Put every musical artist in a room and on stage, who draws the audience and keeps it?

The smart people are watching Zappa.

 

Morrissey

 

Impossible to answer without knowing who's in the "audience".

 

ridiculous statement

 

Tie...

Red Hot Chili Peppers

and

the drummer...

Spoiler

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Actually, the first part is fairly easy to answer- look at who are the top-selling musical artists of all time. So, in a room of every single one, I'd gather that the top 7, the only ones to sell 250 million or more, would be the ones to draw the biggest audiences:

1. The Beatles- 600 million records sold
2. Elvis Presley- 600 million
3. Michael Jackson- 400 million
4. Madonna- 300 million
5. Elton John- 300 million
6. Led Zeppelin- 300 million
7. Pink Floyd- 250 million

The reason that's not exact, of course, is that there is a difference between an artist having more casual fans and an artist having more devotional fans. For example, even though Madonna has sold the same as Zeppelin, I'd bet that there are much more devoted Zep fans than Madonna fans. Not to slight her, just a guess.

But when you talk about the big 3, you're talking about 400 million-plus- I think you could absolutely make a case that all 3 would draw the largest audiences- those are just too big. Maybe even make the case that the Beatles and Elvis stand alone- but we'll throw Michael in there b/c 400 really is significant (and his records are selling more rapidly now than Elvis).

So, we're left with those 3- who keeps them there? Who do more people flock to? Live, clearly Elvis and Michael were more compelling than the Beatles- but with the Beatles, you've got 4 of them that are icons. So, I'm guessing that Jackson would have the 3rd biggest audience, the Beatles would have the 2nd, and Elvis would be #1 in terms of keeping them there. Very unscientific, but as close as you could get, I suppose.

 

Prime The Who is the act nobody wants to follow.

 

Maybe the better question- on a dual bill, your choice, who is your opening act and who is your headliner for the ultimate concert? Mine would be Queen opening up and The Who headlining. Best concert of all time.

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Prince

 

Muse opening for Zeppelin would make my head explode.

 

If every artist was on stage playing it would be a barrage of noise and you wouldn't be able to hear what anybody in particular was playing. Therefore whoever people find the most attractive would get the most attention.

In the OP's case that would be Jerry Lee Lewis.

 

So... p***y cat dolls?

 

Gotta be Michael Jackson

 

Elton John sillyz

 

Gavid Hasselhoff singing in German.

At least it'll make Yung-T and SJC sexy time explosion.

 

Obviously Hendrix.

Buddy Rich with a virtuoso drum session would hold everyone's attention too.

 

I still think y'all are discounting the attention dinosaurs and the cutting off of heads would draw.

 

FTW. :grin: What a hellish concert this would be. Because "every artist" would have to include the Butthole Surfers, GWAR, Slayer, the Mentors, Tori Amos, and so forth, all at once.

Good luck with that. I would run screaming.

 

Ooh and Hanson

 

Good point. Let's change the direction of this thread.

What four bands would sound the worst when combined? (This does not mean the four worst bands.)

For me: Butthole Surfers (even though I like them), Tori Amos, the Miami Sound Machine, and Einstürzende Neubauten.

Hard to keep Hanson out of there though.