Great performances in not particularly great songs

Obviously both parts of the subject are highly, er, subjective, but just to give some context, I was inspired by hearing Vito Bratta's guitar solo in White Lion's fine but otherwise pretty boilerplate Cheap Trick retread (singer Mike Tramp even looks a lot like Robin Zander) "Wait." Another example would be Jeff Porcaro's awesome playing on "Rosanna," which I think is a pretty cheesy song. Or maybe Sammy Hagar singing the hell out of Van Halen's "Poundcake," which is also a pretty lame by the numbers song.

Anyway, any other faves?

Trevor Horn's trigger samples in "Owner of a Lonely Heart."

I think that's actually the drummer, testing the sampler. Still cool after all these years.

Lennon in Mr Moonlight

I love the piano part in Lonely Boy by Andrew Gold but the lyrics make me cringe pretty hard.

Sometimes people rave about John Taylor's bass lines, especially on "Rio," as if they were better than the source material, or somehow wasted. But I would not admit those to this topic because the songs are also objectively awesome.

Tony Butler does approach this territory on "In a Big Country," however, and that is one of my fave "isolated bass" listens.

michael mcdonald's backing vocals in christopher cross's "ride like the wind"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfML1WEWfwk

I love the piano part in Lonely Boy by Andrew Gold but the lyrics make me cringe pretty hard.

Holy shit, I heard this on the radio today, the song is sooooo cringe.

Sometimes people rave about John Taylor's bass lines, especially on "Rio"

Iirc from the Classic Albums ep, a lot of his parts are three takes, because he wasn't good enough to pull off all the fancy stuff.

As for Big Country, I won't say a bad thing about anything about those first two albums. Impeccable playing and songs across the board!

Sometimes people rave about John Taylor's bass lines, especially on "Rio," as if they were better than the source material, or somehow wasted.

I actually think that this trope originated in the days when Duran fans still felt obliged to justify their enthusiasm for the band to rockist dipshits. "But they *can* play! Listen to what the bassist is doing!"

Iirc from the Classic Albums ep, a lot of his parts are three takes, because he wasn't good enough to pull off all the fancy stuff

Dude could have used 30 takes and it would still be epic

I feel like Elton John’s vocal tone in “can you feel the love tonight” is what makes it work. I’ve heard it covered and without his vocals it’s a terribly cheesy song.

Love his performance, hate mostly everything else.

Having listened to their first four albums recently, I'll say Dee Snider's singing on almost every Twisted Sister song.

pretty much Lajon Witherspoon on most Sevendust songs pre-Animosity. dude managed to put some outright sweat into what were otherwise shit songs like "Waffle"

Or maybe Sammy Hagar singing the hell out of Van Halen's "Poundcake," which is also a pretty lame by the numbers song.

Funny, my first thought was Sammy Hagar singing the shit out of "Don't Tell me (What Love Can Do)" which is a considerably worse song than "Poundcake", at least melodically if not also lyrically.

Sometimes people rave about John Taylor's bass lines, especially on "Rio," as if they were better than the source material, or somehow wasted. But I would not admit those to this topic because the songs are also objectively awesome.

I agree with this of course and you are OTM about the 30 takes, but Graham Coxon's guitar parts, especially on "Blur" are actually way better than the source material.

Tracy Wormworth's bassline on Christmas Wrapping is all time, just as naggingly bubbly and addictive as any Chic/Sugarhill bass part.

dare I say "The Living Years", Mike Rutherford?

His guitar playing?

yeah that mute-y guitar part is really cool

That same quiet chug appears in "Follow You Follow Me," and it is a great sound.

Every ZZ Top song's got a smokin' solo that can lift straight to space, but goddamn do their songs bore me.

!!!!

Structurally, 'Danke Schoen' is pretty impressively odd (and great), It's made of just one chorus (or hybrid chorus/verse perhaps) that simply loops over and over, each time it does this, it climbs up one semitone before finally (kinda) resolving to the pitch of the *second* loop, not the first.

With each go around more instruments and layers are added and the rhythm morphs from a very stiff oom-pah 2/4 to a much more swinging feel, by the last verse the whole production has gone full ring-a-ding-ding and is practically tripping over itself.

Although that's a quality of the song itself, not any given performance?

True, but I would argue that it's more of a collective effort performance-wise that makes a very cheesy song kinda cool.