Biggest mistake a band ever made

[Spectrum]

I would say that was pretty bad when many of the 70's prog/classic rock bands changed the style in the 80's(Yes, Genesis, Kansas) to name a few.

Turned out to be a fantastic decision for Genesis. You might not like the music, but it certainly was popular and sold a ton of records.

Yes didn't do quite as well, but 90125 and Big Generator also did well commercially and kept their names in people's minds.

 

[BillyH]

The fact that a jealous Don Brewer and tag along Mel, tricked and kicked Mark Farner out of Grand Funk Railroad. Farner WAS AND ALWAYS WILL BE Grand Funk. I saw Grand Funk revisited last year. They were really boring. It was the Don Brewer show and that's it. Mel was just kinda there but Brewer was like HEY LOOK AT ME... pathetic how transparent it all was.

 

[58kites]

Obviously there are very differing opinions of what or who makes great music.
For me, the members from the bands I mentioned failed to produce work nearly as good as they had previously.
As far as bands selling records and making money, there were some who went broke and some that made more cash after.
I have not been impressed by the solo work of many musicians that were previously in bands that had a great chemistry that resulted in great records together.

Remember there was also Muscle of Love in between--it was a decent album, but not as good as the ones from Love it to Death through to Billion Dollar Babies.
As I have heard it--the idea was the others wanted to get back to less fancy stage stuff--more straight forward stuff, Alice & Shep wanted to go bigger--so Alice was going to do a solo album & things stayed that way.
GB likely wouldn't have been part of things after Muscle of Love anyway--the other three did form a band called Billion Dollar babies & released one album.

I agree with what you said.
I like Muscle of Love just as well as I like Billion Dollar Babies, maybe more.
Yes, Vincent wanted to go bigger and was spending less time thinking about the music and more time thinking about his show as a production, the other band members were trying to tell him he was going in the wrong direction.
They were right and he was wrong for sure.
Vincent had an alcohol problem just as Glenn Buxton did, he just managed it slightly better, some guys are tougher than others, maybe a dry out/rehab for both of them would have been a better thing to do with your buddy since high school, than dump the whole band and walk away.
Why would Alice Cooper want to do a solo album?...he had no plans to call it the Vincent Furnier show, Alice Cooper was his band and his shtick was exactly what they had done since Love it to Death, only Alice wanted it totally polished and PG rated and ready for TV specials, which is exactly what he did with Welcome To My Nightmare for network TV in 1975.
I bought the Billion Dollar Babies Band Album and quickly realized these guys were in trouble without Alice and felt really bad for them.
Alice Cooper is not the only performer who softened his art to "accommodate a broader audience", but I've rarely seen it done so dramatically and so quickly and have it ruin a good thing so thoroughly.
I did buy the Welcome to My Nightmare album and Alice Cooper Goes To Hell and listened to both for a while but they really sounded like exactly what they were, Alice Cooper songs made all shiny and clean for a Vegas stage production.
After Goes To Hell, I found everything pretty awful for 25 years or so.
He forced his hand on the other band members rather than arguing it out or compromising, he just decided to completely sidestep the conversation and started recording an Alice Cooper Band album without his band and then put his image in a tuxedo on the cover.

 

[pcake]

it's easy to say that all those were mistakes, but maybe they weren't mistakes for the people involved. i hear john was happy after leaving the beatles, and it's not like the money stopped or he stopped making music, and music he had first say over, at that. it's possible a lot of players who left a famous band never to regain their fame are much happier now regardless. they can have personal lives, spend time with their kids, do stuff that doesn't involve a pressure cooker of touring, writing, touring, promoting and touring. and maybe the bands find that even losing sales is better than dealing with someone that makes them miserable all the time.

i like ozzy solo music better than ozzy with sabbath - i know it's not a popular perspective, but i do. when i was in a cover band, we played a lot of ozzy stuff and only two sabbath songs. i couldn't care less whether sharon was controlling ozzy or not - i don't know the guy, so i only know i liked the music. and maybe he needed that if it was happening - he doesn't seem like a guy with a lot of organizational skills

for some reason, even though i don't care for kiss much, i read paul stanley's autobiography, and as a result, afterward i watched interviews with peter and ace. i cannot see anyone being able to work with them - they seemed to be a mess.

firing david lee roth... well, yeah, that was a mistake

 

[GregC]

The Clash firing Mick Jones. I've read that Joe Strummer regretted it for the rest of his life, and I can believe that.

 

[prowla]

Guns'n'Roses forming?

(Though Slash is a fine guitarist.)

 

[prowla]

Deep Purple recruiting Jo Lynne Turner ("I thuwendah, I thuwendah.").

 

[Bassique]

Turned out to be a fantastic decision for Genesis. You might not like the music, but it certainly was popular and sold a ton of records.

Yes didn't do quite as well, but 90125 and Big Generator also did well commercially and kept their names in people's minds.

Yea I didnt mean it was bad decision for those bands, as they got recognized by wider audiences and sold more albums. But just thought its a waste of talent if great prog rock bands like that went with the more commercial approach of the 80's. Rush is one of the few bands imo who still made good music in the 80's(and maybe King Crimson).

 

[India_Sierra]

I make this post in the utmost respect to many of the bands here. It takes a lot of love for a band to admit their mistakes when you really like them.

John Mclaughlin:

When he created the John McLaughlin trio in 1988, his first choice of bassist was Jeff Berlin. They didn't get on, apparently and their was allegedly some conflict because Jeff wanted to have his amp on stage during the live shows, which John didn't want. Whatever the reasons, Jeff left the band and was replaced by Kai Eckhardt, who was a good fit. However, I've listened to the bootlegs of the original trio and it is John McLaughlin at his most senstive and soulful, accompanied by the best gun for hire bassist in the business. I could weep for thoughts of that trio not working out. They are good friends now but I feel the opportunity was missed to forge a great recording history between two world class talents. Jeff could have taken McLaughlin's music to a higher plane.

Van Halen:

Auditioned Jeff Berlin as a bassist. He didn't join because of a 'lifestyle difference'. Just imagine what could have been. That is maybe not a mistake as much as it is a misfortune.


Rush:

It all started when their sound tech, a guy called 'Caveman', convinced Geddy to go back to playing his Jazz bass. He killed the Wal sound! Furthermore, dropping their beautifully arranged, layered melodic sound of the late 80's and swapping it for a more dreary, generic rock sound from 'Counterparts' onward was a huge mistake. They produced four incredible albums in a row between 'Power Windows' and 'Roll The Bones'. Rush were always about evolution but I thought the prevailing influence of alt-rock on them at the time led to a dumbing down of their sound which lasted nearly a decade. It was a long time in the wilderness for my favourite band.

Paul Simon:

Having bottled pure magic with 'Graceland' and 'Rhythm of the Saints', Simon was foolish to turn his back on that world music sound. They key was strong melody, top arrangements and a host of incredible session musicians. It was a stylistic move that saved his flagging career. It disappoints me to say that his recorded output after ROTS has been utter rubbish.

Slipknot:

Carrying on recording after the anger of being disillusioned young men from the American midwest had died. Carrying on when the love of money exceeded their artistic integrity. I remember the band saying they would pack it in when they didn't feel the passion was there anymore. 'Iowa' was extremely dark and heavy and represented the band at near-breakup but after that record and the subsequent (amazing) tour they went completely off the boil.

I feel as though Corey losing his voice, and various members running hokey side projects diluted the overall Slipknot sound and they started to sound like a parody of the old band. Times had changed and the amazing nu metal era was over. I dearly love 'early' Slipknot but I sometimes feel they could have left it at that.

Mudvayne:

Ryan Martinie is a fantastic bassist. I must make that clear. But, what has happened to Mudvayne? Post-'The End Of All Things To Come', they have churned out nothing but weak radio rock. They used to be a really progressive sounding band with great riffs, a surprising sense of melody and great interplay between the drums and bass. Losing sight of that was their death knell. I'd love to know who it was that drove them in that direction.

 

[swafran]

For me the biggest one really is Pink Floyd. David Gilmour needs Roger Waters' story-telling to decorate with his guitar, and Roger Waters needs David Gilmour's musicianship. Both of their solo efforts, and all their great Floyd-era collaborations, prove this.

 

[Mister Boh]

I don't know, I like the Dio albums with Sabbath

 

[jasonrp]

Alice In Chains not officially breaking up and starting a new project. Cantrell (and Kinney too) was always the music and poetry, but Staley was the public face and defined the delivery of the songs. The two post-Staley albums have some of Cantrell's best writing, the band have all matured musically, and DuVall has a presence that is worth listening to. But so many people still dismiss it as a lame version of the original. I think had they renamed themselves they could have minimized the distractions.

Yeah, they are doing ok for themselves, so not the biggest mistake ever, but still.

That's a tough one for me. I started wondering how much Staley really contributed after I heard the three legged dog album since Cantrell seemed to do much of the singing on it. Once I heard one of Cantrell's solo albums, I noticed how much his vocals dominated the dog album.

 

[kenneffdupriest]

How do you know what's a mistake? There's no guarantee things would've gone well had they made different decisions.

Good to see there's still thoughtful ppl in this world.

With that being said I think that Blind Melon and Alice in Chains shoulda changed their name before replacing their dead vocalist with someone that sounds just like them. But what do I know

 

[Ulf Buck]

Meh. I say "Mob Rules" and "Heaven and Hell" with Dio were the best Sabbath albums in their history.

 

[GoesThump]

ELP Love Beach.

GT

 

[andruca]

About people breaking up with bands I think if I was in the situation (not getting along and personal financial prosperity making the business side less relevant) I'd do the same many did, leave. As for Kiss, I think they have way more going on than their makeup, i.e. great songs. For the many who got that makeup got less relevant. They got rid of their makeup because they could afford to, not many can, so more power to them.

 

[jamro217]

Not holding drugged up or drunk band members accountable. Face it, we're role models as well as entertainers, like it or not. Next time you show up at a gig you've prepared diligently for and one of your co-workers doesn't have the decency or self control to do like wise, fire them. (Drummer or not.) Your audience are the ones paying for your services. They deserve the absolute best product you can provide. Unless you're a solo performer, your reputation is linked to the other people on that stage. In extreme cases you could end up in trouble over actions you have nothing to do with.

 

[brianrost]

-Why did Mick Taylor leave the Rolling Stones? ....he never did anything of note since

He left because they would not let him in in the songwriting. Also maybe because he had acquired a massive heroin habit...lots of folks who hung with the Stones ended up junkies.

He quickly joined a band with Jack Bruce but quit that for the same reason, no songwriting input. Then he did nothing until he kicked his habit.

 

[jamro217]

...On a lighter note, the biggest mistake bands could make would be selling out. By that I mean trying desperately to hop on the current bandwagon (ever wonder where that expression came from?) even if it's your polar opposite. Think of The Beach Boys trying to rap. Or some of the artists back in the '70's forced to put out disco records. Horrendous. Peter Frampton shot himself in the foot with 'I'm In You' (otherwise known as the "I've been coerced into being a crooner instead of a world class guitarist" album) followed by the musical fiasco that nearly ruined the careers of everyone involved: the Sargent Pepper movie and soundtrack.

 

[prowla]

I don't know, I like the Dio albums with Sabbath

But it was really like Sabbath joined Dio.