Pet hate #17: one man "bands"

Jalapeno

ELO - Richard Tandy is a huge part of the sound/feel/arranging - it took 3 people to cover for his illness.

and Jethro Tull - you can't ignore Martin Barre's input.

Stuckfast

This is daft. By the same logic you might as well say the Rolling Stones aren't a proper band, they are just a duo.

There are a few bands where all the members made an equal contribution to songwriting (Queen spring to mind) but not many.

VimFuego

Stuckfast said:

This is daft. By the same logic you might as well say the Rolling Stones aren't a proper band, they are just a duo.

There are a few bands where all the members made an equal contribution to songwriting (Queen spring to mind) but not many.

this was the point I was going to make, there are very few bands where the contribution is more or less equal. 

slacker

A lot of bands are really two songwriters.

Songwriting was equal in queen but mercury wrote more songs that were on albums or singles. Taylor wrote radio game game, deacon wrote another one bites the dust.

Same with the police. All wrote songs but stings were more commercial. 

And heres a weird one to end. When the human league split ware and crag-marsh allowed oakey to keep the name. As gregory was the first choice vocalist arguably heaven 17 are more human league than the human league.

Stuckfast

Most Stranglers songs were written by Hugh Cornwell, some by JJ Burnel, but they made a point of crediting them all to The Stranglers and dividing the songwriting royalties equally (AFAIK). Does that make them a 'proper' band or not?

ICBM

chromatuna said:

How about a band named after one person that is really a band?

Santana
Sade

Blondie - sort of.

Franz Ferdinand - you didn't say they had to be in the band .

joetele

I think one person working alone can be more than capable, actually. 

Philly_Q

ICBM said:

chromatuna said:

How about a band named after one person that is really a band?

Santana
Sade

Blondie - sort of.

Franz Ferdinand - you didn't say they had to be in the band .

Winger!

Mattharrier

ICBM said:

chromatuna said:

How about a band named after one person that is really a band?

Blondie - sort of.

Franz Ferdinand - you didn't say they had to be in the band .

Blondie's namesake was also not in the band (Blondi - Hitler (possibly Eva Braun?)'s dog.

Reverend

I like one man bands like Xasthur, Judas Iscariot, Leviathan, Burzum, Bathory etc

octatonic

Stuckfast said:

This is daft. By the same logic you might as well say the Rolling Stones aren't a proper band, they are just a duo.

There are a few bands where all the members made an equal contribution to songwriting (Queen spring to mind) but not many.

Roger and John weren't nearly as prolific as Freddie and Brian though.

RHCP would track though, a lot of their tunes were co-written.

octatonic

Can't believe no one has said Smashing Pumpkins yet, although JC was sorely missed when he was recovering.

Philly_Q

Stuckfast said:

By the same logic you might as well say the Rolling Stones aren't a proper band, they are just a duo.

Aerosmith are kind of a duo.  Same five members for (almost) their entire history, Hamilton and Whitford used to contribute a fair bit to the writing, but the public face of the band is 99% Tyler and Perry.  All down to personalities and looks, I suppose.

Cinderella's another one-man band, Tom Kiefer's totally in charge.

Robin Trower's an odd one, in the '70s and early '80s it was very much a band, but it took his name.  The album credits used to say "Robin Trower is:..." and then listed the three band members.

Kittyfrisk

Philly_Q said:

ICBM said:

chromatuna said:

How about a band named after one person that is really a band?

Santana
Sade

Blondie - sort of.

Franz Ferdinand - you didn't say they had to be in the band .

Winger!

Steady on, he was just expressing an opinion    

sev112

Rainbow ?

ICBM

sev112 said:

Rainbow ?

They were a proper band at least with Dio.

Philly_Q

ICBM said:

sev112 said:

Rainbow ?

They were a proper band at least with Dio.

Blackmore always had co-writers.  After Dio left Roger Glover became the main co-writer (and produced the albums), Joe Lynn Turner also co-wrote most if not all of the songs he sang on.

slacker

ICBM said:&

chromatuna said:

How about a band named after one person that is really a band

Franz Ferdinand - you didn't say they had to be in the band .

Gomez isn't in the band Gomez.
Duran Duran was a movie character also not in the band
There's isn't a James and he's not in the band
Leon is the kings of leon's grandad also not in the band
Bon Jovie is in a band but I wish he wasnt

Grumpyrocker

slacker said:

ICBM said:&

chromatuna said:

How about a band named after one person that is really a band

Franz Ferdinand - you didn't say they had to be in the band .

Gomez isn't in the band Gomez.
Duran Duran was a movie character also not in the band
There's isn't a James and he's not in the band
Leon is the kings of leon's grandad also not in the band
Bon Jovie is in a band but I wish he wasnt

Neither Abigail Williams or Audrey Horn are in the bands taking their name. The first is a character from The Crucible, the second a character from Twin Peaks. 

Nitefly

I see no-one has yet mentioned the archetypal Simply Red - Mick Hucknall and assorted backing musicians.