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Patti Scialfa Syndrome
Just to clear up something I mentioned in my last post, Patti Scialfa Syndrome is when a member of the band is up on stage mostly for show. They’ll usually provide backup vocals or play tambourine. Sometimes, they’re the girlfriend or whatever of one of the “real” band members. Other times, they’re just members of the band who
The most famous case of Patti Scialfa Syndrome is (of course) Patti Scialfa, Bruce Springsteen’s wife. Patti Scialfa started touring with Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band in 1984 for the Born in the U.S.A. tour. She played tambourine, acoustic guitar and did backup vocals. Unfortunately, it’s hard to find documented proof of this — because she didn’t do much, she’s not on camera very often. The earliest example I can find is “Out In The Street” from the 1984 tour.
The other person/band combination I can think of that suffered from PSS is Lol Tolhurst during the mid-to-late ’80s and The Cure. His contributions to the band went decreased once Pornography was done. He physically couldn’t play the beat on “Let’s Go To Bed,” so he was relegated to keyboards from then on. He became less and less involved until 1989, when he received an “other instruments” credit on Disintegration. After that, he left the band.
