Those Two Guys / Music

• The two guys from Fall Out Boy who aren't Pete Wentz and Patrick Stump.
• The Police, AKA Sting and Those Two Guys.
• Perhaps the ur-example of music is Jeff Ament and Stone Gossard of Pearl Jam. They've been in at least four bands together and have always played this role.
• The three guys from Aerosmith that aren't Steven Tyler or Joe Perry. They're even jokingly called the Less Interesting Three among the band and fanbase.
• An interesting case: Steely Dan, in the early days, had as members Michael McDonald and Jeff "Skunk" Baxter, who went on to become known for being in The Doobie Brothers. The two central members, Donald Fagen and Walter Becker, who wrote pretty much everything, and ended up being the only members, became The Face, and only known for Steely Dan. People actually forget sometimes McDonald and Baxter were in it, too.
  • Far more egregious is Denny Dias who was the band leader before Becker and Fagen joined.
• Megadeth is founding members Dave Mustaine and Dave Ellefson, plus two other guys - whoever else Mustaine has hired. YMMV for some line-ups (e.g. Poland/Samuelson, Friedman/Menza, Broderick/Drover).
• The two guys from Rage Against the Machine who aren't Zack de la Rocha or Tom Morello. This did not change when they formed Audioslave with Morello and Chris Cornell.
• We're just two guys who are having a good time, having a good time, having a good time...
  • It gets better. Their actual names are "Guy Number One" and "Guy Number Two".
• The two guys in The Black Eyed Peas who aren't Fergie and will.i.am.
  • Averted in that Taboo and apl.de.ap are still quite recognizable.
• Mike Rutherford and Tony Banks when Genesis was a Phil Collins-fronted trio.
• David Gamson and Fred Maher did not receive the same attention as Green Gartside of Scritti Politti.
• Ascended Memes Haku Yowane and Neru Akita from Vocaloid are often portrayed as this in fanon.
• In Jimi Hendrix's Live At Woodstock, the extra guitarist and two extra percussionists are this, due to the remastering rendering them virtually inaudible.
• Anyone in OFWGKTA whose first name isn't Tyler, Wolf, Frank, or Earl.
• Paramore has become this recently: Hayley Williams and those two guys. This is particularly sad when you think about the fact that the band's classic line-up was very well liked among the fans.
• Maroon Five: Is basically Adam Levine and those four guys.
• Rush is an interesting inversion: It's Neil Peart, Geddy Lee, and the blonde guy that plays the guitar. Poor, poor Alex. Of note is that if this were any other band Alex Lifeson would be the standout among Those Other Guys; Alex is very talented in his own right, but the poor guy is overshadowed by Geddy's vocals and front-row bass and Neil's drumming and lyrics.
• To all but diehard fans of Pink Floyd, the classic lineup is Roger Waters, David Gilmour...and the drummer and keyboardist (Nick Mason and Richard Wright, respectively). During the band's early psychedelic period, Pink Floyd was Syd Barrett and those three other guys (Mason and Wright again, along with Waters, who at this point was just the bassist), and in the much later "dehydrated" (no Waters) lineup, Floyd was Gilmour...and those two guys playing drums and keyboard. Yeah, no matter who is the face of Pink Floyd, Mason and Wright always end up as Those Two Guys.
• Anyone in Foster the People who isn't Mark Foster. The other two members of the band (Mark Pontius and Cubbie Fink) don't even appear on the recording of "Pumped Up Kicks," the song by which everyone identifies them in the first place. Heck, the original name of the band was Foster & the People, which would have made them just "the people."
  • They have another unofficial set of Those Two Guys in Sean Cimino and Isom Innis who, despite being credited on much of Supermodel and touring with them, fans who know the official lineup probably wouldn't be able to identify.
• AC/DC has consisted of Angus Young, the singer at the time (Bon Scott, Brian Johnson or Axl Rose) and the expendable three to the majority of people… Especially now since Phil Rudd is out of the band, Cliff Williams has announced his retirement and Malcolm Young's dementia diagnosis and subsequent death.
• Many people will only remember John Lennon and Paul McCartney when thinking about The Beatles, and tend to forget Ringo and George.
• Fine Young Cannibals is Roland Gift and Those Two Guys Who Were Also in The Beat/The English Beat.
• XTC had Andy Partridge and Colin Moulding, the band's songwriters, and two other guys, later one other guy after the drummer left, then finally it was Partridge and Moulding until the latter not only left the band, but lost interest in making music at all.
• For many non-fans Take That (Band) were Gary Barlow, Robbie Williams, Mark Owen and the two guys who danced behind them. Jason Orange and Howard Donald generally got fewer solos during the band's original run and were often confused for each other. This has started to balance out following their 2005 reunion, which Williams wasn't initially part of, with vocals being more evenly split among the four members. Jason's own departure in 2014 brought the band down to three members and finally gave Howard a chance to stand out on his own.

---