The boys in the band

"No matter how young and good looking the bass player is, chicks always dig the lead singer." (My Name is Earl, Season 2, Episode 5 "Van Hickey")

I have been thinking a lot about dynamics inside the band. It is true that the lead singer gets the lion’s share of the attention. At times I have felt bad about that.

I have especially felt sorry for drummers because in so many groups they seem to be so disposable. Maybe it’s only in Spinal Tap where they spontaneously combust, but even in the real world they get fired a lot, and there are statistically more jokes about them than about other band members, even to the characterization of Animal in the Muppets. Yes, he is well-loved, but everyone else in the Electric Mayhem speaks in complete sentences.

Apparently the next worst-self esteem tends to belong to bass players. I was surprised to hear this, but it makes sense. Their playing does not get as fancy as the people with six strings on their guitars. Those flourishes and solos don’t really happen. Often, they are the least skilled guitarist, and that’s how they end up on bass. There. I said it. (Now I feel like I should be smitten with snapped strings.)

I would expect keyboard players to get a lot of flack, but so many bands don’t even have them anymore, or they’re just touring ones, not really in the band. I feel worst for them. I felt so guilty when I realized that Matt would need to die in the screenplay. Sure—just kill the touring bass player! That is so typical; they’re the redshirts of the band!

(That’s why I am so glad that as a character his personality is divergng so much from real Matt. It assuages the guilt a bit.)

Okay, back in my day (the late Cretaceous) it was not always easy to get all of the information on a band, and the lead singer did most of the interviewing, and so he was the one you knew. There’s no excuse now. There’s Wikipedia, and Twitter, and what do I find? Amazing differences in the ratio of followers for the frontman and the backers. And it is pretty much always the lead singer. There was one notable exception, but the numbers will be in a separate post for tomorrow—a post that makes me wish more than ever that I had taken statistics.

Today I want to focus on why it is wrong, but first I should acknowledge what works well with it. In many cases part of the lead singer’s job is to deflect unwanted attention from the other members of the band. There are people up there sometimes who are just trying not to throw up, and being able to be in the background is a relief. The upside of the lead singer being more likely to be mauled by a deranged fan is that the safety for everyone else is improved. I get that.

The lead singer’s job is to sell the band up on stage, and to bring the audience in. That’s what’s been missing at some concerts. Whether he is flirting or seducing or palling around, that is the connection. The charisma becomes as important as the voice, and lead singers tend to have charmisa in spades, and they are the ones singing those amazing words, whether they wrote them or not, so of course we swoon for them.

However, it just wouldn’t be as cool with him up there singing a capella. There is so much that the rest of the band contributes, and for which they should be acknowledged. Often things work together so much as part of the ensemble that individual instruments don’t stand out, but if you could listen ot any of your favorite songs with key tracks removed, you’d see. And, there are always some standouts.

Okay, maybe keyboards aren’t as much en vogue since the synth pop heyday of the ‘80s, but it doesn’t change what “Take on Me” meant to me then, or really everything by A-ha. You know, “Rocking the Casbah” by the Clash started out as that piano track, and then filled in around that, and it works. It’s still infectious now.

Think about the drums on “Sugar We’re Going Down”, by Fall Out Boy, or “Welcome to the Black Parade” by My Chemical Romance, or “Till I Hear It From You” by the Gin Blossoms. Drums give punctuation, and momentum, and they create great biceps! And drummers are the most likely to respond to you personally.

Think about “Blister in the Sun” by Violent Femmes. It wouldn’t even exist without that bassline. Think about how the bass shapes Gang of Four. Bass is what brings the sexy into the song. That’s not just a voice thing. Perhaps this is why some bass players manage to be so confident, and sexy. (Special thanks to John Taylor, Mikey Way, and Matt Rubano.)

Think about that driving guitar in “Saturday Night” by the Misfits. Yes it is combined with powerful vocals and demented lyrics, but I have heard it acoustic and it is just not the same. It’s not a coincidence that so many of my favorite bands have both lead and rhythm guitar—that’s power there! That’s not even mentioning that bridge in “Summertime”. I had written about how it haunted me, and then I decided I had made peace with it, but no, I had a dream about where I was still trying to find out what made it so special. (And that one works both acoustic and regular.) Actually, my love for guitar is pretty well-documented. Oh, and “Great Expectations” by The Gaslight Anthem! Have you heard the guitar on that chorus?

So Earl is completely right, and frankly, for that particular episode it was for the best, but I think maybe a better quote would come from the movie Drumline, as the different section leaders are pumping up their sections, even though that’s a different kind of band:

"Trumpets are the voice of the band. We are the melody. We are the clarity."

"Tubas are the most important section in the band, boy. Tubas are the boom."

"Saxophones are the truth, the funk and the hook."

"We are the heart and the soul. Without the percussionists, the band doesn’t move, doesn’t come alive. We are the pulse. Without a pulse, you’re dead. That’s why we’re the most important section of the band!"

I don’t know what they told the piccolos and flutes, but whatever it was, they’re right. We need them all.