Bands with Messy Breakups

[CP/M User]

Didn't Rod Stewart have a rough sending off early in his career? He was in Jeff Beck's group after Jeff Beck left the Yardbirds and after that Rod was in The Faces before going Solo.

The Yardbirds also finished up in odd-fashion, don't know if it was messy, though Jimmy Page was left with the name and had to fill in some Scandinavian gigs and was more or less how Led Zeppelin began. There was an controversial live album released though under the Yardbirds and Jimmy Page & others I think were against the release of it. And it ended up being one of these black market albums. I think this was due to the quality of the recording though.

 

[LG]

* Just thought about Fleetwood Mac after the Rumours album came out. Christine McVie divorced John, Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks broke up and she ended up with Don Henley for a while and both of them were heavily into drugs.

I put the asterisk because despite all that internal drama and strife, FM stayed together and released a few more albums. Hard to think of any other band with similar circumstances that's why I posted about them.

 

[Magic]

Boston was a pretty messy ending, due in large part to Tom Sholz. Sholz is a stubborn man and a perfectionist.......which created problems with the band. Plus Sholz was sued by CBS for breach of contract while recording their 3rd album. Eventually all the band members split leaving Sholz all by his lonesome. Delp's suicide left the remaining members with defamation lawsuits.

 

[METALPRIEST]

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.

Styx and Boston are good ones and yes LG, that Fleetwood Mac inner turmoil was N.U.T.S. NUTS! I have the Classic Albums Rumors DVD and I cringe at the stories putting myself in their shoes. Takes a strong band of people to pull off what they accomplished together.

 

[Powerage]

I thought Ian Paice formed Deep Purple with Blackmore, as he's the only band member to have appeared in every line-up.

 

[Big Ears]

Deep Purple were initially formed as Roundabout by The Searchers' drummer, singer and principal songwriter, Chris Curtis, who recruited his flatmate, Jon Lord, and then Ritchie Blackmore. Another friend of Curtis, Robbie Hewlett was lined up for Roundabout, but I do not know what instrument he played or whether he ever joined. Curtis's behaviour became erratic after using LSD, so he withdrew from his own band, leaving Lord and Blackmore to continue. Lord and Blackmore, in turn, recruited Nick Simper on bass, with a view to having the experienced Bobby Woodman on drums, but, when they auditioned excellent singer, Rod Evans, he brought along his drummer, Ian Paice. Blackmore did the dirty on Woodman and appointed Paice instead.

Curtis and Woodman went on to form Bodast, with Steve Howe. Ian Paice was the last member of the original Deep Purple to be appointed. The fact that Evans was instrumental in Paice joining Purple, makes the singer's subsequent treatment all the more despicable. Joe South's Hush is said to have been a favourite of Curtis and, although I am not certain of the reliability of the story, he seems to have been an innovator, as a key member of The Searchers, who influenced bands like The Byrds, and in creating the band that became the hugely successful Deep Purple.

As a footnote, Bodast's record label went bankrupt, so Howe replaced Peter Banks in Yes and Curtis joined the Inland Revenue! Curtis died in 2005, aged only 63.

 

[LG]

^^Didn`t know the details of Purple`s formation until reading your post Martin...amazing the shenanigans that go on behind the scenes when putting a band together.

But the end result was one of the greatest bands ever and they are still touring or were until a couple years ago.

 

[Wolf]

Steppenwolf and Creedance

 

[LG]

J. Geils band is or was embroiled in a lawsuit. The old band got together to do some shows without their guitar player and J. Geils launched legal action to prevent them using the old band name, which him being an astute businessman bought the rights to decades ago when they first formed the band.

Ironically when it comes to the sound of J Geils, his guitar work is good but it's not the signature sound of the band, unlike Van Halen for example. Peter Wolf would be the most important member of the band by far and the hardest to replace.

 

[Big Ears]

^ Don't forget Magic Dick!