should bands carry on when there's only one original member?

[wateroftyne]

Eagles & Steely Dan are still pulling the punters in.

[PaulWarning]

53 minutes ago, Billy Apple said:

Ritchie Ramone is easily the most talented drummer the Ramones ever had and wrote one of their biggest hits, although thanks to Johnny you’d never know. Ritchie has done quite a bit of original material with IMO a few decent singles. He’s not advertising himself as The Ramones and I think it would be odd if he didn’t knock out a few oldies live.

He should get CJ in, but I think his missus is the bass player.

when I saw him at Rebellion a couple of years ago he was advertised as Ritchie Ramone and did almost exclusively Ramones tracks maybe that was because he was playing Rebellion can't speak for any other gigs,, he did have a good 'Johnny Ramone' on guitar,

It you are talking about Somebody put something in my drink, a minor hit, he was credited with writing it, on my vinyl version at least, according to Wikipedia it was the digital sales where the dispute was, not sure on the details but the court found, reluctantly in favour of the rest of the Ramones.

But yes, he was the only Ramones drummer to sing and write songs for the band.

I think CJ has his own Ramones band

[King Tut]

14 hours ago, dmccombe7 said:

Fan of Jimmy Bain back then. Not sure what he's doing now but he was more than capable of carrying a good rock bass song and he was a pretty cool looking bassist in his day. He had the long hair image that seemed to be required in good rock bands in 70's and 80's 

Bad news for ya chap . . . . On January 23, 2016, Jimmy Bain died while in his cabin on Def Leppard's "Hysteria on the High Seas" cruise. He was due to perform on the cruise with his group Last In Line the following day.^[8][9] The performance did not go ahead, and band members informed fans on the cruise that he had been battling pneumonia for some time. The cause of death was determined to be lung cancer. Bain had not been diagnosed with cancer and was aware only of his pneumonia.^[10] He is interred in Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills), not far from his bandmate Ronnie James Dio.

[Fozza]

14 hours ago, dmccombe7 said:

Fan of Jimmy Bain back then. Not sure what he's doing now but he was more than capable of carrying a good rock bass song and he was a pretty cool looking bassist in his day. He had the long hair image that seemed to be required in good rock bands in 70's and 80's 

Sadly, Jimmy isn't doing much these days. He's been dead three years.

[Billy Apple]

30 minutes ago, PaulWarning said:

It you are talking about Somebody put something in my drink, a minor hit, he was credited with writing it, on my vinyl version at least, according to Wikipedia it was the digital sales where the dispute was, not sure on the details but the court found, reluctantly in favour of the rest of the Ramones.

Joint 7th biggest selling single (along with Poison Heart) for an international band with a 22 year stint, hardly minor!

And as Joey says, he saved the band.

[dmccombe7]

56 minutes ago, King Tut said:

Bad news for ya chap . . . . On January 23, 2016, Jimmy Bain died while in his cabin on Def Leppard's "Hysteria on the High Seas" cruise. He was due to perform on the cruise with his group Last In Line the following day.^[8][9] The performance did not go ahead, and band members informed fans on the cruise that he had been battling pneumonia for some time. The cause of death was determined to be lung cancer. Bain had not been diagnosed with cancer and was aware only of his pneumonia.^[10] He is interred in Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills), not far from his bandmate Ronnie James Dio.

I had no idea. Bit shocked now. Thanks for letting me know.

Dave

[police squad]

On 22/09/2019 at 08:41, prowla said:

But TBH the Gillan/Glover incarnation was the definitive one.

(Steve Morse has been in the band longer than Blackmore was.)

Exactly my point

[Barking Spiders]

On 21/09/2019 at 09:48, chris_b said:

Bands are not fixed entities, they change and evolve and even after "golden periods" they can create good music and performances. Little Feat, Genesis, Pink Floyd and many other bands evolved and made great music after the original line up and style of music changed.

Depends. Bands aren't like football clubs. Granted, if replaceable supporting members go then it's no big deal but if a main songwriter or iconic front man go IMO a band should  change their name.  After all, think of all the bitter disputes there've been over ownership of b(r)and  names e.g. Floyd, G n R to name but two

I dunno how Dr Feelgood can still carry on under that name as there are none of the original  band members who wrote the material they're known for. 

[Huge Hands]

I remember in the early 2000's, when a sound engineer on the holiday camp scene, dreading the 60's weekends.

The "original member" always seemed to be someone like the keyboard player or rhythm guitarist who either left just before they broke big time, or joined just after they broke up.

The talented one who wrote the big hit would doubtlessly be lying on a beach in Miami on his royalties, whilst guitar 2 and his bunch of mates who weren't good enough to be in the lineup the first time around hoofed their way through the one hit played at the end of the set.  I would also find amps would be cranked painfully loud because they were all deaf from years of poor sound.

The opposite example would be the "star" who couldn't sing the high stuff any more that would bring his beloved son along as a bass player and watch fondly with an awkward smile as the son turbo-slapped his way through a classic 60's track on a coffee-table-top 5 string.  

...and I'm saying that as a 5 string player (not really into bespoke coffee table basses though.....) 

 

[TimR]

@Barking Spiders the longer and older bands get, the more they start to resemble West End Musicals or any other travelling play. People don’t expect to see certain lead ‘actors’, unless they’re specifically advertised as being there, and essentially there’s only one ‘licensed’ version going on at any one time. 

If the audience don’t like that, then they vote with their feet, whether it’s right or wrong is a moot point. But clinging on to a version of the original band isn’t really facing up to facts. It’s just entertainment at the end of the day. 

[BreadBin]

Many years ago I was part of the PA crew for a Sweet gig, which was in reality only the original guitarist. He had a massive ego and was quite unpleasant. The bass player used orange Tortex picks, which I had tried but stopped using because they kept breaking. He must have snapped at least half a dozen, each time brandishing the remains at his band mates as if to demonstrate what a double hard bastard he was. No mate - you're just using the wrong picks.

[Huge Hands]

3 minutes ago, BreadBin said:

Many years ago I was part of the PA crew for a Sweet gig, which was in reality only the original guitarist. He had a massive ego and was quite unpleasant. The bass player used orange Tortex picks, which I had tried but stopped using because they kept breaking. He must have snapped at least half a dozen, each time brandishing the remains at his band mates as if to demonstrate what a double hard bastard he was. No mate - you're just using the wrong picks.

Not sure if it was the same version of the Sweet but my mate used to tell the tale of doing sound on a gig with the original singer (Brian Connolly?) just before he died and they pretty much had to wheel him out strapped to a sack trolley to get him on stage, he was so ill.

[BreadBin]

29 minutes ago, Huge Hands said:

Not sure if it was the same version of the Sweet but my mate used to tell the tale of doing sound on a gig with the original singer (Brian Connolly?) just before he died and they pretty much had to wheel him out strapped to a sack trolley to get him on stage, he was so ill.

I don't think this was the same version, it was Andy Scott on guitar. A bit of research suggests that the bass player was Jeff Brown. I wonder if he still uses orange Tortex? 

[12stringbassist]

Rossi has been there all the way through Quo and others have come and gone. Andy Bown has been there since 1983 (36 years), and Rhino since 1986 (33 years). Not inconsiderable service.

There is currently no reason for Rossi to put himself out of work because he is the last one of them involved. When Rossi retires, though, there is no earthly way at all that a band can call itself Status Quo.

[TimR]

1 hour ago, 12stringbassist said:

When Rossi retires, though, there is no earthly way at all that a band can call itself Status Quo.

That really depends on what the business entity Status Quo is, and what partnerships and contracts are involved with the other members. 

[Mickeyboro]

Not quite the same, but I remember Gary Rossington tell me that Lynyrd Skynyrd (who Quo recently supported) have to make something like 125 per cent of the gross every night to pay the widows and orphans of the deceased originals who gave them permission to re-form. 

That’s one heck of a lot of t-shirts...😈

Edited September 23, 2019 by Mickeyboro

[FinnDave]

If you gave up every other option to be a full time muso when you were 18, what else are you going to turn to at 60+? I've worked with people like that, it's the only thing they know how to do as they didn't get into bottom licking career ladders in the 20s and 30s. No money to be made in old album sales now, the internet put paid to those guys' pension plans!

[Bluewine]

23 hours ago, TimR said:

I don’t wear a wig and pretend I’m 40 years younger than I am...

In a recent interview Paul McCartney was asked if The Beatles ever wore wigs.

His response;

No, The Beatles never wore wigs. He points to his head and says " This is a wig but it's dyed to make it more age appropriate".

If it's good enough for Paul it's good enough for me.

Blue

Edited September 23, 2019 by Bluewine

[Len_derby]

1 hour ago, FinnDave said:

If you gave up every other option to be a full time muso when you were 18, what else are you going to turn to at 60+? I've worked with people like that, it's the only thing they know how to do as they didn't get into bottom licking career ladders in the 20s and 30s. No money to be made in old album sales now, the internet put paid to those guys' pension plans!

Too true Dave, and for guys (and gals) in their 60s and upwards they probably started even earlier than 18 years of age. It's similar to an ex-pro footballer who lives near me. He left school at 15 to play professionally and when he retired at 35 he had no other skills and blew his modest savings on a newsagents. He now lives off state pension in spite of winning medals with Derby County.

I could never begrudge old stars trying to make a living especially when you consider some of the people who've made a killing in the music business.

[FinnDave]

42 minutes ago, Len_derby said:

[…]  especially when you consider some of the people who've made a killing in the music business.

And very few of them musicians!

[skankdelvar]

1 hour ago, Bluewine said:

In a recent interview Paul McCartney was asked if The Beatles ever wore wigs.

The Beatles may never have worn wigs but tens of thousands of people wore Beatles wigs including Brian Epstein (who probably signed the merchandising rights away for $50 bucks).

 

Some wigs were licensed...

 

...while others were just straight knock-offs (below):

 

Not all Beatle wigs were made of a hair-like substance. Some were made of moulded plastic and designed to be popped on the head like a Beatlesy helmet. Nice.

 

Indeed, the wigs were so popular they even spawned their own spin-off board game:

The Beatles' Wigs story kind of puts matters in context. There are worse things in this life than bands going out with only one surviving member.

 

Edited September 23, 2019 by skankdelvar

[Billy Apple]

3 minutes ago, skankdelvar said:

The Beatles may never have worn wigs but tens of thousands of people wore Beatles wigs including Brian Epstein

It was sad when they parted.

[dmccombe7]

29 minutes ago, skankdelvar said:

The Beatles may never have worn wigs but tens of thousands of people wore Beatles wigs including Brian Epstein (who probably signed the merchandising rights away for $50 bucks).

 

Some wigs were licensed...

 

...while others were just straight knock-offs (below):

 

Not all Beatle wigs were made of a hair-like substance. Some were made of moulded plastic and designed to be popped on the head like a Beatlesy helmet. Nice.

 

Indeed, the wigs were so popular they even spawned their own spin-off board game:

The Beatles' Wigs story kind of puts matters in context. There are worse things in this life than bands going out with only one surviving member.

 

Had the plastic wig when i was 3 or 4 yrs old along with the Beatles plastic acoustic guitar. I even got my first Beatles single EP All My Loving in 63 / 64 which i still have the EP today. Afraid the wig and guitar got the worse deal and were either thrown out or damaged over the years

Pretty sure i even have a pic with me wearing the wig and holding the guitar. B&W pic of course. 

Dave

[FinnDave]

3 minutes ago, dmccombe7 said:

Pretty sure i even have a pic with me wearing the wig and holding the guitar. B&W pic of course. 

Dave

You know what they say about pictures, or the lack of them….

Edited September 23, 2019 by FinnDave

[dmccombe7]

1 minute ago, FinnDave said:

You know what they say about pictures, or the luck of them….

Don't know that one Dave ?