$25 to assemble a five-piece rock band.
 

Came from Twitter. Obviously these things might have already jumped the shark, but...hey.

1. Freddie Mercury

No band needed

Frontman - David Bowie (5)
Lead Guitar - Chuck Berry (2)
Rhytm Guitar - The Edge (6)
Bassist - Les Claypool (6)
Drummer - Keith Moon (6)

Oh boy:

Frontman - Freddy Mercury (10)
Bass - Bootsy Collins (5)
Drummer - Ginger Baker (1) - criminally underrated here
Lead Guitar - Eric Clapton (4)
Rhythm Guitar - Neil Young (5)

(when I first did this one I had Axl Rose as my frontman (6) and then realized I was only at 21 and had an additional $4 to spend so I splurged on upgrading to Freddie Mercury, but you could use that $4 in a bunch of different ways).

Or you can just go top heavy with it:

Frontman - Freddie Mercury (10)
Lead Guitar - Hendrix (10)
Drummer - Ginger Baker (1)
Rhythm Guitar - James Hetfield (3)
Bass - John Paul Jones (1)

Off hand, I'm not sure I could take these choices & turn them into anything I'd want to actually listen to but just for the hell of it ...

Hendrix ($10)
Iommi ($4)
McCartney ($2)
Grohl ($4)
and, umm, hmm
I'll take Ozzy for $4 over Bowie for the $5 I had left.

I'll use the extra dollar to tip a stripper in a cheap club somewhere.

I was gonna say.. Ginger Baker for a buck?

Ginger Baker 1
Eric Clapton 4
Neil Young 5
Flea 4 - Goes with Baker and Clapton nicely, Baker and Flea both have an affinity for Fela Kuti and Afro beat.
Jim Morrison - 1

Getting them together for more than one magnificent album/tour would be the hard part, but I think this is the best value band available. I only needed 15 bucks.

Give me Freddy Mercury and throw darts to determine the rest of them.

Freddy Mercury (10)
David Gilmour (7)
Stone Gossard (1)
Dave Grohl (4)
Flea (3)

Mercury
Clapton
Grohl
Flea
Hetfield

Ginger Baker is woefully under-priced.

Freddie Mercury $10
Jimi Hendrix $10 - Could you imagine Freddie Mercury singing "Voodoo Chile"!?!?
John Paul Jones $1 - Under-priced and can play keyboards (so can Freddie and Jimi)
Ginger Baker $1 - Seriously, the wild man drummer who lived ---where is Charlie Watts?!?
Stone Gossard $1 - Greenwood and Hetfield were the other options, and I don't see them meshing well with Jimi's "out of this world" style

Carter Beauford is over-valued

Where is James Brown as a vocalist?!?

I'd pay to see this venue...

Depending on what you are going for, some of them are horribly overpriced. I think Prince is overpriced as a guitarist when you factor in Clapton at half the cost. Axl Rose at $6 when Bono is $3? Hell, Axl at $6 is comical itself. Portnoy and Grohl are more name than useful. Give me somebody like Al Jackson Jr.(Stax) or Kenny Aronoff(Mellencamp, sessions).

Freddie Mercury 10
Eddie Van Halen 5
The Edge 6
Paul McCartney 2
Stewart Copeland 2

Really don't care about the bassist or the drummer.

I'm mixing the pieces to create the band I would want to hear out of the choices:

Bono $3 (I love Freddie Mercury, but don't need his range with this band, but I do want Bono's lyrics)
Gilmour $7 (he's writing much of the music because I'm a huge Floyd fan)
Gossard $1 (I think he'd compliment Gilmour)
Entwhistle $8 (easily the right bassist for this band)
Grohl $4 (Peart is far better, but I don't need him in this band - I want Grohl's heavier edge)

Total: $23

Frontman - Freddie Mercury 10 (Because he is Freddie)
Lead - Brian May 3 (Underrated and he and Freddie made magic)
Rhythm - Pete Townsend 9 (Just would love to see this guitar combo)
Bassist - Paul McCartney 2 (Amazing backup vocals and a solid writer)
Drums - Ginger Baker 1 (No better 1 dollar deal on the board)

2 Beatles for 3 bucks is a steal. Combine George and Paul with Freddie and Ginger--apparent frontrunners thus far in the thread--and you can have any rhythm player you please.

All of this "Ginger Baker" nonsense is ridiculous. Great session drummer, basically Ringo with worse hair.

AllMusic has described him as "the most influential percussionist of the 1960s" and stated that "virtually every drummer of every heavy metal band that has followed since that time has sought to emulate some aspect of Baker's playing".

Then again my dad was a big Cream & Clapton fan, so I'm probably biased.

But you can't deny that Baker for $1 is better value than say Grohl for $4 (and fuck - I love me some Nirvana).

I don't see Ringo as a session drummer. While I think he does get ripped on more than he should, I think Baker is still better than Ringo and for a $1 would be considered a deal considering those above him. Again, Portnoy could be great in the right situation, but I'm not really sure how valuable he is if all he's playing is straight time stuff.

Eddie Van Halen $5
James Hetfield $3
Freddy Mercury $10
Flea $4
Bernard Purdie $8

Math?

Clapton - $4
Townsend - $9
Young - $5
McCartney - $2
Grohl - $4

Creative ability of that group makes up for the lack of a single, defined frontman. All but Townsend did pretty outstanding on their own anyway.

Now, if they're just going to play covers and not have to actually create anything new I'd probably go with a different group...

Frontman - Jim Morrison $1
Lead Guitarist - Eric Clapton $4
Rhythm Guitarist - Jimmy Page $10
Bassist - Geddy Lee - $7
Drums - Danny Carey - $3

Wow, alright.

I start with Morrison for $1 to sing and songwrite
Mike Portnoy on drums for $5
Stone Gossard for $1 (underrated imho)
John Entwistle for $8
Jimi Hendrix for $10

Frontman - Freddie Mercury (10)
Lead Guitar - Jimi Hendrix (10)
Rhythm Guitar - Stone Gossard (1)
Bass - Paul McCartney (2)
Drums - Stewart Copeland (2)

Copeland and McCartney for a combined $4 is a steal. Plus Paul can sing backing vocals and harmonies.

Having Freddie Mercury is a must. That leaves $11. Heck, even I can play a solid rhythm guitar, so I will skimp on the $1 to get Hendrix.

If Axl Rose is a choice and Slash isn't, at any price, I refuse to participate. :D

Freddie Mercury
David Gilmour
The Edge
John Paul Jones
Ginger Baker