The Band Minus the Face: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

 

Many bands both avert this trope and play it straight; it isn't uncommon for a band to survive the departure of one key member only to later see their popularity fade after the loss of a different member.

 

 

Compare and contrast the musical applications of [[Growing the Beard]].

 

== Straight Examples ==

* By 1970, after [[The Monkees (band)|The Monkees]]' TV series had been canceled ''and'' both Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork (the only members of the band who were actual musicians) had left, the band's future looked bleak. However, Saturday morning reruns of the show did well enough that the two remaining members, Micky Dolenz and Davy Jones, made one more album--''Changes'', a return to the bubblegum pop of the group's earliest hits, only not as good. Despite songs from ''Changes'' being inserted into the existing reruns, the LP didn't even make the Billboard Top 200 album chart on its initial release, and [[The Monkees]] were finished until their successful 20th anniversary reunion in 1986. When ''Changes'' (along with the rest of [[The Monkees]]' catalogue) was subsequently reissued, it finally made the charts, peaking at #152.

** In Yule's defense, ''Squeeze'' is only '''in''' the VU discography because of [[Executive Meddling]]. He wanted to release it as a solo album and record a Velvets album with the touring band, but couldn't get the budget.

* After Jim Morrison died, the remaining [[The Doors|Doors]] recorded two more albums, ''Other Voices'' and ''Full Circle''. These albums have been largely forgotten and, unlike the rest of the band's often-reissued catalog, are available on CD only as European semi-bootlegs.

** Additionally, the Doors have recruited a number of vocalists for the occasional live performance. Eddie Vedder sang when the group was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, and an appearance on VH-1 Storytellers included performances by a number of singers including Scott Stapp, Scott Weiland, and Ian Astbury, who accompanied the group on a world tour in 2003. After a lawsuit by John Densmore and the Morrison estate barred said touring group from using the Doors name, Ray Manzarek and Robbie Krieger have performed under the name Riders on the Storm.

* After Ian Hunter left [[Mott the Hoople]], the band shortened its name to Mott and continued with two more albums, ''Drive On'' (which was at least a decent seller, peaking at #35) and ''Shouting and Pointing'' (which didn't chart at all).

* The [[Dead Kennedys]]' messy breakup resulted in the band continuing to tour without singer Jello Biafra, angering fans who feel that the new version of the DK's is betraying everything the original group stood for. (This may help explain why the new DK's have gone through no less than ''four'' singers.) Atypically for this trope, the post-Biafra [[Dead Kennedys]] haven't attempted any new material; all their releases since the split have been compilations or live albums dating from the Biafra era.

** Some fans warmed up to the Biafra-less DK after they learned how much money he stole from the rest of the band. Not cool (or punk), Jello.

** It isn't confirmed which story (the one that Ray and the gang tell, and the one Jello tells) is actually true. Due to his charisma and consistent views, Jello's side of it tends to be believed more often than not.

* Wall of Voodoo's vocalist, Stan Ridgway, and percussionist Joe Nanni, quit the band after backstage trouble at the 1983 US Festival. Undeterred, the remaining members, signed up a new vocalist in Andy Prieboy, and a drummer to put out two more albums, plus a live disc.

** To be fair, the band's second best selling single, "Far Side of Crazy" was sung by Prieboy. In Australia, where "Far Side of Crazy" outsold "Mexican Radio", Prieboy is regarded as the band's face and Ridgway is seen as [[The Pete Best]].

* The original musicians of [[Guns N' Roses]] (i.e., the entire band except for Axl Rose... and Izzy Stradlin) eventually regrouped under the name Velvet Revolver (with the vocalist of Stone Temple Pilots and another guitarist, old-time friend of Slash and who played with Duff in the band Loaded).

** Stone Temple Pilots played it more straight, however. After Scott left and the band broke up, the other members formed Army of Anyone with the singer from Filter. Most STP fans don't know Army of Anyone exists, and if they do, they tend to deny it exists.

* Drowning Pool's singer died after the first album, and they've had a new singer for each of their three albums since..

* Adema had a singer that left after the second album; they're currently up to their fourth.

* Most people agree that Don Caballero hasn't been the same since guitarist Ian Williams left. The bassist quit shortly after he did, leaving only drummer Damon Che left. Che tried to salvage the band, but the results were...[[Fanon Discontinuity|disappointing, to say the least.]]

* Steve Jones and Paul Cook, plus a couple of [[The Other Darrin|no-name fill-ins]], toured as [[Sex Pistols|The Sex Pistols]] several times in the 2000s, more than 20 years after singer John "Johnny Rotten" Lydon left to form [[Public Image Ltd]] and bassist Sid Vicious died of a drug overdose, and a couple years after a moderately successful 1996 reunion tour. Lydon would later come out of retirement to front the group in performances in 2007 and 2008, along with the band's original bassist Glen Matlock (who was kicked out and replaced by Vicious).

* The Irish group Them is best remembered for Van Morrison's 1964-66 stint as lead singer. However, after Morrison left for a successful solo career, various versions of Them continued recording and touring until 1971, with a reunion in 1979. While Them never regained their Morrison-era level of popularity, some fans hold their work without him in high regard.

* Country music band Shenandoah has gone through ''three more'' lead singers since Marty Raybon left in 1995. Brent Lamb until 2000, Brent Lamb ''and'' Curtis Wright for a while, just Wright until 2008, and Jimmy Yeary (who sounds exactly like Raybon) from 2008 onward.

* The Kentucky Headhunters lost brothers Ricky Lee Phelps (lead vocals) and Doug Phelps (bass guitar) before their third album, ''Rave On!!''. They were replaced by lead singer Mark Orr and bassist Anthony Kenney. Orr left after only one album, and Doug came back, taking over his brother's former role as lead singer. After Kenney left, Doug also became bassist again.

** [[The Statler Brothers]] went through the same thing, replacing Lew Dewitt with Jimmy Fortune, even letting him sing lead on the first single that the group released after Dewitt's departure.

* After a cocaine indictment, lead singer Steven Page left [[Barenaked Ladies]]. He'd already released one solo album, but went off on his own solo career while the Ladies remained together. Their first non-Page album, ''All in Good Time'', was released in 2010, with Ed Robertson taking over lead vocal duties (he and Page had previously split lead vocals more or less down the middle). Kevin Hearn and Jim Creeggan sang lead on a few tracks each, an experiment that started with ''Barenaked Ladies Are Men'' in 2006, though Hearn first sang lead on a [[Hidden Track]] from ''Maroon'' called "Hidden Sun", and Creeggan had a few leads on ''Born on a Pirate Ship'' in the mid-nineties. Even Tyler Stewart's voice could be heard on "Four Seconds", so really, ''everyone'' in this band can sing.

** Without Bowie ''and'' without [[The Lancer|guitarist]] [[Needs More Love|Mick Ronson.]] Which leaves just [[Those Two Guys]].

* When Lord Worm was fired from Cryptopsy, they continued with new vocalist Matt McGachy. Their one album so far since then, ''The Unspoken King'', has received... somewhat negative reviews.

** Note: when Lord Worm returned, they averted [[Canon Discontinuity]] despite the major differences between the singers' voices. Lord Worm still played songs written in his absence.

* [[The Band]] did a tour of tiny clubs and theatres in the early 90s without Robbie Robertson. It was a rather depressing affair.

* After [[Meat Loaf]] attained popular success of ''Bat Out Of Hell'', songwriter-producer Jim Steinman wrote a followup album for the singer. When he proved unable to perform due to illness, Steinman brought Meat Loaf's band into the studio and sang the songs himself, releasing the album, ''Bad For Good'', under his own name. While critics generally deemed it mediocre and found Steinman's voice a poor substitute for Meat Loaf's, it achieved a Top 40 hit with "Rock and Roll Dreams Come Through". Meat Loaf would eventually record most of the songs on the album himself for various projects.

* [[Styx]] lost Dennis de Young, their vocalist and keyboardist/pianist whose singing had made the band. They've hardly done as successfully as de Young himself, who continues with his own band....still singing Styx songs just as well as he did before.

* After [[Thin Lizzy]] broke up and Phil Lynott died, the band had a few reunion projects before reuniting on a permanent basis in 1996 with former guitarist John Sykes as the lead singer. They've only released a single live album since, so most people don't really care.

* After Michael Hutchence, the singer for INXS, tragically died in 1997, the group continued on with a new lead singer named Jon Stevens, who joined the group in 2002. Stevens then quit the group a year later to focus on a solo career, and the band eventually became involved with the ''Rock Star'' television series, where they crowned Canadian unknown J.D. Fortune as the new lead singer. Fortune released an album with the group (which received moderately good reviews), the band "fired" him via an informal handshake at a Hong Kong airport, and they are once again without a singer.

* [[Alter Bridge]] is [[Creed]] without Scott Stapp. Alter Bridge is also significantly better-received, making Creed used by some as a textbook example of how a bad vocalist can drag down the work of good instrumentalists. Myles Kennedy, Alter Bridge's frontman, is now additionally lead vocalist for Slash's solo band, producing an interesting cross-pollination of minus-the-face groups.

* In 2009, Sublime started touring with new singer/guitarist Rome Ramirez replacing the late Brad Nowell. This didn't stick, as the Nowell family claims that Brad was the sole owner of the band name. The other two original members soon decided they didn't want to alienate Brad's widow, family and friends and changed the name of the project to Sublime with Rome, which was accepted by Brad's family. Prior to this there was Long Beach Dub All-Stars, who were ''also'' Sublime without Nowell.

* After Brian Setzer left The Stray Cats, the other two members, Jim Phantom and Lee Rocker, teamed up with former David Bowie guitarist Earl Slick to form a new group, Phantom, Rocker, and Slick. They released one album, which bombed miserably, and then quickly dissolved.

* When [[The Who]] lost drummer Keith Moon after 1978's ''Who Are You'', the band replaced him with Kenney Jones. Everything went OK for a while, including a decently-received tour, until 11 fans were killed at a concert in Cincinnati a year later. The band then released two studio albums with Jones, ''Face Dances'' and ''It's Hard''. While the former had a bonafide hit in "You Better You Bet" and a charter in "Another Tricky Day", the latter was panned by just about everyone (though Rolling Stone infamously awarded it 5/5 stars). Though they've reunited since then (recently without deceased bassist John Entwistle) many times for tours and even a studio album ''Endless Wire'' which was warmly received, they've never REALLY been [[The Who]] since Keith passed away.

* Cannibal Corpse, to some extent. Although most fans view current vocalist George "Corpsegrinder" Fisher as a formidable replacement to original frontman Chris Barnes, some still insist that the band lost defining characteristics after Barnes' departure.

* After [[Buddy Holly]] died, The Crickets continued with various other singers (one of whom, David Box, also died in a plane crash). They currently tour with Buddy's friend Sonny Curtis.

** The split actually came before Holly's death.

* When they were dumped by their record label, October Project's Mary Fahl then struck out on a solo career, taking her signature contralto with her. October Project, meanwhile, attempted several times to carry on without her, first as November Project, then as October Project again. While Mary has been able to get a CD out in stores since then, as well as appear on a couple of movie soundtracks, the larger part of the group has had only a few limited-run releases.

* [[Oingo Boingo]] eventually had a reunion concert, but without lead singer [[Danny Elfman]].

* [[Accept]] have had this twice. The first time, they replaced iconic lead singer Udo Dirkschneider with David Reece. The resulting album, ''Eat the Heat'', was derided as being too commercial, and they quickly split up. The second time, Udo was replaced by Frank Tornillo. However, since ''Blood of the Nations'' has received fairly good reviews, this may count as an aversion. (YMMV STRONGLY on this).

** Amusingly, in the case of [[Iron Maiden]] and [[Iced Earth]], they band's best-known frontmen weren't even the original singers for the band. Though in both cases, the frontmen also weren't the ones writing most of the songs.

* Russian heavy metal band Aria lost its lead singer, Valery Kipelov, who decided to start his own solo project. The replacement, Arthur Berkut, became a major source of [[Broken Base]]: some think he's as good as Kipelov, some think he's a [[Replacement Scrappy]].

* Parodied in the [[Rammstein]] [[Music Video]] for "Haifisch", which has the other band members discussing a replacement to the lead singer Till Lindemann....at the poor guy's (fictional) FUNERAL. [[Metallica]]'s James Hetfield seemed a popular choice.

** In [[Real Life]], the band has stated that if any member dies or retires, they will break up, averting this.

* Project 86's music video for "The Spy Hunter" ends with the rest of the band knocking singer Andrew Schwab unconscious, tying him up, and leaving him to get shot by a cannon. This is continued in the video for "My Will Be a Dead Man", where Schwab tracks down the rest of the band and finds that they've replaced him (with the lead singer from He Is Legend, no less).

* After the techno duo Blue Amazon split up, Lee Softley continued producing solo under that name.

* 2 Unlimited was reformed as a girl group after the original two members, Ray and Anita, parted ways. It didn't last long, as [[One-Book Author|they only produced one album]] before breaking up themselves.

* [[Da Yoopers]] have continued nearly 20 years beyond the departure of longtime vocalist/guitarist Joe Potila. Since they're a [[No-Hit Wonder]], it's not as if their success has waned much.

* Indie pop girl group The Pipettes has seen many lineup changes: the band's most successful lineup of Rebecca "RiotBecki" Stephens, Rose Elinor Dougall and Gwenno Saunders is the second lineup. Saunders replaced Julia Laird-Clowes, who left to become the singer and keyboardist for the indie band The Indelicates. After the release of their popular 2006 debut ''We Are the Pipettes'', Stephens and Dougall left the band, with Dougall going onto a critically acclaimed solo career. Saunders and Monster Bobby (the group's co-creator and leader of their backing band) continued the group, recruiting replacements that ''also'' departed soon afterwards. The group's second album, ''Earth vs. Pipettes'' only features Saunders and her sister Ani in the lineup, and it tanked in both sales and critical reception.

* The [[Sex Pistols]] tried to continue when Johnny Rotten left, with the three remaining members and "Great Train Robber" Ronnie Biggs taking turns on lead vocals. It didn't go well.

 

 

== Aversions ==

* After [[Red Hot Chili Peppers]]' guitarist, Hillel Slovak, died, the band went through a lot of effort to replace him. The eventual replacement, John Frusciante, helped turn the band into a mainstream success and is currently regarded as one of the 20 best guitarists of all time. Whether or not RHCP will continue this trend with new guitarist, Josh Klinghoffer, remains to be seen.

* [[Pink Floyd]] has averted this trope twice. Roger Waters took over from Syd Barrett, and David Gilmour took over from Waters, but the band's records have just kept on selling.

** It helps that Waters' replacement, veteran bassist Guy Pratt, is proficient enough to play anything Roger ever could have. Pratt also did solid work on the band's post-Waters albums, ''A Momentary Lapse of Reason'' and ''The Division Bell.'' Not that this was going to be a huge issue: Dave Gilmour is the only stand-out musician in the band, few bassists distinguish themselves by bass-playing alone, and, well... Roger got bass because he didn't impress as lead (and was looking at drums for a while).

** Pink Floyd averted this trope largely because their faces never really came to the fore. Syd was the group's frontman from their formation in 1965 to 1968, but he never had a stage presence to rival Mick Jagger's or Peter Gabriel's, not to mention that his dislike of larger or televised audiences was a major cause of his retreat into psychedelic breakdown. More importantly, even in the Syd era, the band relied heavily on lightshows and effects to accompany their performances, and were perfectly happy that it drew attention away from them personally. It was only later, with ''[[The Wall]]'', ''The Final Cut'', the power struggle and subsequent breakup that Roger Waters and David Gilmour began emerging as distinct personalities. As one example of this, during the ''[[Dark Side of the Moon]]'' tour, the band were able to slip out to the public bar during the interval, without any of the fans recognising them.

* After Ian Curtis' suicide, the remaining members of [[Joy Division]] changed the group name to [[New Order]] and added the drummer's girlfriend on keyboards, and became more successful than ever.

* [[Nightwish]] managed to stay in business after the female lead Tarja Turunen got fired. Whether it's "still Nightwish" is the source of ''intense'' [[Your Mileage May Vary]] though.

* When Cazuza, singer and main songwriter of Brazilian band Barão Vermelho, left, his usual partner, guitarist Roberto Frejat, took over singing. The band continues its success to date.

* Another Brazilian band, Titãs, survived the departure of a singer/composer, the death of a guitarist, and the departure of a bassist/singer/composer (and now, of the drummer).

* [[Van Halen]] achieved its greatest commercial success ''after'' David Lee Roth quit the band and was replaced by Sammy Hagar, though the change has always caused great division among fans, with many Roth purists disdainfully referring to the later group as "Van Hagar". After Hagar quit, they tried it again with Gary Cherone (which didn't take at ''[[Dork Age|all]]''). In their two reunion tours since then, they've toured once with Hagar and once with Roth.

** They reformed in 2009 with Simply Red singer Mick Hucknall providing lead vocal. Their performance at the Royal Albert Hall was pretty well received but Hucknall's status within the band isn't too clear at the moment.

* Albums by [[The Damned]] have a direct relationship between overall quality and the percentage of David Vanian, Captain Sensible, and Rat Scabies involved.

* [[The Moody Blues]] were originally a well-respected but but only moderately successful white R&B band. After lead singer Denny Laine left (along with bassist Clint Warwick), the band brought in Justin Hayward and John Lodge, switched its focus to symphonic rock, and became massively popular.

* After parting ways with lead singer David Ruffin in 1968, The Temptations kept on racking up hits well into the 70s while Ruffin's solo career floundered.

* Dave Bickler was the lead singer on Survivor's biggest hit, "Eye of the Tiger", but that was the only top ten hit for the band during Bickler's tenure. They had four top ten singles with Bickler's replacement, Jimi Jamison.

* Death metal pack leaders Cannibal Corpse ended up firing their original frontman, Chris Barnes, over attitude issues. What they didn't account for was that Chris Barnes was the most beloved death metal frontman outside of Chuck Schuldiner. Fortunately the guy they ended up getting, George "Corpsegrinder" Fisher, was not only a vastly superior vocalist, he pretty much converted any skeptics with [[Careful with That Axe|his first vocal section on his first album with the band]].

* Tyondai Braxton, the singer and guitarist for math rock group Battles, left the band after the tour for their successful 2007 debut album ''Mirrored''. The band pressed on without replacing him and their sophomore effort, 2011's ''Gloss Drop'' was extremely well received. Instead of replacing him directly, the songs on ''Gloss Drop'' are either instrumental or feature guest vocalists.

* [[Alice in Chains]] reunited and began touring in 2005, three years after lead singer Layne Staley died and eventually selected William Duvall as his replacement. The band released an album, ''Black Gives Way to Blue'' which received good critical and fan reception, with most of the fandom that had been against Duvall changing their tune. It is really only a small [[Vocal Minority]] that still refuses to accept him.

 

 

== "Vacations" ==

* Graham Parker's band, The Rumour, released three albums without Parker.

* Keyboardist Rick Wakeman took a vacation from [[Yes]] for the second time in 1979, and lead singer Jon Anderson followed suit. Their replacements were the new wave pop duo The Buggles: Geoff Downes and Trevor Horn. The resulting album, 1980's ''Drama'', was met with mixed reviews.

* Averted ''and'' played straight, so to speak, with Malice Mizer. The loss of their first vocalist, Tetsu, not only didn't end the band, but his replacement by [[Gackt]] drastically increased the band's popularity. The loss of Gackt on the other hand...

* Difficult as it is to imagine the Strawbs without Dave Cousins fronting them, he did take a break at the end of the '70s. Roy Hill took over as frontman, deploying his unique variety of [[Mind Screw|mind screwiness]] in the role, until Dave felt ready to return.

* Dune singer Verena von Strenge took a vacation from the group between 1997 and 1999, during which time they used a vocalist named Vanessa.

* [[Fleetwood Mac]] has had 16 different members since Peter Green founded the band in 1967. The only original member is Mick Fleetwood. (The Mac, John McVie, didn't actually join the band for the first few weeks of its existence). Over the years, they have had: their main singer/songwriter/guitarist/founder, Peter Green, quit a tour halfway through due to LSD addiction; ANOTHER lead singer/guitarist, Jeremy Spencer, joined the Children of God partway through a tour and never finished it (they got Peter Green to come back); and a third guitarist/songwriter, Danny Kirwan, smashed his guitar before a performance and refused to ever appear in stage again.

* Morbid Angel vocalist/bassist David Vincent left in 1996 and returned in 2004. The band recorded three albums with replacement Steve Tucker which had mixed-to-positive reviews. After 7 years, finally an album was recorded with Vincent. It was not received well at all.

* Big & Rich went on hiatus after their third album. Both members (Big Kenny and John Rich) recorded solo albums with each other's blessings, but have since officially started touring again as Big & Rich.

* [[Pantera]]'s Dimebag, Rex Brown and Vinnie Paul collaborated with country singer David Allan Coe on an album called ''Rebel Meets Rebel''. Pantera vocalist Phil Anselmo was supposed to appear on the duet song "Rebel Meets Rebel", but the secondary vocalist was switched to Dimebag.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Music Tropes]]

[[Category:The Band Minus the Face]]