Barking Spiders

Yikes, that's not good OK, not in a band anymore but this vid must be quite well known or this one It's Ricky Gervais if you hadn't guessed!

Not seen this in a while, the third most viewed NPR Tiny Desk concert at 85 million and climbing. Some may sneer because it's 'pop' but the songs are stripped back of superfluous production, no Autotune and perfectly executed. It's just great!

Go on, you know you can☺️. My top 5 have been pretty consistent all my bass playing life - 'Nard, Louis Johnson, Marcus Miller, Larry Graham and Mark King. BE edges it as for me he's created more memorable basslines. Even played on their own I know which songs they're from. From a technical POV alone #1 would be MM. Stuart Zender I rate highly but his body of work's a bit slim so I only know his Jamiroquai stuff.

WTF? Is this from some Spinal Tap /Bad News type skit?

Zender is a player I really like too, definitely a top ten. - breaking news, just heard Johnson's resigned!

I've seen them live twice, both among the very best gigs I've ever seen. That's the thing about AD. Don't think I've seen a performer with his level of charisma and presence. The Coconuts were as sexy as hell to the point I could barely take my eyes off them either and the band was tighter than a gnat's chuff. Rare gigs which have you coming out of the show feeling really good about life. Plus the music is great fun with witty lyrics.

You're probably right with regards to rock. It's a genre chocka block with distinctive vocalists which from a technical/musical standpoint are found a bit wanting. On the other hand I've never heard any equivalent in Soul. Every single soul singer I've heard can sing well whether solo stars, lead singers in bands or vocal groups. If I were to make a list of my top 20 singers pretty much every one would be a Soul artist. Much of the greatness of many Soul songs is down to the quality of the vocals. Anything less and they'd sound a bit shyte.

Maybe but there's no quality live footage of him from his heyday with the original line-up - particularly playing Everybody Dance - and for the sake of being tasteful I didn't want to put up a vid of his last ever gig before he soon died

Indeed, I wanted to avoid list making hence why I said just ONE nom cos often when one decides to do something it's usually down to one event or person. For me it's when I heard Le Freak

Not TOTP, it's TopPop, which I believe is a Dutch channel☺️

When asked who our fave players are, we all come out with an arms length list but who for you is tip top of the pile and why. So, just ONE name, not two and put up a YT vid showcasing demonstrating what it is about their playing that does it for you. For me it could be a 3-way tie between Louis Johnson, Larry Graham and Bernard Edwards but BE just edges it mainly for the many cracking, memorable basslines he wrote and played not just on Chic tunes but all those other artists BE and NR wrote songs for and produced. It's not just the lines themselves but his fantastic tone and nuanced playing using muted notes. Incidentally Nile is also my fave rhythm guitar player (not heard anyone quite nail his style and tone) and Tony Thompson is a fave drummer who had a brilliant hi-hat technique. This clip contains BE's famous 'chucking' technique, something which I still struggle to get quite right.

I saw them top the bill at Glastonbury 2016 and they were excellent. They've probably upped their game over the years and are maybe better suited to playing big stadiums

Indeed, though I disagree about Coldplay. They are nice blokes, who also make music I prefer listening to than those others ☺️. I do wonder whether all those people who diss Coldplay have listened to their albums, particularly the early ones. But that's another topic for another day

I take your point as one or two of my fave bands have front men with errm 'singular' sounding voices e.g. Talking Heads but it kinda works. As for those I mentioned, plus The Stones and CCR, while the vocals are what do my head in most there are other reasons I don't care for them e.g. some of the band members are utter dickw@d$

Too close to call but yes he's total shyte too and pretty much the main reason I've never been able to stomach that band either. If they'd had a decent singer they'd have been 1000x a better band. Mind you, there are many other bands who'd have been much better with a decent vocalist e.g. Led Zep, Black Sabbath, Dream Theater, Axl Rose, Smashing Pumpkins, Smiths, Springsteen, AC/DC, Cure, Megadeth, Rush, Happy Mondays....

ha ha, while that terrible band is in the past, they're still very much with us, older but as obnoxious as ever and now making twice the amount of extremely shyte music

It's one thing being genuinely talented but a total dickw@d but another thing when you're the latter but with all the talent of something you've scraped off the bottom of your shoe. Liam Gallagher's without doubt the worst singer from a successful band of the last 50 years. As for his brother's c@ck songs where do you start the list of cr@pitude? The meaningless drivel that pass for lyrics? the rudimentary guitar, bass and drums accompaniment? Noel's shyt3 guitar playing?. Soz people, Oasis are one band I genuinely do hate and I get carried away.

On the drive back down this evening I've been playing a House comp, Lost in House. Here are a couple of faves

Cracking dancefloor tunage here from Gary's Gang in 1979, sampled 20 years later on boss House tune I Cant Get Enough by Soulsearcher

why can't that talent free tool and his even more hopeless brother just fk off permanently

Fair enough and likewise viz other replies to my comments, which is why you guys are doing this while I packed it in. A drummer mate of mine has taken early retirement and makes his pocket money gigging in 3 or 4 different bands. One bands plays a lot of Britpop stuff, which he cant stand but is happy to play them as long as the band performs well. Me? I have to like the music I play whether in a function band or other sort. I used to play in a function band that specialised in soul, funk, disco etc. As that is right up my street I was happy playing whatever we did. If any band I was in said we'd have to include Oasis songs in a set I'd resign.

OK a sleb may support such and such a charity but that's very different from founding and funding one e.g. Elton John's AIDS Foundation.

Errm not if you're a permanent member of a band and you're outvoted by the others. This happens. I've been there.

But WTF are Ringo and Jagger 'sirs', particularly for the simian faced Jagger whose fave charity has always been himself. Never let it be forgotten he moved to France to avoid UK taxes so he's not even been that bothered about supporting the UK economy.

Oh dear. That's a pretty dispiriting list. Surely It's something of a struggle summoning up the enthusiasm to play these