Notable Bands That Broke Up At The Right Time (and didn't carry on longer than they should have)
Submitted by slipkid71 on Thu, 07/25/2002 - 11:33
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- The Police: By 1984, they were without question the most popular band in the world. A number one album, Top Ten hits galore, and sold-out performances at Shea Stadium in NYC (which I got to see). But huge egos and internal strife (read: they hated each other) forced this great trio to quietly fade away.
- Led Zeppelin: John Bonham's tragic death unfortunately halted the momentum the Zep had been generating since 1979's "In Through The Out Door." Musically, they were shying away from the balls-out blues-riffing of their earlier days and moving towards more Eastern-flavored, mature rock. But Bonham's death was too big a void to fill.
- The Sex Pistols: Truthfully, they were over almost as soon as they began. Johnny Rotten, at the band's last ever performance at the Wintergarden in SF, infamously declared "ever get the feeling you've been cheated?" Rather than become a casualty of New Wave, they packed their bags once the euphoria of Punk had begub to wean.
- Soundgarden: Their break-up came as a complete surprise to me. Musically, they were still in their prime, but conflicting musical directions between Chris Cornell and Kim Thayil, plus Ben Shepherd's nervous breakdown pulled the band apart.
- The Beatles: No, Yoko didn't break the band up. Being the Beatles did. By 1970, the youthful exhuberance that made them the idols of millions was replaced by the weary cynicism of four men that just wanted to be themselves and not John, Paul, George and Ringo. While "Let it Be" was their last album, their final recording, "Abbey Road," could not have been a better swan song for any band.
- Husker Du: While I was never a fan of theirs, it did seem to me that at the time of their breakup, the world was finally catching up to them. Rather than succumb to the major-label bullshit, the band remained true to their indie roots and broke up. Or was Grant Hart's debilitating heroin addiction to blame?
Author Comments:
When Robert Fripp broke up King Crimson (for the first time) in 1974, he claimed he didn't want the band to become a "dinosaur", still in existence despite the inevitable doom of fossilization. The following bands realized quite soon the end was near, either because the music just wasn't there or they couldn't f**king stand each other anymore.
Feel free to mention any others you think should make this list.
The Pixies broke up just at the right time when Frank Black and Kim Deal were about to kill each other. They've both gone on to do their own things, fairly successfully at that.