Unofficial members important to the band

Clive Deamer-Radiohead

 

Im not criticizing your choice but Jones fits in exactly with the topic

 

I would wonder if Jason White (guitar) and Jason Freese (Keyboards) are considered band members of GREEN DAY? Jason White has been thier second guitarist since 1999 I believe.

 

Richie Ramone. The Ramones were pretty moribund for a couple of albums before he joined. Things got a lot better musically when he joined up. They had four songwriters for the first time since Tommy left. He didn’t write a ton, but he had more songs on four albums than Marky ever had. They also gave him the lead track on Animal Boy. He ended up leaving because the sideman money wasn’t enough. He was cranky that his name was on the t-shirts, but he didn’t get a cut of merch because he wasn’t an official member. Things went downhill pretty fast after he left, too. Brain Drain was pretty good, but it gets pretty thin after that.

 

Thom Doucette

Allman Brothers Band harp player. He was asked to join the band but never did formally. According to Thom, he didn’t want to get involved in a full time gig.

 

Jim Seiter- The Byrds

Jim was the later day Byrds (1969-72) tour manager who usually played percussion instruments onstage. Also on their ill-fated 1971 LP “Byrdmaniax.”

 

Can't imagine they have much of a following on here but don't Scottish pop-soul hitmakers Wet Wet Wet have an unofficial guitarist who plays live and appears on their albums but is never in any publicity?

 

I forget - was Terry involved with CC beyond 1983, really?

Can't recall if she was still there for "Waking Up..." and the late 1984 shows.

Agree she played an important role when she was there!

 

Someone else mentioned him so I didn't chew that fat twice!

 

Sly Stone's dealer

 

Ed Stasium and Monte Melnick were important behind-the-scenes members of The Ramones from early on. Ed added a number of guitar parts over the years too. Heck, Walter Lure played on a few of their albums as well and was in a sense an important part of the band for some of the 80's. Could probably say Daniel Rey too.

 

Shout out to Morgan Nicholls who carries a lot of weight for Muse (shows..not in the studio).

 

I think you're right. You can even see it in how she was credited separately. It was "The Velvet Underground and Nico".

The Velvets are funny. A lead singer who wasn't actually a member of the band. A different lineup on almost every album. An album credited to the band featuring no original members and that virtually no one considers a part of its discography.

I suppose there are other groups that were less stable, but I can't think of any offhand, and certainly there can't be many who were as influential.

 

Marty Craggs was an unofficial member of Lindisfarne (sax, accordion, vocals) for a few years before becoming a official member. Steve Daggett joined the band onstage and helped out in the studio around the time of the Dance The Night Away record. He's now an official member of the current line-up, and Steve Cunningham took over bass duties along with engineering, allowing Rod Clements to concentrate on slide guitar, between 1989 and 1994.

 

I read someplace that when Eddie Jobson joined Roxy Music, he came on as an employee of the band rather than a full member. Supposedly the band owed a considerable amount of money at the time, and to become a full member, he would have had to assume a portion of that debt. Kind of an interesting twist on the "hired hand" trope.

 

The guy who plays behind the curtain for The Edge, I forget his name.

 

Well, she wasn't the lead singer. Lou was. Andy Warhol persuaded them adopt Nico to 'sex up' the group for the publicity machine. It was never their idea. It was telling that Reed wrote Sunday Morning for her to sing and then, to everyone's surprise, sang it himself.

With regards the albums and the line-up, one core member changed half-way through their four album history. The 'last' album was not a VU album at all as it had neither Cale nor Reed on it.

 

I was going to mention Brown as an unofficial member of Klaatu for the first three albums, although who was officially in the band was (infamously) a bit nebulous during that period. He certainly played a huge role in putting that stuff together.

 

Terry Brown - Rush
The unofficial 4th member and producer

Without him as Rush's producer, our heroes jump headfirst into Nerdrock. Disaster ensues, and the next 3 records hit the cutout bins in rapid succession.
Too bad some of us paid full price at date of release.

 

Seems that Tom considered him a member of the band

 

David Wheat, the Kingston Trio bassist.

 

Jakko Jakszyk of King Crimson worked with Level 42 also.

 

Robert Hunter (Grateful Dead lyricist):

 

Terry Lawless

This thread reminds me of some acts who give their sound guys nearly even status. Kraftwerk, Mission of Burma and Portishead. I think one of the 4 kraftwerk guys onstage is doing lighting.

 

Maybe Bear, too...but then the list grows...they had some great engineers!