I couldn’t agree with that more! FOO!!! 
I agree with Smashing Pumpkins … Billy Corgan goes on to make us think Courtney Love had a few lyrics worth listening to, once he stepped away from whispering rhyming words in her ear … that was quickly corrected.
I would offer one “band” if you consider two people a band - The White Stripes.
Ain’t no possible way Pumpkins qualify. Jimmy Chamberlin is one of the greatest rock drummers, but he’s nowhere without Billy’s musicianship and songwriting. Billy in those first four albums (and, yes, I’m counting Adore) wrote great hooks, melodies, songs. His lyrics often left much to be desired, but he was an excellent musician through and through. And, honestly, I find his guitar work imaginitive and musical without resorting to boring cliches. The guitar solo to Cherub Rock is one of my all-time rock favorites.
So, no, no on Smashing Pumpkins, despite what parody of himself Billy became.
ETA: and reading the original comment, it seems like it was being suggested that Billy was the only standout, to which I again say, oh hell no. Jimmy Chamberlin may be the best rock drummer of his generation. The guy is a beast and grooves like a motherfuck. The only other drummer I rate as highly as him from the 90s alternative rock era is Matt Cameron of Soundgarden
It was a tie.
I agree Chamberlin is great, but in my opinion not exceptional. Wretzky’s below par musicianship could have muddied the “bottom” in this too, in my opinion. If you color everything black, black is all you will hear. In retrospect, it’s a good thing Chamberlin was their drummer or there would have been no relief from the coloring it all black.
I completely agree that Billy’s talent and ability as a songwriter far outshines the other members in the first four albums, including Adore, which I wore out two cassette tapes listening to when it first came out. In that time, SP were the alternative to the alternative, meaning Nirvana was no SP and visa versa. Thank goodness SP was there to show us that non-hair bands didn’t HAVE to be as narcissistic as Nirvana’s lyrics were.
THE Matt Cameron of Soundgarden and Pearl Jam (later) and Wellwater Conspiracy … my drummer GOD!!! I would rate MC #1 from that era because he knows when to step up and when to use silence (in the drums) as his secret instrument. He respects the music enough to let it breathe a bit, and I LOVE that in drummers.
Looks like we agree on everything except Jimmy’s musicianship. I really do think he is among the greats. If there were one member of the band I’d most want to meet, it’s him. (And, actually, I have met one member – Iha several times – he used to come by a coffeeshop I worked at in Evanston, Illinois, every so often.)
Regardless, though, I think a spirited argument can be made that both were Grade A talents. Jimmy’s drum work is just smooth like butter. Intricate, nuanced, groovy, dynamic, with a bit of a jazzy touch, yet powerful as all hell. He’s back there looking like he’s expending almost no effort, and yet he’s blasting out powerful beats. I really can’t see how he’s not among the top of his league for his instrument.
In any case, I can’t see only one great musician in that band. As you can tell with my initial response, I thought the Pumpkins people were originally pointing out Jimmy as being the bright spot in the band, not Corgan, hence my spirited defense of Corgan. I wouldn’t have thought anybody thought of Jimmy as anything but a musician par excellence.
ETA: My brother was a big Pearl Jam fan, and my favorite thing was one of his DVDs had a “Matt Cam” so you could watch Matt Cameron’s work on its own. I used to be mesmerized by that. Fantastic stuff. Guy is an uber-musical drummer. For whatever reason, I’m just very drummer-centric when it comes to bands. To me, they’re the most important part of the band, though rarely regarded as such.
Big Brother and the Holding Company was never Janis Joplin’s “backup band”. They formed in San Francisco in late 65 when she was back in Texas. She was invited to join the group around May of 66. When she left the group, she worked with a lot of top-notch musicians. The last group, Full-Tilt Boogie, was the best and they were well matched to her talent.
Malibu is the best Smashing Pumpkins song that’s not by the Smashing Pumpkins, so yeah. If you asked me to name another Hole song, I couldn’t do it. (It was also produced by Michael Beinhorn, who worked on most of the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ catalog.)
Speaking of the RHCP, Flea is the only member I’d describe as “great” in the sense of “superlative.” In terms of technique, facility, formal knowledge of music history and theory, he is in a class of his own. The rest of their lineup (instrument-wise) has gone through many changes, Flea is the one constant.
I was thinking about this on the way home last night and nobody has posted it today so…
Kenny Loggins
Jackson Browne
Apparently Jackson Browne was in the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band in its first (mid-1960’s) incarnation but he left after a few months to concentrate on a solo career.
The odd thing I noticed while researching to confirm my suspicions is that the Kenny Loggins biography lists the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band as his first touring experiences, but the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band doesn’t list Kenny Loggins as a member at all.
I don’t even recall hearing music from the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band from before, during, or after the Browne or Loggins eras.
This one is more of a question than an entry: Supertramp?
It seemed that Roger Hodgeson (sp?) went off to go solo and the rest of the band fell apart. Nobody was good enough to take his place?
–G!
I’d say Chad Smith is superlative, but, even if you disagree with that, the John Frusciante years definitely had another superlative musician. And I don’t even particularly like RHCP.
David Byrne - Talking Heads.
I thought all three were equally talented at their instruments. Emerson probably grabbed more of the spotlight (despite him never singing), but the other two’s (twos’?) chops were just as formidable.
As would Johnny Marr.
Sure, Morrisey, IMO, was one of the most stellar, dynamic stage presences in the 80’s, but…
Not a bassist, but always imagined doing “Money”, live, would be a handful, trying to sing over the 7/4 signature.
This drummer will readily disagree, hence:
Regardless of all those accolades, they don’t even remotely reflect Eddie’s vastly superior talent on his guitar than Alex’s on his drums.
When you mention dominance, I’ll say that with Les - even if he hypothetically hadn’t been their singer - his incredibly busy slap-bass took way more prominence in the mix, and back in the day, it became almost cliche to joke that Les played more of the melody line and solos than Larry.
Well, ya asked…
Not familiar with Tomorrow, but I would’ve been gall-darned surprised if any of the other members were more talented at their instruments than Steve was with his, but if someone more knowledgeable about the band than myself can say otherwise, I’m all ears.
Yes, on the other hand, had the insanely talented Chris Squire on bass, and Bill Bruford influenced more drummers than you can shake a cheesy trilby at. And Rick Wakeman was also in a league of his own, famously rivaling Kieth Emerson back then, which is why he replaced the technically inferior Tony Kaye. Bruford was replaced by the more straight-ahead and much less creative Alan White.
Yeah, Howe was hella better than Pete Banks.
Please don’t ask me about their 87 other members, though.
Fantastic drummer (like Drew from Tool) - this drummer’s only complaint of him was that I wish he wasn’t so plodding. Sure, he’s backing the groove that’s set by the band’s songs (which were more or less mid-tempo), but after listening to him after a while I’d find myself getting antsy for him to break out into something, um, fiestier.
Oh - Dot Wiggins
His guitar solo on “Permafrost” was other-worldly. I never got the hype over Radiohead 20 years ago, mostly because we had already had Magazine: Howard DeVoto was pund for pound probably my favourite lyricist, and Barry Adamson on bass was extremely tasty.
Dusty Springfield started out in a folk trio with her brother Tom. After she went solo, Tom went on to a successful career in songwriting (“I’ll Never Find Another You”, “Georgy Girl”) and third member Mike Hurst became a successful producer, but Dusty was the better performer by miles.
How about Sonic Youth? It may be an unfair comparison being that they are discordant non-traditionalist punks that could only accidentally be accused of musicianship ;), but Steve Shelley is an incredible drummer and gives an amazing technical foundation to let the others explore on.
I would say you nailed it!
What was the name of that band that was backup for Neal Schon?
That one is not a bad call (assuming you mean Journey and not Santana), but Steve Smith is a very strong jazz drummer who was kind of slumming it in rock. But Schon was a pretty massive talent, so I can’t say you’re wrong.
Supertramp was a two-pole band: founding members Rodger Hodgson and Rick Davies were both multi-instrumentalists and shared lead vocals. Hodgson leaned toward guitars and Davies towards keys.
Davies kept Supertramp going about 5 more years after Hodgson went solo.
While Double Trouble was a good band with good musicians, Stevie Ray Vaughan towered over them by a mile.
He kept Supertramp going for a lot more than 5 years. Hodgson left the band in 1983, and the band released a top 20 album without him in 1985. They released other albums of original material until 2002, 19 years after Hodgson left, and they were still touring with the original lineup (sans Hodgson) right up until Rick Davies developed cancer in 2015. We saw them in 2011, and they were every bit as good as they used to be (I also saw the original lineup in 1982).
The underrated musician in that band is John Anthony Helliwell, who is a gifted woodwind player who was responsible for a lot of Supertramp’s sound.