Top Ten Favourite Band Lineups

[Jack the Stripper]

Ok another new and different top ten topic. Through the history of music there have been many great and iconic band lineups but who would be your top ten favourite band lineups of all time?  The premise being they had to have recorded at least one album together, not just toured or played a few shows.

No honourable mentions. Just your definitive top ten please 

[Jack the Stripper]

Shit! This is even harder than I thought. I just did my list and realised I had 11 and then realised I left a very important(to me) band lineup out 

 

[Thelemech]

Metallica
James Hetfield
Cliff Burton
Kirk Hammett
Lars Ulrich

Megadeth
Dave Mustaine
Dave Ellefson
Marty Friedman
Nick Menza

Black Sabbath
Ozzy Osbourne
Tony Iommi
Geezer Butler
Bill Ward

KISS
Gene Simmons
Ace Frehley
Paul Stanley
Peter Criss

There are more that I will add when I think of them - the list so far is just off the top of my head.

[Charger]

 

Oh boy Jack....

You're just making these harder and harder every time...

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

That's gonna need some work... I'll be back!


... and I'll put an honourable mention in there if I want to... just try and stop me!

[Jack the Stripper]

Well these things aren't suppose to be easy Charger 

Ok after much debate and toing and froing in my mind

Here's mine.

Black Sabbath
Ozzy Osbourne
Tony Iommi
Geezer Butler
Bill Ward

Metallica
James Hetfield
Lars Ulrich
Kirk Hammett
Cliff Burton

Ozzy Osbourne/Blizzard Of Ozz
Ozzy Osbourne
Randy Rhoads
Bob Daisley
Lee Kerslake

Motörhead
Lemmy
Phil "Philthy Animal" Taylor
Fast Eddie Clarke

Megadeth
Dave Mustaine
David Ellefson
Marty Friedman
Nick Menza

Kiss
Paul Stanley
Gene Simmons
Ace Frehley
Peter Criss

Deep Purple
Ian Gillan
Ritchie Blackmore
Jon Lord
Ian Paice
Roger Glover

Black Sabbath
Ronnie James Dio
Tony Iommi
Geezer Butler
Bill Ward/Vinny Appice

Thin Lizzy
Phil Lynott
Brian Downey
Scott Gorham
Brian Roberston

Judas Priest
Rob Halford
Glenn Tipton
K.K. Downing
Ian Hill
Les Binks


Ok so I cheated a little by putting both Bill and Vinny in my Dio era lineup but I couldn't see any other way around that dilemma. Also Rainbow was hard to assess as they had a rotating door of bassist and keyboardist on those first 3 albums in which Bob Daisley and David Stone only contributed to three and four songs respectively on LLRR, so just left Rainbow out altogether 

Iron Maiden's classic TNOTB lineup was the last one I picked until I realised I already had 10 but given they only had one album and tour together I had to cut them to keep Priest in who put out two studio albums as well as a live album.

Slayer's mighty lineup of Tom, Jeff, Kerry and Dave was also incredibly hard to leave out 

^^Did I just add a few honourable mentions? 

[Charger]

Okay here goes the impossible..

#1 is and will always be the greatest line up of the greatest band ever

Black Sabbath
Ronnie James Dio
Tony Iommi
Geezer Butler
Vinny Appice
Geoff Nicholls

The rest are in no particual order

Deep Purple
Ian Gillan
Ritchie Blackmore
Roger Glover
Ian Paice
Jon Lord

Rainbow
Ronnie James Dio
Ritchie Blackmore
Jimmy Bain
Cozy Powell
Tony Carey

Savatage
Jon Oliva
Criss Oliva
Chris Caffery
Johnny Lee Middleton
Steve Wacholz

DIO
Ronnie James Dio
Craig Goldy
Jimmy Bain
Simon Wright
Scott Warren

Judas Priest
Rob Halford
Glenn Tipton
KK Downing
Ian Hill
Scott Travis

Motörhead
Lemmy Kilmister
Phil Campbell
Mikkey Dee

Candlemass
Robert Lowe
Leif Edling
Lars Johansson
Mappe Björkman
Jan Lindh

Cathedral
Lee Dorrian
Garry Jennings
Leo Smee
Brian Dixon

Iron Maiden
Bruce Dickinson
Dave Murray
Adrian Smith
Janick Gers
Steve Harris
Nicko McBrain


I know I picked some line ups from some bands that might not be popular with others but those (to me) are the definitive line ups....like in DIO, Motörhead and Candlemass for sure. Deep Purple it was pretty neck in neck with Steve Morse...but had to go with the classic line up though.

Yes Rainbow is a bit of a tough one but based on the live preformances that line up was pure gold. That being said though Bob Daisley and David Stone were no dummies either!

Megadeth was a hard one for me to leave out...but honestly there has been so so many great line ups in that band it's hard to pick one...Dave has always surrounded himself with word class musicians!

Slayer was another one as it's hard to say which drummer I like better Dave Lombardo or Paul Bostaph...can't decide.

Anthrax too has had 3 great guitar players so it's hard to choose one...

Another one that almost made it to the list was Iced Earth with the line up Tim "Ripper" Owens, Jon Shaffer, James MacDonough, Richard Christy and Ralph Santolla but Maiden had to be included.

So yeah sadly I couldn't make a proper top ten list out of this cause I really can't put those bands in order...sorry.

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

In order of thinking about them, but the first one is almost certainly my favourite. Including the album(s) the line up were at their peak.

Black Sabbath #1
(Sabbath Bloody Sabbath & Sabotage)
   Iommi,
   Butler,
   Osbourne,
   Ward

Black Sabbath #2
(Dehumaniser)
   Iommi
   Butler
   Dio
   Appice
   Nicholls

Black Sabbath #3
(Cross Purposes)
   Iommi
   Butler
   Martin
   Rondinelli
   Nicholls

Rush
(2112 thru Grace Under Pressure)
   Geddy Lee
   Alex Lifeson
   Neil Peart

New Model Army
(Thunder and Consolation & Impurity)
   Justin Sullivan
   Rob Heaton
   Jason Harris / Nelson
   Ed Alleyne Johnson

The Damned #1
(The Black Album)
   Dave Vanian
   Captain Sensible
   Paul Gray
   Rat Scabies

The Damned #2
(Grave Disorder)
   Dave Vanian
   Captain Sensible
   Patricia Morrison
   Monty Oxy Moron
   Pinch

The Stranglers
(Rattus Norvegicus)
   Hugh Cornwall
   JJ Burnel
   Jet Black
   Dave Greenfield

Motorhead
(Ace of Spades)
   Lemmy
   Phil Taylor
   Eddie Clark

Iced Earth
(The Glorious Burden)
   Tim "Ripper" Owens
   Jon Schaffer
   James McDonough
   Richard Christy

[Zzzptm]

Tough one, a real tough one.

And here I am, finding all kinds of cool in all kinds of lineups...

To be sure, the lineups that made the big hits tend to be the ones getting favorited. Sure, I like "Hush", but next to "Highway Star?" Sorry...

Then there's also the question of a significant difference in sound between lineups. I mean, Steely Dan sounds pretty consistent after the first album. But there's a definite difference in Journey's entire sound after they got Steve Perry...

I'll have to think about this...

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

[Tyr66]

AC/DC
Young/Young/Scott/Rudd/Williams

Black Sabbath
Iommi/Osbourne/Butler/Ward

Deep Purple
Gillan/Blackmore/Lord/Paice/Glover

Led Zeppelin
Page/Plant/Jones/Bonham

Judas Priest
Halford/Tipton/Downing/Hill/Binks

Motörhead
Kilmister/Clarke/Taylor

Venom
Cronos/Mantas/Abaddon

Celtic Frost
Warrior/Ain/St Mark

Slayer
Hanneman/King/Araya/Lombardo

Van Halen
Van Halen/Roth/Van Halen/Anthony

[Jack the Stripper]

Great list TYR. You listed a few I would've liked to include but unfortunately I ran out of spots.

[Zzzptm]

Notice my complete lack of commitment so I can spout nonsense from the sidelines...

I have a quibble with the DP Mk2 lineup... first 4 albums, great. Awesome work, that's how you get into the Rock and Roll Hall O' Fame.

The reunion? Wellllllll... to be honest, PS is a mixed bag and then HoBL and TBRO are definitely not up there in quality. By contrast, DP with Morse gave us 100% solid work with Purpendicular and Abandon. Only 2 albums, but 100% good. Even with Airey on keys, I'm looking at all the albums save Bananas as being highly listenable - 3 out of 4.

I could and I will say the same about Black Sabbath. While the Ozzy lineup gave us the Classic Six, it also delivered TE and NSD - uneven works, at best.

The Dio/Appice lineup produced MR and Dehumanizer - 100% solid works, even if they're not SBS or Sabotage...

And since this is looking at my favourites, do I consider just a few albums for making a favorite lineup, or do I consider how I could say, "Man, I love Lou Reed." and then someone forcing me to listen to all 4 sides of "Metal Machine Music." NOT WANT!

[Typhon]

Black Sabbath #1
(The Great Eight)
Iommi, Osbourne, Butler, Ward

Black Sabbath #2
(13, The End)
Iommi, Osbourne, Butler, Wilk

L7
Donita Sparks, Suzi Gardner, Jennifer Finch, Demetra Plakas

Deep Purple
Gillan, Blackmore, Lord, Paice, Glover

Hole
Love, Erlandson, Pfaff, Schemel

Grand Funk
Farner, Brewer, Schacher, Frost

Stone Temple Pilots
Weiland, R. Deleo, D. Deleo, Krets,

Ozzy Osbourne #1
(No More Tears)
Osbourne, Wylde, Castillo, Daisley, Sinclair

Ozzy Osbourne #2
(Blizzard Of Ozz, Diary Of A Madman)
Osbourne, Rhoads, Daisley, Kerslake

Nirvana
Cobain, Novoselic, Grohl

[Thelemech]

Black Sabbath #1
(The Great Eight)
Iommi, Osbourne, Butler, Ward

Black Sabbath #2
(13, The End)
Iommi, Osbourne, Butler, Wilk

L7
Donita Sparks, Suzi Gardner, Jennifer Finch, Demetra Plakas

Deep Purple
Gillan, Blackmore, Lord, Paice, Glover

Hole
Love, Erlandson, Pfaff, Schemel

Grand Funk
Farner, Brewer, Schacher, Frost

Stone Temple Pilots
Weiland, R. Deleo, D. Deleo, Krets,

Ozzy Osbourne #1
(No More Tears)
Osbourne, Wylde, Castillo, Daisley, Sinclair

Ozzy Osbourne #2
(Blizzard Of Ozz, Diary Of A Madman)
Osbourne, Rhoads, Daisley, Kerslake

Nirvana
Cobain, Novoselic, Grohl

Wow Ty that is a great list! I find it very interesting the bands that you chose.

[Typhon]

Wow Ty that is a great list! I find it very interesting the bands that you chose.

Remember, I've been around a bit longer than most of you guys.  Just listed the ones that get my juices flowing.