The Supergroup Game

[Zzzptm]

The year is 1975. Everything is up in the air as bands question their general direction and deal with musical differences. Anything is possible as members, managers, producers, record company execs, and maybe even the CIA pull strings and move things around to make the ultimate supergroup!

Here are the rules: You take the band members from the last post in the thread and give a reason why one of them packs up and leaves. Then, either replace that person with someone else - and give the reason why - or leave it vacant. You can also add another member over and above the existing lineup, just give a reason.

The person making the change can also change the name of the band. Again, just give a reason.

Reasons can be as crazy as you want them to be, this is "Just for Fun" after all. The fun here is in making the greatest - or strangest - band that ever was, one person at a time.

I'll demonstrate with a few rounds and then turn it over to the board in general...

***

For the first time in who knows how long, they're all in the room at the same time: The Beatles. That's right, the Fab Four are tired of the lawsuits and are ready to give it another go.

Guitar/Vocals: John Lennon
Bass/Vocals: Paul McCartney
Guitar/Vocals: George Harrison
Drums/Vocals: Ringo Starry

They're all ready to sign the contracts and get to the studio when three of them notice something is very uncool about George. Yes, he's all hopped up on cocaine and won't stop going on and on about how the rest of the band need to get their heads together and really buckle down and get things ship shape and Bristol fashion and those curtains are grotty tear them down I need blue ink dammit...

They step outside and decide they can't deal with a cokehead like that. So they take things in a new direction:

THE NEW BEATLES

Guitar/Vocals: John Lennon
Bass/Vocals: Paul McCartney
Guitar/Vocals: Randy Bachman
Drums/Vocals: Ringo Starr

Yes, Randy Bachman was getting tired of playing in "just another Canadian band" and decided to go international. He can also play sitar - another plus! The band is ready to cut their first demo tracks!

****

On the 4th day of rehearsals, tempers flared between John and Randy over whether or not "Revolution" was a better song than "Takin' Care of Business" and John has walked out of the project. With the studio time already booked, the producers scramble to find another guitarist with an acid wit to play the foil to Paul's boyish charms. You'll never guess who answered the call...

Bass/Vocals: Paul McCartney
Guitar/Vocals: Randy Bachman
Drums/Vocals: Ringo Starr
Guitar/Vocals: David Bowie

That's right, Ziggy Stardust himself joins the project. The record company wants to capitalize on that, so they change the band name to "Beetles and Spiders".

***

Tragic news - in the freak gardening accident that claimed Spinal Tap's drummer, Ringo Starr is severely injured. Fortunately, he is expected to recover. Unfortunately, no way is he able to play on. David Bowie, however, makes a suggestion that goes over quite well - "Lads, let's get Buffin! Mott's falling apart, let's pull him from the wreckage and get him in the band!"

Bass/Vocals: Paul McCartney
Guitar/Vocals: Randy Bachman
Guitar/Vocals: David Bowie
Drums: Dale "Buffin" Griffin
Keyboards: Morgan Fisher

Morgan Fisher comes along for the ride, to give the band some extra texture. Naturally, the band needs a new name - Spiders the Hoople Overdrive.

***

Paul's not happy with the new band name and only his lawyers are answering phone calls. Time to get a new bass player. Fortunately, Bootsy Collins is up for action!

Guitar/Vocals: Randy Bachman
Guitar/Vocals: David Bowie
Drums: Dale "Buffin" Griffin
Keyboards: Morgan Fisher
Bass: Bootsy Collins

As Bootsy flies the Concorde to get to Abbey Road Studios, the band agree to modify the name somewhat. It will now be Bachman, Bowie, Bootsy, Buffin, and Fisher.

[Zzzptm]

Pressured to change his surname to "Bisher" so that they can be "The Five Bs", Morgan Fisher parts on amicable terms. So they get Tony Banks and are now officially...

THE FIVE B's

Guitar/Vocals: Randy Bachman
Guitar/Vocals: David Bowie
Drums: Dale "Buffin" Griffin
Bass: Bootsy Collins
Keyboards: Tony Banks

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In the band's first jam, Randy Bachman has some severe musical differences with the prog/funk direction the band has taken and takes his guitar and heads back to BTO.

Bowie declares the band don't need two guitars, and the rest agree. But Tony points out the maths... "And then there were four!" Hence, a name change:

THE FIVE FOUR B's

Guitar/Vocals: David Bowie
Drums: Dale "Buffin" Griffin
Bass: Bootsy Collins
Keyboards: Tony Banks

Everyone thinks it's quite clever to have the strikethrough word in the band name. 

[Zzzptm]

OK, that got it started. Your turn(s) now. Feel free to comment on any of this and whether or not you have any bootlegs of the sessions. On that note, I do have two demo tracks of Beetles and Spiders with Bowie on drums. One is a mashup of "Suffragette City" with "Hey Jude" and the other is the trio doing a cover of "Paranoid" with an extended guitar solo section. Amazing how much Bachman sounds like Ozzy on that track!

[Jack the Stripper]

Meanwhile there’s unrest over in the Sabbath camp. Geezer is not feeling the direction the band is going in and is sick of writing lyrics and Bill is sick of the unsignable contracts. Bowie sensing the unrest in the Sabbath camp and having his own issues with drummer Dale “Buffin” Griffen offers a Bill a signable contract. Bill duelly accepts and convinces Bowie to ditch Bootsy Collins for Geezer Butler.

The band now changes its name to the Killer B’s.

But there is something missing. If they are gonna go by the name of The Killer B’s they feel they need a harder edge to their sound. A few names are thrown around until Bill realises that Ritchie Blackmore might be available as he’s just walked out on Deep Purple. The band approaches the egotistical and enigmatic Blackmore with the offer to join. Blackmore agrees to join but on three conditions. He is the sole guitarist, they won’t write shoeshine music and that his name takes centre stage. The band reluctantly agrees and changes it’s name to Ritchie Blackmore’s Killer B’s and is now a fivesome.

Guitar - Ritchie Blackmore
Vocals - David Bowie
Bass - Geezer Butler
Drums- Bill Ward
Keyboards - Tony Banks

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Although Bowie and Blackmore got along well at first, it wasn't long before Bowie - who was well into his "Thin White Duke" cocaine-and-milk phase by now butted heads with Blackmore over the whole name thing. Lots of him-or-me talk and, eventually, it was Bowie that stormed out of the potential band, generating a flurry of rumors in the music press about who would be his replacement.

Blackmore wanted the Elf singer Ronnie James Dio, but the rest of the band vetoed that because they didn't want to waste time going over what to name the band. That discussion was OVER, in their mind.

So who would sing? James Brown? No. Solomon Burke? No.

Bon Scott? Who?

And then Blackmore puts on a record that was released only in Australia a few months ago, but that he'd been turned on to... a few bars of High Voltage, and the band was sold. Also because that was the only other "B" singer they could think of that wasn't a big soul/funk act or who had walked out the door vowing never to work again with Blackmore...

Guitar - Ritchie Blackmore
Bass - Geezer Butler
Drums- Bill Ward
Keyboards - Tony Banks
Vocals - some kid from Australia named Bon Scott...

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Bon arrives in London and starts drinking and getting along with everyone else. All seems well.

Then they get into the studio... Bon looks at Geezer's lyrics and comments, "Bit dark, aren't they?"

Well, that leads to a bit of a spat and the short of it is that the engineers stopped rolling tape after the first 30 seconds of the argument, but you can find the audio on YouTube if you search for "Bon Calls Geezer a W***ker"... and Geezer stormed out of the sessions.

Blackmore reached for his rolodex and, a few hours later, Jack Bruce was in the studio. Just like that. And then they told him that Bon Scott was the singer, not him, and then he walked right back out.

Another call, and another rejection from Bass+Vocals Burke Shelley, who wasn't ready to leave Budgie anytime soon.

Someone suggested Ian Hill, but the producers got the wrong Ian Hill and accidentally tried to audition the Scottish cardiologist Sir Ian Hill for the band... time was money and both of those along with patience were running low.

Tony Banks suggested Jeffrey Hammond-Hammond from Jethro Tull, as he knew Hammond was becoming distant from the rest of the band and maybe needed a new scene. Blackmore objected because a band name change would risk not having *his* name on the marquee, at which point a record company exec said the name was rubbish, anyway. You can hear the first 27 seconds of *that* argument on YouTube under "Blackmore Calls a Record Company Exec M***********g G*****p W*************s Z*x P*******r K******t". This was the exchange that likely got Blackmore off the Warner/Purple label and on Polydor.

And with that, the banjo player took a hike... the exec shouted a few orders, and in came Miller Anderson (ex-Savoy Brown).

Guitar - Miller Anderson
Bass - Jeffrey Hammond-Hammond
Drums- Bill Ward
Keyboards - Tony Banks
Vocals - Bon Scott

The band changed their name to "Builder's Lunch" and laid down some solid bar-rock tracks that often surface in bootleg-trading circles. But were they really "super" enough to be on the level of a Beatles reunion? A certain exec was about to be fired, and musical history was about to take a different course...

[Zzzptm]

Back in LA, a furious label exec screams into the phone: "Who are all these no-names! I was promised Beatles reunion and I got instant obscurity! I need a BIG NAME, and I need it now, or you'll never work in this business again!"

The poor A&R man on the other end of that conversation hung up the phone and looked at the cord, wondering if it was long enough for... no... must keep a stiff upper lip and move on! All he needs is a front man and this project is saved, right?

So he taps poor old Bon Scott on the shoulder and hands him a cheque for expenses and a modest consideration and a plane ticket back to Australia. "Sorry, mate, it's the label, and, well, they're not ready to take a chance on you. No hard feelings..." Bon's a good bloke and bids a fond farewell to the other four. The A&R man looks at what's left...

Guitar - Miller Anderson
Bass - Jeffrey Hammond-Hammond
Drums- Bill Ward
Keyboards - Tony Banks
Vocals -

Really, a pretty OK backup band, could use some tuning... but that front man... who's gonna be the star of this show? Who could be as big as the Beatles in 1975? The A&R man writes the following down in pencil:

Elton John

A few phone calls later, a smiling A&R man goes back over that name in ink. He'll have to do something about the band name, though...

[Zzzptm]

"King John. We'll call it King John."

"Really? Because he was rather an unpopular king... how about Benny and the Jets, like the song?"

"Well, no, because of the legal entanglements that would involve... how about... A Flock of Seagulls?"

"NO band would ever want to be called that. Absolute rubbish."

"Absolute Rubbish?"

"Yes, that's what I said."

"No, as a band name. Absolute Rubbish. Kind of reverse marketing."

"Doesn't work. You remember the album 'Howling Wolf Hates This Album' or whatever it was called? Sales tanked. Call it rubbish, they'll believe you."

"Well, I don't want the name to be too pretentious or anything..."

"Just pretentious enough?"

"Yeah, just pretentious enough. Not gold, but silver."

"OK, how about... Silver Teeth?"

"Hey, I like that, let's see if the band like it, too..."

As it turned out, Bill Ward hated it and went back to Black Sabbath where Geezer was ready to cover for him, should anyone ask questions. Jeffrey Hammond-Hammond had disappeared and was rumored to have burnt all his rock outfits and gone back to painting. Looks like Silver Teeth needed a new rhythm section, and this one had to have pizzazz.

Elton John pointed out that ELP were on a hiatus - how about getting Palmer and Lake for the band? Those two answered the phone, but weren't interested, they were too burnt out.

How about Cozy Powell on drums? Yeah, everyone liked Cozy, even if, like Blackmore, he had a penchant for practical jokes. But he was a great bloke, and they all had a good time with him.

As luck would have it, Cozy didn't just answer the phone, he answered the call. He was in!

For bass, they puzzled and pondered until Miller Anderson mentioned Roger Glover. Yes, a former Deep Purple man would be a sufficient star for the lineup, and they were ready to go back to the studio!

SILVER TEETH

Guitar - Miller Anderson
Bass - Roger Glover
Drums- Cozy Powell
Keyboards - Tony Banks
Vocals/Piano - Elton John

[Jack the Stripper]

I had a good story to follow my first post but I didn’t get around to posting it unfortunately.
It involved Bill procrastinating over his drum parts in the studio with post it notes stuck all over his kit and Ritchie becoming increasingly frustrated with him to the point he asked Geezer to sack him which he refused. So Ritchie took Bill out for a night on the town and slipped him a Mickey which knocked Bill out, Ritchie then stripped Bill naked and locked him in a hire car on a ferry to Iceland. Geezer was so incensed that Ritchie had topped any practical joke Sabbath had played on Bill he up and left back to Sabbath. Meanwhile Bill awoke to the sounds of car horns when the ferry docked not knowing where he was or what the fuck had happened to him.

Ah well 

[Zzzptm]

I had a good story to follow my first post but I didn’t get around to posting it unfortunately.
It involved Bill procrastinating over his drum parts in the studio with post it notes stuck all over his kit and Ritchie becoming increasingly frustrated with him to the point he asked Geezer to sack him which he refused. So Ritchie took Bill out for a night on the town and slipped him a Mickey which knocked Bill out, Ritchie then stripped Bill naked and locked him in a hire car on a ferry to Iceland. Geezer was so incensed that Ritchie had topped any practical joke Sabbath had played on Bill he up and left back to Sabbath. Meanwhile Bill awoke to the sounds of car horns when the ferry docked not knowing where he was or what the fuck had happened to him.

Ah well 

That's the *other* story about why those three left the group. I love the repeat of the naked on a ferry story, one of Blackmore's classics.

[Jack the Stripper]

He’s an evil man that Blackmore 

Here’s Bill in the pub just before he blacked out

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You can see Blackmore's hand in the lower left, there...

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Meanwhile, back in Silver Teeth, Tony Banks is getting tired of the direction Powell and Glover are taking the band in, so he steps aside, recommending his friend Don Airey as someone more their style. At the same time, the band are wanting a little more fire from the guitar player, so they change the location of rehearsals and just don't tell Miller Anderson.

So who shows up to swing the axe? None other than Pete Townshend. From Wikipedia, we read:

In 1975, Daltrey and Townshend disagreed about the band's future and criticised each other via interviews in the music paper New Musical Express. Daltrey was grateful that the Who had saved him from a career as a sheet-metal worker and was unhappy at Townshend not playing well; Townshend felt the commitment of the group prevented him from releasing solo material.

Townshend, of course, had collaborated with Elton on Tommy and was looking for a band he could sow some oats with while his spat with Daltrey ran its course.

Silver Teeth now looked like...

Guitar - Pete Townshend
Bass - Roger Glover
Drums- Cozy Powell
Keyboards - Don Airey
Vocals/Piano - Elton John

*Bit of rock and roll luck, finding history actually left a gap for Townshend to pop into this tale... funny how that NME thing happened around this time.