Worst Rock Band Ever !!!!

Did I (or anyone else) already nominate Blue Cheer? To my taste about as bad as it gets. Zero sense of taste, economy, and/or musicality. 

Oops, I of course meant to say Wexler was Aretha’s producer at Atlantic Records. After Columbia failed to figure out what to do with her, Wexler got Aretha out of her contract with them and took her down to Muscle Shoals, putting her in Fame Studios with that studio’s house band, known amongst musicians as The Swampers, the best R & B band ever in the opinion of those who matter. He did the same with other Atlantic singers: Wilson Pickett, Solomon Burke, Dusty Springfield, buncha others, and took Dylan down there too, for his found God albums.

Before all that, Wexler had produced Ray Charles, Big Joe Turner (one of my all-time favorite singers. I saw and heard him in the mid-80’s at Club Lingerie on Sunset Blvd., backed by a "pretty good" white Blues band, The Blasters), Dr. John, Ruth Brown (SUCH a great singer) and LaVerne Baker (a fantastic singer, check her out). So he knew just what he was getting in Lou Ann, and exactly the musical environment to create for her. Great material, a great band, and a great singer; that’s "all" it takes. ;-)

Sorry, imo Janis was not a great singer, or even a good one. And the Big Brother musicians were absolutely dreadful (what could be worse than a hippie garage band?!). Even her contemporaries were telling her that, and that she should dump them. She stood by them though, until she just couldn’t anymore. She hired The Full Tilt Boogie Band, and that was more like it. The band’s piano player, Richard Bell, was later a member of The Band. What a contrast from the clowns in Big Brother!

Hey, if you wanna hear a really great white male R&B singer from the relatively modern era, listen to Willy DeVille (and the band he debuted in, Mink DeVille). He unfortunately developed a nasty little drug habit, which effected his career. He collaborated with Doc Pomus, Allen Toussaint, Dr. John, and Jack Nitzsche (Phil Spector’s arranger and orchestrator, and Neil Young’s piano player on the Harvest album). I would have loved to hear Willy and Amy Winehouse duet, but they’re both dead.

@dgarretson, I realize mine is a minority opinion, but yes, it was in the Summer of '68 I saw/heard them live. The guys in Big Brother exemplified everything that was wrong with hippie musicians, and Janis was doing her standard "shrieking/screeching" style of white-girl Blues "singing". You know, trying too hard to be "soulful". Cheap Thrills was produced by John Simon; John also produced the first two superlative Band albums, so the blame can't be laid at his feet. Hey, you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. ;-)

For anyone who wants to hear how it CAN be done, give a listen to Lou Ann Barton. She has a few solo albums, and often tours with Jimmie Vaughan. She was the singer in the original version of Double Trouble, when Stevie Ray was "only" playing guitar in the band. Her fantastic Old Enough album was produced by Glenn Frey and Jerry Wexler, Wexler Aretha's producer at Columbia Records. Now THERE'S a great white woman Blues singer.

@ghosthouse, Yeah, that's a good one. Also on Pet Sounds is the sublime "God Only Knows", one of my three all-time favorite songs. It has not only strings and brass, but also woodwinds. And unlike The Beatles who required George Martin to write the parts for the orchestra instruments, Brian wrote his himself (he reads and knows music notation). "God Only Knows" has three bass parts---one for electric (Carol Kaye playing an incredible part containing numerous examples of inversions, my absolute favorite thing in music. It was hearing that part that woke-up Paul McCartney to the possibilities of the instrument), one for string (upright) bass, and a third for the Fender-6, a really cool 6-string bass that Duane Eddy played guitar solos on. Just above the basses is a cello.

Brian's aborted Smile album is what I think Progressive Rock can be, and mostly isn't. Informed by Classical (actually, using your knowledge of music theory in the writing of songs is a better way to put it), but not attempting (with poor results, imo) to combine it with Rock, or play it with a Rock band. That's just silly, and sounds that way. Pictures At An Exhibition by ELP is just dreadful. It was written for solo piano (I have a recording of it so performed), and orchestrated by Maurice Ravel. THAT is how it should be performed, not by a 3-piece Rock band. That can not possibly do justice to the music.

The Ramones are a misunderstood band. They were an "inside joke", a wink between those who got it. They were waging a deliberate and calculated attack on Progressive Rock, which they and many other Rockers (myself included) despised. While on their first three albums they sound a little "weak" as a band (though the material isn’t), the replacement of Tommy (not a strong drummer) with Marky on the fourth (Road To Ruin, a great album. It was actually produced by Tommy.) cured that. Marky was a very "muscular" drummer, and had been in Richard Hell’s band The Voidoids (and in the Hard Rock band Dust, who put out one album in the early-70’s). The great Jazz drummer Tony Williams in an interview speaking of Marky: "Have you heard the guy in The Ramones? Now THAT is a great drummer."

Here’s a fun fact about The Ramones: In polar opposition to Spinal Tap, the two remaining living original members of The Ramones are Tommy and Marky ;-) !

Steve’s debut album (Children Of The Future. It’s cover looked great under a black light ;-) was credited to The Steve Miller Band, and featured Boz Scaggs solely on rhythm guitar. Boz’s own debut album was a good one, with Duane Allman playing guitar.). I had seen the band the year before (’67), and they were going by the name The Steve Miller Blues Band, which they weren’t, really.

I’ve long wondered if The Strawberry Alarm Clock name was a play on The Chocolate Watchband, the 1965-8 San Jose Garage Band.

For anyone who hasn’t heard it yet, the sole album by The Shaggs is a real trip. They were a three-sister garage band out of New Hampshire in the late 60’s. That album became legendary for the girls complete ineptitude, and the perverse sense of humor of the members of NRBQ lead them to re-released it in the 70’s. Oh, it’s bad. But not as annoying to me as the singing of Michael McDonald, Steve Perry, and Steven Tyler. Or the enormous pretentiousness of the "classically-influenced" music made by "classically-trained" musicians such as Emerson, Lake, and Palmer. In fact, pretty much all "progressive" music. What’s the matter guys---not good enough to make it into a professional orchestra, playing genuine Classical music?

Brian Wilson took the knowledge gained by studying music theory and composition to write great songs, not record Classical music with 3/4/5 "band" instruments, music that was written to be performed by an orchestra. Hearing "Pictures At An Exhibition" performed by a Pop group is torture to me---ridiculous and disgusting.