Music: Rock bands where the "star" was not the lead singer?

[reckoning]

With rock bands, usually the member that most people associate with that band is the lead singer. If you hear a Queen song, you think of Freddie Mercury. When you think of Blondie, you think of Debbie Harry. The Pretenders? Chrissie Hynde. Pearl Jam? Eddie Vedder. etc., etc. Often other musicians in a band will become famous as well, but it's very rare that their fame will surpass that of the lead singer.

So I'm looking for examples where the "star" of the band was not the lead singer. For this, I'm leaving out bands that had multiple lead singers like the Beatles or Fleetwood Mac. And I'm only considering their time in that particular band. For example, Dave Grohl has become quite famous over the last 25 years, but he wasn't the most famous member of Nirvana when he was in Nirvana.

A few I've come up with:

The Who - Pete Townshend (Daltrey might have been the least important member of the whole band)
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Flea
AC/DC - Angus Young
Cheap Trick - Rick Nielson

Any other examples?

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[McNurse]

A couple come to mind, Lars Ulrich, Dave Mustaine, Cliff Burton were huge parts of Metallica’s early sound.

The rev from Avenged Sevenfold also played a key role in how the band sounded and he was a key contributor to how the music was wrote for the bands

 

[Dipsy Doodle]

Van Halen. Although I love DLR and think he was the best part of the band.

 

[JESSEWENEEDTOCOOK]

The Stone Roses

 

[bearcountry17]

Does Cream fit this?

 

[Terry Yake]

sex pistols

 

[themightyquinn]

1) KISS - Gene Simmons over Paul Stanley

2) (Possibly) Motley Crue - Tommy Lee over Vince Neil.

 

[BigBadBruins7708]

You can make an argument for Zeppelin with Page over Plant

I'd also say RATM with Morello

Anthrax with Scott Ian

 

[Osprey]

The Bangles may qualify. All four ladies took turns being lead singer on their songs, but Susanna Hoffs got most of the media attention because she was the prettiest and happened to be lead singer on a few of their biggest hits. Supposedly, resentment from the other ladies over that fact contributed to their early breakup.

 

[x Tame Impala]

You can make an argument for Zeppelin with Page over Plant

I'd also say RATM with Morello

Anthrax with Scott Ian

I’d argue Bonham over Plant, not Paige

 

[Spring in Fialta]

New Order - Peter Hook? Or was Bernard Sumner the popular one?

 

[Hippasus]

The Clash, Flipper, Rigor Mortis, Eyehategod, Voivod, Electric Wizard, Galaxie 500, Sonic Youth, Trouble, Amebix, Gang of Four, Watch Tower, Yo La Tengo, Witchfinder General, Boris, Chicago, Prong, Calexico, Slint, Can, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Sleep, Black Sabbath, Earth, etc. These are some bands that don't really have stars.

 

[kook10]

Boston
Doobie Bros
Oasis

 

[Jumptheshark]

Acdc

 

[Siamese Dream]

A bit of a controversial one but I think you could make a case for Slash over Axl Rose

Also Travis from Blink 182 over Tom and Mark

 

[Aladyyn]

Ritchie Blackmore for Deep Purple's Mark 2 lineup, Michael Schenker for UFO

Voivod is a great shout, with all the Piggy worship.

 

[plank]

The J. Geils Band
Alice in Chains could be debated

 

[PeteWorrell]

Nightwish

 

[plank]

Robbie Robertson from THE BAND stood center stage and collected the most money.

 

[plank]

Ric Ocasek and Benjamin Orr(I generally prefer the Orr songs) split lead vocals but Ocasek was the face(that face got Paulina) of the band. Songwriting seems to be a trend here.

 

[NyQuil]

Fleetwood Mac is an interesting one - although I suppose Buckingham is the main dude.

They're touring without him right now.

EDIT: And you brought them up in the OP. Sorry about that.

One could argue that Neil Peart is the most famous member of Rush.

 

[mmalady]

One could argue that Neil Peart is the most famous member of Rush.

came here to post this

 

[kihei]

Whatever group Jeff Beck, including The Yardbirds but also The Jeff Beck Group. One more: My Bloody Valentine

 

[Spring in Fialta]

Whatever group Jeff Beck, including The Yardbirds but also The Jeff Beck Group. One more: My Bloody Valentine

Who are you referring to in MBV? Shields is pretty clearly the main attraction, and he sings.

 

[NyQuil]

Boston is an example where leader, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Tom Scholz was not the main singer.

Brad Delp was typically the vocalist.