John Doe displays his bass-fueled rock superpowers.
My close personal friend Townsman chickenfrank recalled a show in which one of his former bands played on a bill with John Doe. This was probably 1995, when Doe’s second solo album, Kissingsohard, came out. I bought his 1990 debut solo album, Meet John Doe, when it came out, but I couldn’t convince myself that I liked it. Nevertheless, we both loved X. I was sure his solo stuff would sound better live.
Doe took the stage that night playing guitar. He didn’t look right with a guitar in his hands. He didn’t have the same cool stage stance I was accustomed to when I saw him in X, playing bass. I even used my ears that night to assess that he did nothing special on guitar. It’s not like he’s an especially skilled bassist, but he drives the band from that instrument. Doe’s rock superpowers as a bassist were immense. He was a mere mortal on guitar.
John Doe in his guitar-wielding "Clark Kent" mode.
It goes without saying that probably any usually “hands-free” lead singer loses his or her rock superpowers when strapping on and, most likely, holstering a guitar.
Not all musicians, however, lose their rock superpowers when they switch to a secondary or even tertiary instrument. Paul McCartney, in fact, is a quadruple threat and then some. Brian Jones is another example. He retained his rock superpowers on even the daintiest of instruments.
Nick Lowe? It’s debatable. I would argue that his rock superpowers were sapped during his mid-’80s years on guitar owing to the malaise of His Cowboy Outfit more than his instrument. Since he’s mellowed and grown into his older age, he’s as cool as he ever was in his Rockpile days.
What musician possessing rock superpowers on his or her main instrument do you feel is sapped of those same powers when they switch instruments? And can you think of an artist who actually gains rock superpowers when he or she reaches for a secondary instrument?
Did Eddie Van Halen lose some of his guitar mojo when he decided he was going to be a synth player?
John Paul Jones remained a fine bassist even though he did all those keyboards on Led Zeppelin albums. Robert Fripp never seemed to be harmed by his mellotron work on King Crimson.
EVH on synth is a good one. Wasn’t one of the conditions of David Lee Roth rejoining the band this time and recording a new album (albeit of mostly old tracks) that Eddie couldn’t play synth?
Dylan may not lose all his superpowers, but he loses a lot of his persona now that he plays keyboards instead of guitar live. Boxcar jumping troubadors usually don’t have a piano on their back. Granted that was his persona 50 years ago, but it’s still the one that I associate with him.
Saxophones are David Bowie’s rock kryptonite.
Tom Waits’ rudimentary guitar style only makes him stronger.
When I saw the the Clash, Joe Strummer took bass duties for Guns of Brixton so Paul could sing. No powers lost there.
Saw Costello a few times when he was solo. I think he lost his powers every time he sat down on that little keyboard of his.
YES, on both counts!
Agreed. The one instrument that supports his rock superpowers is that big 12-string acoustic guitar.
Neil Young retains all super powers when he moves to the organ.
Sting takes on double douchebag status when he plays the upright steinberger. He is of equal value when he plays the guitar.
Mick Jagger & Roger Daultry & Simon LeBon lose ALL powers when playing any kind of guitar.
They don’t do it much live, but both Mick Taylor and Keith Richards only fortify their guitar superpowers by switching to bass.
I also like Keith’s super simple piano playing on some outtakes like Apartment Number 9. http://youtu.be/vdnlK8KXE38
Maybe heroin can protect your primary superpower if you take enough?
Paul Weller loses all his superpowers when he puts on a button-down sweater.
Ever see Gregg Allman play guitar? Ooof.
Sting also played some sax on Ghost in the Machine.
The sax was Bowie’s first and primary instrument, Everything else he played came later.
ew
And somehow quadruples it when he’s got a lyre.
nice!
And Kryptonite came from the planet Krypton, Superman’s original homeland and place of his birth. It still puts the whammy on him!
hahaha! indeeeed!
I’d rather hear Bowie play the sax (though he’s not particularly good at it) than play that endless and dumb riff on electric guitar in “Rebel Rebel”.
Dave Grohl
Your Sting observation, kilroy, is priceless.
Miss H, our ten-year-(going-on-surly-hormonal-fifteen-year)-old daughter goes to a performing arts group every Saturday, and there is a Parents’ Band, in which otherwise musical adults are encouraged to play the tuba or the flute or something else which they have never considered playing before, and at the end of each term they perform one of the Beatles songs which would probably make anyone here’s bottom ten amongst the canon extremely badly.
I have considered joining, but haven’t yet managed to lay my hands upon a trumpet, which is the instrument I would be satisfied to even be able to get a single note out of, having failed to do so on the occasions I’ve tried, and the idea of parping and honking along to Yesterday or Michelle is extremely appealing.
The first single by the Portsmouth Sinfonia, a peculiarly English concept, in which professional musicians did their best with instruments about which they knew no more than which way up to hold the things and approximately which bit to hit, scrape or blow, included Brian Eno on clarinet, and the composer Michael Nyman on Euphonium.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLsFGgfvx8o&feature=related
I always got a kick out Adam Clayton and The Edge switching up whenever U2 plays “40”. Although The Edge looks really bored on bass, Clayton makes up for it with his feedback solo. Kind of cool, I guess.
Though she looks damned fine and slinky on bass, I still like Sheryl Crow better with a Tele strapped on.
Any call on Steve Winwood? Or does he fall into that McCartney scattergory?
aloha
LD
Not that Van Morrison is a big guitar god, but I am not at all a fan of his sax playing.
Good question about Winwood. I’m shocked when I see him strap on a guitar, but he has so little stage presence, so little live rock superpowers that I don’t know that he’s got much to lose. He’s like the Wizard of Oz: his powers only work from behind the curtain, or studio glass in his case.
I think the difference between McCartney and Winwood is this: Paul was a master of the bass guitar and a quite respectable guitar player too, so his drums and keyboard adventures are bonuses. I don’t think Winwood really mastered any of the instruments he plays – he’s decent but not much more than that. He seems best as a singer.