I have been trying to think of a band that had only four pieces - Guitar, Keyboards, Bass and Drums - where one or more of the instrumentalists was also a vocalists - that made it really big.
Yeah, Lennon and McCartney played piano, but the Beatles are traditionally thought of as guitar, guitar, bass and drums
Who, Zep - in the studio keyboards were a factor, but typically Vocal, guitar, bass and drum
Journey, Bon Jovi - obviously 5 piece with vocal, guitar, keyboard, bass and drum
about the only one I can think of (but it’s Monday a.m. and my brain is working slow) is the Talking Heads when Jerry Harrison played keyboards - Guitar/vocal (Byrne), Keyboard (Harrison), Bass (Weymouth) and drum (Frantz)
What other popular, reasonably long-running bands had this combo? And why do you think it appears so rarely?
I don’t know about Duran Duran’s current line up, but back in the days of the New Romantic movement, they had 5 players (3 Taylors, Le Bon, Rhodes) so by definition, they didn’t have the 4 player set up I am referring to. Tears for Fears? I don’t think of them as a band - just Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith with some other players - at least in their heyday…
As for Rush, again, 3 players - granted, they play all of the required instruments, but that is not what I am looking for.
I am looking for a 4-piece band with Keyboard, guitar, bass and drum where the vocals are handled by one or more of those four, and that has been a durable, well-known band for some time…
Ideas? Maybe this is proof as to how hard it is to come up with an example…
The Guess Who went through many lineup changes, but the “classic” lineup (1969-70 or so) was Burton Cummings on piano/vocals, Randy Bachman on guitar, Jim Kale on bass and gary Peterson on drums.
Genesis, for a while at least. After Peter Gabriel left, they made several albums as a 4 man band, with Phil Collins on drums/vocals, Steve Hackett on guitar, Mike Rutherford on bass, and Tony Banks of keyboards.
Pink Floyd, in the 70s, had Roger Waters on bass/vocals, David Gilmour on guitar/vocals, Rick Wright on keyboards, and Nick Mason on drums.
In the 1970s, Grand Funk had a line up of Mark Farner on guitar/vocals, Mel Chacher on bass, Don Brewer on drums/vocals, and Craig Frost on keyboards.
That’s a start. If I think of more, I’ll post them.
Of course, they all doubled and tripled on everything from mandolin and saxophone to trombone and accordion, but the basic lineup featured Richard Manuel’s piano and Garth Hudson’s organ, with only Robbie Robertson on gee-tar.
At the time of the album Making Movies, Mark Knopfler’s brother David had left Dire Straits , reducing it to a quartet: Mark Knopfler (guitar, vocals), John Illsley (Bass), Roy Bittan (Keyboards), and Pick Withers (Drums).