Band Members:
Bass/Vocals: Paul McCartney (Beatles...I REFUSE to list him for Wings!) :p
Drums: Charlie Watts (The Rolling Stones)
Lead Guitar/Vocals: Jimi Hendrix (Jimi Hendrix Experience)
Rhythmic Guitar/Vocals/Piano: John Lennon (Beatles)
Lead Singer: Freddie Mercury (Queen)
On my picks:
-Bass: Easiest one to pick...Sir Paul, great bassist and songwriter, and as I already knew I'd want Lennon for the band, this made even more sense and just had to be done, the Laurel and Hardy of the rock scene and musically a modern-day G&S songwriting partnership, there may be other good bassists, but Paul's one of the best, his songwriting ability puts him over the top, and then the fact his being in the band would ressurect Lennon/McCartney just puts an extra layer of icing on the cake.
Drums: I actually had a hard time with this, as drummers are often the equivalent of baseball catchers or American football offensive linemen, that is, in the background compared to their teammates, er, bandmates. As much as I really like the guy and DO think he's a good drummer, and the best drummer the best band ever could have had, I just couldn't pick Ringo; having three out of four Beatles would cease the band being an All-Star band of sorts and just make it a Beatles reunion, which...well, would be amazing as well, but not the purpose of the thread, and bringing in John, Paul and Ringo would seem rather cruel to poor, quiet George. In addition, while he definitely shines through and has a lot of great material with them, and after them, Ringo's beats ARE a bit simple sometimes, which is, again, why he was perfect for The Beatles, as let's face it--when you have two huge egos in John and Paul at it, and then later the added prowess of George, that's already a VERY crowded stage, you need that other guy to be able to punctuate your notes and take the back seat often, not steal the spotlight. And stealing the spotlight is also why big-name drummers like Neil Peart aren't on here, Joh and Paul ALONE will take a ton of the spotlight, can't have the band explode. So while it isn't odd a Rolling Stone is on here, it IS a bit odd at first to see it's Charlie and not Mick or maybe Keith...but Charlie Watts, I felt, would be great for this batch--he can take the back seat like Ringo, he has great talent and ranks up there, and his longevity put him over the top for me.
Lead Guitar: Second-easiest to pick; George Harrison was great but, again, this isn't an all-Beatles-fest, and Keith Richards and a couple others drew consideration, but ultimately I felt it had to go to the legend that is Mr. Jimi.
-Rhythmic Guitar/Vocals/Piano: As you can see this spot's sort of a jack-of-all-trades position. I wanted a piano player in there, which of course Paul is, but we need him on bass. :) Ultimately, though, this spot had to go to John as much as Pual had to get the bass--John was good on a piano, was a great songwriter (I would argue Lennon/McCartney is the greatest songwriting team in the history of the genre, and there is definitely a boatload of evidence to support that), could sing, play guitar...and he's JOHN LENNON. I understand that not everyone here likes him, which is understandable, but as The Beatles, The Stones, and Elvis are probably the three biggest musical acts in the history of rock (I suppose throw in Queen and it's an even four, since I always have a thing for fours it seems) and John is arguably the most famous and influential musically of the Fab Four, I went with him. One note: Some might wonder, since I mentioned him--why not ELVIS? I just said he was one of the titans of the genre, hell...he's CALLED "The King," after all, so why not? Three reasons: 1. Elvis infamously remarked that he wanted the Beatles kicked out of the US, or thought that they should be, and THAT would make for some bad band chemistry and karma 2. As good as he is solo I just can't picture him working in a band or as well in a band, and I don't know if his style of rock is really compatible with the others here, and 3. IT'S JOHN LENNON! ;)
-Lead Singer: This was agonizing...Mick Jagger or Freddie Mercury? There are other vocalists, maybe, but these two are legendary. I could go either way on this, and really my two deciding points were 1. Having Mick would make most of this group Beatles or Stones, and with Jimi the other one that's really over-representing the 1960s for this, great as that decade was for the genre, arguably the greatest ever (though the 1980s are probably tied for that honor, and the 1970s were none too bad, either) and 2. I actually like Freddie as a singer a bit better, Mick's good but that sort of scream-singing he does...I HATE THAT with just about any other singer who relies on that (see: Aerosmith) but it DOES work well for Mick, but Freddie just seemed the better singer and someone who could inject another era of rock into this group that's largely a generation before that...it was the single most difficult choice for me, almost like a coin flip, and maybe Mick can stop by as a geust star occaisionally. ;)
Fantasy Map - Olidip
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