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When Is A Band No Longer A band?


Gibbo

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Following on from the thread about bands that haven't had many/any line-up changes, I got to thinking about how many original/well-known members need to be IN a band for it to be known by a particular name?

 

An obvious example of this is Guns n' Roses, which is now basically just 'Axl And Blokes'; Thin Lizzy (before they saw sense, and became Black Star Riders) is another.

 

Is it enough for a certain line-up to have been together for a number of years (regardless of what they may or may not have done in that time) for it to carry a well-known name?

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Good topic! Lynyrd Skynyrd have only one original member left. Tigertailz with only Jay Pepper left from when they started.

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At one point, Molly Hatchet had zero original members. Dave Hlubek has since returned, but it's still not the same band to me.

 

I don't even want to talk about Great White.

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At one point, Molly Hatchet had zero original members. Dave Hlubek has since returned, but it's still not the same band to me.

 

I don't even want to talk about Great White.

 

Exactly! :)

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Good topic! Lynyrd Skynyrd have only one original member left. Tigertailz with only Jay Pepper left from when they started.

 

Skynyrd were another band that came to mind - I just couldn't remember how many original members were left!

 

Black Sabbath are another one (although I like to think that Tony Iommi kept the name alive just to piss Sharon Osbourne off.)

 

It's funny how some bands are accepted as bands, even though they have an almost ever-changing line-up (Whitesnake, Rainbow, Megadeth), so where is the line drawn?

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I don't like it, but there are some bands that can retain their sound with only one member left, especially if it's the vocalist. The prime example would be House Of Lords. Good bad or ugly, to me all their CDs have sounded like HOL, even if James Christian has basically been the only original member since the first 3 (do I have to include the 4th??) albums.

 

Bands like Jaded Heart, for instance, where a bass player and drummer are the only original members... that doesn't sit too well with me. Even if it might not be their fault (and I honestly don't know who's "fault" it is), they just haven't retained the original JH sound at all, and even if I like their recent albums, they stopped being "the real" JH a long time ago.

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A band is no longer a band when the heart has been ripped out. The heart is different for every band tho - could be the sound (vocals, guitars etc.), the songwriting and so on.

 

For example look at Whitesnake, still has the vocals and some of the songwriting but it's never been the same or consistent since Slide It In. I'm a huge fan of 1987 but that's a once off. I can understand why fans of the band from it's creation up until Slide It In were disappointed as the early albums have the same style, line up, songwriting etc. So for some that band died after Slide It in. Looking back now I tend to agree as everything after that point was different from album to album (except Coverdale's lyrics and vocals).

 

I wonder what would have happened if Motley chose a singer more in keeping with their style prior to the 1994 album. Vince whilst highly recognizable in his delivery was never the heart of that band. It was always Nikki and Tommy. I guess we'll never know.

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a band's name is just a name, sometimes the real mind behind a band is just one or two persons and that's it.

 

Guns N Roses' songs were mostly written by Axl and the second guy is Izzy

Motley Crue's songs were Nikki Sixx's

Bon Jovi is Jon and Richie

Megadeth is Dave Mustaine

Metallica is James and Lars

W.A.S.P is Blackie Lawless

etc

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Yeah but the writing is not everything. GnR for example - Slash gave them that undeniable sleazy guitar and Duff ups the punk feel and sound. Hell, even Steven gives them a different feel compared to Matt and the other drummers.

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a band's name is just a name, sometimes the real mind behind a band is just one or two persons and that's it.

 

Guns N Roses' songs were mostly written by Axl and the second guy is Izzy

Motley Crue's songs were Nikki Sixx's

Bon Jovi is Jon and Richie

Megadeth is Dave Mustaine

Metallica is James and Lars

W.A.S.P is Blackie Lawless

etc

 

I understand where you're coming from on this, but I agree with DaHun that a band is more than just the songwriting ...

 

For me, W.A.S.P. stopped being 'W.A.S.P.' once Chris Holmes and Johnny Rod had gone - now it's just a Blackie Lawless solo vehicle. As good as the albums might be, I don't think he should be using the W.A.S.P. name.

 

If Kirk left Metallica, it would be the same thing ... as it is for me now with Slayer, Lombardo is gone and Hanneman is no longer with us - it's not Slayer.

 

Motley Crue don't work without Vince. Love him or hate him, he IS an integral part of the band.

 

Megadeth is a strange one. I would argue that most people would say that 'the band' is the two Daves - although I'd also say that a lot of the 'band' mentality was lost once Nick Menza and Marty Friedman left ... funnily enough, the almost constant changes of drummer and guitarist have never really bothered me.

 

Whitesnake is no longer a band, and hasn't been a band, as such, since the late 80s.

 

Picking up on Jeff's point about the 'sound' of a band, would fans of the band be happy with a Dokken line-up that was Don and three blokes? It would still be his voice, and no doubt the songs would sound the same but, still ...

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Isn't that basically what the last Dokken album was? Yeah, definitely 100% not saying that the vocalist alone makes the band and their signature sound, otherwise you could say Seb Bach solo albums sound more like Skid Row than Skid Row.

 

It is definitely not always the case - I would literally just using HOL as an example and couldn't think of any others. ;)

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