gtr-bass-drums bands where the sole guitarist is the least visible and/or 'important' member

got the idea from the Police thread...not necessarily 'the lame guy' in the band or even necessarily a weak link, but the least famous guy or doesn't do a lot of singing and/or writing of the best known songs etc.

Alex Lifeson (Rush)
Andy Summers (The Police)
Mick Mars (Motley Crue)

Fall Out Boy would work if the singer didn't play 2nd guitar

basically i guess this will inevitably be "bands where the bassist or drummer sings or writes songs"

Larry LaLonde in Primus

oh yeah I feel like Primus definitely came to mind when I had a thought about this in the past

maybe Steve Marker of Garbage, although he's probably equally anonymous along w/ the other guy who's not Shirley Manson or Butch Vig, and they're not very strictly a gtr-bass-drums band even if that's what they seem to mainly play onstage

Peter Buck of R.E.M. maybe? kind of a stretch

Chris Maxwell in the original lineup of Skeleton Key

Metallica? Save for the still rather new bass player, who even replaced a replacement, I would arguably consider Kirk Hammet to be the least profilic member.

"sole guitarist" -- Hetfield also plays guitar pretty much all the time

Red Hot Chili Peppers, at least when Frusciante's not in the band

although if there are any bands w/ 2 guitarists who are both the least known/emphasized members i guess that would be worthy of mention

Arguably Genesis. At least when they did actually have a guitar player, not just a bass player turned guitar player.

I thought about maybe Genesis but I wasn't really sure if that was true, thanks for the clarification

the guitarist and drummer of White Zombie are probably evenly not-famous compared to Rob Zombie and what's her name hot chick bassist

It is hard to tell who is the least famous member of Coldplay, but Jonny Buckland is one of them. Along with the two other non-lead-singers...

yeah some bands it's really like Lead Singer And Faceless Guys Behind Them -- totally different thing. it's probably worth mentioning here if at least one member of the rhythm section is somehow more famous or notable than the guitarist.

this changed w/ joe walsh's arrival but the eagles w/ bernie leadon probably qualify here

mick mars seems borderline to me, peter buck no way

In the case of Genesis it should be added that Anthony Phillips, the original pre-fame guitar player, was probably one of the "leaders" of the original lineup. Still highly respected by the others and fans alike, just he had to leave because his parents didn't allow him to go for a musical career.

Mick Mars is in a band with a lead singer, a drummer who's a huge celeb off of reality shows/famous spouse/sex tape/etc., and a bassist who writes most of the songs and has a bestselling memoir and a fairly successful side project, he's definitely the least visible member of Crue.

joey santiago, almost

fIREHOSE

ahhhh good call...i thought "Minutemen? no way" for a sec but for some reason fIREHOSE didn't occur to me

Ed Crawford (fIREHOSE) xp ahhhhh
Charles Bullen (This Heat)

uh

The guitarist in Bratmobile? (Google: Erin Smith)

nomeansno

I dunno, was Steve Hackett really less visible/prominent than Mike Rutherford in the early 70s version of Genesis?

I guess I didn't really realize that Copeland was considered more visible than Summers. Summers was kind of a legend in his way in guitar-mag circles.

not as much as Copeland is a legend in drum-mag circles, though. plus the Police is sometimes thought of as 'his band' (in the sense of him forming it and i guess driving the initial aesthetic) and he's definitely a much bigger personality than Summers and has been more visible post-Police with film scoring work.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8j6Tln0lN0c

joey santiago, almost

neither sole guitarist nor less visible than the drummer, who didn't stay in music, let alone sometimes play with the frontman in between band lifecycles

Big Business

drummer got 'la la love you' though

Traffic sort of belongs here, especially since some of their best-known stuff happened after Mason left. No room for him between Winwood and Capaldi.

drummer got 'la la love you' though

fair point, he never got a "rock me Joseph Alberto Santiago" on-record shout-out though

there is an argument for tool i guess.

yes

311

Public Image Ltd

and Can in a way

I dunno, was Steve Hackett really less visible/prominent than Mike Rutherford in the early 70s version of Genesis?

Rutherford belonged to a circle of the original members, and that meant much more power within the band for a long time. Phil also had less power to begin with, but the fact that he sang lead vocals on a couple of songs brought him a bit more to the foreground.

Rush?

Three Mile Pilot

LCD Soundsystem

The Fall pre-Brix

Beat Happening, though no bass I guess...

I don't know if Karl Burns or Paul Hanley were more visible or significant to their sound than Craig Scanlon or Marc Riley, though, Steve.

xp

Motorhead maybe? I don't know about their drummer/guitar fame quotient.

Wet Wet Wet guitarist

The guitarist in The Donnas, who doesn't get nearly as much attention as Lead Singer or Hot Drummer.

hotter than the drummer IMO.

Portishead?

stretching the 'rock' band notion but they do have live drums etc.

bikini kill

the corrs

The Doors?

I feel like there is a common thread of prog bands where the drummer is the most important/visible person and the guitarist ends up being the least. Hella, Magma, Tatsuya Yoshida projects, xp on Genesis, Rush.

I'm amazed at how little love Alex Lifeson gets because he's an incredible guitarist and writes (with Geddy Lee) all of Rush's music. I've ranted about this before on various threads. I think it happens because the field of great guitarists is much more crowded than the field of great bass players and drummers.

Peter Buck of R.E.M. maybe?

This is hilarious.

yeah it was a big reach i know. but the bassist wears Nudie suits and the drummer has an enormous monobrow, if you go to REM for lols (and I do) Buck can get lost in the shuffle a little.

Peter Buck is the only other member of REM besides Stipe whose name I ever remember seeing in print

If you can include quartets with keyboards, The Meters certainly counts: the keyboardist was the front man, and bassist and drummer are one of the most acclaimed bassist-drummer combos of all time.

xp and if he didn't get into air rage incidents over yoghurt pots?

I thought of the Meters for a minute, but when I looked at everyone's names, I definitely recognized Leo Nocentelli, and George Porter Jr. didn't ring a bell.

The thing about Buck is that REM wouldn't sound like REM w/o him, not to mention the fact that his guitar style pretty much defined the college rock landscape for half the 80s. But, y'know...Nudie suits and monobrows.

exactly!

Public Image Ltd

post-Keith Levene, this is probably true. Aside from Steve Vai playing on Album I have no idea who the PIL guitarists have been.

xp and if he didn't get into air rage incidents over yoghurt pots?

some of us are almost 40

when I first discovered REM in 1985, they were basically introduced to me as "Michael Stipe, Peter Buck and two other dudes" and that's pretty much how I remember all of the writing around them at the time (whether that's actually how it was or not is another issue altogether; that was my takeaway and, as such, it's really weird for me to think of REM as having an anonymous guitarist)

Yeah, Mike Mills' vocals have always been a part of REM's identity, but he didn't really step out from behind his bass and become a personality until the 90s.

post-Keith Levene, this is probably true. Aside from Steve Vai playing on Album I have no idea who the PIL guitarists have been.

I was actually thinking with Levene though. Lydon is the most famous and prominent obv. Jah Wobble is a hugely namechecked bass player. But I never see people talking about Levene's guitar playing. I've heard in person and read in print people referring to Jah Wobble bass lines (for what is really just a kind of standard dub bass line) but I don't think I've ever seen someone's guitar playing compared to Levene.

Plus Levene didn't really do a whole lot musically after PiL and he ended up working as a graphic designer and kind of disappearing for a long time.

Maybe it's just me, then. I put Levene up there with Andy Gill from Go4 as post-punk guitarist royalty.

"I don't think I've ever seen someone's guitar playing compared to Levene."

That's because he had a really distinctive style, though! It seems to me that he had a bigger impact on their style than Martin Atkins did.

I had a long rebuttal typed out before realizing I was confusing Keith Levene with Keith LeBlanc

Maybe it's just me, then. I put Levene up there with Andy Gill from Go4 as post-punk guitarist royalty.

yeah, definitely. me too. but I do think Wobble overshadows him a bit overall. not in the quality of his actual work or anything but just in media presence. I mean, this is a totally stupid measurement, but look at the respective lengths of their wikipedia pages. Maybe it's just because I knew who Wobble was before I heard PiL and then when I finally listened to them I was like "wow, who is this guitar player".

Public Image Ltd

LCD Soundsystem

whoops, posted early - meant to say that Levene is enormously more visible and important than Atkins and to say otherwise is crazy

and that LCD makes no sense as they don't have a sole guitarist

I thought LCD Soundsystem was just one guy?

Started that way, but turned into a band, then turned into a megaband.

it's good that we finally mentioned a megaband in this thread

Joy Division

and that LCD makes no sense as they don't have a sole guitarist

and are not gtr-bass-drums

(side to Tuomas: they stayed one guy playing the vast majority of stuff on record, but toured as a 5-10 piece)

meant to say that Levene is enormously more visible and important than Atkins and to say otherwise is crazy

I was thinking of Metal Box period.

and are not gtr-bass-drums

― rude ragga beats from the F. U. Schnickens (sic), Monday, August 29, 2011 3:14 PM (3 minutes ago)

OIC, if you have a keyboard on some songs than you are no longer GBD?

they're clearly not the kind of band this thread is about, irrelepedant Steve Shasta

roxy music?

actually that doesn't work

now you're just fucking with me

well, I think it's also interesting to consider bands where the guitar player is like the third or fourth most famous member (basically bands with a really famous bass player or drummer) rather than just bands where the guitar player is at the bottom of the list (a tiny list of trios with a famous drummer and a singing bass player).

OIC, if you have a keyboard on some songs than you are no longer GBD?

feel free to name all the LCD records that are GBD, or all the tours they did in GBD format

Metal Box period is a p small period tho. McGeogh def a major player in subsequent PiLs.

Band members

James Murphy – vocals, drums, bass, percussion, claps, organ, programming, drum machine, synths, guitar, effects, keyboards, piano, clavinet, wurlitzer piano, snaps, omnichord, vocoder

Murphy played the majority of the instrumental parts on LCD soundsystem's albums himself. However when performing live, Murphy was accompanied by the following band members:
Nancy Whang – vocals, keyboards, synths
Pat Mahoney – drums, percussion, drum machine, claps, synths, vocals,
Tyler Pope – bass, guitar, synths, claps, drum machine
David Scott Stone – guitar
Matt Thornley – percussion, snaps
Gavin Russom – synths, vocals
Al Doyle – guitar, percussion, synths, bass (also of Hot Chip)

Former live members included:
Phil Skarich – bass
Phil Mossman – guitar, percussion
J.D. Mark - Guitar

Every LCDSS album and live show has had numerous/majority GBD songs also featuring a keyboard and sometimes some songs with ONLY GUITAR BASS AND DRUMS! ZMOG!

They have had THREEEEEEE former live members who played the guitar and guess what? they are the LEAST known of all the LCD members (except for Matt Thornley, kinda blankin on him).

uh dude you realise you are counter-arguing yourself here right? on every single point? or do you need me to break it down to an extent

this thread is about "guitar bands" (featuring guitar, bass, drums and no other instruments) in which there is one guitar player, who is part of the band's permanent recording/touring lineup but is not the frontman, and whose role is relatively minor in terms of his public profile and/or creative contributions.

well, I think it's also interesting to consider bands where the guitar player is like the third or fourth most famous member (basically bands with a really famous bass player or drummer) rather than just bands where the guitar player is at the bottom of the list (a tiny list of trios with a famous drummer and a singing bass player).

― the wheelie king (wk), Monday, August 29, 2011 6:24 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark

btw this is a totally reasonable way to want to expand the parameters of discussion, unlike some people

the only name i recognize on that list is hipster icon Gavin Russom and guitarist David Scott Stone

note that guitarist Tyler Pope is a guest star from !!! and guitarist Al Doyle is a guest star from Hot Chip

there is so much bullshit in this thread though, starting with some dude's REM mention, then balls forgetting Glenn Frey sang and played guitar on 80% of their material, the pixies mention (wtf), fIREHOSE (Ed sang and wrote most of this band's music, he was easily the most contributing member and another reason why the band was not that great), etc.

can't believe that LCD mention (they are known to ROCK in the GBD formation!) would be the game changer.

One could argue that Beastie Boys, in their GBD lineups, make Ad Rock's guitar the least essential element (really all about the rhythm section)...but he's Ad Rock and he's not invisible at all.

^ also amusing that in GBD formation the drummer is so weak he has to sing badly instead and get another drummer in

can't believe that LCD mention (they are known to ROCK in the GBD formation!) would be the game changer.

and yet you've still not cited any example of them playing in GBD formation, c'mon dude

yes other people are getting it wrong, but then ppl are talking about it. and you can't see why someone might argue the guitarist in fIREHOSE is the least "visible" member? you even argue that he is only "important" because he sucks!

No, Steve pointed out that Ed was the lead singer in that band and that he wrote a lot of their music. (He actually didn't write as much as Mike Watt, though, Steve.)

haha my mentioning joey santiago was due to a misreading of 'sole guitarist' as 'solo guitarist'. and yeah he's no david lovering, but that dude was visibly creepy in the reunion tour doc i saw. anyway

fIREHOSE was kind of cheating because ed was a replacement and 'least important' because of such, however unfairly

Simon Tong in Blur

Isaac Hanson

Kevin Jonas

haw good one

clearly as long as this thread is active i will never stop having to apologize for slighting Peter Buck

Metal Box period is a p small period tho.

yeah, I see that now. I didn't at first because metal box is the only one I care about, so I always think of PiL as being Lydon, Wobble, & Levene.

when I first discovered REM in 1985, they were basically introduced to me as "Michael Stipe, Peter Buck and two other dudes" and that's pretty much how I remember all of the writing around them at the time (whether that's actually how it was or not is another issue altogether; that was my takeaway and, as such, it's really weird for me to think of REM as having an anonymous guitarist)

― now I have to imagine your penis (DJP), Monday, August 29, 2011 4:35 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark

OTM, and ditto. For about a year, before I saw any live footage of them, I just assumed Buck was that prominent backing voice, mainly because I didn't know the names of the other two. Also, for me at that time, anyone playing a Rickenbacker was gonna stand out.

i get it, guys, Peter Buck is a big deal. but seriously, for the past 14 years, Buck has been the only one of the 3 founding/permanent members of the band who never sings. that's worth something maybe?

Scratch Acid

Siouxsie & the Banshees

Red Snapper, probably. The drummer and bassist are usually more prominent on their songs, and they both also have a larger discography outside the band than the guitarist.

I'll agree with the Peter Buck thing. I mean, I just looked at a picture of R.E.M. - I mean, really looked at them - and realized that I thought Mike Mills was both Mike Mills and Peter Buck. I had always just been glossing over that accountant-looking motherfucker.

Mick Turner out of the Dirty Three. Warren Ellis does so much stuff with his violin that the guitar can't help being overshadowed.

true. although fwiw, part of the gtr-bass-drums conceit is that any rock band with an instrument besides those 3 is more likely to stand out, rendering the downplaying of the guitarist less noteworthy.

Pete Buck is so crucial to REM's sound and their historiographic narrative that I basically don't understand this thread. Andy Summers also pushing it but, it's a trio and somebody has to be least famous so...

the first mention of Buck ended with "maybe? kind of a stretch" and was very early on in the thread when only one other person had responded and i was racking my brain w/ ideas just to keep the thread going. guys i'm sorry i ruined my own thread by thinking out loud.

Don't disagree with the Mick Turner comment as far as being most invisible member... But that said, he is totally the Dirty 3's secret weapon.

I'm convinced No Doubt's guitarist could show up in the front row of a No Doubt concert and no one would recognize him.

oh good call...the rhythm section definitely seems more famous or attention-grabbing than the guitarist in that band, nevermind the singer

The guy who replaced John Lawrence in Gorky's Zygotic Mynci

haha No Doubt is PERFECT for this thread

I had no idea any of the other members of No Doubt besides Gwen Stephanie were "more" or "less" prominent compared to each other. Weren't they basically just her backing band? I at least couldn't name any of them.

the bassist is semi-famous for being Gwen's ex-boyfriend who inspired some of their biggest songs and also writing songs for people like Pink, the drummer is the 'crazy unpredictable guy in the band who gets naked a lot,' the guitarist is the guy in the back who almost looks like he could be one of the other band members' dad

Okay.

Holy shit, I just checked No Doubt's band members on Wikipedia, I had no idea they are all so old! Apparently No Doubt had been around for almost 10 years before they hit it big with "Just a Girl".

Crappy NZ rock band 'Elemeno P' appear to not even have a guitarist, except when live.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elemeno_P

I thought of them when some dude mentioned looking like one of the other members' dad.

oops he's the drummer.

No Doubt is a great answer. And I didn't mean to be a dick about Summers/Buck! Just was flabbergasted at Buck really, but I guess that already got worn into the ground on this thread.

Holy shit, I just checked No Doubt's band members on Wikipedia, I had no idea they are all so old! Apparently No Doubt had been around for almost 10 years before they hit it big with "Just a Girl".

welcome to 1995, Tuomas

motley crue, maybe?

OP!

lol sry

Australian answer - Spiderbait.

yah good 1

i was totally gonna start on a thread on this subject leading with rush and the police, just wanted to congratulate the robots for noting this thread exists (and some dude for already starting it 4 years ago)

Interpol (LOL - sorry!)

Every band I've ever been in, ha lol. OK, except one.

Ha, including the band I was lead guitarist in! Oh, he's so humble...

Charlie Burchill is the first person that springs to mind

Duke Ellington and his Famous Orchestra

Fred Guy was the only guitarist Ellington ever employed. He was, for all intents and purposes, inaudible on the Ellington recordings on which he appears, and after he left (in 1949), he wasn't replaced.

And in a related note, "Fred Guy" might be the most forgettable, generic name for a musician, ever.

Charlie Burchill is the first person that springs to mind

Really? Except for Mel Gaynor, who's not an original member, the only other person I can even name from Simple Minds is Jim Kerr.

Holy shit as 80s post punk/new wave bands go Charlie Burchill is the classic Keith/Joe Perry guitarist sideman.

Derek Forbes left in the early 80s, Mel Gaynor was a mid 80s newcomer, and a succession of bass players.

oops apologies Gaynor joined around New Gold Dream

Ah, you're probably right, I just think of him and especially his guitar style as being low key and backgroundy, I mean he's hardly a riff meister.

Roy Hay is probably the least visible member of Culture Club?

his post Culture Club group 'This Way Up' were good, it's sad they never made it big

https://youtu.be/HTHODWNEbAo

There's been a monsoon of wrongness on this thread already but ... Charlie Burchill? Seriously? Simple Minds has ALWAYS been about him and Juan Kerr. Hell, Johnny & the Self Abusers was all about Kerr and Burchill. The imaginary band they had when they sitting at the same desk together in Primary 3 in Toryglen was all about Kerr and Burchill.

Okay ffs