Most devastating band departure

mohaveman wrote: Marillion without Fish is an altogether different band

Voted Anderson but I refer to the current situation, not 1978 (Drama was okay, and he came back anyway).

Other.

Morrison dying/leaving  The Doors.

Well, from that list, I immediately went to Genesis and Gabriel, but then I realised that, while I might not have liked the music, Phil Collins' Genesis at least had a coherent identity. After Waters left Floyd, their stuff just wasn't as good. They never recovered. So I went for them.

Well, both Genesis and Yes produced albums that are among my favorites by those bands shortly after these departures. So it's hard to vote for either of those.

Genesis' problems started in earnest at about the time Hackett left, though I think his departure was more an effect than it was a cause of this process; he'd been drifting apart from the others for a while there, if you've ever heard/read him talk about the making of Lamb (when Gabriel was still in the band). Hackett does have a slightly more credible claim than Gabriel though; he is the only one of the five men in the "classic" Genesis lineup who, to judge by their respective solo work, did not at any point "go pop" by any sane definition.

Marillion went from a not that interesting band that had its moments to an utterly different not that interesting band that had its moments. No biggie there.

Floyd? I think The Division Bell is at least as good as The Final Cut, for one thing, and that alone is reason enough to question any vote in that direction. For another, the parties had drifted far enough apart that it's hard to imagine how Waters could not have left. I do wish Gilmour would relent on his opposition to getting back together now that Waters has publicly said he's open to the idea, though (Rick's death notwithstanding).

I don't know Sabbath that well. The stuff I've heard without Osbourne has seemed about as good as the stuff with him to me.

And of course, the jury's still out on Portnoy leaving DT. I'm pessimistic about that one but for all anyone knows right now it could turn out to be the best thing that ever happened to them. (Same with Anderson's, what, third departure from Yes? Above I was referring to his first.)

In short, for all the ink that's been spilled over some of them, I find none of these to be a credible candidate for "most devastating band departure" in popular music, or even in prog rock.

(I'll offer one more candidate for the former, though - Robbie Robertson leaving The Band.)


Edited by jeffh - September 13 2010 at 19:12

Ozzy´s leaving Black Sabbath wasn´t too big "bereavement" as seems to be. The last two Sabb albums with him are weak though. And the arrival of Dio have impressed as a viva aqua... 

All the people that voted Waters: Surely it's less devestating that at least half the others on this list because it wasn't even a proper departure. I mean, the tensions between these guys was evident from Animals onwards, and after their final cut- The Final Cut(!), it wasn't so much that Waters left, but that the group had actually disbanded.

How about "Hackett leaves Genesis" ?

Melomaniac wrote: How about "Hackett leaves Genesis" ?   Hackett's departure hurt Genesis more than Gabriel's departure, Trick of the Tail and Wind And Wuthering  as proof...

When Keith Moon left The Who.