[Closed] Bands which continued after a member has died/left.

Rainbow

Deep Purple

Def Leppard

AC/DC

...

We could be here all night..

Manics

Floyd

Genesis

Madness

Roxy music

Take that

1D

Girls aloud

How many do you want?

Rolling Stones

Fleetwood Mac

Pink Floyd

Joy Division/New Order

Dr Feelgood

Spinal Tap!

The Who

Red Hot Chilli Peppers

Spinal Tap

Smashing Pumpkins

Metallica

Pantera

Stranglers

The Damned

so many

Jimmy Somerville/Bronski Beat/The Communards

Depeche Mode (twice)

From the Jam (lol!)

Echo & the Bunnymen

Genesis

Feeder

Wham

Take That

Manic Street Preachers

Too tired to think of others!

Depeche Mode (twice)

Pretty good with vince clark

awwsome with Alan wilder

utter shite without wilder lol

n0b0dy0ftheg0at

Member
Genesis
Feeder
Wham
Take That
Manic Street Preachers
Too tired to think of others!

Too tired to think of others? Three off that list had already been mentioned and I'm pretty sure Wham didn't continue after a member died/left.

!

My personal favourites, Tangerine Dream, the original founder, Edgar Froese died in January 2015, but the last album with his input was Quantum Gate, released several months ago.  It was the first album in to move the band in a new direction, I liked it, some don't, but isn't that the way it always is.

Yes.

It it was like a revolving door for most of it's existence. At one point Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman & Howe, 4 of the founding members were threading the boards together again but couldn't call themselves Yes because some other blokes were Yes.

Thin Lizzy.

They "reunited" a few years ago, did a few festivals then changed their name to Black Star Riders.

Alice in Chains - Doing rather well. Although they can't match the Layne Stayley stuff, I like where they are now.

Slayer: Should have called it quits when Jeff died as Lombardo was no longer in the band as well, so it was left to Araya and King to drag the dead horse around the world.

Metallica: Not quite the same after Cliff died, but did well for a couple of albums. They've been a nostalgia band for decades.

What about that run of 70s band that had several incarnations. The Seekers. The New Seekers. The New New Seekers?

Bucks Fizz!

Faith No More

Oasis

Bananarama

Yes

Joe Cocker

Oh - Buzzcocks! Howard Devoto left after 1 single

Siouxsie & the Banshees - Guitarist and drummer disappeared

Massive Attack. Tricky gone

there really is quite a lot.

Bands with only original members would be easier..

The Beatles managed to scrape along without Sutcliffe and Best

Rolling Stones (Brian Jones)

New Order (Ian Curtis)

Marillion - still going, probably more successful now than they were with Fish, although not getting hit singles. Same with The Stranglers, been going longer now than they were with Hugh Cornwall.

Genesis - the two albums they released after Gabriel left are OK, but when Steve Hackett left they lost a unique part of their sound and might just as well be Phil Collins’ backing band.

Siouxsie & The Banshees - Siouxsie and Steve Severine were the only two members who were constant through the life of the band, Sid Vicious was a drummer for a while, Robert Smith was a guitarist, in 1979, then 1982-84,  as was Marco Pirroni, Budgie joined in 1979, remained until 1996, then in 2002, and was Siouxsie’s drummer with The Creatures... (saw Budgie recently, he’s John Grant’s touring drummer, I saw Elbow at The O2, with John Grant, and I thought John’s drummer looked familiar!)

Really, it’s more difficult to find a band that kept a constant line-up over a period of years, it’s the loss of a charismatic front-person that often kills a band, but not always.

King Crimson have changed line-up practically from album to album, although from the 80’s there have been a few consistent members, like Adrian Belew and Mel Collins, Jethro Tull have had something like 40 different members over the years

The Blockheads. Still going strong today, well worth checking out if they're playing near you.

The Charlatans (twice)

Big Country

Call me ignorant but whose death did Fleetwood Mac survive? Ignore that. I didn't see left. That makes it far to easy.

Sex Pistols

@poah, agreed!

Rush: Didn't do too badly after their original drummer left.

Guns n Roses: Not the same after Adler, and ultimately Stradlin, left.

Iron Maiden: Have done rather well since the departure of DiAnno and Burr (as well as a few less unknown members previously).

Killing Joke

Napalm Death. They don’t have an original member in the band plus one member who has died.

The Velvet Underground.

john Cale was ejected. And they even carried on and released an album without Lou Reed (and I think mo had left by then also...).

the. Banshees split in Aberdeen. The other record shop in fact. I was there (the guitarist/drummer wasn’t happy with siouxsie and steve signing autographs). The cure still played and they backed siouxsie an steve for a couple no’s before telling us we’d all get our money back. They did helter skelter iirc.

didnt H leave steps? 🤣

Oh, and let’s not forget the clash (they were a bit loose with drummers and Mick of course).

Too tired to think of others? Three off that list had already been mentioned and I’m pretty sure Wham didn’t continue after a member died/left.

Yep, definitely shattered, I fell asleep in front of the tv after dinner last night after being up from ~0500. So tired I missed the bands I had duplicated from earlier in the thread! 😉

As regards Wham, I was thinking of when Pepsi and Shirlie stopped being backing singers and formed their own group.

Ruts/Ruts DC

Black Sabbath , imho the RJD years were much better than with ossy.

The wonderstuff

Human League

I don't think Siouxsie and the Banshees have been mentioned yet 🙄

Bands with only original members would be easier..

Agreed. Even largely constant bands can see some churn. For example, Pearl Jam went through several drummers until they settled on Matt Cameron.

If I run through my favourite bands then most will have had lineup changes. Though I suppose in some cases you could separate out bands who were split between core or definitive members and people who were there to play all the necessary instruments, to those who were a tight knit group yet managed to continue after someone left.

Eels would not be Eels without E, Dire Straits would not have been Dire Straits without Mark Knopfler, but changes to the rest of the lineup were common. On the other hand, it was unexpected that Live would continue after they kicked out Ed Kowalczyk as their lineup had remained constant from their forming up to that point.

Echo & The Bunnymen

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The Charlatans (twice

*Cough*  Four times.  Baz Kettley - lead singer, left before they reased anything.  John Day/Baker - lead guitarist, left after first album.  Rob Collins - keys, died during making of fourth album.  Jon Brookes - drums, died a few years ago.

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Primal Scream.  Throb - lead guitar multiple drummers and bassists including Mani.  Kevin Shields - guitar.

Too many to list. As has been said, band with original line ups would have been far, far, fewer. Alternatively bands who should have called it a day when a member left, yes I'm looking at you "Queen"!

Too many to list.

Except one the OP listed eh? 😆

why can't people check things haven't already been said?? 😥

R.E.M. they always said if a member left that they would call it a day. Well, Bill Berry left and they carried on getting shitter and shitter until they wound the band up. Should have split when Bill left.

Queen

Queen folded. Queen+ exists, but it's Brian and Roger plus some guy. Don't know what it is, but it isn't Queen.

Don’t know what it is, but it isn’t Queen.

If they say it's Queen and they get 1000s of people going to see them live, then it's Queen. Ain't for you to decide.

Like one of my fave bands from the past Gang of Four - they count in the original post as they lost a bass player. But they're still going with just the original guitarist and 4 new members. So there's 5 of em and only one original. They're the Gang of Four though, cos that is what they call themselves. I don't have to listen to them (I don't) but I can't tell them they're not who they say they are.

i'm disappointed no-one's mentioned the Sugababes yet

Does Jefferson Airplane/Jefferson Starship/Starship count, they did lose Airplane and Jefferson along the way.

Sugababes!

Spice Girls!

 If they say it’s Queen and they get 1000s of people going to see them live, then it’s Queen. Ain’t for you to decide.

To be fair to Kenny Dez, he's dead right that they don't bill themselves as Queen, it's always Queen +. Most notably Paul Rodgers and Adam Lambert, but even prior to that they had worked as Queen + Robbie Williams, Wyclef Jean, Pavarotti, etc

I think the only times they've appeared billed simply as "Queen" without Freddie was the tribute concert, and possibly the Mandela thing.

 Too many to list. As has been said, band with original line ups would have been far, far, fewer.

How about a gentlemen's agreement to take "definitive" line ups as the starting point. As many have mentioned, there are probably no (or hardly any) bands that don't have some sort of line up change in the formative period, but there are many more that have established a "definitive" lineup and then maintained that through a whole career.

Anyway, my notable "wouldn't have thought they'd have carried on without that guy but they did" is the Glitter Band.

Hawkwind must be the ultimate revolving door band!

How about a gentlemen’s agreement to take “definitive” line ups as the starting point. As many have mentioned, there are probably no (or hardly any) bands that don’t have some sort of line up change in the formative period, but there are many more that have established a “definitive” lineup and then maintained that through a whole career.

In that case I'll go with Blondie, Jesus & Mary Chain (even if there is some debate as to whether they were ever a true band after the first album), Kaiser Chiefs, Franz Ferdinand.

INXS - post Michael Hutchence they've bombed

This year there are 2 versions of Yes touring -

The Steve Howe Yes tribute band that had Chris Squire in, and Alan White, then there's Anderson Wakeman Rabin touring too.

Ooo… lots of my favourite bands mentioned already…

I'll add:

Kraftwerk

OMD

Art Of Noise

(Small) Faces

The Cure

The The

Chemical Brothers (discuss…)

UB40 (& UB40)

Bronski Beat

A Certain Ratio

Primal Scream (edit - sorry @jamj1974, I missed your post)

King Crimson

Happy Mondays

Sugerbabes (edit - I missed that @JoB mentioned these greats already)

Roxy Music

Crystal Fighters

Elbow

The Orb

Squeeze

Underworld

REM

Beach Boys

Sisters of Mercy

How do I stop the editor adding in all those line breaks? Never mind…

but even prior to that they had worked as Queen +

Weird, obviously not interested enough to notice the "+" but surely it should be "Queen - "  but hey, there you go.

[i]Underworld[/i]

Ah yeah, missed him too really. I saw the dubnobass anniversary gig and there was actually only one of Underworld in it! (Rick Smith was ill, apparently) It was shite too. Very disappointed.

Black Sabbath , imho the RJD years were much better than with ossy.

I am glad it is only your opinion as it is clearly incorrect. Sabbath without Ozzy were not even recognisable as Sabbath (only Heaven & Hell came close). Mob Rules was awful and I didn't even bother after that. Less said the better about other vocalists that tried and failed. But I have nothing against RJD - I still regularly play his 'Dio' era stuff.

The pretenders.

I don’t have to listen to them (I don’t) but I can’t tell them they’re not who they say they are.

I’ve heard some of what the latest incarnation of Go4 are producing, and it sounds sufficiently like old Go4 material for me to be interested.

The Clash.

I hate to say it, as they are one of my all time fave bands, but they went a bit shite after Mick Jones left!

Deftones.

Queensryche

The incredible revolving door that is the Wildhearts-  it's not so much that they're a 4-piece that's had 18 members and has split at least 7 times, it's more that they keep coming back for another go. Danny's left twice and been fired once by my reckoning, Rich and Stidi have kept the drum stool warm for each other, and there were spells where neither Jef or CJ was sure which of them was currently on lead guitar. They've changed lineup at least 50 times, more than once mid-tour.

But the really odd thing is, absolutely none of them are dead, despite doing all the drugs and drinking all the drink. One of Danny's legs dropped off, and Scott's in a bad way (though not lifestyle related), and Ginger's become a manic depressive but they're getting to the point that they're actually raising the average age of people from Newcastle. It defies actuarial science.

Whitesnake? More changes than you can shake a stick at.
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I am glad it is only your opinion as it is clearly incorrect. Sabbath without Ozzy were not even recognisable as Sabbath (only Heaven & Hell came close). Mob Rules was awful and I didn’t even bother after that. Less said the better about other vocalists that tried and failed. But I have nothing against RJD – I still regularly play his ‘Dio’ era stuff.

Agreed; Black Sabbath without Ozzy wasn't Sabbath.

I'll add;

Machine Head (Robb Flynn is the only original member of the band left)

Trivium

Soil

KoRn

Boysetsfire

Rancid

Vision of Disorder