Rock music would likely never have existed without the advent of the electric guitar. Even when the rhythm section still had a stand up bass there were guys like Chuck Barry playing guitar chords through maxed out amps, but as many bands have shown through the years, you don’t actually need a guitar to rock. I present to you, in no particular order, a non-comprehensive list of nine bands who didn’t bother with a guitarist.
1. Ben Folds Five
North Carolina’s Ben Folds isn’t exactly a household name but he is a well known producer and collaborator in the music industry. Before going solo with “Rockin’ The Suburbs” in 2001, Folds spent the 90’s leading power-pop trio Ben Folds Five. Consisting of piano, bass, and drums, BFF went platinum with 1997’s Whatever and Ever Amen. While the band’s catchy songs are usually sardonic and witty, they’re best known for the emotionally sincere “Brick”, a devastating song about Folds taking his high school girlfriend to get an abortion.
Ben Folds Five reunited for 2012’s The Sound Of The Life Of The Mind, and have been active on and off since.
2. The Garden
Hailing from Orange County, California, The Garden is pretty much undefinable genre-wise. Hopping from style to style, usually in the same song, twin brothers (and working fashion models) Wyatt and Fletcher Shears started the band in 2011, associated with the Burger Records scene.
Honestly, a lot of the time they just kind of sound like shit, but this only makes their music more interesting as they experiment with everything from punk to hyperpop to art rock and maintain an intentionally grimy lo-fi sound throughout. Much like the black metal corpse face paint they wear, The Garden choose to conceal their clever, inventive songs in a layer of irony and muck. They’re a lot of fun though, and I think that’s the whole point.
3. Death From Above 1979
This Toronto dance punk bass-and-drums duo was one of the biggest bands of the so-called “indie sleaze” era on the strength of a single perfect album, 2004’s You’re a Woman, I’m a Machine. With a huge, overdriven buzzsaw sound, bassist Sebastian Grainger more than made up for the lack of a guitarist. DFA could have released a follow up and cashed in like many of their contemporaries, instead of all that, they broke up at peak popularity in 2006.
Having released three albums since reuniting in 2012, DFA have allowed their sound to evolve naturally, sometimes sounding a bit more commercial without resorting to sounding like Royal Blood (a band that could be on this list if they didn’t suck). While their debut is an era-defining classic, it would be a mistake to ignore everything they’ve done since.
4. Morphine
Cambridge, Massachusetts alt rock trio Morphine formed in 1989 and consisted of drummer Billy Conway, baritone saxophnist Dana Colley and bassist Mark Sandman, who played with only two strings on his bass and sang in a deep croon. The low-end frequency theme of the band lent them a trademark sound that was unique but feels at home in its grunge-dominated era. Sandman tragically passed away from a fatal heart attack onstage in 1999, ending the the band. The remaining members did a tribute tour with friends of the band shortly after and kept his memory alive as touring act “Members of Morphine” until Colley’s death in 2021.
5. The Dresden Dolls
Amanda Palmer, singer and pianist for Boston dark cabaret duo The Dresden Dolls is a true original. Starting the band in 2000 with drummer Brian Viglione, Palmer rose to fame with her larger than life, outspoken personality. Before going on an extended hiatus in 2008, The Dresden Dolls released three quirky albums that are still in a class by themselves, eccentrically messing up standard rock formulas with their minimal instrumentation.
The band reunited in 2022 after years of occasional one-off performances, and are said to be working on material for a new album.
6. The Inbreds
Formed in 1992 in Kingston, Ontario, The Inbreds were the oddball bass-and-drums two-piece in Canada’s 90’s alt rock scene. With melodic harmonies and a tuneful pop sensibility similar to peers like Sloan and The Super Friendz, The Inbreds also had a heavier, stripped down, fuzzy sound. Legend has it they turned down Sub Pop Records because the label wanted them to add a guitarist.
The Inbreds amicably split up in 1998 but still occasionally play live shows together and have maintained a cult following.
7. The HU
In 2019, Mongolian folk metal band The HU took YouTube by storm with their video for “Wolf Totem”. An unexpected sound from a very unexpected place, the chanted throat singing and just general badassness of the whole endevour could not be ignored by anyone that came across it, and The HU, formed in 2016, became the first Mongolian act to chart a billboard #1. Since then they have released two albums and worked with members of System of a Down, Alice In Chains, and Halestorm, among others. In lieu of guitars, The HU utlize drums, bass and traditional Mongolian instruments such as the morin khuur and tovshuur.
8. Lightning Bolt
Formed in 1994 while attending the Rhode Island School of Design, Lightning Bolt gained wider attention in the mid 2000’s due to constant touring with fellow noise mongers of the era like The Locust and Melt Banana. Influenced by Japanese noise rock, the band’s huge, apocalyptic sound features the frenzied rhythms of drummer Brian Chipendale (who sings through a mask outfitted with a telephone receiver microphone) and the booming distorted bass of Brian Gibson.
The band is still active, albeit with long breaks between records, the most recent of which is 2019’s Sonic Citadel.
9. Trioscapes
Atlanta’s Instrumental prog rock/jazz fusion three-piece Trioscapes cites Mahiavishnu Orchestra, Frank Zappa and King Crimson as influences, and often sounds like a jazz metal freakout, if that’s a thing. Formed in 2011 by Between The Buried and Me’s bass player, Dan Briggs, along with tenor saxophonist Walter Fancourt and drummer Matt Lynch, their highly technical compositions provide the cathartic thrill of metal in a form that is totally new.
The Hu are awesome