THE POWER TRIO 

You forgot my friends' power-trio they had in high-school in the 80's.

MUSE! That modern Power Trio band are beasts in their own instruments! Also a great live band!

Rush had a sound that was so full , it really was unbelievable!

Seeing geddy and Alex back to back with double necks gives me goose bumps every time

So glad King's X got a mention. Easily one of the most underrated / unheard of bands around. They're top tier great.

Fantastically unique band Morphine, awesome power trio, with drums, 2string slide bass, and saxophone.

I love seeing Silverchair on this list. They're often overlooked, but their debut album was written and released when the members were 15 years old and is still one of my favourites from the 90s.

Additional benefit: the money has be split only three ways not four or five!!🤣

King Crimson during the red album: Robert Fripp (guitar) John Wetton (vocals and bass) and Bill Bruford (drums)

Oh Jesus Rick, how can you forget Boston, a Power Trio of Tom Scholz and Tom Scholz with Tom Scholz on bass guitar.

Mahogany Rush. Those guys melted my face many times. A sublime fusion of great songs, raw power and supreme confidence. They came onstage for blood.

Would love to see a ‘What makes this song great’ on ANY ELP song. Or perhaps King Crimson Epitaph. We need more thoughts from you on prog rock!

Husker Du. Many bands cite them as an influence, from Nirvana to The Pixies.

King Crimson recorded as a trio one of their most great albums: "Red"

After nearly 10 years of playing in 4 or more piece bands, two friends of mine from university and I formed a trio. It’s the most fun I’ve ever had jamming, writing music, and playing live. It gives each instrument so much more space to fill so getting experimental and flashy feels encouraged and fits well. When playing live you also just have so much more physical space to move around without a 4th person plus their gear so we go nuts on stage and wind up the crowd. It’s also easier to signal changes to each other since we only have to communicate with the other 2 musicians. I grew up listening to Rush, ELP, Blue Cheer, JHE, Mountain, and Cream with my father so I have lots of love for the power trio and plenty of studio and live recordings to draw inspiration from. I know a lot of older musicians probably already figured out what I’ve just gushed about years ago but this is just a young musician’s perspective on being able to experience this sort of musical freedom for the first time. The crowd seems to love it too, we’ve got a good number of shows under our belt so far and we’re weaning out covers with our originals. At all the shows we’ve played, even if we aren’t the tightest band of the night, we always get the crowd the most riled up since we can move and jam the most, keeping things interesting and fun. Just two weeks ago our guitarist/singer and I (bass) were crowd surfing when we closed out our set, first time I’ve ever been able to do so at one of my gigs!

When Rick mentioned King's X, I quite literally yelled "YEAH!!!".

Love and Rockets, Trio (the band), Slater-Kinney, Morphine, the Melvins, America (the band), the James Gang, Jawbreaker, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Stray Cats, Them Crocked Vultures, Violent Femmes. Current fav Power Trio; Kadavar.

Don’t forget Gov’t Mule the southern rock jam band formed by guitarist Warren Haynes and bassist Allen Woody both formerly of The Allman Brothers. Fantastic band live and in the studio. (RIP Allen)

Thank you for mentioning Triumph. I learned to play lead guitar by listening to Rik Emmett. He made simple pentatonic solos sound great! And oh man his jazz and classical chops are off the charts!

Other than English speaking bands often get overlooked, Soda Estereo from Argentina was an amazing rock band who were huge around the world in the Eighties and Nineties

I'm going with The James Gang as most overlooked.

What about Morphine? Bass, drums and saxophone. They weren't around long, but that combination was unique.

I must mention Budgie ! Definately one of the most underrated bands of all times; not the best, but damn underrated.

I am so stoked that you mentioned The Jam!! The brilliance of Paul Weller gets overlooked far too much.

Recently i like The Winery Dog pretty much. Ritchie Kotzen - Guitar & Lead Vocal Billy Sheehan - Bass & Vocal Mike Portnoy - Drums & Vocal They're so rockin' power trio

I love the Triumph mention! Such an underrated band.

You forgot Trio- guitarist John Mayer, bassist Pino Palladino and drummer Steve Jordan,

Dada! The greatest band you've never heard of. Stellar harmonies, songwriting, musicianship, and a badass live band! They are soooo much more than Dizz Knee Land.

The Jeff Healey Band. Jeff was an inspiration. RIP.

So glad to see King's X included. Most underrated band of all time.

Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble. Need I say more.

You need to do a separate Power Trio GOAT list--the one that could fill 80 thousand seat stadium power houses only. Rush- Muse. I would love a whole episode on them.

Im always so damn happy when someone mentions Rush😊😊😊

Shellac and Nomeansno are a couple of power trios that have been around for decades that are still killin' it.

The Warning is a power trio where all three members have sung lead, but are typically handled by the guitarist, or drummer, like Triumph.

Rick, really surprised you didn't mention Frank Marino & Mahogany Rush...truly a guitarist that was ahead of his time and just incredible to watch!!

You forgot the blues based "Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble" and "The Jeff Healey Band"

Animals As Leaders, one of the most interesting of the recent prog metal/experimental prog bands. Brilliantly technical and intensely creative.

Violent Femmes!! The finest power trio I know.

I love the heck out of The Police, no question. I'd also add The Stray Cats for their influence, skill, and...just coming out of nowhere to add something fresh when punk was king.

80s underground trios that made grunge possible: Husker Du (most important), Meat Puppets, and Minutemen. Huge oversight.

Thank you so much for not sleeping on King’s X, I think they’re one of the most underrated bands of all time with great individual members who groove and harmonize like no others. 👍🏽

This concept of amplification removing the need for a rhythm guitar is even more true today, if you do like Royal Blood - use a pedal/amp setup that makes the bass sound like a bass AND a guitar.

Cream had a bassist as a vocalist. The best power trio of all time

BUDGIE. Easily one of the most underrated bands of the 70's.

I felt pretty sure Rush would be mentioned, and I'm glad they were (and the same regarding the Police). But King's X is a sometimes forgotten about/ not thought of band. I'm glad to see them mentioned, as well. Thanks. 8)

in Quebec, we had Harmonium in mid-70s who started out as a trio (2 guitars and one bass), tho additionnal musicians were added to some songs (pianists, drummers, etc.). They added 2 official members for their 2nd album and then another 2 for their 3rd and last album... Those are 3 of the classic albums made in Quebec

Thank you for including Triumph .. fantastic live power trio.

Budgie, Taste (Rory Gallagher), Wolfmother, Tiger Army, Soft Machine, Prong, Mahogany Rush (Frank Marino), Trapeze (Glen Hughes), The Gun, Atomic Rooster 🐓

Glad you mentioned The Jam. A brilliant band.

hey, props for shout outs to lesser known bands like Failure. I've been into Failure since 1996, and was the only kid at my high school who seemed to know about them; always happy when I see someone recognize them. Most reviews of power trios just cover the big ones like Cream and the Police. Good to see you talking up some of these other groups.

Cream was not only a power trio, they were also a supergroup.

I think it would have been funny to omit Nirvana and watch the internet explode.

Nerd moment: That clip of Primus doing "Jerry Was a Racecar Driver" at 4:19 was from the Dennis Miller Show, not SNL. Nonetheless, great video, Rick!

Don't forget that little trio from San Pedro, The Minutemen, they would have been huge!!

So happy to see Triumph included. Amazing Power Trio!

You forgot TASTE featuring the amazing Rory Gallagher, they killed it at the Isle of wight Festival...and then Rory Gallagher's own band after Taste broke up.

Everyone's bringing up bands he didn't mention, and I'm just over here worrying about the way he pronounced Tush

TRIUMPH was one of the most talented power trios. TRIUMPH's guitarist Rik EMMETT is one of the most talented and versatile guitarists in rock.

Animals as Leaders The Cure (started as trio) Genesis (after Gabriel left) Depeche mode (after Wilder left) The Enemy

Kudos for the Russian Circles mention. So under-known.

Thank you so much for this video. I fell in love instantly with King's X. I think they are my favorite band right now.

Budgie. Zebra - whose first album was the quickest selling gold album for a first album for Atlantic Records. (Yes That Includes Zeppelin)

Glad you mentioned Grand Funk. Especially when you talk about the bass filling the void. I listened to their live album (Monterey) on vinyl the other day (had not heard it for decades - same album I had when I was 13 years old) and was blown away by the bass sound. Filled that hole with molten lead.

Thanks for playing Rush’ best song, Xanadu.

James Gang, Ten Years After, Taste, Johnny Winter, Robin Trower Band, Mountain, and Govt Mule are all great power trios driven by great guitarists.

Emerson Lake and Palmer is so underrated... songs like "Nobody Loves You Like I Do" and "Closer to Believing" were unbelievably good and overlooked by most of the music world.

The Fall of Troy is one of my favorite power trios. Spectacular live.

Morphine - sax, drums and one string bass

One more power trio for part 2: *Budgie* . I read all the comments and no one mentioned them. They had a massive influence in Rock and Metal bands like Iron Maiden, Metallica, Megadeth, Van Halen, Melvins, Queens of the Stone Age, Alice in Chains or Soundgarden. : )

In addition to ELP, The Nice and Egg were great keyboard/bass/drums power trios, ditto the second version of UK. Jeff Beck has done great things both in the traditional guitar/bass/drums setup with Beck, Bogert & Appice, and the drums/keyboard/guitar setting of Jeff Beck's Guitar Shop.

(This isn’t an exhaustive list.) • the James Gang • Beck, Bogert & Appice • the Robin Trower Band • West, Bruce & Laing • Genesis (after Steve Hackett’s departure) • the Stray Cats • Zebra • Phantom, Rocker & Slick • Emerson, Lake & Powell • 3 (Emerson, Berry & Palmer) • Eve 6

Rory Gallagher’s power trio is up there too

Big Head Todd, at least at the beginning of the band's history, with their folks, jam band, blues/soul vibe. Great to see this genre covered, mahalo!

You need a video on the power duo. You can include Royal Blood, Death from Above 1979, Twenty-One Pilots, and The White Stripes.

Robin trower deserves its own video if not already (if it does someone tell me please!). For anyone not familiar check out the live performances of "bridge of sighs" and "too rolling stoned". Really underrated guys.

Have to say the omission of Stray Cats is very odd. They rank among the very very best. Still, a great video.

You missed a trio that includes one of you favorite drummers and a member of Led Zeppelin. Them Crooked Voltures.

the thelonious monk trio, the Monkees- "instant replay" and dee-lite. what a fun post. love and respect rick.

Dude I love your videos. Just when you think you know music, here comes Rick to show you the ocean you're swimming in.

Stray Cats Rockabilly Rules! With Brian Setzer they are tops!

Good old King's X. Still out there doing what they do :)

Hey Rick, thank you for your excellent videos. First of all, I believe you would have to "define" what a Power Trio is. Where I am trying to get to is if a Power Trio is defined by who is on the cover of the record or it is based on both, record covers and actual concerts. I always liked The Police, who didn´t? But when I saw them live back in Houston, first row, I must say I was pretty disappointed. Besides the actual trio, they had three girls singing, a guy hitting the bongos, and two other guys playing something else. That is not a Power Trio, that is a freaking orchestra. Now, when I saw Rush, I was blown away, despite sounding like an orchestra (you all know what I mean), always it was those three monsters with double necks, synth, classic guitars, ......you name it, they had it and they were the only ones playing it all....just unbeatable. I could not could not give an opinion about Cream or Hendrix cause I never saw them live. I wasn´t born yet. No band on earth equals Rush for their complexity and lyricism, hands down....

Probably somebody already said this, but Steve Miller Band. I was blown away when I found out SMB was only 3 people! "Swingtown" in particular, sounds like at least 5 musicians!

Wolfmother. Their debut album is brilliant (and at that time it was a power trio)!

Ive watched two of your vids now. This one and the best bassist one. Your forgot the VIOLENT FEMMES both times. They are legends

Must include Traffic, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Beck Bogert and Apice, Gino Vanelli, Gary Wright, Keane, Rory Gallagher, Pat Matheney, Genesis, Stanley Clarke, Johnny Winter, Fresh Aire, Crosby Stills and Nash, Stevie Wonder, Tangerine Dream, Jan Akkerman, Al Dimeola, and Fracaso from Mexico City in which I played!!

The Jam. Punk deserves so much more recognition.

glad the jam got mentioned they are massive in the uk but practically unheard of in america

So cool that Russian Circles got a mention. Absolutely love that band.

The Scottish band Clouds-originally called 1-2-3. I saw them in 1970 opening for Jethro Tull and they put on one of the best live performances I've ever seen!

Morphine. Baritone sax, drums, and two-string slide bass. Phenomenal music from the '90s. The Presidents of the United States of America. "Lump" and "Peaches."

Rick, when can we expect a King's X "What makes This Song Great?" episode? Wonderful to see them included here.

You mention fIREHOSE but not Minutemen?! Or Husker Du, Meat Puppets?

Everclear - Their first commercially successful album "Sparkle and Fade" was very underrated. There are some really deep cuts on that album and it's worth a complete listen by any hard rock/alternative fan.

In Spanish rock there were also great power trio bands like SodaStereo, Enanitos Verdes. At the moment they are the 2 bands that I remember.

umm, all those 90's bands were influenced by one of the best 80s power trios: Hüsker Dü.

Glad you mentioned Silverchair. Also, The Living End is another awesome Australian act! Real pros!

I didn't realize how many power trios I was into until seeing this. I had kinda forgotten about King's X who had a really cool sound. Doug Pinnick had that trippy 8-string bass. Always love your content, Rick!

Love that you mentioned Triumph... I saw them three times and that Rick guy is one hell of a guitar player and as a singer. Suitcase blues is a great surprising song.