I'll start with Janis Joplin, Jeff Porcaro, Mick Ronson and Chris Squire. Band name: No Big Slaughter for Toto.

Lemmy on bass, John Bonham on drums, Jimi Hendrix on guitar and Freddie Mercury as vocalist

Black Gay Nazi Bikers for Christ

Keith Moon on drums, Randy Rhodes on guitar, Cliff Burton on bass.

Jeff Buckley (vocals, guitar)
Bon Scott (backup vocals)
John Bonham (drums)
Paul McCartney (the real one -- bass)

They would be The Syncopated Electric Conspiracy

Good ones. All way screwed, for sure, but interesting.

If Tommy Shaw, Ted Nugent, Jason Bonham, Sebastian Bach and Scott Ian can try to make a band together, that pretty much leaves the field wide-open. I DID say "try."

I like it. I'd pair Jimi and Freddie with the rhythm section from the Who - John Entwistle and Keith Moon.

You're not one of those "Who are better than Led Zeppelin" guys, are you?

No, I don't get too worried over who's better. Who's better is not something I argue about. Everybody will have his/her own opinion on who's better, and I respect that.

You know, I've always been a Led Zep fan, but I think I'm going to put on some Who this afternoon. I feel like they might be better. I bet.

L-O-V-E Zep, have everything and still listen, but The Who blew our minds more regularly than did Led Zeppelin. The Who put on a better show (in the early 70's) than Zep. Townsend is a better writer than the Zep pair.

Oddly, part of the great show was Keith Moon, who is nowhere near the drummer that Bonham was. Read Townsend's comments on Keith's style. His unwillingness to play it straight and just lay down a solid 4/4, even every now and again, was always a challenge for Townsend's writing and arranging.

"Pictures if Lily" and "I Can See for Miles" can stand up to any Zep tunes, and pre-date them.

However, the legacy of Bonham and Jones leaves one of, if not THE largest shadow in R & R for the rest of the century. They practically invented the word "bottom." And nothing was ever the same again.

All of this was dictated to me by Fred.

A crazy painter/musician told me this one time while we were picking up a light fixture in Dorchester;

The Who is the greatest pure (sic) rock band. Led Zep and others leaned very bluesy.

Good job. And here I was, all worried you'd screw it all up.

Fred, when it comes to other old men's opinions (60 this year, right?), you know I count yours among the highest.

Same for Chris, but in the Middle-Aged category. That Chris really knows his stuff.

Can't say I ever heard a John Paul Jones bass line that really moved me the way Entwistle and Geddy do. Of course, neither JPJ nor Geddy are DEAD YET, so I'll try to stay within the parameters set forth in the original post. Ahem.

Give me the whole Who rhythm section.

Freddie Mercury is a good choice as vocalist - had not only the chops but also the charisma. Weird teeth, though. And not very bluesy.

I'd definitely let Ian McLagan hang out in the back and play piano.

The guitarist is the tough role. I don't perceive Jimi as versatile and collaborative, but he was the best and is certainly dead. I'll bet we could let Duane Allman sit in and he'd find space to amaze.

Tom, how about Steve Marriott or Mick Ronson? Dusty Rhodes?

Jeeeezz!! gotta set you guys straight (err, excluding Bob).

Ronnie Van Zant vocals, SRV lead guitar (how could we forget him?), John Entwistle bass and hmm...John Bonham on drums, although I'd like to see what Gene Krupa would do with that line-up.

I thought of SRV (no surprise there!) but thought he was too "blues" for the rock dead rock band everyone was planning.

I thought someone might suggest Keith Richards....

Bring out yer dead... bring out yer dead.

I'm not dead yet. Yes you are. No I'm not. Will be soon.

Scalia on lyrics. And bongos.

Rumors of my impending old age are greatly (well OK, slightly) exaggerated.

You know, if you toss any of these guys together in whatever combination, you will get interesting music. Just how accomplished these guys are really struck home when I recently watched It Might Get Loud.