bleed only has a couple performances from Mick Taylor. The vast majority of that record’s guitar performance is Keith. Especially since Brian Jones basically couldn’t play anything at all at that time. All of that lovely guitar work on Gimme Shelter is 100% Keith, for instance.
Double Trouble. Producers even told Stevie that he should find other musicians and he refused. Honestly, they were a really tight rhythm section, but Stevie was on his own level.
The White Stripes?
Don't need to go that hard at Jack, bro.
It took a few albums for Jack to get caught up
Eddie Van Halen, Alex is an awesome drummer but Eddie, well he's Eddie Van Halen.
Pasting from the other VH entry… If “front man” is an instrument, it would be hard to argue that David Lee Roth wasn’t light years ahead of the competition. It all looks ridiculous now (and it is), but that was a mountain most fake metal singers were trying to climb, but there was only one at the top.
Prime DLR was something else. Stage presence, voice, personality. Everything you want in a frontman.
Funny you worded it like that, I remember hearing a story on I believe the Howard stern show with Axl Rose ( Guns n Roses) and Sebastian Bach (Skid Row) where they went out to a part with DLR and got in a limo with him. He in the most DLR fashion said they and everyone else in the 80s rock scene were just pretenders to his throne. DLR wasn’t the best vocalist but he as shit was the best frontman around at the time imo only rivaled by Ozzy. DLR doesn’t get enough credit on his vocals though because he was once capable of some mighty screams. For example; [On Fire- Van Halen](https://youtu.be/nJJoGtDKQeo?si=5EaSvOMZ7WMMdqzV)
Paul Gilbert and Billy Sheehan in Mr. Big
Pavement - Malkmus.
Gotta go with Faith No More. Lots of talent in that band but Mike Patton is in a class all his own.
Jeff and Kerry are both exceptional metal guitarists and riff writers. Dave is a great drummer no doubt but he’s not noticeably in a different league to his band mates. I think he’s definitely a more versatile musician based on his career outside slayer but that’s a whole other conversation.
Jeff and Lombardo in my opinion, and in the same sense. Lombardo is not just a good musician, he is creative, he applies his skill to his own drum ideas and style. People overlook his style today, because it was so influential. Jeff wrote all the most classic riffs from Angel of Death, Raining Blood, South of Heaven, Seasons in the Abyss, all the greats. Kerry never had that music writing skill, even though his musicianship is solid.
Ghost?
lol that's cheating
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No. Their bass player and drummer are fantastic. They’re so fat and solid it’s ridiculous.