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Step Up to the Microphone: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
The lead vocalist of a band steps aside to offer another band member (an instrumentalist or backing singer) [[A Day in the Limelight]], singing the lead for at least the duration of a whole song. Usually occurs when the lyrics of the song in question were written by this particular band member.
In some cases, this can become a permanent promotion to lead singer: [[The Band Minus the Face|the lead vocalist departs]], and rather than finding a new singer, one of the remaining band members takes the mic.
Compare and contrast with [[Vocal Tag Team]].
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* [[The Beatles]]: Ringo got to sing one song on every album (except on "A Hard Day's Night" and "Let It Be"). George also sang at least one song on every album, usually his own compositions.
* Doves: Jimi Goodwin is the lead singer, but the twins - Andy and Jez Williams - have sung lead on assorted tracks throughout the years.
* Flogging Molly: "Cruel Mistress" and "Queen Anne's Revenge" were sung by bassist Nathan Maxwell.
* [[Five Iron Frenzy]]: "Beautiful America" and "Second Season" were sung by trombonist Dennis Culp.
* [[Kiss]]: "Beth", sung by Peter Criss and "Shock Me" by Ace Frehley.
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* [[Weezer]]'s ''Red Album'' gave ''everyone'' a song in the limelight: Drummer Patrick Wilson sings "Automatic", guitarist Brian Bell sings "Thought I Knew" (a reworking of a song by his side-project The Relationship), and bassist Scott Shriner sings "Cold Dark World" and the bonus track "King".
* All but one children's album released by [[They Might Be Giants]] to date has included a song written and performed by bassist Danny Weinkauf: "Where Do They Make Balloons", "Number Two" and "I Am A Paleontologist". Guitarist Dan Miller also provided "Infinity" for their third one.
* [[Pearl Jam]]'s "Mankind", written and sung by Stone Gossard. There's also "Whale Song", a [[Protest Song]] against whale hunting written and sung by drummer Jack Irons (with Eddie Vedder singing backup for the chorus).
* [[Relient K]] gave every band member - even brand new drummer Ethan Luck - a song in the limelight on their odds-and-ends collection ''The Nashville Tennis EP''. Also, the hidden track "Good King Wenceslaus" on their Christmas album has each member imitating choirboys singing in falsetto, except for one who can't hack it and attempts to sing bass instead. [[Hilarity Ensues]].
* [[Nirvana]]'s "Marigold", written and sung by Dave Grohl - it's also the only officially released Nirvana song that Kurt Cobain had no participation in (Krist Novaselic played bass and Dave Grohl played everything else). Despite the fact that it was an obscure b-side, the song even started getting some radio airplay once [[Foo Fighters]] were growing in popularity.
** Krist sings "Get Together" in the intro of "Territorial Pissings", but just for laughs. Though, when asked about it later, he said that it was meant to make listeners ask themselves what happened to the ideals of [[The Sixties]].
* Likewise, once Dave Grohl got [[Foo Fighters|his own band]], drummer Taylor Hawkins got to sing "Cold Day in the Sun" on the second disc of ''In Your Honor''. He also sings it, while drumming, on several live DVDs and CDs the Foo Fighters have put out, and outside of the drum kit he performed [[Led Zeppelin|Whole Lotta Love]] with Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones on the Wembley Stadium DVD (Grohl took his place at the drum kit).
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** Mason also gets credit for delivering the only lyric ("One of these days I'm going to cut you into little pieces") from "One of These Days".
* [[Green Day]]: for full songs,drummer Tré Cool sings "Dominated Love Slave" and "All By Myself", and bassist Mike Dirnt sings b-side "Governator"; for suites, ''[[American Idiot]]'' has one part of "Homecoming" sung by Cool ("Rock N' Roll Girlfriend") and one by Dirnt ("Nobody Likes You"), and ''[[21st Century Breakdown|Twenty First Century Breakdown]]'' has Dirnt singing half of "American Eulogy" ("Modern World").
* Adrian Smith sings lead vocals on "Reach Out" for [[Iron Maiden]]. Possibly parodied by an "[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmyoMTp60cE attempt]" at making drummer [[Crazy Awesome|Nicko]] [[Fun Personified|McBrain]] sing. [[Crowning Moment of Funny|It's hilarious]]. ([http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9J3rHHVk94&feature=related the original song], just for comparison).
* Some [[Alabama]] album cuts feature bassist Teddy Gentry or guitarist/fiddler Jeff Cook on lead vocal instead of Randy Owen.
* Michigan comedic musical group [[Da Yoopers]] usually gives the lead vocal to the lead guitarist/main songwriter (originally Joe Potila; Jim Bellmore since 1995). If they need a female vocal, it's keyboardist Lynn Bellmore. However, several albums feature a lead vocal from one of the other members. Pretty much the only exceptions were original bassist Jim Pennell, third bassist Dave "Doc" Bradbury and current drummer Bobby Symons. Also, Bobby's predecessor Jerry Coffey never got a lead vocal until he gave up the drums to be just a singer, comedy skit actor and occasional conga player.
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** Also, Flea's song "Pea" from the album ''One Hot Minute''.
* Country music band Trick Pony released only one single with a different lead vocal: "Just What I Do", on which Keith Burns sang instead of Heidi Newfield. Both Burns and third member Ira Dean got lead vocals on a few album cuts.
* "Hourglass" by At The Drive-In, sung by rhythm guitarist Jim Ward - Ward would go on to front Sparta, whose lineup mostly consisted of other former members of ATDI.
* Faces: Ron Wood sings "Ooh La La", while Ronnie Lane sings "Richmond", "You're So Rude", "Debris", and "Last Orders Please".
* While other members frequently wrote the lyrics and music to songs, the only time someone other than [[Mike Patton]] took lead vocals on a Mr. Bungle song was on "The Secret Song", sung/spoken by bassist Trevor Dunn. Strangely, this ended up happening because the band originally left Dunn out of the song entirely: The song was written and recorded without him, and when he stumbled upon the track on his own, he jokingly retaliated by secretly recording lyrics about how angry he was about being left out of the song. The rest of the group was amused enough to keep it in, then they furthered the in-joke by not listing the song anywhere on the artwork to ''Disco Volante''.
* Fugazi mostly have Ian MacKaye and Guy Picciotto as a [[Vocal Tag Team]], but bassist Joe Lally takes the lead for the song "By You".
* [[Madness (band)|Madness]]. Suggs sings most songs, but Cathal Smyth and Lee Thompson also take the lead on occasion; the latter's usual live Song In The Limelight is ''Razor Blade Alley''.
* The Mighty Mighty Bosstones' b-side "Chocolate Pudding" has saxophonist Tim "Johnny Vegas" Burton on lead vocals.
* Originally, the country band Lonestar had two lead singers: Richie McDonald and John Rich. They also split the vocals in slight favor of Richie over John, but only ever released one single with him on lead: "Heartbroke Every Day". (Coincidentally, this song charted at the same time that McDonald made a guest appearance on Mindy McCready's "Maybe He'll Notice Her Now".)
** After John was fired from the band in 1998, he went solo and later founded Big & Rich with Big Kenny, where this trope cropped up again. Big Kenny got lead on the majority of their singles, and the only ones on which John Rich sang lead were "Never Mind Me" and "[[Black Sheep Hit|Lost in This Moment]]".
* Guster usually has a singing switching between Ryan and Adam. However, fourth member Joe has his own song, "I Hope Tomorrow Is Like Today", where Ryan and Adam sing back up vocals. During live shows, the band also occasionally does a "Chinese Fire Drill", where everyone switches instruments and roles and plays a song, [[For the Lulz|badly]].
* There's a [[Early Installment Weirdness|couple examples of this on]] [[Steely Dan]]'s debut album ''Can't Buy A Thrill'': "Midnite Cruiser" is sung by drummer Jim Hodder. "Dirty Work", "Brooklyn (Owes the Charmer Under Me)" and part of "Turn That Heartbeat Over Again" are sung by David Palmer, who was hired as the band's "lead singer" for live shows because the band's actual lead singer/songwriter Donald Fagen suffered from stage fright. Fagen and his songwriting partner Walter Becker eventually completely took over the band and retired from public performance, and fired the auxillary members, which meant that after the first album, all other recordings in the band's catalog were sung by Donald Fagen.
** Actually, Donald Fagen didn't want to sing as he thought the band would get more airplay with a professional sounding vocalist. This is proven by the fact they have guest vocalists on their early demos long before they played any shows, not to mention their first single "Dallas", sung by Jim Hodder (which doesn't appear on an album). Donald sang on all the songs from their second album onwards to give the albums a sense of unity, but he got David Palmer and Royce Jones to perform vocals on the Countdown To Ecstasy and Pretzel Logic tours. They only sacked the extra vocalists when they became a studio-only band for The Royal Scam.
** Walter Becker, who didn't do much singing aside from the odd backing vocal as he was more involved with the band's instrumentation, gets a long-awaited lead vocal on "Slang of Ages" from 2003's ''Everything Must Go''.
* [[Mercury Rev]]'s "Hudson Line" had guitarist Grasshopper take lead vocals instead of Jonathan Donahue.
* [[Linkin Park]] is well known for its [[Vocal Tag Team]] of Chester Bennington and Mike Shinoda, although Shinoda himself became famous for his rapping in tandem with Chester's wide-ranged, versatile singing, which could range from anywhere from clean to [[Harsh Vocals]] to a full-blown [[Metal Scream]]. While 'Minutes To Midnight' featured much less rapping from Shinoda, he got an entire song to himself in "In Between" and has been singing quite a bit more on songs since then.
* The Goo Goo Dolls have John Rzeznik and Robby Takac. Rzeznik is known for being the voice behind hits like "Name" and "Iris", but until close to that point, Takac was actually the lead vocalist as the band had mainly punk influences, with Rzeznik getting a song - usually a ballad - in the limelight every so often. Since the band found more mainstream success, it's been the other way around. Rzeznik has taken over as the main lead vocalist, but Robby Takac still sings lead on at least two or three songs per album.
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* [[Motley Crue]] played around with this trope a bit on their ''Generation Swine'' album, which features one song sung by Nikki Sixx ("Rocketship") and another by Tommy Lee ("Brandon"). Also, Nikki's vocals are so prominent on the songs "Beauty" and "Find Myself" that Vince's contributions to those tracks could be taken for backup vocals.
* [[The Corrs]] is a four part band of three sisters and a brother. The two instrument playing sisters, one who plays drums and the other the violin, are both incredibly talented vocalists in their own right. The most prominent example of them singing lead is the song ''No Frontiers''.
* Billy Howerdel is the founding member of A Perfect Circle, but mainly sticks to lead guitar and backing vocals. However, he does sing lead on their covers of [[Devo]]'s "Freedom Of Choice" and [[Depeche Mode]]'s "People Are People". There's an acoustic version of "Orestes" with his lead vocals that was released as a b-side, but that may not count, since it was a solo demo recorded before the rest of the band got together.
* [[Creedence Clearwater Revival]]'s ''Mardi Gras'' was their final album and the only one to feature any members other than John Fogerty writing or singing songs. In fact, Stu Cook and Doug Clifford get three songs each, with Fogerty only contributing three originals and one cover.
* Bob 2 from [[Devo]] got their semi-cover of "Secret Agent Man". Jerry Casale explained that he was chosen for the song because he is the most everyman looking member of the group.
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* Alison Krauss & Union Station sometimes gives Dan Tyminski or Ron Block the lead vocal. It can be quite disconcerting to listen to a song by a band with that name, then hear a male voice singing.
* [[Rascal Flatts]] has only done two songs where this trope fits: all three members (lead singer Gary LeVox, bassist Jay DeMarcus and guitarist Joe Don Rooney) split the lead on "Long Slow Beautiful Dance" and their version of "God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen". Also, on a 2011 Christmas special created by the Country Music Association, DeMarcus and Rooney sang most of "Mary, Did You Know?" by themselves.
* Keith Richards got two lead vocal showcases on [[The Rolling Stones]]' ''Exile On Main St.'' ("Happy" and "Soul Survivor"), and he's generally sung lead on at least one song on every album since. Meanwhile, "In Another Land" is the only Rolling Stones song to be sung by Bill Wyman.
* [[The Oak Ridge Boys]]. Duane Allen is called the lead singer, but the other three have gotten their turns. Most notably, tenor Joe Bonsall sang lead on their [[Signature Song]] "Elvira" and "I Guess It Never Hurts to Hurt Sometimes", baritone William Lee Golden on "Trying to Love Two Women" and "I Wish You Could Have Turned My Head (And Left My Heart Alone)", and [[Basso Profundo]] Richard Sterban on "Dream On". All four take turns on "American Made".
** Interestingly, the band kicked out baritone vocalist William Lee Golden in 1987 and replaced him with Steve Sanders, who got lead on almost every big hit during his tenure except "True Heart", which Allen sang. (Golden rejoined in 1995.)
* [[Brooks and Dunn]] released six singles with Kix Brooks on lead: "Lost and Found", "Rock My World (Little Country Girl)", "You're Gonna Miss Me When I'm Gone" (the only of their 20 #1's that he sang lead on), "Mama Don't Get Dressed Up for Nothing", "Why Would I Say Goodbye" and "South of Santa Fe". The last of those was released in 1999, a good 10 years before they split up, and supposedly withdrawn just shy of the top 40 because program directors were saying that they didn't want another Kix song. And on most of the other 44 songs, Kix is either barely audible (perhaps because they tended to use studio backing vocalists as well) or just plain nonexistant.
* [[The Velvet Underground]] had ''three'' lead singers on rotating duty - [[Lou Reed]] and [[Nico]] on the first album, Lou and Doug Yule on the last two - but bass/piano/viola player John Cale ("Lady Godiva's Operation", "The Gift") and drummer Maureen Tucker ("After Hours", "I'm Sticking With You") also got to sing two each.
* Noel Redding of the [[Jimi Hendrix]] Experience got to sing a song of his own on both ''Axis: Bold As Love'' ("She's So Fine", with backing vocals by Mitch Mitchell) and ''Electric Ladyland'' ("Little Miss Strange").
* Jonathan Cain of Journey has lead vocals on "All That Really Matters" on the Time3 box set.
* Sister Hazel is somewhere between this trope and [[Vocal Tag Team]] with Drew Copeland, who sings at least one song per album (except the first) at lead vocals. Also, guitarist Ryan Newell did all the vocals for "Christmas Time Again", on their Christmas album, ''Santa's Playlist''.
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* [[OK Go]]'s Tim Nordwind sings "C-C-C-Cinnamon Lips". So far this is the only song of theirs not to have Damian Kulash on lead vocals.
* On the first Dinosaur Jr album, J. Mascis and Lou Barlow actually had something of a [[Vocal Tag Team]] approach. All other albums featuring Barlow have him only singing lead on one or two songs, including the reunion albums ''Beyond'' and ''Farm''.
* Johnny Hickman usually gets one to three songs on any given Cracker album, or else doesn't sing lead at all (though he also sings lead on various [[B-Side]] or compilation tracks). Also, "What You're Missing" is notable for giving everyone in the then-current lineup a [[Piss-Take Rap]] style verse.
* [[
* For the Max Webster song "A Million Vacations", lead vocals were provided by drummer Gary McCracken rather than usual singer Kim Mitchell.
* On ''Yeah!'', [[Def Leppard]]'s album of cover songs, the [[Queen]] song "Dear Friends" is sung, punk-style, by bassist Rick Savage.
* While most of their original songs are written by either Chris White or Rod Argent, Colin Blunstone generally plays the role of lead singer in The Zombies. ''Odessey And Oracle'' had some exceptions though: Rod Argent sang lead on "I Want Her She Wants Me", while Chris White sang "Butcher's Tale (Western Front 1914)" and a verse of "Brief Candles".
* [[XTC]] are usually based around the [[Vocal Tag Team]] of Andy Partridge and Colin Moulding. However, ''Go 2'' had Barry Andrews, keyboardist for their first two albums, sing "My Weapon" and "Super-Tuff".
* [[Heart]] normally features Ann Wilson as the lead singer with her sister Nancy on the guitar. Nancy, however, has performed lead vocals on several songs, most notably "These Dreams", Heart's first #1 single.
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* The Kentucky Headhunters have taken both versions of this trope:
** Initially, Ricky Lee Phelps sang lead and played harmonica, while his brother Doug sang backup and played bass. Both Phelpses left in the 1990s over Ricky Lee's [[Creative Differences]], with Mark S. Orr taking over on lead and Anthony Kenney as bassist/backing vocalist. Orr left after only one album (also over creative differences) and Doug rejoined because he didn't really want to leave in the first place; since Ricky Lee didn't want to rejoin, Doug took over as lead singer. After Kenney left in the late 2000s, Doug has also become a [[Lead Bassist]].
** The other side of this trope comes in on ''Songs from the Grass String Ranch'', which gave one song each to brothers Richard and Fred Young (respectively the rhythm guitarist and drummer). Richard has since gotten lead on a couple more songs on subsequent albums, and is now the main backing vocalist after Kenney's departure (although lead guitarist Greg Martin sometimes sings backing vocals too).
* An odd variation came with [[Country Music]] band Little Texas. Initially, Tim Rushlow was the lead singer, but keyboardist/multi-instrumentalist Brady Seals got some songs in the limelight (including their only #1 hit, "My Love"). Seals left for a solo career in 1995 and was replaced by Jeff Huskins, who never got a chance at lead vocal since the band only did one album with him before disbanding in 1997. The other four members (drummer Del Gray, guitarist Porter Howell, rhythm guitarist Dwayne O'Brien and bassist Duane Propes) reunited in 2004 with new lead singer Steven Troy, as both Seals and Rushlow had founded other bands at that point. Troy didn't last long as lead vocalist, so guitarist Porter Howell got promoted to lead singer. Although Howell had been in the group since day one, he was previously ''just'' the guitarist, and never contributed even a backing vocal.
* After lead singer Larry Stewart left Restless Heart, the band recorded ''Big Iron Horses'' with the lead vocals split among drummer John Dittrich (who got lead on their first post-Stewart singles, "When She Cries" and "We Got the Love"), bassist Paul Gregg and keyboardist Dave Innis (the single "Mending Fences"), with guitarist Greg Jennings as the odd man out. After Innis left, they recorded one album with just Dittrich, Gregg and Jennings (and several session musicians) before breaking up. When all five members got back together in 2004, their reunion album included Stewart on most of the lead vocals, but gave a couple songs in the limelight to the other members.
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[[Category:Music Tropes]]
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