dictator ruled bands

BintyTwanger77

Voxman said:

The Eagles

I'd rather listen to an album by an actual dictator than a second of the the bloody Eagles,

The Idi Amin Band Songbook? Bring it.

Danny1969

I play in one band that certainly has a leader .. nick named "The Colonel " .... he basically sings, decides what songs we are gonna do, organizes all the gigs and generally leads the band. I think it's a good system, decisions are made quickly and the whole thing is very focused and that's important. As good as democracy is .... it can be time consuming and lead to bands being unfocused about what they are trying to achieve . The leader status is earned though, the fact I'm better paid in the band means he's doing his job better than the others in my book

Sassafras

Yoko Ono.

siraxeman

Egos are often the reason behind band splits....when 2 or more egos collide. Singers usually have the biggest egos but us guitarists can be not far behind sometimes. Egos often = who's he to tell me (or us) what to do. As someone has already said sometimes you clearly have 1 or 2 talented members in a band with a few much lesser talented guys. If someone is a main writer and it is their writing behind a bands success then fair do's as long as they remain tactful and diplomatic towards the plebs lol

not_the_dj

Springsteen and the E-Street Band. He calls all the shots, originally signed as a solo artist and then employees the band. 

usedtobe

ELO 

Philly_Q

Can you have a dictatorship which is also a coalition?  Simmons and Stanley seem to be joint dictators in Kiss.  

Danny1969

I honestly think once you get to the likes of ELO, Kiss, and that kinda scale the accountants are probably the dictators .....

olafgarten

Although not a dictatorship CSNY has always been a bit funny. It's always been Stills and Young + Crosby and Nash. It all works until Crosby gets into a fight. 

dilbert

richardhomer said:

Mark Knopfler once described himself as a 'benevolent dictator' when he was in Dire Straits. 

.................... and even sacked his own brother after re-recording his parts. 

In fairness, he did play on his brother's solo albums to make up for it.

digitalscream

monquixote said:

It's the bands that pretend to be a democracy, but aren't that are the real killers.

I have a different problem - I've always tried to make our band a joint effort, but the others all expect me to make the hard decisions.

I suspect that's because "making the hard decisions" == "doing all the hard work nobody else wants to do" in their heads...

Sassafras

I know what you mean.
I can never decide between drink or drugs, so usually it's both.

usedtobe

Your band sounds like fun, @Sassafras ;

shaunm

I have no issue with the band I'm in being the singers band. He put 8 years into it before I joined. To be honest we all contribute to the song writing and we are all working for the same goals so ego doesn't really come into the band. 

bigjon

My band did a charity do for free last March, as a one-off I did everything democratically, gave the others a chance to pick the songs (nobody did) gave each member a veto over any of the songs I suggested (nobody bothered) and invited them to change my running order (they were happy with my choice) - back to dictatorship it is then! :-)

thebreeze

Van the Man - although I think he can be very laissez-faire, expecting everyone to just know what to do with very little instruction.

Don't Coldplay have some kind of democratic system where they're all paid the same percentage, including the manager, regardless of who wrote what etc?

BintyTwanger77

not_the_dj said:

Springsteen and the E-Street Band. He calls all the shots, originally signed as a solo artist and then employees the band. 

I don't think I'd have an issue being in this band.

Guitarse

Roger Waters. Say no more. 

earwighoney

Noel Gallagher gave the impression of being the tyrant in Oasis.  

fretmeister

thebreeze said:

Van the Man - although I think he can be very laissez-faire, expecting everyone to just know what to do with very little instruction.

Don't Coldplay have some kind of democratic system where they're all paid the same percentage, including the manager, regardless of who wrote what etc?

Queen did that after Bo Rap as Fred and Rog got the money (Rog wrote the B side) as it was all kicking off.