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Stop arguing everyone: behold, the ultimate rock band

freddie mercury

Do you ever find yourself discussing who rocked more, Freddie Mercury or Kurt Cobain? Perhaps you find yourself sweating and raising your voice as you constantly become embroiled in debates about whether it was Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page or Slash who could shred the hardest? They’ve been doing just that over at Gigwise.com, where they’ve conducted a poll to find the quartet – vocals, guitar, bass and drums, of course – who’d comprise the ‘ultimate rock band’. Rockin!

Queen frontman Mercury came out on top in the singers' poll, beating Rolling Stone Mick Jagger into second and Cobain into third. Jimi Hendrix won out in the guitarists category, while reports indicate that Flea of Red Hot Chili Peppers was very gracious for the chance to rock the low-end. "Dude, this fuckin' rocks," the rock legend was heard to say.

Keith Moon of The Who’s on drums. More quandaries to have faced real hardcore rockers over the years were finally put to rest – remember when Ozzy Osbourne bit the head off that bat?!?! Yeah, pretty gross! Yeah, that was the most outrageous stunt ever pulled in the history of rock music. The best ever gig to have ever taken place was Queen’s performance at Live Aid.

Anyway, now that’s out of the way we can get down to the root of the matter – who’d be in your ultimate rock band, readers of DrownedinSound? There won’t be a poll ‘cause we can’t be bothered to count it up, but victors should emerge clearly enough from the comments left below. Personally, DiS reckons John Maus, Jamie T, Daniel Treacy and that guy from Tokyo Police Club could do something great together. That'd rock. Rock. Rock?



  • How come DiS likes Jamie T so much?

    He's like a solo version of every irritating indie accent band lingering around right now.

    • He swallows his word

      Apparently he's an incredible lyricist but I can't understand what the fuck he's going on about.

    • flea

      :((((

      • does it need to be said

        that some people who sing with accents do actually have accents.

        and anyway, he doesn't sound like any band around.

      • jamie t

        is soooooo bad

      • I just don't get jamie T

        ignoring his irritating accent he still talks shit and makes crap music.

        • Remeber the topic on here

          about fantasy bands. That was way cooler than this list

          • True!

          • My Fantasy Band...

            Frontman... Freddie M.
            Lead Guitar... Johnny Marr
            Rhythm Guitar... Prince
            Bass... McCartney
            Drums... Keith Moon

            • vocals:

              jamie stewart

            • I've tried to do this before

              I was struggling to get beyond:

              D. Boon; vocals and guitar
              Mike Watt; Bass
              George Hurley; Drums

          • best band ever

            vocals: oli sykes
            Guitar: elliot smith
            Bass: les claypool
            Drums: rick allen
            piano - yann tiersen

            • serious?

            • Flea

              is my least favourite musician alive.

              • i never get tired of this

                vocals - bjork
                keyboard - rick wakeman
                piano - matt bellamy
                lead guitar - guthrie govan
                rhythm guitar - jack white
                drums - roget taylor
                bass - Jesse F. Keeler

                MAD BAND

                • that was my thread!

                  i said Thurston Moore, Stephen Malkmus and J Mascis should have a project together.

                  i still cream my pants thinking about how amazing that would be.

                • Vocals: Fred Durst

                  Guitar: Wes Borland
                  Bass: Sam Rivers
                  Drums: John Otto
                  Decks: DJ Lethal (bring it on)

                  • What about Andrew WK?

                  • yes

                    in every way that would be amazing

                  • Take it to the Matthews Bridge, commandercool.

                • Mine would just be

                  An epic, fast-paced electronica album mixed by Burial and The Avalanches.

                  Featuring original samples by loads of musicians including Regina Spektor, Matt Stanier, Chuck D, Jamie T, Devendra Banhart and Fionn Regan.

                  It would also include samples from various styles of world music.

                  ...it's ideas like this that are making me fail history.

                  • imagine if you will...

                    Conor Oberst (Bright Eyes) - Vocals, Acoustic Guitar
                    Nick Zinner (Yeah Yeah Yeahs) - Guitar, keyboards
                    Russell Lissack (Bloc Party) - Guitar
                    Kapil Trivedi (Mystery Jets) - Drums
                    Carlos D (Interpol) - Bass
                    Owen Pallett (Final Fantasy) - Violin
                    Gareth Campesinos! (Los Campesinos!) - Glockenspiel
                    Sam Scott (Youthmovies) - Trumpet

                    • (I know it's not strictly a rock band

                      I just wanted to share that idea)

                    • my fantasy band:

                      the guy from a hawk and a hacksaw playing accordion and the health drummer, with panda bear doing vocals. safe.

                      • Mike Watt - Bass

                        Jaco Pastorius - Rhythm Bass
                        Charles Mingus - Lead Bass
                        Tom Jenkinson - Lead Bass 2
                        that dude from Chic - Bass Bass

                        • I'd go for

                          Vocals: Frank Black/Patti Smith
                          L Guitar: Keith Richards
                          R Guitar: George Harrison
                          Piano: Thom Yorke
                          Drums: John Bonham
                          Bass: Entwhistle

                          Maybe Bez to gurn and jig about...

                        • Er ...

                          Vox: Nick Cave
                          Guitar: Roland S. Howard
                          Bass: Tracey Pew
                          Drums: Mick Harvey

                          NEXT!

                        • Fantasy lists

                          are really for people like reading Mojo, surely?

                        • you forgot Fieldy.

                          FAIL.

                      • best have a crack at this i suppose

                        This would definitely be a pretty heavy one. Fucking ace mind:

                        Vocals: Kurt Cobain (Nirvana)
                        Lead Guitarist/backing vox.: Josh Homme (QOTSA)
                        Rhythm Guitar: Rob Flynn (Machine Head)
                        Bassist: Jess F. Keeler (DFA1979)
                        Drums: Steve Hewitt (Placebo)

                      • definately

                        juanita stein
                        hayley williams
                        m.i.a.
                        karen o
                        mary-beth from brs
                        jemina pearl

                        i don't care who plays what

                      • DONE

                        That'd be immense

                    • Hahahaha

                      Oli Sykes! Watch out for the stream of urine!

                    • Nearly Mine Too

                      Although Les Claypool takes things up a notch in the "woo look at me, I can make a bass sound slappy and shite" stakes.

                      Slap bass. It's just wrong.

                      • Jamie T can fuck right off

                        But regardless of that...

                        Vocals: John Garcia (Kyuss)
                        Guitars: Matt Pike (Sleep/High On Fire etc)
                        Bass: Mike Dean (Corrosion of Conformity)
                        Drums: Dale Crover (Melvins)

                        Honourable mentions would go to Juan Montoya (Torche) on guitar and Dave Lombardo on drums.

                        • fantasy band...

                          Vocals: Robert Plant
                          Guitar: Jack White
                          Guitar: Johnny Greenwood
                          Guitar: Prince
                          Bass: Peter Hook
                          Keyboards: Ben Folds
                          Drums: Dave Grohl
                          Backing vox: Beth Gibbons / Feist
                          Triangle / Cowbell: Me

                          yep...THREE guitarists..it's my band, I make the rules.

                      • QUEEEEEEEEEEEEEN

                        WOOOOOOO!!!

                      • Flea is shit

                        Les Claypool however is not
                        to be able to play slap bass on a 6 string fretless is no mean feat

                        Best bassist is Cliff Burton easily

                        • Flea is Not Shit

                          Yes, Burton,Claypool, King, Pastorious etc are loads better than him, but that don't make him shit. But I guess an opinion like mine aint controversial enough for DIS

                    • vocals.....

                      ... bill hicks.

                    • House of the Dead

                      band?

                      Biggie Smalls, Kurt Cobain (bass), Freddie Mercury, Marc Bolan? Add on John Bonham...

                    • but

                      surely zinnera and lissack would clash horribly as they arent that different in style?