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Greg Lake

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Musician

The Resume

    (November 10, 1947-December 7, 2016)
    Born in Dorset, England, United Kingdom
    Guitarist, bassist and singer
    Member of King Crimson and Emerson, Lake and Palmer
    Recorded the solo albums ‘Greg Lake’ (1981), ‘Manoeuvres’ (1983) and ‘Songs of a Lifetime’ (2013)
    Recorded the single ‘I Believe in Father Christmas’ (1975)

Why he might be annoying:

    He dropped out of school at age 16.
    He then worked for a while as a draftsman, but noted, ‘Because I was also performing in the evenings with a rock group, I kept falling asleep over my desk.’
    In ELP concerts, he would play standing on a Persian rug, which had its own ‘carpet roadie’ to clean it
    During ELP’s peak years, he lived in exile in Switzerland to avoid paying British taxes.
    He said, ‘Punk is not a form of music.’

Why he might not be annoying:

    He wrote the future Emerson, Lake and Palmer hit ‘Lucky Man’ when he was twelve.
    His ‘I Believe in Father Christmas’ became a holiday perennial in Britain.
    After Kanye West sampled his vocals on King Crimson’s ‘21st Century Schizoid Man’ for the song ‘Power,’ Lake began opening his concerts with ‘Power’: ‘It’s enabled me to link the past with the present.’
    He said about ELP’s critical reputation, ‘Anything that makes demands on the listener could be called pretentious.’

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    For 2024, as of last weekly ranking, Out of 100 Votes: 32.00% Annoying
    In 2023, Out of 237 Votes: 66.24% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 550 Votes: 43.64% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 451 Votes: 70.51% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 5 Votes: 40.0% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 25 Votes: 56.00% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 4 Votes: 75.00% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 6 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 135 Votes: 62.96% Annoying