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.

* Another band that suffered following the departure of its lead singer was Big Brother and the Holding Company. After Janis Joplin left, the band recruited several new members (including two replacement vocalists) and released ''Be a Brother''. Few accepted the invitation, which may be why Big Brother's next album (and their last for 15 years) was titled ''How Hard It Is''.

* 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).

* [[Talking Heads (band)|Talking Heads]] broke up because of tension between singer/guitarist David Byrne and the rest of the band. In 1996, the group (under the shortened name The Heads) recorded ''No Talking, Just Head'', an album on which Byrne was replaced by a new guitarist and a variety of guest singers, including [[Blondie (band)|Debbie Harry]], [[The Stooges|Iggy Pop]], Michael Hutchence, Andy Partridge and Johnette Napolitano (who sang lead on the accompanying tour). The album was not well received, and that was the end for any version of Talking Heads (except for a one-shot 2002 reunion gig celebrating the band's induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame).

* 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.

* 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.

** In yet another Stone Temple Pilots-related example, there was also Talk Show, a band the members formed with vocalist Dave Coutts in 1997, while Scott Weiland was struggling with drug addiction and working on his first solo album. As with Army Of Anyone, the one album they released didn't do very well commercially and isn't too well-known even among fans.

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

* When original singer Edwin left I Mother Earth, they managed to put out two more albums with Brian Byrne before imploding, though admittedly there were [[Executive Meddling|other factors]]. On the other hand, four studio albums is an impressive catalogue for an early 90s Canadian alt-rock band, since most were lucky to get to three.

* 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.

== 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.

* 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]]