Oh goodness, first edition bards were insane! Dual classing twice? Thankfully second edition fixed a lot of that. I particularly liked second edition's "Create a Class" feature from the Dungeon Master's Guide. I created a class that required zero xp to go up levels :) Yes... you would start at INFINITE LEVEL!!! Mwah hah hah hah hah! Mind you, no GM would allow that for some reason....

Realistically, any class can be a bard. I've seen fighter bards, rogue bards and wizard bards. All you need is the ability to play a single decent instrument, have a reasonable charisma, and a penchant for gossip and storytelling. Mind you, my favourite from second edition was the "Riddlemaster Kit" for the bard class. I had a ten page list of riddles that I carried for days and came to memorize. I then challenged nearly every NPC to riddle contests like Bilbo and Gollum.