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Leslie West

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Musician

The Resume

    (October 22, 1945-December 22, 2020)
    Born in New York City, New York
    Birth name was Leslie Weinstein
    Guitarist and vocalist in Mountain
    Was also a member of the Vagrants (1964-67) and West, Bruce and Laing (1972-74)
    Recorded the solo albums ‘Mountain’ (1969), ‘The Great Fatsby’ (1975), and ‘Still Climbing’ (2013)

Why he might be annoying:

    He weighed 300 pounds at his peak.
    He abused heroin.
    He kept breaking up and reuniting Mountain.
    He removed the neck pickup from his Gibson Flying V and used the hole as an ashtray.
    He was the bandleader in the pilot for a proposed late-night talk show hosted by Howard Stern that Fox decided not to pick up (1987).
    He got married onstage at the Woodstock 40th anniversary concert (August 15, 2009).

Why he might not be annoying:

    He bought his first guitar with his bar mitzvah money.
    He was a frequent guest on Howard Stern’s radio show.
    He had to have his lower right leg amputated due to complications from diabetes (2011).
    Eddie Van Halen cited him as an influence: ‘Leslie West had this incredible tone.’
    His song ‘Long Red’ became an unlikely hip-hop favorite: ‘I’ve got six different platinum albums on my wall from all these guys sampling my stuff.’

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    For 2024, as of last weekly ranking, Out of 2 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2023, Out of 4 Votes: 25.00% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 7 Votes: 28.57% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 12 Votes: 75.00% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 102 Votes: 50.0% Annoying