#357: “Dream Bands” (1990 version)

ROB

RECORD STORE TALES Mk II: Getting More Tale
#357: “Dream Bands” (1990 version)

I’m sure you and your friends have made these lists many times: put together a lineup of your dream band! Any living players can qualify.

I had deep, long conversations about this with my friends in highschool. One of them simply listed the four members of Led Zeppelin (Jason subbing in for John) as his dream band. You could certainly make an argument for that. My highschool dream band (1990-91 year) was instead made up of the players that I thought were the absolute best in their fields.  Can you guess who I was listening to that year? Lineup:

  1. Lead vocals – Rob Halford
  2. Lead guitar – Steve Vai
  3. Rhythm guitar – Malcolm Young
  4. Bass – Billy Sheehan
  5. Drums – Scott Travis
  6. Keyboards – Jon Lord

As a joke, I also added a seventh bonus member, Walter Ostanek on accordion!  That was for my buddy Andy, who also played accordion.  Upon submitting my official list for consideration, I removed Ostanek.  But I figured that Walter could show up for a guest appearance on a track or two, because everyone loves accordion.

An interesting band lineup to be sure, but as my highschool friends pointed out, they would probably implode after only one rehearsal. Steve Vai and Malcolm Young in the same band? I can’t see how that would work. Sorry, LeBrain circa 1990. Fail!  I’m glad I kept this stuff though, because it’s so funny to look back on it now.  25 freakin’ years ago!

Who would you place in your “dream band” lineup today? One stipulation: the artist must be alive and able to play. For example I couldn’t put Malcolm on my list today, nor could I put Phil Collins on drums, since he can no longer play them due to injury.

Have at it! Let’s see your lists!

metal smurf

 

104 comments

  1. Cool. Though not a metal head, I’ll throw my mic stand into the crowd to get things rolling…

    Guitars: Jeff Beck / Richard Thompson (should produce some interesting friction)
    Voice: Robert Plant (a nostalgic choice)
    Keys: Steven Wilson (Porcupine Tree) (I’d have Mr Wilson produce too)
    Bass: Alex Palao (Mushroom)
    Drums: Daniel Denis (Univers Zero)

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  3. Liv Christine (Leaves Eyes)- vocals
    Yngwie Malmsteen- guitar
    Joe Perry- guitar
    Lemmy- bass, vocals
    Charlie Benante- drums
    Jens Johannson- keyboards

    I’ve been dying to say this one too. Here would be my Rock and Roll Heaven line up:
    Ronnie James Dio- vocals
    Criss Oliva- guitar
    Cliff Burton- bass
    Cozy Powell- drums

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    1. I LOVE the heaven band. Well done. Glad that Ronnie and Cozy get to jam again.

      I love your living list. Yngwie of course cannot play nice with others, so I wonder how it’ll work — no worse than my own band Metal Smurf though.

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      1. I’m kicking myself for not putting Danny Vaughn (Tyektto) down on the vocals as well, in the live band of course. That’s so true about Yngwie but since it is my band, he’ll just have to learn.

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        1. I’m glad that I included Cozy Powell in the heaven list. Originally it was going to be Razzle but I am convinced that Powell and RJD are jamming away together in a better place.

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      1. He’ll do! Honestly though, with those three involved, who cares who’s thumping the tubs? But Frankie was awesome with them and then the shows could be advertised as “featuring the original drummer of Quiet Riot” too! There’ll be queues round the block!

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        1. Well true, I guess Headless Children era W.A.S.P. was truly the greatest band of all time. Even better than Riley era W.A.S.P. is Banali era W.A.S.P. I think Banali is the original member of W.A.S.P.

          ;)

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  5. Alright, let’s see…

    Keith Richards – guitar
    Charlie Watts – drums
    Ronnie Wood – guitar
    Mick Jagger – vocals (if you’ve got Keef, you need Mick)
    Bill Wyman – bass (all deference Daryl Jones)

    Wait, has this been done before?

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      1. Honestly, I have no idea. Maybe? Who knows.

        I just put this one up here because I’d like to see the Stones make more music. A lot more music. They have wasted A LOT of time in between records, and lifetime is, of course, finite for all of us. It ain’t gotta be Wyman. Jones is great too. Just make more records, boys.

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  6. Alright let’s try this again without being such a smart-ass…

    Harry Connick, Jr. – piano and vocals
    Norah Jones – piano and vocals
    Wynton Marsalis – trumpet
    Branford Marsalis – saxophone
    Lucien Barbarin – trombone
    Reginald Veal – bass
    Jeff ‘Tain’ Watts – drums

    They could play all night…

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    1. I love that you have Harry Connick in there .. I broke down and watched some American Idol auditions .. (yes i used to love only the audition process.. simply because i love watching great singers blowing the judges away .. maybe doing songs, or song choices that blow my mind) .. and he made me laugh out loud several times. Seems so down to earth to me. I gave up when Nicky weirdo and Mariah even more weirdo joined the show. I love Branford but I always thought Wynton was a douche.

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      1. I’ve been a Harry fan since, oh… 1989? He’s an all-timer, for me, just awesome. I met the man (briefly) once and yup, totally down to earth. I still have to tell that story on the KMA…

        I don’t care much if Wynton is a douche, he smokes on the horn and that’s enough for me. Besides, if I basically listed the Stones (major douches in their ranks) then I’m sure Wynton seems like the Dalai Lama in comparison.

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      2. Haha well it is still your choice to not listen to him. You can just hit Mute or change the channel! :)

        Imagine the pressure growing up in that home. All the musicians, a famous piano player Dad, all those other famous musicians coming and going. Practicing hours every day. Ain’t no normal childhood, makes for an interesting (and exceedingly able, on his chosen instrument) grown-up. He may seem a stuffy git, but no one can ignore everything he’s done/contributed.

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    3. Wow, I would pay good money to hear this band. I love the dual vocalists, and man, Harry…yeah, you could have Harry up there alone unaccompanied and call it your dream band! Add Norah to the mix and bam. Yeah, I like it well done!

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  7. Here is mine

    Freddie Mercury – Vocals
    Steve Morse – Lead/Rhythm Guitar
    Steve Vai – Lead/Rhythm Guitar
    Rick Wakeman – Keyboard/Piano
    Neil Peart – Drums
    Chester Thompson – Drums (Just because he is known for dual drums)
    Pye Dubois – Lyrics
    Emmylou Harris – Backup Vocals
    Michael McDonald – Backup Vocals
    Satan – Selling Merch

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  8. oh shit .. i missed the “must be alive part” … grrr

    ok ..

    Jack Black – Vocals
    Steve Morse – Lead/Rhythm Guitar
    Steve Vai – Lead.Rhythm Guitar
    Rick Wakeman – Keyboards/Piano
    Neil Peart – Drums
    Chester Thompson – Drums
    Pye Dubois – Lyrics
    Emmylou Harris – Backup Vocal
    Michael McDonald – Backup Vocal
    Satan (still alive and kicking) – Selling Merch

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      1. May seem like I am joking .. But I have always said the the only singer i have seen live that compares to Dio live .. is the enigmatic Mr. Black.. wearing track pants…

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    2. MAN!

      Hey, rumour has it that Martin Popoff is gonna try to get Pye to go to that Max Webster gathering in Toronto…

      But onto the list.

      1. Jack Black — fucking brilliant. I watched the movie again two nights ago (Tenacious D) and aside from his comic flourishes, he’s fucking awesome.
      2. Pye — love that you included the lyricists member as Max did.
      3. High five on sharing Vai with me. I think you’re the only guy with any overlap from my highschool dream band (Metal Smurf).

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  9. Mike Patton- vocals
    Slash- lead guitar
    Joe Bonamassa- 2nd lead guitar
    Neil Peart- drums
    Flea-bass
    Izzy Sradlin- rhythm guitar
    Lzzy Hale- background vocals
    Neil Young- harmonica/backround vocals
    Jordan Rudess- keyboards
    Burton Cummings- piano, background vocals
    Jens Johansson- synthesizer,keyboards
    Lee Loughanne- trumpet
    Ian Mcdonald- saxophone

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  10. Nice idea – with the tough caveat of must be living!

    hmmm…subject to change by the hour:

    Vocals/Guitar – Thom Yorke
    Guitar – Slash
    Bass – McCartney
    Drums – Stewart Copeland
    and I suppose Will Farrell on the cowbell when appropriate!

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    2. I LOVE IT! How about Will Ferrell and Chad Smith on dual drums? Hahah! But Stewart Copeland, I love him…I love all these guys. Slash and McCartney is interesting enough. But what is even more interesting is Slash and Thom. Good choices Geoff!

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      1. I think having the lookalikes together would be too good not to do! Stewart can still be there, maybe focusing exclusively on cymbals while Chad handles the rest of the kit.
        I liked having McCartney in there for his versatility and frankly I was curious to see how Slash & Thom would mesh, I’m glad you’d also see that supergroup show!

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  11. Dreams can sometimes be nightmares.

    Yoko Ono and David Hasselhoff- vocals
    Lars Ulrich and Ringo Starr- drums
    CC Deville- lead guitar
    Zamfir- flute
    Mark Hoppus- bass
    Sascha tukatsch- electronic drums
    Ralf Hutter- keyboards
    Chris Martin, Chad Kroeger and Scott Stapp- background vocals and lyrics

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        2. Although she does win the award for best impression of Jar Jar Binks combined with a dinosaur while walking awkwardly on stage. Barely beating out Scott Weiland for this award.
          And that air guitar. If she was in Junior Kindergarten, this would have been awesome.

          Liked by 1 person

    1. I only know 3 of the 5 members of this band, but BIG PROPS for Danny Carey. I think you’re the only one who picked him. That’s a genius pick right there alone. Then you got Zakk and Kai who nobody else picked either. WELL DONE!

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      1. The thing is, who knows what style of music they’d play? When supergroups get together its rarely what you want it to be. I’d bet if this Metal/Prog/Power combo got together, they’d play Bluegrass or Irish-tinged Punk lol

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      1. Oh man, Danny Carey rules. We saw Tool in concert in Hamilton and he was a monster on the kit!!

        He can absolutely play different stuff (from Wiki):

        “Daniel Edwin “Danny” Carey (born May 10, 1961) is an American drummer best known for his work in American Grammy Award-winning progressive metal band Tool. He has also contributed to albums by artists such as Zaum, Green Jellÿ, Pigface, Skinny Puppy, Adrian Belew of King Crimson, Carole King, Collide, The Wild Blue Yonder, Lusk, and the Melvins.”

        Carole frickin’ KING!

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  13. Wait. In the WP reader, the image that shows with this blogpost is the Metal Smurf one, but the words”Metal Smurf” are missing. Yet, I am on your blog, and the words “Metal Smurf” appear on the image. How did you do that without that missing Metal Smurf image showing in your blogpost?

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        2. My point exactly, bro!
          When I posted my Streets of Rage review two wks ago, I wanted the boxed title to appear in the reader. The image below it showed up, dammit!

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  14. My comment obvs didn’t work a couple days ago, I was having an angry commute and I went for:

    Charlie Benante – Drums
    Dave Lombardo – Drums
    Him out of SOAD – Vocals
    Rob Trujilo – Bass
    James Hetfield – Guitar/vox
    Him #2 out of SOAD – Guitars

    Grrr!

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  15. For a long time I’ve always wanted to see this band:

    Mark Lanegan – vocals
    Billy Gibbons – lead guitar
    Izzy Stradlin – guitar
    Duff – bass
    Barret Martin – drums / percussion

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    1. That would be an incredible band. And of all these bands here that would be the one that I could actually see coming together in real there. There are connections there. Billy Gibbons and Mark Lanegan have both worked with QOTSA thought not at the same time. They probably have the same circles of friends. Duff’s from Seattle and so is Barret…and Izzy and Duff of course how their history together. Fantastic list J!

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      1. I guess the fact that I tend to listen to a load of artists who have a history together shapes the ‘dream band’ thing. I believe Lanegan’s worked with everyone here already … well, other than Izzy.

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  16. My old highschool buddy Scott posted two lists: With and without rules.

    WITH RULES:

    Taylor Hawkins -drums (Neil Peart is out, to be different)
    Les Claypool -Bass
    Dave Grohl – Rhythm Guitar, Backing Vocals
    Eddie Van Halen – Lead Guitar ( cliche, I know)
    Mathew Bellamy (Muse) -lead Vocals

    WITHOUT RULES:

    John Bohnam – Drums
    Les Claypool – Bass
    Malcolm Young – Rhythm Guitar
    Bruce Kulick – (1985) lead guitar
    Paul Stanley (1978) -lead Vocals

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