Mick Ronson vs. Ron Asheton

Mick for sure - those earlier Bowie albums sound great just because of him.

Ron Ashton.

Because his playing was a million times more violent, intense, and nihilistic than Mick Ronson.

Mick Ronson played like a dandy, his licks were frilly and melodramatic. Ron Ashton was hard, direct, and propulsive.

Ron Ashton played on Funhouse, Mick Ronson did not...

...I rest my case.

Ronson = best of all time. No contest. Best sound, best riffs, best at subtly building tension, best at knowing when to release...

Listen to anything on Bowie live at the Beeb, disc 2, especially "White Light, White Heat".

Ronson - 'Width of a Circle'! Asheton docked 1,000 points for birthing Spiritualized

"Mick Ronson played like a dandy, his licks were frilly and melodramatic."

Erm, shouldn't that be a good thing?! Ronson.

I'm a foppish bastard, so there you go.

It reminds me of this poster (dont remember who) who was disappointed by the Clash's first record in a "so THAT's punk?" kinda way, and who really got into punk via the Germs (ugh!). The same oppostion can be made between 71-73 Bowie vs the Stooges, or even British vs American Guitars. Punk vs Punk ROCK.

So are you a Metal Mickey or a Nevermind fellow? It's the same question, really!

(Someone had to bring Suede up.)

Asheton.

What's/who's Metal Mickey? Am I proving your point?

"Metal Mickey" = Suede's well groovy second single. Some may disagree with this utterly correct and true statement.

What's so great about Mick Ronson? Bowie's whole band then was kind of lame.

...it got better when he started replacing those guys. "PinUps" & "Diamond Dogs" aren't as good albums for songs or whatever maybe but the band sounds better than his "classic" band.

I don't knowingly know any Mick Ronson. What makes him better than Reeves Gabrels or Stevie Ray Vaughan?

Reeves Gabrels = the worst kind of quitar player IMHO. Doesn't know his place, big ego without any reason (what would he have ever done without Bowie connections), horrible squalling atonal parping style.

Can't really comment on SRV.

The Spiders - lame! Fucking NO! Specifically how, Duane?

the difference between Mick and Reeves is that Ronson was *musical* and Gabriels is not.

ie, ronson could play a scale and it would sound like music, and gabriels could play that same scale and it would sound like an exercise.

I think it IS pretty hard to defend "Woody" Woodmansy — remember WW's U-Boat, Dr C? possible all-time worst LP cover award — but Trevor Bolder's sideburns were a much- missed marvel.

(I had a friends from Glasgow who used to call sideburns "Buggery Grips" or just "Grips")

Gabriels is an elaborate but boring and tuneless guitar player. Michael is spot on concerning his "unmusicality".

SRV? WTF?!

Sundar: I was referring to 1993 in a way. While giving appropriate respect to Nirvana, I never listened to them nor owned any of their releases, so when grunge came around, I was quite uninterested in "American Guitars". Mad for Suede though... In a similar way, I fell into Bowie a lot way before I "got" the Stooges, preferring "The Idiot" + "L4L" to actual Stooges records, even though "Funhouse" was a favourite.

So Ronson's my man!

U-boat, oh yes! Woody was a local-boy made good where I was brought up (Hull area).I had to look up the cover in the AMG, and by gum, yes it's an atrocity.

A friend from Liverpool introduced me to the term "Bugger Grips" in 1985 during a discussion about 70's footballer's hairstyles. I think Alec Lindsay was the footballer in question, for those of you who may remember him.

For those wanting to see this atrocious cover, hie yourself hence -- I should also note the song titles show he hadn't gotten over the Spiders either, thus "Star Machine," "Movie Star" and "Rock Show."

What's so bad about it - quite a neat pastiche of DC Thomson war comics it looks to me?

Ron Asheton. A thousand times Ron Asheton. Primevil, writhing, snakelike devilish guitar licks, he wins no contest. Plus, his post-Stooges output is far more listenable than Ronson's post-Bowie output.

And Ron took me out to dinner once, and I'm always bribeable with good food and strong drink.

Tom it is hideous: and the back is worse if memory serves.

So are you a Metal Mickey or a Nevermind fellow? It's the same question, really!

Eh, what? No, it's not at all. I picked Ashecroft over Ronson, yet I'd pick Metal Mickey over Nevermind. Then again, I guess that's cause I'm not a fellow, idnit?

Ronson/Suede = Lennon/N. Gallagher

Late on the west coast as usual for a great, great topic. I'm having breakfast before having to go to work, so I can't post at length, but although I dearly love the Stooges, and think Rock Action's guitar was seminal, Ronson is my idea of a guitar hero, not only was the overall sound amazing, but his solos made musical sense as well as just ripping it up. And his Spiders-era clothes were better, too! I also agree with the above comments re Gabrels... he's awful, and has really damaged far too many of Bowie's recent albums... when's he gonna go away for god's sake?

Let me also add that it's Ronno's arrangement skills that contributed greatly to the Bowie sound of that era. I don't think the band would have been nearly as successful without those contributions. Also of interest is his solo LP "Slaughter on 10th Avenue". Most of the album is terrific; a melodramtic "Love Me Tender", the space-age caberet of "Only After Dark", and just hearing that guitar sound puts a smile on my face.

What Sean and Dr. C said. I think Slaughter on 10th Avenue was more the blueprint for Shudder to Think's Velvet Goldmine songs than any Bowie work. "Music is Lethal" is a better produced/arranged "Sweet Thing". And I'd take Ronson's bare chest and glitzy breeches look over Asheton's SS outfits any old day. Ron's awesome, though, duh.

Also, I agree with Duane that the Pin Ups band sounds great. But Ronson was in the Pin Ups band. I think Diamond Dogs, much as I love the songs, sounds awful.

Whatever happened to the guy from Low, Ricky Gardiner? He was so subtle.