Bands with Messy Breakups

Magic

Woman of the World
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People meet, they jam together, and magical music is made. Sometimes this magic becomes a nasty battle which ends a band. These battles are fought in the media which gathers a lot of attention. What breakups caught your attention?


The first band that comes to my mind with a messy breakup is The Beatles. This band's breakup is legendary. Was it Paul who ended the band, Yoko Ono, the members wanting solo projects, or financial & legal problems?


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Big Ears

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^ Answer = Yoko Ono.

Pink Floyd. Roger Waters sacked Rick Wright and sought the PF name for himself. The band won before it got to court. Waters 'won' exclusive rights to The Wall, which the others probably didn't want anyway and which the bassist keeps performing to this day.

Deep Purple. Originally formed by Jon Lord and Ritchie Blackmore, the band now continues without either. Rod Evans was sacked and formed the great Captain Beyond. When he was ill-advised to tour the US under the Purple name, the band took him to court and won his royalties for the early albums. They make Osbourne and Iommi seem decent. Gillan and Backmore, both strong willed and forthright, don't speak to each other.

ELP. Emerson and Lake claim to dislike each other, yet, together, they had faultless musical chemistry. Carl Palmer was caught between the two and has done more work for the vastly inferior Asia.

Yes. Controlled by Chris Squire, they keep losing their two most important musicians, Anderson and Wakeman. Even Rick's son was turfed out to make way for the return of Buggles. Anderson soundalike Benoit David was replaced by another, Jon Davison. No wonder Bill Bruford, far superior to Alan White, refuses to return.
 

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Reading about Michael Clarke and all the happenings which were happening when he was around was pretty messy. He was the Drummer for the Byrds and the Byrds themselves were going through a rough spell during the making of The Notorious Byrd Brothers. According to wikipedia Clarke was fired after the album came out, though David Crosby was also fired during that album as well.
 

METALPRIEST

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No matter what's going on right now, I have to say the VAN HALEN break up is one for the rock and roll history books.



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LG

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Styx comes to mind, they tour now with Laurence Gowan who took over when they kicked Dennis DeYoung out some years back. According to what I've read James Young and Tommy Shaw never want to tour with DeYoung again, even when DeYoung floated a "I would like to do some shows with the guys again someday" a few months ago. Hard for me to imagine anyone else singing his classic Styx tunes, even though I liked Gowan when he was a solo act.
 

Aero

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No matter what's going on right now, I have to say the VAN HALEN break up is one for the rock and roll history books.

Almost posted this myself, but then realized that technically, they're still together.

I remember when they let go of Sammy Hagar, the other members of the band said they were done with the 'blond, hood ornaments' and wanted to find somebody different to sing on their next record. Ouch.

BTW...did you know that when David Lee Roth was orginally let go, Eddie wanted Patti Smyth from Scandal to be their next lead singer? He basically offered her the job but she turned it down. Van Halen with a female singer. Now that would've been interesting!
 

Big Ears

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When Sammy Hagar left Montrose, he complained that he was writing half the material, but the band was named after the guitarist. I suppose he had selectively forgotten that the band was built on Ronnie's reputation from his time with Van Morrison and Edgar Winter. So what did Hagar do? He joined another band named after a guitarist, Van Halen.
 

foreverblue

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When Sammy Hagar left Montrose, he complained that he was writing half the material, but the band was named after the guitarist. I suppose he had selectively forgotten that the band was built on Ronnie's reputation from his time with Van Morrison and Edgar Winter. So what did Hagar do? He joined another band named after a guitarist, Van Halen.

yes
after nearly 10 years of reasonably successful solo career
 

LOU/REALM

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Ah you cant beat a band with a good bust up now and again. Bands with brothers who dont get on is common.....eg OASIS , EVERLY BROTHERS, GENE LOVES JEZEBEL etc
 

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