astrochimp

Nine Inch Nails

story

I honestly can't think of any band where I think most or even many of the public know all the members relatively equally except the Beatles. Many of the bands that have been listed, I can't even name one member. So maybe within the band's fanbase, pretty much "everyone" knows who Stone, Mike, Jeff, and Matt are just as much as Eddie, but I couldn't say the public knows them.

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hdnmickey

The point was that I would bet the majority of people would miss Lynne if naming the Wilbury's. ELO as band was widely recognized. But individually as band members,...not so much.

hdnmickey

It's not something I tried to do. I just did a lot of reading about the bands, including magazine articles (remember those? ) and everything that came with an album or CD.

For a long time I could also name all the songs on any album I owned, in order. My memory just naturally works like that.

Mabuse

Steely Dan

Donald Fagen and Walter Becker are both equally acclaimed. There is no Art Garfunkel and John Oates sort of imbalance.

Now of course they collaborate with others. But for a duo that's been around as long as they have they are the only ones I can think of that receive absolutely equal praise.

Ash Ketchum

Morning Musume 14:


C-ute:


Berryz Kobo:


I've seen all of the above perform live. I've met and interviewed 13 of them. And I love them all equally.

Mabuse

He's right! They're all equally fluffy and disposable.

Obi-Wanma

Milli Vanilli

Jason

Yes. Nowadays it's the Gene and Paul show, but originally all four members were marketed together and were portrayed publicly as equals.

Giantrobo

Truth

Drexl

The Highwaymen might be a better example among supergroups.

Would the Jonas Brothers qualify?

auto

Beastie Boys

van der graaf

I have no doubt...or care. I was laughing at the "receive...acclaim" part. They deserve nothing more than derision.

The Infidel

Opinions vary.

hdnmickey

Kristofferson equal in any way to the others? Not in my book.

Ash Ketchum

What do you mean? That Kristofferson was superior to the others? Or they were superior to him?

hdnmickey

The others were far more acclaimed and well known. Legends even. YMMV.

Norm de Plume

How about Asia?

hdnmickey

Speaking only about the orginal lineup:

Palmer & Howe >>>> Wetton & Downes

It only becomes more unequal as the band changed lineups.

UAIOE

This.

Norm de Plume

I disagree utterly, but you must have a rationale. Wetton & Downes wrote all of the group's best songs early on (One of the musical peaks of the '80s, "Heat of the Moment", with Wetton's resonant vocals; plus, "Only Time Will Tell", "My Own Time", "The Last to Know", "The Voice of America"), and for later albums, Downes co-wrote most of the material with John Payne.
In recent years, Wetton rejoined the band, producing what I think is Asia's best overall album, Omega, which includes such terrific Wetton/Downes songs as "Holy War" (overlong, as with many of their songs, and the chorus disappoints, but with marvellous verses and pre-verse guitar crescendos) and "Listen, Children".
The prior album, Phoenix, was also very good, as was XXX. There have been duds, to be sure. Their most recent, Gravitas (Downes/Wetton), was terrible, as was Silent Nation (Downes/Payne), and relatively older albums such as Aqua, Arena, and Aura, with Downes co-writing almost everything minus Wetton, were pretty weak. Perhaps Wetton is the duo's stronger member. I don't know.

kstublen

There's a huge difference between group members being known and being acclaimed individually. Most fans could probably name a majority of the members in Blink-182 or Red Hot Chilli Peppers, for example, but I'm not sure about how critically acclaimed they'd be as individuals.

And I'm not sure how I feel about using "super groups" as examples of bands where all members are more or less equally well-known or acclaimed. By the very definition of a "super group" the members must already be acclaimed or famous in some way.

So when Harrison, Dylan, Orbison, Petty & Lynne came together for The Traveling Wilburys it was a bunch of established and well-regarded musicians forming a new group. Same thing with Cash, Nelson, Jennings, and Kristofferson for the Highwaymen.

I think the best example is The Beatles where they were a band of previously unknown musicians that became well-known individually (everyone can name the four Beatles) and more or less equally acclaimed as individuals (Ringo being the least-regarded, but still with consistent output over the years and a large fanbase).

I'd submit Wu-Tang Clan as a good example of this, although they aren't a band in the traditional sense. They sort of set the standard, especially in Hip Hop, for a group being signed to one label with the individual members being free to sign elsewhere. RZA, GZA, Ol' Dirty Bastard, Inspectah Deck, Raekwon, U-God, Ghostface Killah, Masta Killa, and Method Man are all well-known in the Hop Hip community and are more or less equally regarded as far as skills, although some like U-God and Inspectah Deck are obviously less known than breakouts like Ghostface, Raekwon, RZA, and Method Man.

hdnmickey

There is also more to acclaim then just having a fans know your name. It also would appear people think acclaim means they were the song writer. No. Most people couldn't even tell you which member which member wrote which songs unless the obvious McCartney Lennon, Pant & Page, and the like.

Traxan

Rush is actually debatable because Alex has been sorely overlooked. Geddy gets attention as the frontman and for playing 2-3 instruments at once. Peart is God on Drums. Al seems to have been forgotten.

Sad part is, he's the major composer. Listen to the solo albums by Ged and Al. One sounds like a Rush album without awesome drumming. The other sounds lame.

rexinnih

I hate the f'ing Eagles.