# Which musician "other guy" would you want to be? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 29, 2016, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-musician-other-guy-would-you-want-to-be/761183 "2016-07-29T13:01:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Sassy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e47c2d/32.png) [@Sassy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sassy)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2016, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-musician-other-guy-would-you-want-to-be/761183/61 "2016-08-05T17:45:00Z")
Maureen Tucker šŸ™‚ ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2016, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-musician-other-guy-would-you-want-to-be/761183/62 "2016-08-05T17:55:36Z")
> [@Snooooopy](#): > > The first name that came to mind is Dave Mustaine. Not only did he avoid becoming a sad footnote in music history, he went out and started a band essentially as important as the one that threw him out. No easy feat! Now that you mention it, **Dave Grohl** was destined to be an Other Guy in a legendary band before he chose a different path. Given everything he has done, who he plays with - man, I wish I could have his life. šŸ˜‰ ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2016, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-musician-other-guy-would-you-want-to-be/761183/63 "2016-08-05T19:14:01Z")
Iā€™ll be the bass player. John Entwistle, John Paul Jones, Michael Anthony, Bill Wyman, Duff McKagan, Chris Squire, Phil Lesh, take your pick. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2016, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-musician-other-guy-would-you-want-to-be/761183/64 "2016-08-05T19:24:49Z")
Iā€™d be Duff. Gā€™nā€™Fuckingā€™R! Fuck yea. ---
**Author:** ![psiekier](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psiekier/32/116_2.png) [@psiekier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psiekier)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2016, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-musician-other-guy-would-you-want-to-be/761183/65 "2016-08-05T19:33:07Z")
Iā€™d want to be [Mik Kaminsky](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mik_Kaminski), the violinist from Electric Light Orchestra. The man has talent! His violin is in large part what I enjoy so much about the ELO sound of the 70ā€™s, although I also thoroughly enjoy ELOā€™s sound from the 80ā€™s (where the strings were entirely absent). Finding ELO-related music that Iā€™ve never heard is like prospecting for gold in the Yukon or scavenging for scrap in the dank underhive of Necromunda. Sometimes you only find a few bitz worth keeping, but every once in a while you obtain a sizeable nugget. [Mikā€™s solo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2OltuzG89E) in the middle of _The Night the Light Went on in Long Beach_ is one such nugget. ---
**Author:** ![Wakinyan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wakinyan/32/352_2.png) [@Wakinyan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wakinyan)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2016, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-musician-other-guy-would-you-want-to-be/761183/66 "2016-08-05T19:52:04Z")
> [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](#): > > Iā€™ve always thought the bass in Led Zeppelin songs was too low in the mix and the electric guitar too high, but then Jimmy Page (the guitarist) did produce the bandā€™s records. ĀæQue? I always thought the opposite. One of the most charming aspects of many of my favourite Led Zep tunes is how the production really gives room to the bass. For instance, in _Lemon Song_ and _Ramble On_, but also in more thunderous tunes as _In My Time of Dying_, to take a few from memory (though Iā€™m tempted to really dive into to this and come back with more/better examples, but I canā€™t right now). ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2016, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-musician-other-guy-would-you-want-to-be/761183/67 "2016-08-05T20:11:30Z")
> [@Annoying\_Buzz](#): > > John Entwhistle. This oneā€™s my choice, up to and including his death in a Las Vegas hotel room surrounded by cocaine and hookers. ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2016, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-musician-other-guy-would-you-want-to-be/761183/68 "2016-08-05T20:19:53Z")
Page was really incredible in the control room. I once heard an unmixed version of one of their songs, I think it was _Stairway_ or _Ramble On_,and it was dull and uninspiring. It was amazing to listen to the album version after Page had worked his magic on it. It was the song had then come to life. Many times over the decades Iā€™ve heard people claim that Led Zeppelin sucked live. Usually this is attributed to the guysā€™ being on drugs, but Iā€™ve belatedly come to realize that they didnā€™t sound all that great when they were recording the songs in the studio either. It was Pageā€™s wizardry in the control room that really made their music shine. Along this line I reference their _Celebration Day_ concert. I was very disappointed in _Ramble On_, their second song in the set, and thought they were up to their old tricks again. But it turned out their monitors werenā€™t working properly during the first couple of songs and they couldnā€™t hear themselves play. Page afterward expressed surprise that they were able to blunder their way through those first couple of songs as well as they did. After the monitor problems were corrected they were truly great. It would have been worth exorbitant sums to have been in the audience that night. This is not to say they canā€™t play very well live if they want to, but I imagine it requires quite a bit in the way of rehearsal and tweaking of the control board, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Penfeather](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penfeather/32/384_2.png) [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2016, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-musician-other-guy-would-you-want-to-be/761183/69 "2016-08-05T20:56:55Z")
Ian Paice of Deep Purple. The only member who has been there since the beginning, and often overlooked in the ranks of 70s drummers, probably because he didnā€™t die. Paice can batter the skins with the best of them, but he also has a lovely light jazzy touch, and his ability to work with the other musicians in the band was second to none. ā€œSmoke In the Waterā€ is often derided as a big, dumb riff, but listen again to just how well the introduction is constructed, with the theme established on chopping rhythm guitar and repeated as the instruments gradually come in with Paiceā€™s light shuffling touch holding it all together. Itā€™s like the movement of a symphony, and it works perfectly. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2016, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-musician-other-guy-would-you-want-to-be/761183/70 "2016-08-05T22:53:48Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > Now that you mention it, **Dave Grohl** was destined to be an Other Guy in a legendary band before he chose a different path. Given everything he has done, who he plays with - man, I wish I could have his life. šŸ˜‰ Another in my six degrees list. I went to high school with his stepmother. šŸ™‚ ---
**Author:** ![Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aji_de_gallina/32/260_2.png) [@Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aji_de_Gallina)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2016, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-musician-other-guy-would-you-want-to-be/761183/71 "2016-08-06T00:00:57Z")
Iā€™m bass player, but Iā€™ll go another way. Andy Summers, guitar player form the Police. Not a shredder but simply nobody plays like him. Heā€™ll never be in many posters outside The Police, but he great. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-musician-other-guy-would-you-want-to-be/761183.md?page=3)