Rules of threes: Bands

Sometimes I think about Tony Banks and Andy Summers.

I would think about them, but have to look up their names. I mostly remember their names now. Kind of.

For anyone who is not sure, Andy Summers is the guitar player in The Police, and Tony Banks is the keyboard player in Genesis. To be fair, Summers plays some keyboards and Banks plays some guitar, and both do backing vocals.

You can probably picture them in your minds. They have participated in many concerts and music videos and recordings, and both have had pretty nice side careers where they do interesting things as respected musicians.

However, they are still less known than Mike Rutherford and Stewart Copeland, and way less known than Phil Collins and Sting.

I have no reason to believe that this is a problem for either of them, but sometimes I would think about what it was like being, "Oh, and that other guy."

Maybe they could form their own band, I would think, but then it would seem like that band should be a trio, with an additional other guy.

I would just get stumped on who that other "other guy" should be.

Thinking about it more lately, I came up with a few ideas.

Initially I had thought maybe Alex Lifeson, from Rush, and less known than Neil Peart and Geddy Lee. In his case, Lifeson was the only original member as they became famous, though to some extent early lineup changes are too common to worry about.

Yes, I thought, it should be Lifeson. Glad to have that straightened out.

Then, that very same night, Maria played a Depeche Mode song.

Crap! Obviously it should be that guy who is not Dave Gahan or Martin Gore (nor Vince Clarke who left the band early on, but is still more famous due to Erasure and Yaz).

There were arguments that could go both ways. For my MTV generation, Depeche Mode music feels more contemporary with Genesis and The Police than Rush. We did see some Rush videos, but they felt older, and they never played early Genesis which was fine.

It did occur to me that Lifeson would be closer in age to Banks and Summers than Andy Fletcher, but I was surprised to find out that Lifeson was younger than either of them. Lifeson was born in 1953, Banks in 1950, and Summers in 1942. Fletch was born in 1961; I'm not sure how I feel about any of that. 

(Banks was named "Prog God" at the 2015 Progressive Music Awards, so that might indicate he would lean more toward Lifeson.)

Perhaps the more pressing question is whether it is better to have two guitarists or two keyboardists; isn't there a trio with a lesser known bass player?

Still, I was pretty much settled on Fletch, but I turned on the television and "Release Me" by Wilson Phillips was playing. Of course! The one who wasn't Chynna or Carnie!

Wendy Wilson was born in 1969. She seems to only do vocals, and perhaps only in three-part harmony, which may not be the strongest qualification. However, when they spoof your band on Saturday Night Live, and your band mates are played by the youngest woman in the cast and Chris Farley in a red wig, but you are an extra, you know something about being one of the other ones!

But I was probably sticking with Fletch.

For some reason, I kept thinking of Johnny Marr. 

That made no sense at all; there were four Smiths. Then I remembered Electronic, and of course there was someone in New Order besides Bernard Summer and Peter Hook. 

It turns out that Stephen Morris (born in 1957) did it better than anyone. 

As a multi-instrumentalist, he would be a wonderful choice, and perhaps the most age and era-appropriate. However, when they wanted some additional keyboards for New Order, they brought in Gillian Gilbert. 

He dated her. He married her. He formed a band called The Other Two with her. 

He was way ahead of me on the concept. Kudos to you Stephen Morris. Bravo.

This post is dedicated to José Carreras -- the Third Tenor -- born in 1946.

Vaguely related post:

https://sporkful.blogspot.com/2012/12/math-rocks.html