Bands with a secondary lead vocalist that shows up on plenty of album cuts, but never the singles

He does a co-lead on their biggest single, so may be disqualified, but Gerald Casale with Devo?

He sang lead on Be Stiff and Beautiful World and they split with a few others like Jerkin Back and Forth, Coalmine, Thru Being Cool. They can sound very similar when Mark is holding back.

Did Tobi Vail sing on any Bikini Kill A-sides? They're quite a good example of a group mostly known for its hugely charismatic lead singer that then... turns out to have two other vocalists.

Also thinking of the Clean but they didn't have tons of singles. Of the best known songs Hamish is on Point That Thing Somewhere Else but Bob Scott doesn't have any.

Dave Hemingway is on that Beautiful South #1 A Little Time. I found out he existed really late and it felt like a prank.

Also thinking of Lee Ranaldo & James McNew but suspect I'm missing an obvious big single somewhere

The Who (I guess John E. is a tertiary lead vocalist after Rog and Pete, had some single b-sides but I think only one a-side, "Trick of the Light")

Orange Juice with James Kirk and then Zeke Manyika. It is kind of brilliant when Edwyn Collins sweeps in at the end of Wan Light and totally steals the song from Kirk.

Lee Ranaldo & James McNew

I’m not a scholar of either band, especially YLT, but my sense is that these guys don’t quite meet the “plenty of album cuts” threshold? (at least when measured against each band’s total output)

Is this really every SY cut Ranaldo sings on? If so, it’s even less than I thought…

Did the Beatles ever release a George Harrison song as a single?

"Something".

^Remembered that right after posting, of course.

I think that "Antenna" and "What We Know" are missing from that Ranaldo list, also "Genetic" (a B-side). Otherwise I think it's right.

Oh wait TM sings lead on "Antenna". LR does all the antenna box shit.

Casale sang lead on Be Stiff and Beautiful World and they split with a few others like Jerkin Back and Forth, Coalmine, Thru Being Cool.

He's the lead on "Mongoloid" too, I think? He does sound remarkably similar to Mothersbaugh.

"Something".

and "Do You Want To Know A Secret" (but written by Lennon/McCartney).

Not a single, though.

Also "Roll Over Beethoven."

"Something" is an odd one, the first Beatles single to be taken from an aleady-released LP, with quite a few more to follow through the 70s. They hadn't officially broken up when it was released, but had already played together for the last time. It counts as a canonical Beatles single, it just doesn't feel like it does.

One of those triv questions: "The last Beatles single to reach Number One in the UK"

Not a single, though.

Bikini Kill seems like a great pick. At a smaller scale I believe this is also true of Le Tigre, where Johanna Fateman (and I believe JD Samson?) had several prominent album tracks, but none of their singles or legacy songs.

Ringo sings on every Beatles album (right?) but he wasn't on a UK single till '78.

"Yellow Submarine" was earlier than that!

ffs yellow submarine

Yeah, I thought Ringo had had a single BEFORE George with "YS" which would have been pretty hard for George (until I found out about "DYWTKAS") !

UK albums Ringo doesn't sing on: A Hard Day's Night, Magical Mystery Tour and Let It Be.

Although MMT wasn't really an album in the UK.

Brian (May) especially had lots of lead vocal cameo parts on his later singles ... as his ego is massive

Is this actually a known thing? I always had the impression that by comparison to most of his peers, May is relatively unassuming.

Jesus and Mary Chain?

Did William sing lead on "Darklands" and "Almost Gold"?

Yes

Both were singles. Telling ya, the singles thing is a tough nut to crack!