Ensemble Darkhorse/Music

Examples of Ensemble Darkhorses in Music include:

Rock Operas

Uncle Ernie, of all people, has this in spades. Yes, the mean, creepy guy who actually ends up molesting the titular character (and possibly even others youngsters in "Tommy's Holiday Camp") is the most fan-loved character right after Tommy himself. One could argue that he's popular because The Movie version is played by the band's drummer, Keith Moon, and whoever's playing him usually hams it up for all it's worth, but still...Not bad for a gay, incestuous pedophile with arguable drinking problems who only gets two short musical numbers.
- Not too far behind Ernie is Tommy's other abusive relative, Cousin Kevin.
- The Acid Queen and the Local Lad/the Champ (no, he's not the Pinball Wizard...he's not Elton John, either) have their share of fans, too, despite being one scene/song wonders and the latter having little to no effect on the titular character or the plot. Again, this could be partially because their movie counterparts are played by Tina Turner and Elton John, respectfully, both of whom were quite popular at the time.
  - Oddly enough, it should also be noted that, for some reason, the Local Lad/the Champ (especially Elton's version) is considered to be The Scrappy by some of the fandom. Why that is seems to depend on who you ask.

Other Examples

When The Beach Boys' Brian Wilson suffered an emotional breakdown in 1965 and decided to quit touring with the group, Bruce Johnston (previously of Beach Boys soundalike group the Rip Chords) was hired to take over his role playing bass onstage. By the end of the year Johnston was joining the Beach Boys in the studio and later became an integral part of their late '60s/early '70s recordings, even writing songs like "Disney Girls" for them.
- Moreso Dennis Wilson, who went from being the under-appreciated drummer to writing such classics as "Forever", to the point that his solo album, "Pacific Ocean Blue", charted higher and was more critically acclaimed than the Beach Boys album released that same year.
The Beatles produced two possibilities:
- Ringo Starr was a late replacement into the band and widely considered (however fairly) to be their least talented member. Furthermore, he was the least conventionally handsome of the group and, as the drummer, held the least glamorous position in the band. Despite all this, his goofy charm and approachable good looks earned him the most fan mail of any Beatle.
- George Harrison was arguably the least popular Beatle during the band's run. He was not a part of the singing/songwriting superduo of Lennon-McCartney, nor did he have the charm of Ringo and was known for being quiet and moody. However, immediately after the band broke up he was the first of the four to score a #1 hit, and his album All Things Must Pass is to this day the top selling album by any solo Beatle. His ballad "Something" is also the second most frequently covered Beatles song after "Yesterday," and even John Lennon once remarked, "It's the best damn song on the whole album." Harrison seems to have been well aware of his dark horse status. He had a minor hit with the song "Dark Horse," and his custom record label was called Dark Horse Records.
Bone Thugs-n-Harmony is a group example. As they emerged during a era of hip-hop where you had to be either from the west or the east to make it in that particular field. Not only did they not hail from either coast, but hailed from the Midwest (Cleveland to be precise), and managed to have 3 back to back multi platinum records amidst the hype and controversy of the then bi-coastal feud between the east and west.
Despite being the bassist of Fall Out Boy as opposed to the frontman, Pete Wentz is arguably somewhat of a teen idol, dramatically more popular than the band's lead vocalist/rhythm guitarist Patrick Stump. His massively prominent fandumb is a common conversation topic among Fall Out Boy fans and music spectators. Wentz's scandalous notoriety is lampshaded in the music video for "This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race" from Infinity on High.
- Well, Wentz was basically the "head" of the band all throughout their run. Stump, despite being lead vocalist, was actually NOT the frontman of FOB until around Infinity on High and Folie a Deux came out. Then they broke up...
  - And Patrick went off to do his own solo thing, which has a mix of genres; Pete did Black Cards, a ska/pop/something; and Andy and Joe, in a completely off-the-wall and against type (not even Patrick's Prince-esque songs could compete) action, formed The Damned Things, a heavy metal band. Every person's fandom rejoiced.
Similarly, Aaron Gillespie, drummer/secondary vocalist of Underoath, is decidedly more popular among the young females of the band's fanbase than frontman Spencer Chamberlain, due to his angelically emotive vocals (in contrast to Chamberlain's agonizing growls) and attractive red hair. He has even spawned his own Spin-Off one-man band The Almost to pander to his following.
- And... The Almost was so successful that he left Underoath to focus on it.
Genesis got wildly popular after their bat-winged, flower-mask-wearing singer/frontman/spokesman/FaceOfTheBand Peter Gabriel left and was replaced with, well, the balding, stocky drummer of the band who sang a bit. Then the drummer went solo in 1981...
Limp Bizkit attracted a huge Hatedom, chiefly centered around Fred Durst. The only one who arguably escaped was Wes Borland, the guitarist with a penchant for weird facepaint. Just as a measure of how he was the best-liked member, when he first left Fred posted his personal email address on the band's website. Fans proceeded to email him and congratulate him for leaving the band.
The Story of Evil series features the evil princess' very litteral horse named Josephine mentioned only once in the whole series. A lot of fans' reaction after watching the series is, "Yeah but what happened to Josephine? We need to know!"
- Apparently Gakupo kidnapped her for his harem in Venomania.
It's hard to be an Ensemble Darkhorse when associated with Rick Astley's Never Gonna Give You Up, but the literal version gives a lot of attention to the hyper-talented bartender.
LMFAO's robot dancer seems to have quite a few fans.
Both Robbie Williams and Bobby Brown were secondary members of their respective boy bands, Take That and New Edition, before gaining way more success as solo artists.
Whilst Sting was undoubtedly the Breakout Performer of The Police, drummer Stewart Copeland became the band's Darkhorse. His unique playing style influenced numerous musicians (Trey Anastasio and Les Claypool have called him a "mutual hero", and Taylor Hawkins has invited him on several Foo Fighters tours to play as a guest drummer), and Rolling Stone readers voted him the fifth-greatest drummer of all time in 2010.

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