My hypothetical group of dead musicians is better than yours (BAND VERSION)

Thanks Leet and I must say you have an awesome selection of band members and I am really looking forward to the debate. I shall first compare individuals before making some overall points about song writing and live performance. ________ 1. Keith Moon vs. John Bonham. This is a tough one as these two are both without doubt among the greatest drummers in rock history. Bonham is amazing. His powerful solid style with perhaps the strongest right foot in rock and roll make him a legend and an idol to many aspiring drummers. But he is no Keith Moon. What makes Keith Moon almost unique is that, while in most bands the drummer tends to fade into the background, Keith was effectively the front man and the star of The Who. Despite the artistic genius of his band mates, Keith was the one who got all the media and groupie attention. A good indication of this is the simple exercise of typing the names of Who band members into Google. Keith gets a whopping 5,320,000 hits, http://www.google.co.uk...= way more than the other members of The Who combined (Townshend gets 971,000 http://www.google.co.uk...+ Daltrey a paltry 727,000 http://www.google.co.uk...= and Entwhistle just 357,000.) I doubt comparing Bonham to his more celebrated band mates would yield similar results. Jimmy Page and John-Paul Jones were in fact huge fans of Moon and The Who and recorded with him and Jeff Beck. http://en.wikipedia.org... Page wanted to form a group with Moon and Moon is rumoured to have come up with the name Led Zeppelin. http://en.wikipedia.org... It is likely that if Moon had not been committed to The Who he would have been Led Zep's first choice ahead of John Bonham. Indeed they invited him to perform with them live on many occasions. While Bonham's playing was solid and heavy, Moon's was much more creative and complex. The Who have had several hits with Moon on lead vocals (Bell-boy is perhaps the most well known). Moon epitomises the rock and roll lifestyle with his reputation for excess, drug abuse, destruction, marital strife, cars in swimming pools etc. Bonham's life was somewhat dull and unremarkable in comparison. In the vast majority of online polls between the two drummers, Moon wins. http://www.democraticunderground.com... http://www.rockband.com... This may seem like a baseless appeal to authority but it reaffirms my opinion and evidences his popularity. Keith clearly pwns John in the categories of looks and charisma. He also wins because he had the biggest kits. http://farm4.static.flickr.com... ___________ Charles Mingus vs. Cliff Burton. This is not much of a contest really. Mingus is one of the greatest composers of the last century http://www.loc.gov... and radically re-defined his instrument. http://www.allsands.com... Burton played simple riffs competently in a Heavy Metal band and pounded the distortion pedal mercilessly. Mingus' abilities as a composer, arranger, organiser, pianist and performer plus his far superior understanding of musical texture and harmony, besides the fact he was an absolute virtuoso make him a clear winner in the bass category. ___________ Jimi Hendrix vs. Stevie Ray Vaughan. Who? (jk) Again Google is an illuminating tool here. Try searching for "greatest guitarist" or "best guitarist" and have a guess who's name consistently appears at the top of every list (it's not Stevie's). http://www.google.co.uk...= http://www.google.co.uk...= Vaughan's own Wiki page notes the debt he owes to Hendrix as an inspiration. http://en.wikipedia.org... This is further evidenced by the fact he has covered several Hendrix tunes. Jimi's songs are much more well known and his singing style and composition skills would be more of an asset to any band than Stevie's. To give my opponent a chance I left the option of a third instrument open, not specifying guitar. I would contend that in trying to put ANY guitarist up against Jimi, my opponent has automatically forfeited this section of the debate. Again charisma and looks hardly need commenting on. Hendrix is a global icon in Blues and Rock. Vaughan is a niche market success in White Blues. ______________ John Lennon vs. Freddie Mercury. Freddie was an incredible entertainer but Lennon was a musical and visionary genius. Lennon is far more celebrated as a composer and lyricist having written many of the most poplar and most covered songs of all time. Although Mercury did write some of Queen's songs he is generally regarded first and foremost as a singer, with Brian May receiving most of the musical credit for Queen. John Lennon had a highly successful solo career, proving his worth beyond the scope of The Beatles. The Beatles were (and still are) bigger than Jesus. http://www.guardian.co.uk... Mercury played a bit of piano but had nothing on fellow homosexual rocker Elton John. Lennon could stroke the ivories with the best of them and was a fierce axe man to boot. ____________ Song writing and Composition. I really don't see where the hits are going to come from in Leet's group. I'm not sure Vaughan's blues by numbers and Freddie's melodramatic operatics will be the best combination and I expect the rhythm section to be solid but unimaginative. In my band, John's poetic and powerful lyrics should connect well with Jimi's inspired psychadelia and they can both write killer love songs. Lennon's emotive chord progressions will enhance Hendrix's bluesy licks. The genius of Mingus will guide the structure and arrangement of the tunes and he and John's shared tastes in Eastern harmonies will also complement each other. The rhythm section of Keith and Charles will spark with improvisational vitality as these two spontaneous individuals feed off each others groove. __________ Live performance. With the exception of the histrionics of their gifted front man, my opponent's team will represent a rather bland prospect at their live shows. The musicians are all very serious guys and while their gigs will be efficient and tight they won't bring the noise like my bunch of hell raisers will. Keith Moon was not known as the "patented British exploding drummer" for nothing. http://cd1059cdtv.blogspot.com... Hendrix of course shared The Who's onstage appetite for destruction. http://en.wikipedia.org... The Beatles held some of the biggest and most successful concerts ever. John Lennon was a raucous rock and roller. Mingus developed his craft on the live scene and his shows were notorious for tension, drama and occasional onstage violence. http://www.nytimes.com... http://www.amazon.com... ______________ Thanks, back to you Leet.