Typically weak band members drop out, get replaced, take on other roles etc but sometimes not. Which ones have had the longest, most lucrative, best musical careers with the least ability?
Bez from the Happy Mondays? Maraca-shaking and freaky dancing should not a career make, but there we go.
Bassist John Glascock was considered sort of dead weight during Jethro Tull’s heyday — and then he really died.
Also bassist Michael Anthony of Van Halen (he didn’t die).
I think drummer Dewey Martin of Buffalo Springfield might fit this — but that was a short career.
In his memoir, “Fortunate Son”, John Fogarty (Creedence Clearwater Revival) railed at the incompetence and continued lack of effort of bassist Stu Cook and drummer Doug Clifford.
Fogarty had an axe to grind, but I suspect that his claims held some truth.
mmm
Yoko Ono.
Linda McCartney.
Sid Vicious. Though he didn’t have a long career.
Anybody who says Ringo has no idea what they’re talking about.
Valerie. Josie and the Pussycats. I mean…come on.
I might nominate Michelle Phillips of the Mamas and the Papas. As far as I know, she didn’t sing (other than harmonies) on any of their songs, write any of their music, play any instruments. She was just eye-candy, a role she was very gifted at, but that was just about it.
To say Ringo wouldn’t really be dissing him. AFA lucky goes, he was asked to join a band that soon after conquered the universe. Was he a better drummer than George was a guitar player?
Adrian Young, the drummer of No Doubt, did not even learn to play the drums until shortly before he joined the band. He ended up staying with the band for about 20 years (longevity), and they were pretty successful: “Don’t Speak” hit #1 in several different countries.
Article here if you want some more details on how one band member went so far as to say “I don’t think Adrian is ready” when they were recording their first album: https://shefani-archive.info/dreamcar-interviews/2019/3/13/modern-drummer-june-1997
I understood the OP to mean the “least talented, least substantial” member of ANY band, and by that metric Ringo shouldn’t be anywhere near the conversation. Rolling Stone has him at #14 on the greatest drummers of all time.
Was he the least talented Beatle? Arguably, but that’s a pretty damn high standard. The others were certainly better songwriters. On instruments, John’s probably the weakest.
Michelle was the co-writer of “California Dreamin’.” Wiki says she co-wrote “some of the band’s hits,” which means “more than one.”
In the name of every harmony singer on the planet, I say her nomination is just plain wrong.
I agree that Michael Anthony was pretty darned lucky in a “right place, right time” kind of way with when he joined Mammoth (proto-Van Halen). However, I think that if nothing else, Anthony’s harmony vocals fully redeem his place in the band.
Furthermore: With his last name not being “Van Halen”, Michael Anthony’s role was to stay in the pocket and play as instructed – and Anthony did well enough there. His job was not to be Les Claypool or Chris Squire, and that kind of showiness would not have been tolerated from Van Halen’s bass player.
Great timing!
As far as Van Halen goes, I’ve always maintained that if Eddie wasn’t his brother, Alex would probably be a carpenter playing in a wedding band on the weekends.
Big Brother and the Holding Company were dropped by Janis Joplin’s label.
Big Brother was basically a garage band. They had a following in the Bay Area.
Janis was shifting towards Blues. She needed a Blues band.
I believe Sammy Hagar said of Michael Anthony that he was a fair to middling bass player, but he was the best back up vocals in the business.
That was after MA was shitcanned for being nice to SH.
I play bass (tho solely upright these days). I would’ve long named Mark Anthony in this sort of discussion. I was surprised when the topic came up in some Bass forums, at the strength and number of voices singing his praises. I don’t see it, personally, but many people seem to.
Any number of times I will see bands on SNL that are apparently popular that I have never heard of. And they’ll have a bassist just playing 16th notes with a pick. I often think that person is pretty lucky.
You can make a decent argument that if the Beatles hadn’t replaced Pete Best with Ringo when they did, they wouldn’t have been nearly as successful. Ringo really did add a lot to their sound, and Pete really was a very weak drummer.