10 times famous musicians almost joined classic bands
There’s no accurate way of describing the chemistry that goes into making a great rock and roll band. Even though many people have tried their best to capture lightning in a bottle with the right people, there are only so many ways to get the best musicians in a room before things start devolving into chaos. Although many classic acts like Fleetwood Mac wound up with the exact combination of musicians, other artists may have become legends in their place.
But let’s get one thing straight here: it’s not like any of the artists in question were magically going to become superstars through being in the group. It all comes down to how well they play off of other people, and sometimes, there are moments where things don’t work out because they don’t have the right feel for the kind of songs that the artist is writing at the moment.
It’s still a business, though, and when looking at the way that some of the acts fell out, there are loads of times when people start to get somewhere with a particular group before finding out that they would be screwed over behind the scenes or spend the rest of their lives playing a completely different style of music than what they were used to.
So while the supergroup mentality may have been fun to look back on, time may have worked out exactly how it was supposed to for most of these acts. They still have their massive fanbases, but there is always going to be that lingering question of what could have been if they decided to join their fellow rock icons.
10 iconic musicians almost joined classic bands:
10. Pepper Keenan – Metallica
Metallica has always had a very in-house approach to everything they do. Despite having the best metal anthems of all time under their belt, the only way they have been able to work is when everyone is firing on all cylinders with no side projects to speak of. So when the band began falling apart after Jason Newsted’s departure, they almost got a heavy dose of stoner rock added to their arsenal.
Although Corrosion of Conformity was bubbling up in the metal community throughout the 1990s, Pepper Keenan had become a good friend of James Hetfield and had come in for bass auditions before anyone else started rehearsing with them. Even though he could play the songs inside and out, he read the room and realised that he didn’t want to get into a group that had the insane chemistry that they did.
Hetfield and Lars Ulrich were still at odds during this time, and when having a meeting with them in the outtakes for Some Kind of Monster, Keenan is heard saying that he doesn’t want to be associated with the group and have some sort of favouritism from Hetfield by any stretch. Although Robert Trujillo did bring a new flavour to the group, it would have been interesting to see what a sludgier version of the band could have been.
9. Corey Taylor – Velvet Revolver
Supergroups are always a bit of a tricky gamble. There can be many artists that can knock it out of the park, and then there are bands like Damn Yankees where the star power becomes an eyesore when they start churning out absolutely lifeless songs that get celebrated like they’re modern classics. Although Velvet Revolver was the case of a genuine supergroup, they could have ditched Scott Weiland and given it a modern twist with Corey Taylor.
Although most people didn’t know what half of Slipknot looked like behind their masks in the early 2000s, the call to jam with members of Guns N’ Roses was too much for Taylor to pass up. Despite being the equivalent of a 12-year-old watching Slash tear through solos next to him, Taylor said that the jam sessions never amounted to much when Slipknot started working on their next project.
That wouldn’t even be the last time Taylor got the opportunity to jam with legends, eventually being lined up to perform with thrash icons Anthrax in the 2010s before starting work on .5 The Gray Chapter. However, Taylor has left the door open for working with Duff McKagan in the future, so maybe the supergroup option is still on the cards.
8. Keith Moon – Led Zeppelin
When Led Zeppelin was first forming, Jimmy Page wasn’t going to settle for anything less than perfect. He had to put together the kind of group that would leave The Yardbirds in the dust, and when looking at how well he worked with Robert Plant, they became the fixture of what hard rock should be. So while it’s insane to think of anyone replacing John Bonham, Page’s first idea was to have a different animalistic drummer behind the kit.
Despite him being married to The Who at this point, Page approached Keith Moon to see if he wanted to join Led Zeppelin. It’s not that far from what he had already been doing, either, considering that Page was looking to jam in the same bluesy rock and roll mould, but Moon saw joining the guitarist as an accident waiting to happen.
He did manage to leave with one piece of the band’s history, eventually giving them their name when saying that their career would go over about as well as a lead zeppelin. It might seem apocryphal for Moon to be that off the mark, but as we will see later, it’s not like he was the only one who was having doubts about Page’s plan to take over the world through bluesy rock and roll.
7. Chris Shiflett – Guns N’ Roses
The opportunity to join Guns N’ Roses must be a catch-22 for any potential guitarist. Outside of becoming one of the biggest names in music and touring around the world, the idea of being compared to Slash, as well as having to put up with whatever antics that come with being in a band with Axl Rose, isn’t something that most musicians would wish on their worst enemy, let alone willingly accept. And considering where he ended up, Chris Shiflett managed to be exactly what Foo Fighters needed.
When trying to find the right group outside of working with Me First and the Gimme Gimmes, Shiflett turned down the opportunity to audition for Guns N’ Roses the minute he found out Foo Fighters needed a guitarist. Although he tried his best to give off the right vibe for the songs, Shiflett already had it covered before he even walked in the door, with Grohl remembering him from playing in different punk rock shows when they were kids.
And now with three guitars onstage, Foo Fighters have become a unit of guitars half the time, with Shiflett playing the clean leads to complement Grohl’s rhythm playing and Pat Smear’s chaotic guitar fills. Compared to the business mindset that comes with a group as big as Guns N’ Roses, Shiflett has found his way into a band that feels like the embodiment of a rock and roll family.
6. Del Shannon – Traveling Wilburys
The Traveling Wilburys would have been the kind of band that one could plan out on paper. The idea of having the best songwriters that rock and roll had ever seen under one roof sounds impossible, but by letting life roll on as it was supposed to, George Harrison and Jeff Lynne helped assemble the band on a whim when they needed a B-side for a single. While the tragic passing of Roy Orbison led to them folding too early, there were talks to bring someone else in to take his place.
Although there’s hardly anyone who could have matched Orbison’s signature vocal tone, Del Shannon was the band’s first choice when considering a potential replacement. Everyone loved his songs in the 1960s, and Tom Petty had even produced one of his comeback albums and managed to piss him off when he took bassist Howie Epstein with him when the Heartbreakers needed a new bassist.
But Lynne later explained that even before Shannon died, they knew it would be better to carry on as the core group rather than find someone to stand in Orbison’s shadow. The band still paid tribute to Shannon with a cover of his signature tune ‘Runaway’, but if anyone was going to have to compete with Orbison behind the microphone, they were bound to come up short every single time.
5. Billy Preston – The Beatles
Every single member of The Beatles was responsible for making them what they were. As much as people drone on about how Ringo Starr was the weak link in the chain or John Lennon and Paul McCartney wrote the classics, they were always four sides of a square, and if anyone didn’t show up, their presence would be sorely missed. But when George Harrison returned after a few days during the Get Back sessions, he brought a potential fifth member into the mix.
After all, Harrison had said that he was going to return on his own terms, and since Eric Clapton had worked so well during the sessions for ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps,’ bringing in Billy Preston for the sessions on ‘I’ve Got a Feeling’ and ‘Don’t Let Me Down’ quickly became the most inspired sessions that the group ever had during that period.
Even in the Get Back documentary, you can see every band member light up the minute that Preston starts playing, and by the time they finish, Lennon even off-handedly says, ‘You’re in the group’ and starts toying with the idea of Preston joining the group and adding some levity to everything. While that never materialised, Preston still deserves a ‘Fifth Beatle’ title for being the glue that held them together right before making Abbey Road.
4. Terry Reid – Led Zeppelin
Before Led Zeppelin, the idea of a supergroup was bound to be a gamble. The idea had only ever been tried a few times, and considering how volatile Cream could get during their prime, most would understand if they thought that most of those acts would end up staying together for an album or two before fizzling out. While Robert Plant was still relatively unknown in the mainstream sphere when working with Led Zeppelin, Page had a vision of Terry Reid bringing his bluesy tone to everything.
Considering how he sounded in his solo career, Reid isn’t entirely a bad fit, either. He certainly had that bluesy shout that drove the London clubs insane, but he knew that he would be better off working on his own. Although Plant was still in a psychedelic mode after working with The Band of Joy, hearing him wail next to Page made for the greatest tandem in rock history, especially when bouncing off each other on the first album on ‘You Shook Me’.
Because while Reid had a sound all his own at that point, Plant was much more flexible. The core vocabulary of everything may have still gone back to the blues, but no one else was going to make something as grandiose as ‘Stairway to Heaven’ work or turn the blues inside out like on ‘Black Dog’.
3. Sheryl Crow – Fleetwood Mac
The last thing that any member of Fleetwood Mac needed in their ranks was another ego. Every member of the group usually had their own agenda when working on their classics, and even if they could forgive and forget some of their rough patches, it was going to be hard to give their opinion when everyone was openly hostile towards each other. Although Christine McVie’s retirement did complicate things in the 2000s, the idea of bringing in Sheryl Crow was a gamble from the moment it was suggested.
Before she played a note of music with them, though, Crow’s style fit right in with Fleetwood Mac. ‘All I Wanna Do’ had been tearing up the charts, and when looking back on how well the band was doing on the back of The Dance, that rootsy approach to soft rock was something that Crow had grown up with, whether that was listening to Fleetwood Mac or harmonising to Eagles songs.
Since she was already friends with Stevie Nicks, though, Lindsey Buckingham would have some opinions about bringing her into the group, thinking that it would be too strange to hear her singing Christine’s material and not wanting her to play any of her original material if they brought her on. They may have carried on without McVie or Crow, but hearing her singing ‘Songbird’ would have been one of the greatest litmus tests for her.
2. Slash – Kiss
For any aspiring guitarist, you have to do what you can to get noticed. Whether that’s shopping demos around to record stores or cold-calling labels to see if they are interested, there are only so many ways to get a career off the ground when starting at ground zero. Although Slash remained naive about what the rock and roll business was about, he was good enough to get the attention of Paul Stanley when jamming with Kiss.
Once Ace Frehley left the group in the late 1970s, Slash was still in his teens and eager to make his dreams a reality. Although he could keep up with nearly everything that ‘The Spaceman’ played, Stanley remembered age being the deciding factor for him, saying that he was uncomfortable bringing in a kid to the group.
While Stanley did eventually offer to produce Guns N’ Roses’s first album when they started gaining traction, the writing was on the wall that the two couldn’t work together that well. Because no matter how many times he can tear through a solo on whatever stage he touches, the thought of Slash donning white face paint instead of his trademark curly hair and top hat feels like sacrilege at this point.
1. Jeff Beck – Pink Floyd
Most artists wouldn’t wish Pink Floyd’s situation on their worst enemy in the late 1960s. The idea of replacing someone like Syd Barrett would have been a tough hurdle for anyone, but seeing the frontman slowly start to lose his mind left a gaping hole in their lives whenever they tried to play together again. Although David Gilmour did have a lot to measure up to, the band considered bringing in another guitar legend.
Although Jeff Beck was clearly operating in a different capacity than Pink Floyd, their approaches to rock and roll weren’t all that dissimilar. Beck wanted to push the boundaries of what music could do as well, and even though Floyd was interested in something more avant-garde, having him add his bluesy bends would have made for one of the tastiest playing ever to be found on a Floyd release.
The only thing derailing everything was courage, with everyone in the band saying that none of them had the guts to pick up the phone and call him. There’s no real answer as to whether he would have agreed, but given how much time he put into working with Roger Waters on the album Amused to Death, it’s clear that whatever grandiose concept they had later would have still been blinding with him behind the fretboard.
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