Originally Posted by
Eric
Back to NWB's point, I do agree that most non-musicians probably couldn't name many people from the rhythm section of the bands they listen to, unless the bassist is also the singer. Doesn't mean the bass n' drums aren't important, but that's kind of how it is. Come to think of it, I'm not sure there are that many non-singing guitarists who the general public would know. Certainly more than the number of bassists and drummers, but there are probably plenty of people who don't know anybody other than the singer.
I'd say that for most people (general population -- music nuts and musicians aside), ability to recognize/know the name of a member of a band probably goes like this:
75% singer
20% guitarist
3% bassist
2% drummer
That is to say that if they were to name a member of a band, the likelihood it would be a given role in the band is based on the percentages. I've never really thought about this before, but it's an interesting thing to think about.