Thoughts on bands who continue when they lose key/important members

[Iron Lizard]

I'm surprised(despite the passing mention they got) no one brought up Guns 'n Roses, without the actual band!

Yeah he someone convinced the rest of them to sign over the name of the band or he would quit. In hindsight with Axl Rose being such a total douche, I don't think anyone would have really minded if he had quit and been replaced. I guess he sorta was when they the Velvet Revolver thing which I still have mixed feelings about. Though Scott Weiland surely doesn't sound any worse than Axl live.

[Gogogadget]

About Iron Maiden, I'd say the same for Paul Dianno and Bruce Dickinson. I like both singers but still prefer Paul Dianno which IMO has the definitive Iron Maiden agressive punch.

Rumour has it that Paul Dianno was well-liked by pretty much everyone and they had no issues with him except he didn't have the right look for the band, and that's the sole reason he was replaced.

[joyeux]

Rumour has it that Paul Dianno was well-liked by pretty much everyone and they had no issues with him except he didn't have the right look for the band, and that's the sole reason he was replaced.

Interesting, I think Paul Dianno had a very distinctive stage look, which I like very much, as seem in the Early Years DVD. Maybe because he was too punkish for a heavy metal band. Nowadays Paul does a lot of concerts here in Brazil with brazilian musicians. He still rocks.

[Splatterhouse5]

Speaking of Nirvana, am I the only one that thinks Pearl Jam only made 1 really good album? Ten was a masterpiece, everything after was... ok. It's like everything they had to give for their whole career was spent on that 1 album.

I wouldn't say that they have only one good album, but it does sometimes feel like they blew their load on that first album. I thought Versus was a pretty good follow up to Ten, but I thought Vitology and No Code (IMO, the album where many stopped caring) were pretty lazy in comparison to the first two albums. I liked Binaural more than the previous two albums, but it wouldn't be until Yeild that I can say that I thoroughly enjoyed a PJ album since their second album. However, Yeild is no Ten, and it was easy to see the difference between the excitement that they generated with their first three albums, and the general lack of it since.

At the end of the day, they have accumulated a lot of songs that I do really like, but IMO, Ten is head and shoulders above any other album they've produced. They are quite an experience live though, and it doesn't surprise me that even today they have no problem selling out shows in big venues without having to team up with other big bands to accomplish it. Fans don't ever seem to miss an opportunity to see them live.

Off Topic, but this does raise the question: What bands do you feel blew their load on their first album?

[DarkDragon]

Boston

[DarkDragon]

Heres the new Judas Priest without KK Downing and some younger hot shot guitarist. No its not terrible but its dull and boring as expected from a tired old band out of ideas.

[WarmSignal]

It's very frustrating. The sound and direction often changes and it quite literally isn't the same band anymore, so why call it the same? A lot of the ones I like are very unstable, because money isn't there as an incentive to stay together. Some of them are just making enough to eat and continue fueling up the tour van. When an independent band I like makes up to four albums with all original members I consider that impressive, but rare.

Take for example, Dioramic. Lost the drummer and bassist, so they decided after replacing them that they will consider their new material as a new band with a different name, but then reconsider and decide to label it as the same band again. They're really gone full on prog metal now where their roots were originally in hardcore, so can't call it the same, but we'll see when the album drops.

But agree with whoever said don't change the vocalist, that's probably the worst offense. The worst train wreck of a band I've seen is Dance Gavin Dance. They started with a great lineup, then lost everybody but the drummer and one vocalist (there were two), then the second vocalist leaves. So they make some albums with the drummer and all new members each staying for about a year, still calling it the same band while it sounded nothing like them. Then all original members regroup and put out another album and you think it's a miracle, but shortly after all originals leave again, so now new vocalist and guitars and it sounds like crap again. Fuck that band.