Most people know what I mean by this. In Scooby Doo, they once introduced a new character that was Scooby’s young nephew. He was a puppy and was intended to be a chucklesome addition to the main cast. Instead, he was universally hated. When he finally met his end via 24 hours of brutal waterboarding by Fred and Daphne, there were street parties and mile-long conga trains of joy across the world.
It made me wonder about new band members drafted in with similar disastrous results? The one that springs to my mind is the reality show where INXS auditioned for a new singer because their previous one had died. I don’t recall his name but the winner had about one millionth of Hutchence’s talent and overall seemed very Scrappyesque.
Any more for any more?
Jaygee says
That Ray Wilson bloke who took over from Phil Collins in Genesis
retropath2 says
A band rather than a new member, but hasn’t Dave Grohl, with the Foo Fighters, embraced the full scrappy doo. To the extent that people “know” he/they are “quite good”, it’s still not enough. See also anything Joe Bonamassa related.
Jaygee says
The more idiotic and talent-challenged of the two Fogerty sons who appear in their dad’s touring band
SteveT says
@retropath2 actually I had that view of Joe Bonnamassa until I saw him headline Black Deer on the Friday night this year.
He was actually superb which surprised me very much. Great band, great feel and so very imaginative guitar solos.
Going back to main point I didn’t particularly like Freddie Mercury but Adam Lambert was not a good replacement.
retropath2 says
Pleased to be disabused.
fitterstoke says
I’d heard…
Black Celebration says
I see Foo Fighters as a band who play for the hell of it and see every day is a bonus. They don’t fret about their image or what direction their new album is taking them. I might be totally wrong about this.
Sitheref2409 says
A group who think that this perhaps could be fun, and so it should be.
They take the fun seriously, but yeah, it should be fun for everyone involved.
Leffe Gin says
Taylor Hawkins pretty much played the Scrappy Doo to Grohl’s Scooby. Much missed, of course.
Mike_H says
Tempted to offer Neil Young joining Crosby, Stills & Nash, but he probably got away with it.
Just.
Hawkfall says
Graham Bonnet in Rainbow.
(Though I do like All Night Long).
Uncle Wheaty says
This was his peak.
Boneshaker says
Neil Finn in Fleetwood Mac. Do me a favour. And that bloke that sings in Queen who isn’t Freddie Mercury.
retropath2 says
The drummer? So true.
(Arf!)
Jaygee says
Dave Mason had a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it stint in ver Mac as well
Martin Horsfield says
It’s hard to imagine now but there once was a time when Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine were No 1 album, festival-headliner massive. A lot of their appeal, like a proto Sleaford Mods, was in smart alecky wordplay allied to rudimentary sequenced beats. But then they went and hired a drummer – Wes, I think his name was – and for some reason it fell apart; they’d become just another band. Wes was definitely a rock Scrappy Doo, poor bloke.
fentonsteve says
See also: when Pop Will Eat Itself added drummer Fuzz to their lineup. Splittage soon followed.
Tiggerlion says
Echo And The Bunnymen were never the same after Echo left.
hubert rawlinson says
Maybe not universally disliked, but I’ve still never come to terms with Ric Sanders’membership of Fairport. His saying of ‘pretty damned cosmic’ always grated and his jumping up and down annoyed.
thecheshirecat says
Bull on my dartboard. It sounds daft, but it’s one instance of wishing someone wasn’t enjoying performance quite so much.
Steve Walsh says
Fancy being considered the weakest link in a band now made up only of weak links!
salwarpe says
Are wee clinks the sounds made when Cropredy regulars toast with their pewter tankards?
retropath2 says
Well, just to be controversial, I quite like him. He’s a bit of a dick but etc etc
thecheshirecat says
but …. what?
retropath2 says
He’s actually a nice fella. Desperately shy, hence all the cosmic smokescreen. He was a good chum of a member of the Morris side I was in, during the 90s, which meant he frequently came along and played fiddle with us. I feel he is more an asset to the band than Chris Leslie, IMHO, who, however good a multi-instrumentalist he is, has tended to drag them more MOR. Mind you, Simon Nicol has a very sentimental streak of MOR himself. Bring back Maaart say I (except he’s dead.)
hubert rawlinson says
He probably is but…. and I wasn’t keen on Maaaaart either.
Kjwilly says
@retropath2 He really is a nice guy. He often turned up on the folky “jam night” at Weavers Arms during the 90s. Often with his pal Andrew Cronshaw. BUT I don’t remember him ever being named onstage. Even afterwards he was politeness himself.
NigelT says
I know what you mean, and I used to think that way, but he has definitely grown on me. I had the pleasure of interviewing Ric last year and he is indeed a lovely chap. Fantastic player of course.
I also actually actively dislike many of Swarb’s vocals on the old records, so Chris Leslie’s versions (he was recruited partly because of his similar vocal style and range) work for me.
retropath2 says
Further to the pro Ric camp, I saw Plumhall at the w/e, fresh from their support slot on the Fairport tour, they confirming his charm and lightness, offstage, of demeanour. He also plays fiddle on their latest album.
Diddley Farquar says
Jeff Lynne, in several ways, I think.
Gary says
Vince White and Nick Sheppard.
Rigid Digit says
Blaze Bayley recorded two albums with Iron Maiden.
Move along now, nothing to see here …
Gatz says
I only recently found out that Blaize Bailey is the name of a place.
salwarpe says
How about Mr. C, bringing general wackiness to the electro-hippies that were The Shamen? Scrappy Doo in human form, profoundly irritating, convinced of his own charms, and ruining what obviously wasn’t an amazing format, but had brought a quotient of pleasure before Ebenezer Goode was splurted into our ears.
Diddley Farquar says
If The Shamen represent Scooby Doo the show, that would be about right since the show wasn’t much cop either. Scrappy Doo just made it unbearable.
Black Celebration says
Yes I think that’s the best example so far. An established OK-ish band introduce a larger-than-life character to liven things up. I really didn’t like Ebenezer Goode at all and it’s all down to Mr C.
Bamber says
My first thought on reading the original post was this superfluous idiot. I remember Melody Maker had a weekly dig at his woeful rapping. That was about the only joy he brought to my world.
H.P. Saucecraft says
I was literally heartbroken at their new direction after that stunning first album. Stayed in my room and cried and cried and cried.
Colin H says
Burger Van Day from Dollar – a man of very little talent whose post-fame career (the past 40-odd years) has been jumping up and down and trying to underline his importance to anyone who’ll listen, inveigle his way into post-fame Bucks Fizz like a cuckoo in a nest that’s already falling apart, and bothering old folks in retirement facilities with his duo act ‘Rich and Famous’.
Colin H says
The rest of ‘the Fizz’ became ‘The Fizz’ (like most of Dire Straits now being The Straits or indeed everyone who was ever in Manfred Mann -0 except Manfred Mann – now being ‘The Manfreds).
Here they are last month:
Colin H says
Meanwhile, Thereza Bazaar is on the comeback trail with Someone Other Than Dave – albeit the same schmaltzy, saccharine sounds…
Beezer says
One half of Dollar? She ought to team up with Fifty Cent.
Martin Horsfield says
I feel this joke needs more appreciation.
salwarpe says
Or she could form a band with the Queen drummer and Pink Floyd bassist – Buck Rogers…
Black Type says
They’re only The Fizz because erstwhile member Bobby G(ubby) took them to court to win the name. He now tours as Bucks Fizz with three imposters. And no, that’s not Elvis Costello. 😉
Uncle Wheaty says
This was excellent!
Black Celebration says
Brilliant time capsule of a video and I seem to remember the song in quite some detail without having actually bought it. I know that David Van Day is a staunch UKIP/Reform sort now, which makes me want to imagine that Therese Bazaar is a Just Stop Oil activist or an influential figure in the Socialist Workers Party.
BryanD says
Mott The Hoople becoming Mott after Ian Hunter (and the short lived guitarist Mick Ronson) left and they drafted in those two blokes whose names I forget.
Leem says
I think this is a pretty hard remit. My take is that the Scrappy Doo is an entrant but the rest stay intact .i.e. Scooby was ousted. In my mind this disqualifies replacement singers.
Equally not someone always in the band who grates. Eg squally guitarists like EVH.
So, somebody joining a band making it worse?
A tough one.
Off the top of my head there is the saxophonist in the 80s touring Pink Floyd slathered all over which in rereleases I think they have tread to make less pronounced.
A band member proper?. May have to come back to this.
Jaygee says
@Leem
Baez?
Chas Smash?
fitterstoke says
Not Joan, shurely?
Munster says
Kenney Jones was great in The Faces but he was no Keith Moon.
Diddley Farquar says
I’ll say Ronnie Wood. When he joined the best was already over. Some good times to come, a capable musician, but symbolic of the period of decline. A sense that creating great records mattered a bit less.
Black Celebration says
There’s something likeable about Ronnie, though. He was also fairly legendary already, so it may be argued he was doing *them* a favour.
Diddley Farquar says
Yes I know the argument but it was a political choice to keep Keith happy and keep the peace. Not for being the best musician to make the best records. Then again not his fault the imperial phase was over. I know I am being harsh. Hopefully it doesn’t cause him too much upset when he reads this.
Everygoodboydeservesfruita says
My main issue with this is that Ronnie Wood’s solo albums are better than any Stones record since Some Girls.
DanP says
My uncle *still* says “Ronnie Wood will never be a Stone”.
fitterstoke says
I’m with your uncle on that one…
deramdaze says
… which would make Ian Stewart a ‘Scrappy Doo in Reverse’.
Didn’t look right in the six-piece version of The Rolling Stones, and so, although still very much still part of the gang, going on to fulfil a Mal Evans/Neil Aspinall sort of role for them.
Indeed, it prompted The Hollies to write ‘Scrappy Doo in Reverse’.
fitterstoke says
Indeed – and he still played piano for them, live and in the studio, when they needed that particular sound.
Mike_H says
No minor chords, reputedly.
They had to get Nicky Hopkins in for those.
Junior Wells says
I have some bootlegs of those early Woody shows with the Stones and they were re-energised. That said I have guitarist mates who hate his playing …. with a passion.
fitterstoke says
I’m one of them…he was the best guitarist in The Faces, tho’…
Twang says
Me too, though I love his bass playing with the Jeff Beck Group
Vincent says
Benoit David’s contribution to “Yes” is not missed.
Rigid Digit says
The Buggles joining Yes.
In fairness, Geoff Downes was a more than competent keyboard banger, and Trevor Horn a top producer. Drama is not one of the essential cannon, but 90125 did hit the top in the US market.
Black Celebration says
I wondered if anyone would bring that one up. Certainly derided at the time but Trevor Horn is very much respected as a producer now. OOALH very much their best-known song.
fitterstoke says
Completely disagree, RD – to my ears, Drama is certainly better than 90125 (which is a single, with an album loosely dangling from it) and waaay better than Big Generator.
Maybe Rabin is the Scrappy-Doo – after all, the success of the single was arguably down to Trevor Horn!
Black Celebration says
@leem is right. Scrappy Doo joined an existing line-up to make things better, but his presence became a millstone around the gang’s collective neck.
One of my favourite ABC songs is Be Near Me. Unfortunately, at around this time, they reimagined their image – inspired by Bleep and Booster, who were alien cartoon characters in I think Blue Peter annuals. Niche as heck.
Part of this was the introduction of a new band member, one David Yarritu, who added nothing to the sound of the band but was there purely for his onstage presence.
This was a mistake, in my view. Completely superfluous, not particularly likeable and annoying. Scrappy Doo in excelsis.
salwarpe says
Tony James, except he Scrappy Dooed for long einough to wreck damage.
Nail in the coffin time for The Sisters of Mercy as a stylish, tongue-in-cheek, Glitterbeat musical form for Eldritch’s enigmatic lyrics, and an embrace of the full rock cliché courtesy of Mr Sigue Sigue Sputnik, who clearly outplayed Von in the meta zone.
“You might have absorbed Wayne Hussey out of Dead or Alive’ , but I’ll drag you into corporate rock whoredom and hollow you out completely”.
Captain Darling says
I dearly wish the Sisters had continued with the Floodland sound: lots of synths, epic choirs, etc. Once Eldritch went down the rock guitar route, they became just like so many other bands.
I know he always rejected being lumped in with the black-clad scene, but he might have managed more long-term success by still flying the goth flag and not calling on Tony James – who was more fun in Sigue Sigue Sputnik anyway. (He also sounded interesting in a recent episode of The Rockonteurs.)
Bamber says
I know this is a bit niche but I’ll nominate Bernard Fowler of Tack>Head. Any time they played live I’d hope that he was off touring with the Stones. Without him, they were complete, a divine racket and industrial funk music made flesh. Three great musicians mixed up a storm by Adrian Sherwood. With him on board, they seemed obliged to play “songs”, built around his off-the-peg soulful emoting and trite lyrics. They came across as trying too hard to have broader appeal and falling well short. Totally Scrappy Doo.
Pessoa says
Oh, good call. There was a world of difference between the Tackhead sound system nights and the disappointing rock band that I saw later.
H.P. Saucecraft says
Gary Husband, in any line-up he ever joined, including his own band.
If sidemen are allowed, Brian Kennedy’s contributions to Van Morrison aren’t much missed.
Jaygee says
What Van said
H.P. Saucecraft says
Van Morrison. Van Morrison. Van Morrison.
Junior Wells says
It’s reassuring that the embers of your disdain for husband still glow HP.
Leffe Gin says
Did he steal your tuck money at school?
Also, how can you be the Scrappy Doo in Level 42..? They never even had a Scooby.
Black Type says
Craig Gannon joining The Smiths. Not ‘universally hated’ as such, but he ruined the dynamic and the perception of the tight-knit ‘gang’ (which we know now was a sham, but hey-ho…).
Black Celebration says
In a similar, but-in-reverse kinda way the boys from Bros dipped in popularity once they jettisoned Craig Logan (AKA “Ken”).
I believe he was given a very large settlement and then the hits started to dry up, so he was a reverse-Scrappy.
Hamlet says
A million quid, I read somewhere. They ended up going broke, so Ken got out at the right time.
Black Type says
He owes them nothing, oo-oh.
Mike_H says
A million quid that the brothers still wish they had, no doubt.
fentonsteve says
MarionBloke from New Order. The fifth leg of the chair, to paraphrase Hooky.
Leffe Gin says
Dave Stewart muscling in on Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers. Thankfully didn’t last long.
hubert rawlinson says
Adding Lou Martin on keyboards to the Rory Gallagher band in the 70s, maybe I’m being unfair but I felt them an unnecessary addition.
ernietothecentreoftheearth says
Sad to say, but not withstanding, ” I wanna be straight”. Wilko after he replaced Jankel in the Blockheads.
retropath2 says
Anyone going to look at the complicated story of Fleetwood Mac. A lorra lorra possibilities for when the shark got jumped there…… But imagine a smug Stephen Fry with his hand, itching over the QI klaxon.
retropath2 says
That’s a no then…… FWIW, rather than trolling a Buckingham, Nicks, Finn or Campbell, I was going to wonder whether anyone heard the Mason, Burnette interlude?
Boneshaker says
Rick Vito, Billy Burnette, Dave Mason, Bekka Bramlett – imposters the lot of them. Behind the Mask has a few decent tracks but Time is almost beyond redemption. The latterday version of the Mac minus Christine McVie was much spikier IMHO, and Say You Will is an underrated album (but too long).
I saw them live with Neil Finn on vocals and they were dreadful.
fitterstoke says
I like bits and pieces that Neil Finn has done previously – but this is an ‘orrible mismatch.
Leffe Gin says
Bekka Bramlett seems to be even more peculiar than Stevie Nicks: https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/bekka-bramlett-fleetwood-mac-stevie-nicks-1234688286/
I’d nominate Bob Welch especially as he carried on hanging around after he departed. Although he did some good stuff with them.
Twang says
I wasn’t happy with anyone replacing David Lee Roth in Van Halen but Gary Cherrone? Please. And I actually like Extreme…
atcf says
Sid Vicious. Musicianship replaced by drug-addled chaotic incompetence.
Mike_H says
Sex Pistols were never going to be more than a flash in music’s pan, no matter who was in or out, apart from Lydon.
Diddley Farquar says
He was the human embodiment of a crap cartoon character so yes. At least the other members made an album together and wrote some songs.
retropath2 says
In other news, now that Matlock is back, back, back (again), what price Frank Carter?
hubert rawlinson says
The keyboard player in Slade. What keyboard player I hear you ask?
The British Heart Foundation wills advert has ‘Slade’ playing at a festival, mirrored top hat, platform boots et al.
Then there’s this person, I mean.
Max the Dog says
That reminds me of the keyboard player in the latter stages of Thin Lizzy. Darren Wharton. A lovely guy I’m sure and who am I to cast shade on any musician, completely talentless as I am. But he played with them in Slane the only time I saw them and it wasn’t good – the keyboards stood out as being particularly superfluous. I’d say poor Phil was on a downward spiral at that stage anyway so maybe it wasn’t all Darren’s fault.
badartdog says
Keyboard player in Slade?
Keyboard player in Suede.
Something off-putting and arrogant about his demeanour. Never listened to them since he joined.
Mike_H says
“Rabbit” Bundrick in The Who (briefly).
Or any other band he was ever drafted into, really.
A decent enough player but always a bit superfluous.
The late, lamented James Blaast would cite Adrian Belew joining King Crimson, but on that point I disagreed with him.
Twang says
Good point. Free, once Koss and Andy Fraser left.
thecheshirecat says
I would agree with your disagreement.
fitterstoke says
I would disagree with your disagreement – I agree with the Mighty Blaast on this point.
Mike_H says
The Fripp/Cross/Wetton/Muir/Bruford Crimson was a wondrous thing on record and in theory but totally unworkable in live performance because the available stage equipment in the early ’70s wasn’t suitable for the extreme dynamics of that lineup much as I loved them and still do. Jamie Muir soon departed and David Cross was squeezed out not that long after. The remaining trio was a just-about-workable juggernaut, but John Wetton’s voice was always the weak link there and the band just ran out of steam and quit.
The new iteration (originally to be called Discipline, not King Crimson) with Adrian Belew and Tony Levin drafted in after a few years gap, put some much needed energy into the Crimson concept, I feel, without straying too far from their roots. And having a showman second guitarist who sang well, gave things quite a boost performance-wise, while allowing Fripp to lurk in the background and be cryptic, as was his wont.
fitterstoke says
Well, that’s a very nice biographical summary, Mike. However, in my opinion, I’m not sure that the “showman second guitarist” was necessarily the best fit: the band went in a different direction (just as valid, perhaps) and something was lost. Maybe they should have kept the name Discipline.
Belew was great with Zappa/Bowie/TH – but, in Zappa’s description, he was a “stunt” guitarist – not sure that was what King Crimson required. Elephant impressions? Fretless 6-string guitar? He puts my teeth on edge.
Just my opinion of course…and Blaast’s, apparently…
Diddley Farquar says
Roger Waters reinvented himself as his own ill advised Scrappy Doo, a worse version of his own self, and proceeded to do scrappy doo doo over his old band’s most acclaimed album, among other offences.
Kaisfatdad says
What a wonderful idea for thread @Black Celebration
Incidentally, have you seen the two Scooby live action movies starring the Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Hitmaker?? Very amusing and they reference Scrappy.
One Scrappy Doo of Pop was surely Little Jimmy Osmond?
Black Celebration says
Thanks @kaisfatdad – I think Little Jimmy Osmond is an excellent suggestion.
I was reading something (perhaps on here) that Jimmy wasn’t long-haired, certainly not a lover and wasn’t from Liverpool. Lying bastard.
Sniffity says
In his defence, he never said he was – he suggested it as a possibility, proposed a workable scheme to implement it, formed a one-boy working party to do the costings, fantasised pre-pubescently about it….but didn’t quite claim that he was in fact any of the possible permutations.
Junior Wells says
I’ll nominate Warren Ellis joining the Bad Seeds, well he seems to have supplanted them but I am not sure the disdain is universal. He has a lot of fans.
I think John Farnham replacing Glenn Shorrock in Little River Band was fairly widely disliked.
fitterstoke says
Completely agree re Warren Ellis…
What’s that coming over the hill? It’s Hamper-time!!
Black Celebration says
Yasss!
Black Type says
Gary Tibbs in Roxy Music.
Gary Tibbs in Adam & The Ants.
Sorry, Gaz.
Pessoa says
Einar Örn may have been in the original line up of The Sugarcubes (a Shaggy, not a Scrappy, as it were) but the more vocal he became in recordings after the debut album, the less beguiling the band became: sorry mate, we were there for Björk!
Kaisfatdad says
Excellent point @Pessoa. But perhaps that’s another cartoon, novel, comic, TV show or movie?
A band, movie or a TV show where one individual outshines all around them.
Record companies always seem to be very keen to create a rift between the front person and their band.
They want Echo. But do they really need those pesky Bunnymen??
It makes me think of Rainbow.
It seems very clear to me that as the show became more popular, Zippy would very soon be jumping ship and heading for fame and fortune in Las Vegas.
Leaving behind Bungle, George and Geoffrey. Not to mention Rod, Jane and Freddie!
Show business can be very cruel!
Sewer Robot says
Oh, you’ve blown the thread wide open there, KFD.
“Who is the Rosemary, the telephone operator of EDM?”
“Who is the Musky the muskrat of Jamaican Dancehall?”
“Who is the Inch High Private Eye of Neo Psychedelia?”
Some, of course, are too easy to be worth the trouble: those two cavemen grunting and whacking each other with clubs in Wacky Races are obviously the Gallagher brothers..
Skirky says
“Who is the Rosemary, the telephone operator of EDM?”
Susan Ann Sulley.
hubert rawlinson says
Zippy could have joined the other Rainbow and given Richie Blackmore a run for his money.
deramdaze says
“Rock”, by definition, is a “Scrappy Don’t!”
Wish I’d thought of that a month ago.
Too busy with the Euros, I suppose.
Still, better late than never.
Sewer Robot says
….except…
something that struck me in my teenage years was how quick noisy old rock bands were to claim the term “rock ‘n’ roll” (Long Live Rock ‘n’ Roll, Rock ‘n’ Roll Ain’t Noise Pollution, We Sold Our Souls For Rock ‘n’ Roll etc) while so many classics of yer actual rock ‘n’ roll era feature “rock” in their title (you hardly need examples..)