Bands that have lost key members
 

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Uh, where to begin.

Pantera - Dimebag Darell
AC/DC - Bon Scott
Lynyrd Skynyrd - Steve Gaines, Ronnie Van Zant, & Allen Collins.
Tragic story behind Lynyrd Skynyrd.
Ozzy Osbourne - Randy Rhoads
Metallica - Cliff Burton
Led Zeppelin - John Bonham (Who knows how much more they would have gone)
Nirvana - Kurt Cobain
The Who - Keith Moon
The Allman Brothers - Duane Allman
The Doors - Jim Morrison
Kiss - Eric Carr
The Rolling Stone - Brian Jones

Some don't exactly "go flat", they keep going, and move on, but
overall, a band is never the same after one of their own dies.

RHCP - the tragic death of Hillel Slovak
Dinosaur Jr. - J Mascis's ego and Lou Barlow's pussy-ness couldn't coexist
Incubus - Dirk Lance leaving the band :(

Smashing Pumpkins?

Probably more to do with the fact they just ran out of ideas and creativity after 3 or 4 good albums than the member change.

Whilst the change in membership would have scuppered the Melon Collie-era momentum, I do agree that Billy Corgan's hubris did them in rather than any loss of "key members"-considering the only key Pumpkin was Billy Corgan.

Why Alice In Chains would ever even think about getting back together after Layne's death I will never know.
All though most people never looked at Blink 182 to fondly it seems like they completely embarrassed themselves after they kicked Scott Reynor out.

Misfits are a given.
D. Boon
Weezer was never half as good without Matt Sharp.
Whenever Hiro Yamamoto left soundgarden and Ben Shephardjoine dit was a turn for the better.

Agreed, which is weird because I like Travis Barker and I believe him to be more talented than Raynor...

Jimi Hendrix Experience anyone?

No mention of Black Sabbath, eh? I'm just not a Dio guy. The only Sabbath I dig is with Ozzy on vocals.
Same story with The Misfits, AC/DC, and Lynyrd Skynyrd as far as vocalists go.

But when Faith No More picked Mike Patton, it was infinitely for the best.

Whilst not the front man lee Roth was I'm sure we all agree Hagar was a far superiour vocalist,

Acca Dacca were not a weaker band without Bon, just different. They actully missed Phil Rudd more when he had his hiatus.

Slayer without Lombardo were not as threatening a line up.

The Clash obviously.

Travis Barker is easily a much more talented drummer than reynor and is more versatile. Reynor was a lot faster/ better when it came to punk though. Barker has turned into a huge douche nowadays though.
Although I guess I owe it to Barker for being on enema of the state which was my favorite album in elementary school.

Whoops, I misunderstood the purpose of the thread.

http://static.open.salon.com/files/q...1231249699.jpg
Thread over.

Good call. :D

[QUOTE=BTown787;845649]
Weezer was never half as good without Matt Sharp.
QUOTE]

THIS.

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds are now without Mick Harvey, which is a shame really, as that's the end of a creative partnership that lasted about 30 years, and one that's been central to so much of Cave's output. It's not all doom and gloom as Warren Ellis is still on board, but it'll be interesting to see how Harvey's departure affects their sound from here on in. I guess the new Grinderman one'll go some way towards telling us about that whenever it comes out.

You might be right about AC/DC, but I just prefer Bon's style because it was very distinct. When Brian Johnson tries to sing the songs they wrote with Bon, he's obviously killing himself trying to reach that range, and it's always been that way. I think Bon had him aced.

Slayer? I don't know, man. I gotta admit that Lombardo is the original and a world class drummer, but I also dig the work they did with Paul Bostaph. Divine Intervention is my second favorite Slayer album next to Reign in Blood.

What's wrong with Buddy Miles? He wasn't as good a drummer as Mitch Mitchell in my opinion, but I think he was a better singer than Hendrix.

@gunnels

Totally spaced Queen. I forgot they embarrassed themselves by getting back together.

I would agree with this except now that Jimmy Chamberlin has left, it really is going to affect their sound. Billy may have been the driving force, but even he always admitted it was he and Jimmy that were really the core of the band. He really provided the energy for the band. This is really apparent with how low key Adore was...and how low key the new stuff is.

Although I'll wait to judge whether it has officially put the nail in the coffin for the band...the new material is still not up to par of their mid 90's output, but it is much much better than Zeitgeist turned out to be.

http://www.aceshowbiz.com/images/news/00010295.jpg


Don't get me wrong, Chinese Democracy is an amazing album, but uh... It took 15 years.

Chinese Democracy? Amazing?

Well, it was entertaining in that I had a good laugh while listening to it.

I didn't even bother wasting my time with it. Bit ignorant perhaps but I just knew it would have been a pointless exercise.

You didn't miss a thing. Take every tired Guns N' Roses cliche and riff and that just about sums up the album.

I thought Appetite For Destruction was alright. Not heard it in months though, Slash's solo record is a train wreck as well. Managed to hear it yet? Truly awful.

Agree with many of the ones posted.

Dwayne R. Goettel of Skinny Puppy died. They haven't been the same since. I'm happy they reunited so that I was finally able to see them live (3 times now), but their two reunion albums so far are lacking depth.

To a degree, I also feel that Download went flat after their first two albums, again due to Dwayne R. Goettel's death but also because Mark Spybey was no longer involved (except a few tracks here and there). Both brought a lot to the table in this band.

Peter Gabriel left Genesis. The first two albums with Phil Collins on vocals were good, but it didn't take long for things to go flat after that...save for a few excellent pop songs.

King Crimson has had many lineup changes, but I feel the loss of Ian McDonald, Greg Lake, Michael Giles, Peter Giles, and John Wetton were unfortunate in one way or another.

I like Appetite For Destruction and the Use Your Illusions as well, but they were done after that.

It just cracks me up that Axl did away with the rest of the band so that he could turn them into an industrial rock band after hearing Nine Inch Nails. After 15 years of "perfecting" Chinese Democracy, all we got was a feeble attempt to become relevant again.

Slash came out today and said Axl was phenominal and that Chinese Democracy was everything he thought it would be, dark etc.

Slash likes it, but then again if he likes his solo album what the fuck does he know?

Axl's voice was like shitting over decent music and okay lyrics even when they were good. I can't believe they are headlining festivals. They need to fuck off now.

ugh i can't stand GNR
even their early stuff makes me want to kill myself
BUT ANYWAY

XTC lost phenomenal drummer Terry Chambers which was pretty rough, they still had good drum songs but Chambers is one of my favorite drummers ever and was massively important to that sound

surprised there's no mention of Pink Floyd yet that whole thing was pretty messy, with wright getting fired and then waters and gilmour bickering for the next decade

Talking Heads, David Byrne is such an ass. The only band in the world which I would care if they got back together.

ahem... please see my user name. :(

I like the username. 8/10.

I've just been getting into the band lately actually, listening to Dirt as we speak.

You know, personally, I think Ben Duvall is a great singer, and it's a very daunting task to take Layne's place in the band. I saw them live with Duvall, and it was great.

But Black Gives Way to Blue was a disappointment. It really just sounded like another Cantrell album. Which I like Cantrell's albums, but to call it a new AIC album was kind of improper.

Kyuss - Nick Oliveri
QotSA - Nick Oliveri

First thing that comes to mind is Pink Floyd. Syd Barett had to leave the band because of his deteriating mental state. He was the main singer songwriter and they moved on by bringing his school mate and friend David Gilmour. This helped Pink Floyd create a different sound. No longer were they a "pop" group trying to push out singles, but rather a group that had no boundries developing space rock. And that's why I love Pink Floyd.

Journey and Aerosmith. How is anybody going to replace Steven Tyler and journeys new singer just doesn't cut it for me.

the Aerosmith thing is a PR scam through and though. if you honestly think the band will continue without Tyler using that name send me a PM with your credit card number and expiration date and I'll hook you up with studio access for both bands.

Didn't ever know Tyler left. Or "left" if Mr. Dave is right.

Jimmy Chamberlain just left Smashing Pumpkins... and the drummer for A7X died recently...

I mentioned the Pumpkins. He left a while ago, but it was a good decision for him. Have you heard the JC Complex? Really good stuff, and I'm glad he is focusing on it. His talents far exceed what Billy was calling for.

JC Complex? No I haven't, I'll definitely check it out