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What about Lemmy..? He used to push drugs on all and sundry back in the day. Proper rock star though, so his dubious behaviour doesn't really diminish his contribution.
And Johnny. Good ol' Mr Rotten. Personally, I love to hear him in conversation.... but butter ads, I'm A Celebrity..? I can bet there are people who hate the man with a lot more passion than I admire him ! 😉
Lemmy? Really? Disagree mate, the guy was rock and roll to the day he died.
I thought that's what I said...
Sorry mate, slow connection.
Mainly from my brain to my keyboard lol I was answering phantombikers post.
Dinosaur Jr.
Them.
Pink Floyd.
The Zutons.
Pink Floyd - Roger Waters is an arrogant dick.
Oasis doesn't count. They're dicks, but they're not a great band - some catchy songs, sure, but not great.
Lemmy? Really? Disagree mate, the guy was rock and roll to the day he died.
Just so we're clear on the definition of 'Dick'.
Rock-'n'Roll is Teenage Kicks
Rolf Harris is a kiddy fiddler
Billy Corgan seems to have a collection of rather unpleasant character traits rather than an actual personality. Whether you could argue the Smashing Pumpkins was a great band though is probably harder.
the Smashing Pumpkins was a great band
Once they were, now, not so much.
Rolf Harris is a kiddy fiddler
Reminds me, The Glitter Band used to have a frontman you probably wouldn't go out on the pull with.
Oh I could definitely argue that the Smashing Pumpkins were a great band ..all the way up to the Machina album ..
I can't stand the frontman out of the Killers ..not that they were a great band..popular granted but not great ..
The biggest dick out there though is Chris Martin for actually believing he can sing ..
Love QOTSA but Mr Josh H recently kicking a photographer from the stage -lady if remember- totally denying it then having to apologise due to 3rd party video evidence. Great musician not such a great person.
Oasis doesn’t count. They’re dicks, but they’re not a great band – some catchy songs, sure, but not great.
Seriously?? Biggest band of my time by a long chalk and wrote plenty of tunes that still get airtime 25 years later.
Successful & popular doesn't always equal great.
Always thought Oasis were dull and deriviative and that "Britpop" was a cancer.
someone should start a 'decent people despite fronting a band' thread, it'd be more of a challenge
If anyone ever sees me in the pub I've got a really good Van Morrison story from someone who played guitar for him
And... not a front man but the bassist from Ocean Colour Scene is a weapons grade
Axle Rose is a massive chopper.
Lars Ulrich isn’t the lead singer but is a gigantic weapons grade bell end.
Ian Astbury was a bit of a tool too.
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band
Seriously?? Biggest band of my time by a long chalk and wrote plenty of tunes that still get airtime 25 years later.
Seriously! They had some catchy songs, made a lot of money, but weren't innovative like the really great bands were - The Beatles, David Bowie, Queen, Nirvana, for a few examples off the top of my head.
While Live were hardly a huge band and probably make it no further than pretty good, their on-off-on lead singer Ed Kowalczyk seemed to go through a pretty significant bellend phase. Despite the band members being friends since high school, his departure from the band involved a lot of accusations of prima donna behaviour and a 2 million lawsuit. He's since rejoined the band, so maybe everyone involved realised that none of them were important enough to make it without the others.
Mike Patton could be a dick, but then everyone in Faith No More (except maybe Mike Bordin) were dicks so that sort of balanced it out. They are great, though.
Oh, and Billy Joel doesn't count either, his music sucks. All of it.
Are The Cure a great band?
Regardless, if regularly sacking all and sundry counts as BE criteria, Robert Smith certainly has form. He was perhaps not an overachiever like Mark E Smith, but it wasn't for lack of trying, every new album seemed to have a different line-up. He eventually sacked Lawrence Tolhurst too, though iirc they kissed and made up quite quickly..
He eventually sacked Lawrence Tolhurst too
AFAIK he didn't want to, but the guy was an alcoholic and he didn't have much choice.
Yes, The Cure are a great band.
Not all front-persons are nobbers. But IME the position does tend to over-select for narcissism and a lack of emotional maturity. I do heartily recommend anyone read the autobiog 'Head On/Repossessed' by Julian Cope for greater (and hilarious) elucidation.
Agreed on Jay Kay.
He’s ALWAYS been a massive, massive bellend. At first his galaxy sized ego was blamed on his coke addiction, then he got clean, but the ego remained.
I think only real die-hard fans could pick any of the rest of the band from a line-up such is his demand for the lime light.
Ive never disliked Jim Morrison, he’s a bit of a dick, but ‘front man’ comes with a requirement for being at least a bit of a dick - also Racing Drivers.
I know a couple of others have said it, but surely GnR is the de facto answer here?
Interesting to see Primal Scream mentioned here too, I was only talking to someone last night about what a waste of DNA Gilespie is. I saw them live a couple of years ago, and he'd clearly taken enough $something to collectively kill the Rolling Stones.
This thread started with the OP mentioning The Smiths. There can be no greater bell-end than Morrisey, the thread reached its natural conclusion at its very start.
Although not the singer, I can't believe the bass player with the long tongue from that band that like to dress up a bit hasn't been mentioned? 😉
Surely he's the biggest bellend of them all...
There are those who like Van Morrison and there are those who know him.
I can’t believe the bass player with the long tongue from that band that like to dress up a bit hasn’t been mentioned?
Suggestion that fits well into a thread entitled "Shit bands with bellend bass/guitar/drum players." but not this one, oh no.
Dinosaur Jr.
How so?
J Mascis IS Chris from Family Guy.
I think Lou Barlow has finally forgiven him (and we got Sebadoh out of it).
Weapons grade bellendry of the gun lobby is an interesting thing.
Band front man + bellendry + guns = Ted Nugent
Hateful man!
Lemmy;not only the nazi memorabilia, but choosing to do pointless collaborations
His go in Probot is pretty worthy.
This thread started with the OP mentioning The Smiths. There can be no greater bell-end than Morrisey, the thread reached its natural conclusion at its very start.
I did set a pretty high bar 😉
Give Morrissey a break would the Smiths have been anything without him, he has character maybe not everyones taste, Bowie dropped loads of band members but you cant call him bad he just knew what he was doing and could make hard decisions then theres Paul Weller his Jam mates didnt last long
You're right....that talentless chancer Johnny Marr owes everything to Morrissey.
Very average band, but with an absolutely mega bell-end as a singer ... Razorlight.
I think I win ....
By all accounts in Hooky's book, it was seem New Order also slip into the ranking ,,..
Agree with most of above especially Smiths & Oasis, but fortunately their music is good.
I did read in Smash Hits that Prince occupied the end of a bell.
A few come to mind....
Andrew Eldritch from the Sisters of Mercy, an arrogant nob by most accounts, still in denial that his band could be considered ‘goth’.
P. Paul French from the Meteors, hates every other band that consider themselves psychobilly and made a film with Keith Allen.
Mark Philips (aka Spark Retard) from Demented Are Go, a man whose drug use has split the band more than once, but a great frontman.
Seriously! They had some catchy songs, made a lot of money, but weren’t innovative like the really great bands were – The Beatles, David Bowie, Queen, Nirvana, for a few examples off the top of my head.
Quite apart from no post ever exemplifying better the cliche'd Dad moan of "music from your generation is shit, the best bands were from my generation" I have to take issue with one of your examples.
I'm a big (huge, got all their albums and everything) fan of Nirvana and would rain praise and platitudes on them all day quite happily... but...
innovative?????????????
Oh, and back on topic, I'll add my vote to Morrissey. None bellendier.
About as far from being a great band as you can get but for some reason I still feel compelled to mention:
Coldplay
Bob Mould from Husker Du seems to have been a bit of a bell end towards the other members. I always preferred Grant's songs but Bob's were ok and he did some great stuff with Sugar.
In my youth I hung about with the son of the man that played guitar in Them, and the love for Van did seem lacking. However I would argue that Van has so much music talent the question of his bellendery quotient is utterly irrelevant even in the context of this thread.
Oh, and while I'm spouting my internet opinions, Oasis where the most overhyped rubbish of the nineties and hence do not enter this thread.
Conclusion - Morrissey wins, with a nod to Captain Beefhearts treatment of The Magic Band.