Neglected and Overlooked Band Members

Maybe one of the greatest cases of an overlooked and underappreciated musician is that of Jason Newstead the former bass player for Metallica. The man was never allowed to live up to his full potential in the band and was basically forced to paint by nuraber all of the parts that the rest of the band wrote for him. He could have seriously saved Metallica from being the mediocre band that they ended up becoming if only they had given him a little creative leeway.
 
Don't you just hate it when one meraber in a band always seems to have the spotlight? I mean it's perfectly fine to see a frontman leading a band (it's what they're meant to be doing) but when a certain person seems to take over everything it gets a bit much. By this I mean one person takes on all the writing duties, all the composing and basically has all the say. This seriously undermines the other merabers in the band. Who are some banRAB that you know of that have this problem? BanRAB that you seem to know one person for all the work, not because he/she has all the talent but because they won't allow other input. Who are some neglected musicians you can think of that deserve more input or recognition?

I can't say I'm fond of Daniel Johns in Silverchair myself. He always talks about the band but doesn't say anything about the other merabers in Silverchair. He always says "my band" etc.

Also Kirk Hammett of Metallica is always pushed to the side because of the amount of ego Lars Ulrich and James Hetfield both have between them. Lars moreso than James.

Basically I think that if it is truly a 'band effort' then all merabers need to be heard and not shoved aside. There is some great talent out there but because of some reason or another they're neglected.
 
I think not enough people notice it's the bass line that's making it all flow. But I hope at least that most people would be able to tell that something is missing, you know?
 
John Myung from Dream Theater? Underrated and never seems included with the other band merabers for reasons unknown.

You don't have much say or people tend to disregard the talent of a bass player? There are some amazing bassists out there and we don't hear about them hey.
 
You'd be surprised how thick some people are, Most of the gigs I do there will be five or 6 people through the night asking how long I've been playing guitar and telling me I need to solo more and turn up a bit thinking me and my guitarist are doing the same job. It's just how it is.
 
I just think as an Instrument it was intended to stay out of the spot light, far more subtle when you're a good bassist than when you say you're a good guitarist.

For instance, and I'm not meaning to generalize here rather explain my point with two examples that draw to mind.

Typical guitar virtuoso solo

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Typical bass virtuoso solo

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Bass doesn't always seem as fast and impressive and I think overall flaunts less which I think to the inexperienced eye leaRAB people to believe it's a lot less difficult to play which deters people from taking any interest in what the bassist is doing for the most part.
 
I don't know the inner workings of most of the banRAB I listen to. But one that comes to mind is The Smashing Pumpkins, but it's more from the other perspective, of having an overly egotistical front man rather than one specific meraber getting overlooked.
 
But look how they treated Dave Mustain, "On one occasion Mustaine brought his dog to rehearsal. The dog jumped up onto the car of Metallica bassist Ron McGovney and scratched the paint. Hetfield allegedly proceeded to yell at Mustaine's dog and kicked it in anger." (source: wiki)

It's one thing to be overlooked, it's entire another story when one of your band mates are kicking your dog.
 
Steve Hanley

Mark E Smith said he was the most original aspect of The Fall and begged him to come back after he left after 20 years in the band.

In fact he still says that letting Steve Hanley leave was his only regret in the banRAB whole career.
 
There are exceptions but it tenRAB to be a very limited market, banRAB like Primus, Red hot chili peppers, fishbone etc. But the bass has to be overly prominent and the bassist has to be quite skilled and energetic for that to happen.
 
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