Unsung Heroes of Rock and Roll

JimmyByrne09

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Here's a thread dedicated entirely to those who do a lot of the work, and don't get enough of the credit. The "unsung heroes" of rock and roll. Go ahead, and post an artist who you think deserves a little more appreciation for their incredible contributions...

By the way, if the artist is dead, feel free to post a small memorial under their name. :)

I'll start off with one of my favorite unsung heroes of all time:

Richard Wright of Pink Floyd (Keyboard Player)
R.I.P. (1943-2008)

Richard Wright Plays 'Us and Them' - Solo on Piano
 

LG

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I always liked Rick Wright.

I'll stay in the Pink Floyd family, David Gilmour is an unsung hero in my books, he has helped all kinds of bands/artists get started over the years, from letting them use his personal recording studio to connecting them to the right people in the business. He also bought John Bonham's drum kit and keeps it in his studio, Dave Mustaine mentioned that he thought that was awesome when Megadeth recorded at David's home. Someone recently mentioned that he also made sure Syd Barrett received all the money he was due from his work with Pink Floyd over the years. More than just one of my favorite guitarists, he is an all around decent bloke.

 

JimmyByrne09

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I always liked Rick Wright.

I'll stay in the Pink Floyd family, David Gilmour is an unsung hero in my books, he has helped all kinds of bands/artists get started over the years, from letting them use his personal recording studio to connecting them to the right people in the business. He also bought John Bonham's drum kit and keeps it in his studio, Dave Mustaine mentioned that he thought that was awesome when Megadeth recorded at David's home. Someone recently mentioned that he also made sure Syd Barrett received all the money he was due from his work with Pink Floyd over the years. More than just one of my favorite guitarists, he is an all around decent bloke.

Really? Not to reject your statement or anything, but I always saw David Gilmour as probably the MOST popularized Pink Floyd member...but it's cool if that's what you think. It's all opinion. And I completely agree that he was a really, really all around nice guy.
 

LG

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Not his career on the stage Jimmy but all the good things he does for others behind the scenes is what I was referring to. Some celebs just use their fame for selfish pursuits, the list is endless, David has always been willing to help other musicians over the years especially new artists getting started.

To me that is worth mentioning.
 

runtfan

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I'll stay in the Pink Floyd family, David Gilmour is an unsung hero in my books, he has helped all kinds of bands/artists get started over the years, from letting them use his personal recording studio to connecting them to the right people in the business. He also bought John Bonham's drum kit and keeps it in his studio, Dave Mustaine mentioned that he thought that was awesome when Megadeth recorded at David's home. Someone recently mentioned that he also made sure Syd Barrett received all the money he was due from his work with Pink Floyd over the years. More than just one of my favorite guitarists, he is an all around decent bloke.


Yeah, several years ago I read that Gilmour sold one of his homes for several million dollars and donated the proceeds to a charity ( for homeless people I believe it was). He said something along the lines of "how much stuff does a guy need?". Like you said, a decent bloke.
 

runtfan

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I'd like to sing the praises of one of my favorites - Todd Rundgren. In addition to nearly 45 years of making albums, he's also been a producer/engineer for nearly that long. His first professional engineering gig was the "Stagefright" album for The Band. His most famous production job is of course Meatloaf's "Bat Out Of Hell" album, where he did all the vocal arrangements, played all the guitars, and recruited his Utopia bandmates as the studio band ( along with a couple of Springsteen's guys). He also produced Grand Funk ( twice), Hall & Oates, The Tubes ( twice), the New York Dolls debut, Cheap Trick, Steve Hillage, Felix Cavaliere, Shaun Cassidy, The Tom Robinson Band,Rick Derringer, XTC's masterpiece "Skylarking", Jill Sobule, and many others ( all this in addition to producing a few dozen of his own solo albums and Utopia albums).
He also was a video pioneer in the 70's. He actually was heavily invested in a proposed 24 hour satellite video channel in the late 70's. The satellite itself never got off the ground ( literally) and the project was scrapped. A couple of years later MTV was launched ( literally) and the rest is history.
He developed video graphic software in the mid-80's and was the first artist to release an album in the CD-I ( CD Interactive) format in the early 90's. The format never took off, but he was there first.
He's played countless benefit shows, telethons, and the occasional political fundraiser.

He wrote a musical based on the script that was written for the Beatles movie intended as the follow up to "Help!".

He wrote music for *** Wee's Playhouse and a handful of other TV shows and a few movie soundtracks, including Dumb And Dumber.

And then there's Liv Tyler. For the first dozen or so years of her life she was Liv Rundgren. Liv's mother, Bebe Buell was Todd's girlfriend through a big chunk of the 70's and Buell had an affair with Steven Tyler. At the time Liv was born, Steven Tyler was in no shape to be a father ( or much of anything else for that matter) so Todd committed to helping raise her. He provided for her and treated her as his own until she discovered that Tyler was her real father. They're reportedly still pretty close.
 

JimmyByrne09

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Not his career on the stage Jimmy but all the good things he does for others behind the scenes is what I was referring to. Some celebs just use their fame for selfish pursuits, the list is endless, David has always been willing to help other musicians over the years especially new artists getting started.

To me that is worth mentioning.
Ah, I get it now...sorry for the misunderstanding. :D
 

lady_barrett2112

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My pick for unsung hero is Don Van Vliet, the artist formally known as Captain Beefheart. He has never had commercial success in the same way his pal Frank Zappa has. In fact the man was practically living off of welfare when he recorded his magnum opus Trout Mask Replica. However there are countless musicians and celebrities that consider Beefheart a huge influence including John Frusciante of Red Hot Chili Peppers, PJ Harvey, Tom Waits and many others. He was the first artist to get away with word salad lyrics, which were bizarre but poetic as opposed to random nonsense.

Before delving into the unusual sounds that echo through Trout Mask Replica, the Captain's debut album Safe as Milk is a collection of blues inspired songs. Safe as Milk is one of the greatest albums I have ever listened to and it is a travesty that it didn't blaze up the charts. Little known fact, this album was a personal favorite of John Lennon's. There are a lot of surprisingly radio friendly stuff off of Safe as Milk. Here's one example:



All things considered, this album isn't a whole lot weirder than anything that Brian Wilson or The Beatles were doing at the same time and I'm stunned that it never took off. Maybe Don just had crappy PR.

They say that a true artist rarely achieves real fame or greatness until after his or her death. Now that he's gone from this world maybe the Captain has got a chance.

-RIP Don!
 

ILoveJimmyPage

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John Paul Jones

Bassist for Led Zeppelin. Incredibly talented (he can play over 100 instruments) and met Jimmy through session work in the mid-60's. Forever in the shadow of Jimmy, Robert and Bonzo. I often wonder if he liked it that way. In Zeppelin's later days he was more active in the band while Jimmy was stoned/cracked out/poppin' black pills. Robert and Jimmy didn't even call him to do collaborations after Zeppelin's demise. :rolleyes: At their induction to the R&R HOF, he even joked that he was glad someone remembered his phone number and invited him. :heheh: I've always had a tremendous appreciation for this underrated man. Here's to you, JPJ! :bow::bow::bow:

John_Paul_Jones-4843.jpg

Jones.jpg

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JimmyByrne09

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John Paul Jones

Bassist for Led Zeppelin. Incredibly talented (he can play over 100 instruments) and met Jimmy through session work in the mid-60's. Forever in the shadow of Jimmy, Robert and Bonzo. I often wonder if he liked it that way. In Zeppelin's later days he was more active in the band while Jimmy was stoned/cracked out/poppin' black pills. Robert and Jimmy didn't even call him to do collaborations after Zeppelin's demise. :rolleyes: At their induction to the R&R HOF, he even joked that he was glad someone remembered his phone number and invited him. :heheh: I've always had a tremendous appreciation for this underrated man. Here's to you, JPJ! :bow::bow::bow:
Agreed, what an immensly talented musician. I also really like his newer work with Them Crooked Vultures.
 

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