Dan Aykroyd/Elwood didn’t sing much, but he played a mean blues harp. Belushi/Jake was the front man, and his voice wasn’t great but it was fine for the style of music. (Funny you should mention the Blues Brothers, I was just listening to “Briefcase Full of Blues” the other day. It really is an outstanding album with some top-notch musicians.)
Many were in the MGs mentioned a few posts up.
It is great, and I never thought I’d say that about a band with a not-all-that-great vocalist.
After it came out, I read that it was the bestselling blues album of all time. I sent a silent “Sorry…” to all the early blues artists who’d passed on.
And it’s not really even “blues”, more like R&B or soul, but I guess “The Rhythm and Blues Brothers” doesn’t scan as well.
That’s kind of the understatement of the year though. If we go by the thread title, it is clear that, at her ability level, she was very, very lucky to have any spotlight at all on her playing. In fact, it is amazing that someone like Ringo would be brought up in a thread like this when there are people like Meg White out there. In my opinion, she is the least substantial for the simple reason that, without Jack, there is no drumming career for Meg. As far as I can tell, she never even had the slightest interest in playing drums before or after meeting him. Have any other artists ever expressed a desire to play with her? I highly doubt it. Sure, Dave Grohl once called her his favorite drummer, but I think he was just being polite. When Taylor Hawkins died, Dave clearly didn’t give his “favorite drummer” a call to fill the position. Why? Because she’s not a very good drummer. Taylor’s kid looks like a pro by comparison, and he’s not very good.
Did she play with a decent sense of time? Yes. Did she play with a lot of energy? Of course. Was she “perfect” for the one project she was in? Perhaps. But from a musical standpoint, she sounds like what she was, a complete amateur.
If we’re talking idiosyncratic female drummers, what about Moe Tucker? I always liked her drumming, it was perfect for the early Velvet Underground, but it sure was amateurish and she was the least musical proficient member of the band (except for Nico, who of course was one of the greatest non-singers ever, but didn’t play any instruments for the Velvets as far as I know).
A female drummer in the 1960s is almost by definition idiosyncratic. Like Honey Lantree, one of the few British Invasion drummers never replaced by a session drummer on a record. Even Ringo can’t claim that.
Saying Ringo was the worst musician in the Beatles is like saying you’re the stupidest guy in the room with Einstein, Newton, and Tesla.
And, he wasn’t even the worst musician in the group (that was probably Lennon). The worst songwriter perhaps, but not so bad in that respect either.
There’s been an ongoing argument that Ringo qualifies for this thread. I didn’t realize there was a scale for inclusion. None of these suggestions are saying the listed are terrible, just the least talented of their respective bands. The Blues Brothers’ band is tight and full of legends. The Blues Brothers are just a couple of actors pretending to be singers. Despite the entertainment value (and I love the Blues Brothers), objectively, they are the least talented members of the band. At least if David Lee Roth or any of the other lead singers apply.
Yeah, I don’t think they (or a lot of the others mentioned, such as Meg White) really qualify, either.
In defense of Meg, the simplistic riffing on the drums is the sound of the White Stripes, and even Jack White says so. And really, the more people that are involved in Jack White’s music, the less interested I am in it. Here’s a good video that examines this in its first half.
Can’t a band have all of the members be relatively equal in talent and contributions?
Can I assume you’re referring to strictly musical talent?
But when it comes to the kind of talent that a lead singer/frontman has, it’s not easy to decide what counts as “musical.”
Exactly. A rock frontman’s swagger and style is nearly as important to a band as the musicianship of its members.
Replace Mick Jagger with someone with a better singing voice like, say Mario Lanza, and I believe the Rolling Stones sales would suffer.
…maybe Luciano Pavarotti could make it work though.
Prancing and dancing around for 120 minutes on stage from side to side?
I’d pay to see that.
Actually, I’m not familiar enough with opera to know how much on-stage movement is involved in being an opera star, but I assume there is some.
Once that video started by calling the White Stripes “one of the greatest and most important rock bands of the modern era”, I turned it off. That might be the most ludicrous statements I’ve ever heard.
Belushi wasn’t a great singer, but he worked hard at getting better, and by the time the movie came out he was a credible blues singer. And the Blues isn’t really focused on soaring vocal talent either. No one would confuse Robert Johnson or John Lee Hooker or Howlin’ Wolf for great technical singers. What they had is what the blues needs: Emotion. And Belushi had that too.
Ayckroyd is a legit blues harmonica player. He was the guy who introduced Belushi to the Blues, and he had played some harp with the Downchild Blues Band.
Anyway, the best thing about them was their music selection. They played a lot of great tunes.
Whatever talent we want to ascribe to Mr. Belushi, and I enjoy the band so this is not a dig, all the songs are covers, so we know what they are supposed to sound like. No one says any of these lead singers have to sound like Roy Orbison. Belushi, decent as he might be - stage presence and all, is not Sam and Dave.
I didn’t think I’d have to actually name out the members of the band and their resumes, though. I can, if needed. My point was, the backing band was made up of legitimate legendary musicians, either from great bands or session musicians that were on almost every hit out of Memphis’ Stax Records during the 1960s.
Belushi and Ackroyd acquit themselves as decent front men, but it was a lark for them. The guys behind them were on another level.
In fact, well-trained, perfect-pitch singing voices are often a detriment to rock and folk music. I for one love Bob Dylan’s voice. He’s a lousy technical singer, but I wouldn’t enjoy his songs nearly as much if he had perfect pitch and timbre.
What makes Johnnie Cash’s voice so enticing is that it’s untrained. He once consulted with a vocal coach and she told him to never take another lesson. I’m glad he followed her advice.
Heck, I even liked Sony Bono’s singing voice in his duets with Cher. He was by no means a good singer (he had no illusions that he was, and he knew his limitations), but his voice was unique and helped make Sonny & Cher songs the earworms they became.
Oh, you just had to bring him into it. 
He’s niche. Incredibly skillful, But not a good songwriter. Personally I think he does not deserve the scorn that’s been throw his way. But oh well.