So a recent set of questions on the JemCon board's Jem Game made me realise that one thing I've often touched on but never really compiled into its own section is the issue of Misfit musical versatility. By this I mean the number of musical options that the girls have during the course of the series (and peripheral to the series) regarding their instrumental capabilities.

So, for fun, I've decided to compile a small encyclopaedia entry here about each of the Misfits, citing the different range of musical instruments each can and does play during Jem!.

Right now I am only doing this for the Misfits, albeit there is a good case to do the same for the Stingers and I might look into this at a later date.

PIZZAZZ

Pizzazz is actually the least musical of the Misfits. She is their leader and their singer, but she is not very instrumental. I've discussed this more in her biography. However, she is a powerful singer, which compensates. Where her guitar does appear, we can realistically assume that she is playing the lead guitar part, especially given the fact Roxy's is animated over bass notes in certain songs.

Pizzazz's instrumental options are:


Lead Vocal
(Default)


Electric Guitar (Lead)

ROXY

Perhaps surprisingly, Roxy seems to be a pretty versatile Misfit, musically, and one who diversifies quite a lot. We all flap about Stormer, because she's a composer, but Roxy gets overshadowed by all that attention going in a different direction. Roxy is the only Misfit ever shown playing drums, which she does on two occasions in the series. Once can be called an animation error, but twice, not so much. She also sings lead in her solo song, I'm Gonna Change, and also a version of Gimme Gimme Gimme (even though it's not her voice artist singing, character-wise, these are her song performances). With the guitars, Roxy's pink guitar often doubles depending on the song. The bass notes are often played by Roxy in the animation (eg I Like Your Style, Queen of Rock N Roll), but given Pizzazz's reluctance to use her guitar, it can be assumed she plays lead as well on many Misfit songs which are less clearly defined. She also plays Stormer's synth in the opening titles.


Therefore Roxy's instrumental options are:

Lead Vocal
(solo- I'm Gonna Change)
Lead/Bass Guitar
(Default)
Synth/Keytar
(Theme)


Bongo Drums
(Welcome to the Jungle)


Drum (Electric Kit)
(Danse Time)

STORMER

We know from the Bands Break Up that Stormer is something of a musical composer, in terms of instrumetal flexibility, we see less switching from her than any other character. For the most part, she sticks to the classic synth/keytar that she WASN'T sold with (cough, Hasbro fail, cough), however there are some other occasions where she switches out instruments. Because these generally relate to individual episodes, it is difficult to know how many of them are on purpose, although given Stormer's wide music ability, probably most of them are.


Stormer's instrumental options are:


Lead Vocal
(with Kimber, I'm Okay)

Lead Guitar (Pizzazz's- Congratulations)
Bass Guitar
(Roxy's- Theme)

Acoustic Guitar
(The Stingers Hit Town, Part 2)


Bongo Drums
(Welcome to the Jungle)



Synth/Keytar
(Default)


JETTA

Jetta is the only Misfit who never has a lead vocal of any kind. We won't count her horsing around in the studio with Pizzazz. It's a bit more difficult to nail down Jetta's musical ability. We know she plays saxophone, however this only ever appears in three Misfit music videos, despite her constant presence in the group from Talent Search on. There is one notable exception to this instrumental choice, which is the unusual Congratulations video from One Jem Too Many. And, of course, Hasbro/Sunbow seem to have started with different ideas.

Jetta's instrumental options are:

Saxophone
(Default)

Keytar/Synth
(Congratulations)

There is no image for this, as it never happened in the animation. However the original concept for Jetta introduced her as a bass guitarist. She is introduced in the script for Talent Search waving a bass guitar, not a saxophone. I don't know when in production this was changed, but it may have a connection with the late release of the doll.


Bass Guitar
(The Talent Search: Original Scripting)

 

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