Entertainment For Lively Minds
The singer not the throng
Posted by Lucas Hare on 18 October 2007 - 10:48am.
Most people can name most - if not all - of the members of The Beatles or The Rolling Stones. Some know the names of all of The Doors. But I'm thinking of those bands where everyone knows the lead singer, and that's it. I mean, we all know who Chris Martin, Thom Yorke and Bobby Gillespie are; but I couldn't tell you any other members of Coldplay, Radiohead or Primal Scream if my life depended on it. Which are those other bands where everyone knows the singer but no one else?
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Age
Isn't this more of an age thing? The older you get, the less you care about this kind of thing.
When I was a teen I'd pour over record sleeves memorising everything. But nowadays I simply don't care. It's not that I love music any less, but I'm no longer interested in the minutiae. Apparently, I have more important things filling my time.
Wassisname? That bloke?
Cockney Rebel - Steve Harley and err... old wassisname?
Teardrop Explodes - Julian Cope and err.. wassisname?
ABC - Martin Fry and err.. wassisname?
Pulp - Jarvis Cocker and err... wassisname?
Jethro Tull - Ian Anderson and err... old wassisname?
Fairport Convention - Sandy Denny and that nice bloke on guitar.
The Bangles - nice totty up front but wassername?
REM - the bald bloke? Chummy? Wassisname? Little Mickey Stipe.
Brinsley Schwartz - Nick Lowe and old wassisname on guitar?
Stray - Del Bromham and err...
Thunderclap Newman - err...
Graham Parker and the eh?
Ian Dury and err.. a bunch of old blokes...
Aerosmith - Steve Tyler and err...
Bob Marley and those blokes behind him.
Get it regularly at www.theaxevictim.blogspot.com
REM
think it was Q that referred to REMs members as (when they were a quartet) as
Boffin, Bongo, Beardie and Weirdie...
Bros
Viz used to caption pictures of Bros as "Matt", "Luke" and "the other one".
No they didn't. It was
No they didn't. It was Matt, Luke and "Ken"
Singer Not The Throng
Headline of the week
I think, rather than being
I think, rather than being an age thing, it's a bit to do with the old 'cult of celebrity' phenomenon: particularly with Chris Martin, who loads of people who read Heat, etc will know because he's married to whatshername. But, even apart from the tabloid perception, I think we're sold these bands to an extent around the cult of the lead singer. Oh, The Cult. That's another one. But more so than in the past. You could of course argue that if I was a Radiohead fan, then I'd know every single one of their names, rather than being left with no more than a nagging suspicion that one of them might be called Jonny or something.
Name that Door!
I think the Doors actually belong in this category. Laughably pretentious idiot + band, if you ask me.
I agree about The Doors. I
I agree about The Doors. I wish I could tell you why I knew all their names, but I do.
The The...can never seem to
The The...can never seem to place the rest of them.
Aphex Twin.
Bevis Frond.
World Party.
Etc.
Sleeper
Made average Britpop records but the rest of the band who were not Louise Wener had a nice line in self-depreciating 'Sleeperbloke' tee-shirts.
Les KuhlkeEricHaydockBernie CalvertMeganDaviesKeithPotger
Isn't this a 60's, possibly early 70's thing?
I could name the members of loads of 60's bands probably because they tended to be all featured in the pop press of the day.
Probably telling us about their favourite colours & what type of girl they liked,too. Whether it was because pop groups were a new phenomenom compared to the solo star/backing group combos that preceded them, like your Billy Fury & The Gamblers, etc is a possible answer.
I can't imagine that I knew the names of The Swinging Blue Jeans due to their outstanding musicianship.
The only band who I could name the members of before the Beatles came along was The Shadows.
Strangely, I do remember all of Jethro Tull's names.
"Alright, Simply?"
Mick Hucknall has said that on more than one occasion he's had people (e.g. men in white vans) call out to him in the street things like "Alright, Simply?"
Vincent Furnier would understand.
Welcome To The Machine
Or indeed... to Roger Waters & Co in the 70's "by the way, which one's Pink?"
Simply bandless
It was announced today that Simply Red are splitting up. Possibly because Mick Hucknall was tired of being referred to as "Simply", although this is unconfirmed.
The same subject as the thread is about... obviously
Franz Ferdinand
The Killers - Brandon Flowers
Decemberists - Colin Meloy
Muse
Diana Ross & The Supremes (the clue is in the title)
Cast (if you can recall them.)
The Seahorses - John Squire + literally blokes he found busking in the street.
It's not a Sixties/Seventies
It's not a Sixties/Seventies thing: Slade. Noddy Holder. And some other people.
At the risk of going
At the risk of going slightly off-topic, I remember someone suggesting that "Noddy Holder" should really be some sort of device. Perhaps from the sort of catalogue that drops out of Sunday newspapers.
Who are you?
Steeleye Span
Chicken Shack after Christine Perfect left
Groundhogs
John Mayalls Bluesbreakers after EC left
Martin Stephenson and the Daintees - name a daintee
Prefab Sprout
Scritti Pollitti
Actually it would be harder to name a band where you know all the members names - in the olden days I knew the names of ELP (EASY) Yes, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple (Child in time era),Beatles and Stones and that was about it.