Indeed. It is the violin of the brass. :smack: Shows you how much I know about non-rock music 
Neutral Milk Hotel (seminal US indie band) had a trumpeter, who was their only full-time brass player.
The drummer of Manic Street Preachers (who are an oddity in that they have iconic status in the UK, but AFAIK almost completely unknown in the US) is also an adept trumpet player and plays trumpet on some of their tracks, most famously the trumpet solo on Kevin Carter
The Outsiders (Time Won’t Let Me) had one trumpeter and one sax player, usually playing in unison.
How about “Guilty as Charged” from the Walk Hard soundtrack.
Yeah, thought of Chase, the ultimate rock-trumpet band, when I saw this thread, but many would dismiss his incredible music as '70’s jazz-rock.
GWAR had a horn section for Saddam A Go Go…
RIP Dave Brockie…a.k.a. Oderus Urungus.
I shot Chase Revisited last year in concert, and even though all these guys are well past retirement age, they rocked. If Bill Chase hadn’t been killed in that plane crash, who knows what direction they would have taken? They played some of his arrangements that had never been recorded.
The Sugarcubes, Bjork’s band before she went solo, had a trumpet. (Played by Einar Örn Benediktsson, who also did crappy spoken-word vocals.)
There were plenty of bands that used a horn section – Chicago, Blood Sweat and Tears – and there’s even Tower of Power, whose horn section appears whenever someone needs one.
As for why trumpets are not part of the lineup, there are many possibilities. First of all, the ranges of the two instruments are pretty much the same, so what can be played on a trumpet can be played on a guitar.
Also, trumpets are more expensive than guitars. A quick online check shows they start at around $150, where you can get a starter guitar for $60. The price of one was probably out of the range of most teens who wanted to rock (Paul McCartney’s first instrument was a trumpet, which he immediately traded for a guitar).
If you did get a trumpet, most likely you rented it as part of the school band. But if you were able to master it, the people you’d try to emulate were jazz musicians like Louis Armstrong.
Trumpets were also associated with marching bands and big bands, an image few rockers wanted to emulate.
I also MUST mention the band Metalachi. Its a mariachi band and thus has a trumpet. But mariachi is not rock. HOWEVER they play covers of metal songs and as such rock very very much! The trumpeter and the violinist play the dueling guitar parts. Go check em out!
Hugh Masakela played the trumpet in the Byrds “So You wanna be a rock and roll star”
Flobots (a hybrid rock + hip hop band) doesn’t have a regular trumpeter, but 5 of 13 songs on their first album (Fight with Tools) prominently featured a solo trumpet. The trumpet solo for their most popular song, Handlebars, is a good example.
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They also have a regular viola player. Heh.
Would INXS count? Correct me if I am wrong.
Also the Blow Monkeys may have had a trumpet player if I am not again mistaken.
I like a bit of trumpet - the solo on RHCP’s Taste The Pain is great and doesn’t make the song rock any less. As has been noted, Flea occasionally guest-trumpets on other people’s stuff, no surprise as it’s his first instrument.
Not sure if Billy Bragg counts as “rock”, but he uses trumpet (and flugelhorn) to great effect in some songs - notably, the classic*Levi Stubbs’ Tears*
I resent the characterization of Einar’s vocal contributions as crappy.
Don’t know if Steely Dan counts as a rock band (though I have heard them referred to as the ‘thinking man’s rock band’), but they make good use of a horn section in their songs. Michael Leonhart has been their trumpet player for some years now. (He also has the distinction of being the brother of the beautiful Carolyn Leonhart, one of Steely Dan’s trio of backup singers for many years now.) Got to see them all live about 15 months ago and as expected they were superb.
Cool, thanks for posting that, it was completely new to me.
I really like the singer’s cap, but the clip-on braces holding up jeans under a big belly look, while a classic in terms of timelessness, is not actually a good look.
About ten years ago there was a kind of obscure rock band out of Maryland called Lennex. Their lead singer played a little trumpet, but, you know, he mostly sang.
Don McGlashen, lead singer of The Mutton Birds, played a euphonium on several songs.
He still plays it at solo gigs as well.
Dick Dale beats all of them.