Everyone has time for a talented musician. It's the reason classical music is still a global industry, the reason an old, formerly homeless man became huge, and the reason why, 35 years after his death, people still consider Elvis to be one of the all-time greats. But with great power comes great responsibility, and sometimes artists can let their talent get ahead of them. Here are 5 bands that were too good for their own good:
5. The Who
The Who were comprised of four of the greatest musicians of their time. Keith Moon remains the most mentalistic drummer ever to set foot onstage; often imitated, never bettered. Pete Townsend was an absurdly acrobatic guitarist, leaping around while windmilling his arms furiously to create his own unique, crashing, chordal style. John Entwhistle was every inch the professional bassist, underpinning the chaos with calm and focus. And in front of it all was one of the all-time great frontmen, Roger Daltrey. With so much to offer, surely they couldn't go wrong?
Why It Didn't Work
OK, so The Who did end up being one of the biggest bands on the planet. But for all their musical prowess and showmanship, it was always clear that they weren't the strongest songwriters out there. All too often when playing live, the group simply descended into trying to outdo each other in terms of who could play the fastest or loudest. Their most famous song, My Generation, for all its raging adolescent subversion, is ultimately just two chords with a bass solo slapped in the middle and the same goes for Magic Bus, I Can See For Miles and Won't Get Fooled Again, three of their biggest hits. Watch this live James Brown cover - complex it isn't:
4. Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin were everything The Who were, only stepped up a level. For a start, this was not a group of childhood friends who had shared a joint love of music from the beginning. The four components of the band actually assembled from all over the country, drawn together by the fact that they were already established among the best in their field. Jimmy Page was the young guitar genius from The Yardbirds, John-Paul Jones was a session bassist, John Bonham a freelance drummer with the power of an iron foundry. Robert Plant is just as famous a frontman as Daltrey, with the distinction that he was a uniquely talented singer.
Why It Didn't Work
The Who may have been average songwriters, but once again Led Zeppelin were one step ahead - they didn't bother writing songs at all. Of the 9 tracks on their self titled debut, 3 are covers of Willie Nelson blues tunes. Which would be fine, were it not for the fact that the band claimed the songs as their own, listing themselves as writers and subsequently taking all royalties. This trend continued for another three albums before they finally came up with an original idea. But these songs are simple 12-bar blues pieces, right? No one can copyright those, they're a staple of music; and after all, Led Zeppelin's versions are pretty different to the originals. True, but that doesn't account for the various other songs they outright stole from contemporaries and tried to list as their own creations. It's frustrating more than anything else, especially since, once they stopped resting on their laurels, they wrote some of the best rock songs of all time:
3. Oysterhead
Formed in 2000, Oysterhead were the archetypal constructed supergroup. Bassist Les Claypool had recently disbanded Primus, alternative heroes of the '90s, and agreed on a new project following prompting from his record label. He picked out guitarist Trey Anastasio from psychedelic jam-band Phish and Stewart Copeland, the drummer from The Police. The trio agreed to a one-off show before recording an album, 2001's The Grand Pecking Order. Such a fusion of skill has never really been seen in music before or since - Claypool ranks among the best bassists of all time, Anastasio has a seemingly infinite prowess for improvisation across a range of genres, and Copeland had years of experience as a member of one of the most technically precise groups in music history. And unlike The Who or Led Zeppelin, the band did contain proven songwriters.
Why It Didn't Work
Claypool kind of dropped the ball here. The Grand Pecking Order was actually a fantastic album and, while it wasn't the most accessible music out there, the band gained a devoted following among fans of alternative music, and toured the US in 2001. But Claypool can be something of a lone wolf at times - after all, he quit Metallica in the 1980s because he felt they weren't allowing him enough creative freedom - and the same applied here. As a bassist, he has been the central figure of each of his projects, with the other musicians complementing him rather than the other way around. But Oysterhead was the first time his bandmates matched his talent, and that wasn't the ideal working environment for Claypool. The tragic reality was that Claypool is only satisfied when pushing his boundaries to the limit, and Oysterhead never really provided that. It's clear how unhappy he is in this live performance, and that pretty much sealed Oysterhead's fate:
2. Tool
Tool would at first glance seem to be the most coherent act on this list. They seem to get on well with each other, they've been honing their skills for over 20 years now, and their music just takes everything that has come before to the next level. Blending some of the most technically perfect western alternative rock with the scale structures and cyclical systems of oriental music, the band really do sound like no one else. The level of precision with which guitarist Adam Jones and bassist Justin Chancellor match each other's playing is genuinely mind-blowing - it's as if their minds are telepathically linked. With all this on offer, how can there possibly be anything wrong with Tool's music?
Why It Didn't Work
When a band goes up to six years between album releases, it's clear that they are going to have a lot of time on their hands. But that's true of the Red Hot Chili Peppers as well, and they come nowhere near to ridiculous level of detail employed by Tool in their latest releases. A simple one to start off with: the 11 tracks on their 2006 album 10,000 Days are arranged in clear groups - singles, existentialist meditation, a tale of alien abduction and a eulogy to singer Maynard Keenan's recently deceased mother (who had been paralyzed for 20 years, or approximately 10,000 days). This is all very well, but at the end comes four minutes of electronic noise entitled Viginti Tres. It doesn't work on its own but when combined with the 11-minute 10,000 Days, it matches up with the drone bass of that track. Add in the other eulogy song, Wings for Marie, and the result is a whole new track. The latter two songs synchronise perfectly at 9 minutes and 14 seconds. 9 plus 14? 23, or in Latin, Viginti Tres. This is just one example of how ridiculously obsessed Tool have become with including cryptic messages in their albums - indeed, the whole Lateralus album is in itself a puzzle, with the title track holding the solution. If only they would put that much effort into their music it would be even better than this:
1. Unexpect
Quebec's Unexpect are probably, in a musical sense, the most talented band of all time. Their instrumental co-ordination makes Tool look like amateurs, combining jagged metal rhythms with bizarre time signatures, classical organ motifs and clips of circus music. It's frantic, it's intense, it's all just too... much. What's a shame is that Unexpect are capable of producing beautiful music that stands quite well on its own. Take the piano solo Chromatic Chimera from the EP WE, Invaders:
That's a nice piece of music, right? But when the band re-recorded it as an album track for In a Flesh Aquarium, they just couldn't resist making it more complex:
There's a reason why the bands on this list are also ranked in order of worldwide fame. When you listen to music, you don't want to have to engage in stimulating thought all the time. Had Unexpect stuck with two chords and a bass solo, they could well be topping the charts right now. Sometimes, less is more.
TJGreenwood.
