Guest Stars

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

Too many album releases these days seem to be accompanied by much trumpeting of "guest stars". For example the new New Order album, due soon, apparently features Billy Corgan (oh no!) and guest-star-in-his own-band (let's face it he doesn't DO much in Primal Scream, does he?)Bobby Gillespie. Other serial guest stars are Barney Sunmer himself, of course Noel G,Beck and even Thom Yorke.

Do they contribute anything? Why are there so many of these spurious guest appearances? What are the best, worst, most invisible and the wierdest guest appearances?

― Dr. C, Sunday, 15 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

Some good guest stars: Monica Queen (B&S, 'LLPJ'); Phil Daniels, 'Parklife' (OK, a dodgy-looking selection, but it worked at the time); Lloyd Cole on Matthew Sweet's Girlfriend LP.

But actually the Dr is getting at a bigger question, I suppose. Like: why can't a band just play the bloody record itself? I think I have some sympathy for that view.

― the pinefox, Sunday, 15 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

Embrace were gonna try and get Neil Young to play harmonica on one of their new songs for If You've Never Been, but alas, failed. That would've been dead cool.

Crazy guest appearances?

Irvine welsh saying the word 'cunt' many, many, many times on 'The Big Man And The Scream Team Meet The Barmy Army Uptown', Primal Scream and On-U-Sound's 1996 'football' record, has gotta be up there.

― Nick Southall, Sunday, 15 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

That sounds not so much 'crazy' as 'rubbish'.

― the pinefox, Sunday, 15 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

If done well it can be a true collabartion, the artists workign off one another. Nut its mostly wankery. BTW Thom Yorke has done haunting ballads with Tori,Polly Jean and Bjork. They work really well.

― anthony, Sunday, 15 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

Worst guest appearance - Eric Clapton on "While My Guitar Gently Weeps", worst guitarist on worst song by most disjointed album by most overrated band ever!
Of course, I loved the album, 'disjointed' or not.

― tarden, Sunday, 15 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

guest stars are bad. this is quite clear. there are a couple that are good though. immediately springing to mind are

happy mondays little matchstick owen's rap, featuring mike bleach. who the hell mike bleach is i've no idea. so, not exactly a star, but good all the same

tom waits i never talk to strangers, feat bette midler

― gareth, Sunday, 15 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

Oh, the Irvine Welsh / Primal Scream collaboration was fucking heinous, absolutely foul, but quite amusing for five minutes in an odd way.

― Nick Southall, Sunday, 15 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

bran van 3000's discosis features osme of the best guest work I've ever heard.

― Geoff, Sunday, 15 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

I like it, almost always. A fave = Herbie Hancock on Simple Minds's New Gold Dream, one of the v.v.v.rare cases where much- vaunted claims abt so-called "superior chops" of jazzers over poppers and rockers are ACTUALLY PROVED EMPIRICALLY.

(As opposed to "go buy a frank zappa album" which to me = "go microwave yr head"... cf argt on Police thread for further illumination)

Also good: Viv Stanshall on anything. Stanley Unwin on anything. Evan Parker on Climate of Hunter.

― mark s, Sunday, 15 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

Hip hop wins the prize in this category, i.e. the Angie Martinez album where EVERY SONG has a "guest vocalist". Yet another reason to love Kardinal Offishall. Most of the tight-ass hip hop records I think really stand up over time don't have many guests on them - "Illmatic", "Buhloon Mind State", "Midnight Marauders"...

― Tracer Hand, Sunday, 15 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

I've always loved the fact that since Anita Lane is too much of a lazy old cow to release albums of her own, she makes a living by guesting on her long-time mates' records... Better than no A-N-I-T-A! at all, innit..

― Simon, Sunday, 15 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

Best "guest star" album = Prince Paul's A Prince Among Thieves.

― Sterling Clover, Sunday, 15 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

Would I be a complete idiot (albiet 4 guns of rum) for mentioning any 6th's contribution? This seems to be the quisessential 'battle of the indie stars' to get some kind of s. merrit endorsement... We should all be so lucky! hiccup!!

― Jason, Monday, 16 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

The whole guest star thing works much better when it forms part of a "scene" or artists guest for other artists on the same close-knit label, as if to say "we're just helping out our mates". In fact, in some cases, that is exactly what they did say. An example is Bernard Sumner and Shaun Ryder guesting on "Good Together" by A Certain Ratio. In fact, Sumner is paradigmatic of how the act of collaborating can start as a good thing and turn into the very "guest star" problem which Dr C dislikes. Sumner got into collaborating with Electronic (Marr, PSB, Donald Johnson) and thus got used to this way of working and consequently dissatisied with every New Order release being simply Hook+Gilbert+Morris+himself. So now we have a New Order album featuring Corgan and Gillespie, who may not appear to gel well with NO, but I won't be judgemental until I've heard the tracks in question.

― MarkH, Monday, 16 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

Mark - I don't dislike guest contributions - I'm just kinda sick of this being the first thing that anyone has to say about some new albums . Your point about the Factory family is well made though.

― Dr. C, Monday, 16 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

Some good guest stars: Monica Queen (B&S, 'LLPJ'); Phil Daniels, 'Parklife' (OK, a dodgy-looking selection, but it worked at the time); Lloyd Cole on Matthew Sweet's Girlfriend LP

He probably won't believe it, but I agree with the pinefox on all three counts.

I think guest starring on songs can be good, but far too often a guest star is trotted out in the hopes of drawing in some fans of the star. Like the Billy Corgan/New Order collaboration...to be fair I haven't heard much yet, but it seems to me a case of trying get the attention of some grunge rock fans and has little impact on the music itself.

― Nicole, Monday, 16 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

Guest starring is good if the guest star is doing something that the other members of the band in question cannot do in and of themselves. If they're doing it just cause "they want to appeal to a new fanbase" then that is clearly just silly. If it's because they are working with an idol they've always wanted to work with, well that can go either way, depending on how it is used.

Chris T-T (yes, him who posts here) guest starred on one of the songs on our latest single- we asked him because we wanted a boy singing on the track, to make it a conversation, rather than a monologue. But I guess that makes it a duet rather than a guest star.

I liked the Thom Yorke guest starring on Drugstore track, it's really too bad that they didn't do more with the Isobel guest starring on Radiohead track, burying it on a B-side and pseudonyming her. Sigh.

― masonic boom, Monday, 16 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

really good female guest vocalists, in particular, can add hugely to a song's appeal - monica queen on LLPJ has already been mentioned. also, paula frazer on cornershop's It's Good To Be On The Road Back Home Again, beth hirsch on the Air stuff, liz fraser on massive attack's Teardrop ... but yeah, i do often wish that the likes of noel g, thom y and damon a would cease and desist from their tireless quest to be on every record ever made.

the guest-star records i like best are the ones where not only has no- one ever heard of the artist, no-one's ever even heard of the guest star -- like The Tamperer feat. Maya ..... were you supposed to read the name and think "well, i've never heard of this Tamperer chap - but Maya! surely the mark of quality!" ... ?

full marks also for usage of the abbreviation "feat."

― rener, Monday, 16 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

BLURRILLAZ

― Sterling Clover, Monday, 16 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

'Scenes' = circle-jerkery (recycled post, sorry)

― tarden, Tuesday, 17 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

six years pass...

well, a really horrid guest appearance is that of james hetfield on corrosion of conformity's 'man or ash'

like latter-day COC really needed to sound even more like load-era metallica. jesus

― Charlie Howard, Wednesday, 12 December 2007 14:22 (seventeen years ago) link

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.