Pet hate #17: one man "bands"

Tannin

My pet hate. Well, OK, one of them. "Bands" which aren't really bands as such, they are just one man with some sidekicks. 

Some examples:

Jethro Tull (really just the Ian Anderson Band)
Creedence Clearwater Revival (really the John Fogerty Band)
Passenger (another one-man show, if I remember correctly)
(various others, too many to list)

Now don't get me wrong, I love Jethro Tull and the lasting quality of Credence speaks for itself, but they weren't actually "bands" in the real sense of the term. They were solo acts, and no solo act can maintain a high level of creativity when one person does everything: lead singer, lead guitarist (or whatever instrument), song writer, lyricist, arranger, you name it. I would far, far rather they didn't try to pretend to be actual bands and just presented themselves as what they really are: a solo act with good sidemen.

The creative cross-fertilisation and sometimes tension you get with two (or more) creative people working together cannot be duplicated by any normal human being* working alone. 

OK, let's take it a bit further. Tull were actually a proper band for a while, with creative contributions from various members, notably Martin Barre. It is no coincidence that those years were by far their best years. 

* "Normal human being" - i.e., most people not named "Bowie".

merlin

This is a one person band. My friend Fumi. What's not to like?


https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=5m8_KogsHtk

Kilgore

Does the "one man band" have to be the vocalist?

 Brad Delp was Boston's vocalist but it`s not difficult to argue that Boston was just the Tom Scholz band. 

rogd

merlin said:

This is a one person band. My friend Fumi. What's not to like?


https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=5m8_KogsHtk

Better than Ed Sheeran any day!

MrTee

Nine inch nails and Ghost come to mind. 
Edit: not a pet hate for me, these are 2 of my favourite bands!!

Strangefan

merlin said:

This is a one person band. My friend Fumi. What's not to like?


https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=5m8_KogsHtk

I could watch that all day 

ICBM

Off the top of my head I can think of...

ABC (Martin Fry)
Camel (Andy Latimer)
Dinosaur Jr. (J Mascis)
ELO (Jeff Lynne)
Feeder (Grant Nicholas)
Grant Lee Buffalo (Grant-Lee Phillips)
Panic! At The Disco (Brendon Urie)
Sisters Of Mercy (Andrew Eldritch)
The The (Matt Johnson)
The Waterboys (Mike Scott)
White Stripes (Jack White)

... all of who have a sole songwriter/driving force behind the band. What's not to like? Even if all of them aren't necessarily your thing.

rogd

Don Partridge.

Sporky

Cloudkicker
Violet Cold
The Algorithm





Plus a bazillion electronic types. 

merlin

rogd said:

merlin said:

This is a one person band. My friend Fumi. What's not to like?


https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=5m8_KogsHtk

Better than Ed Sheeran any day!

That's not saying much. I shan't tell her you said that. 

fretmeister

Megadeth. Always been Mustaine’s solo project really.

Annihilator. Jeff Waters. He’s always admitted it. Did let it go to his head for a bit. Before he was singing he still used to take the middle of the stage and have the singer off to the side!

fretmeister

Strapping Young Lad. Devin Townsend.

Funkfingers

The Durutti Column = Vini Reilly

In his own mind, New Order = Bernard Sumner

chrisj1602

Every band needs a driving force. Not sure what the problem is here.

Danny1969

Roger Waters .. enough of the talent on his own to eclipse the output of all the other three members of Pink Floyd and I say that as a huge Dave Gilmore fan. 

Paul McCartney had stronger opposition but is in the same running 

rogd

merlin said:

rogd said:

merlin said:

This is a one person band. My friend Fumi. What's not to like?


https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=5m8_KogsHtk

Better than Ed Sheeran any day!

That's not saying much. I shan't tell her you said that. 

Orl reet! 
A milliquintitrillifourtimestable better then!
Give her my groveling apologies.

Redlester

rod said:

Don Partridge.

Massive Terry Wogan Radio 2 in the morning vibes there. 

Rosie, oh Rosie...

chromatuna

Danny1969 said:

Roger Waters .. enough of the talent on his own to eclipse the output of all the other three members of Pink Floyd and I say that as a huge Dave Gilmore fan. 

Paul McCartney had stronger opposition but is in the same running.

I am going to contest the Floyd one. Waters may have grown to the position whereby he was able to be a ‘one man band’ by The Wall (with a lot of help from Ezrin without whom it probably wouldn’t have happened) but up until Animals the music, if not the lyrics and concepts, was a collective effort unlike say Tull. If he was such a genius why did it take them so long to get from Syd leaving (or being left) to the success of Dark Side? His talents grew but it was not always the case that he was able to carry things in the way Ian Anderson did from early on.

How about a band named after one person that is really a band? I am thinking here of the magnificent and sensational Alex Harvey band 

scrumhalf

The Fall became Mark E Smith's sidemen after a while.

Litterick

chromatuna said:

How about a band named after one person that is really a band? I am thinking here of the magnificent and sensational Alex Harvey band 

Brinsley Schwarz

Litterick

The Chills: Martin Phillipps and thirty-one others, in various combinations of three or four (but never sidekicks).