Let's face it: The music industry is more cutthroat than nearly any other, aside from maybe the throat cutting industry. Every day an established act is being pushed aside for the new, hot, young thing coming up through the airwaves like a blast of sonic youth ready to shake the cobwebs off the stale state of the business. But sometimes this happens not just with bands but WITHIN bands. Like a microcosm of the recording industry as a whole, some groups find that they can't make it big unless they shake off the flotsam and jetsam that is holding them down.
It isn't nice, and it isn't fair, but it's the way the business works. So, without further ado, let's look at the also-rans, the could-have-beens, and the never-weres, who parted ways with their respective bands right before the bands hit it big and never looked back.
Scott RaynorIt isn't nice, and it isn't fair, but it's the way the business works. So, without further ado, let's look at the also-rans, the could-have-beens, and the never-weres, who parted ways with their respective bands right before the bands hit it big and never looked back.
Blink-182 is near the top of the pop/punk pyramid, selling millions of albums since they formed in 1993. Over the years, they've broken up, reunited, and mixed and matched with various side projects along the way, taking a horde of loyal fans with them at every turn.
Long before Blink became famous for their poignant dirges about teen suicide and upbeat ditties about bestiality, they were an up-and-coming punk outfit that hadn't yet cemented their status. They were from the wave of alternative bands that emerged to fill the void left by grunge, as the last bastions of the genre were slipping away from this mortal coil. These newer, happier bands liked having numbers in their names and in the wake of Blink-182, there was Sum 41, Stroke 9, SR-71, 88 Fingers Louie, and many other assorted numerical monikers.
Only a scant few of these acts lived on past the '90s, and Blink was among the biggest. The group exploded into the mainstream when the '90s ended with the incredibly popular Enema of the State. Before "Enema," Blink released their 1997 Dude Ranch album to moderate success with a lineup of Tom Delonge, Mark Hoppus, and drummer Scott Raynor. But Raynor was booted from the band and Travis Barker took his place. "What's My Age Again?" and "All The Small Things" became TRL favorites, and the album sold over fifteen million copies worldwide. To all but the legacy fans, Travis was the drummer of Blink-182.
What happened to Scott Raynor? Accounts vary, but Scott says that he was given an ultimatum to quit drinking and he did quit, but was fired anyway. Tom and Mark rarely speak on the situation, though when they do Raynor's alcoholism still takes center stage. If his drinking wasn't the reason for his being fired, it's certainly the excuse.
Most of us are no doubt familiar with Gwen Stefani, but did you know about her brother Eric? Along with Gwen, he was one of the founding members of No Doubt.
In the Early days of No Doubt, the band's ska sound didn't fit in with the world of grunge. Back then, you couldn't sound upbeat unless you were being ironic. You also couldn't be a star if you weren't already dead of a heroin overdose. And so No Doubt's eponymous debut album sold about thirty thousand copies. It was then that Eric began to wonder if it was worth all the trouble. Besides, when they started it was just him on keyboard playing with his sister and some friends. Since then they had gained and lost several band members. Some died of an overdose (trying valiantly to give the band some grunge cred) while a few walked away from what they thought was a lost cause. Eric chose the path less traveled by, and that made all the difference.
Little did he know that he was leaving right before the release of one of the best selling albums of all time: Tragic Kingdom. With songs like "Spiderwebs" and "Don't Speak," the album stayed on the top of the charts for months and sold over ten million units in America. Eric couldn't have been too broken up because, after all, his sister was the frontwoman of the group, but he clearly did the equivalent of selling Apple stock in 1998.
Eric's impact wasn't in music, but in animation: He is a prominent animator who has worked on The Simpsons and Ren and Stimpy. His work in the field is regarded very highly among his peers, and animators, like many artists, can be quite hard to please.
Eric Stefani is in the same category as Eric Roberts, older brothers eclipsed in fame by their sisters. Eric Roberts was the star in the family before Julia did Pretty Woman. His films include Raggedy Man and Shannon's Rainbow. His daughter is the semi-famous actress Emma Roberts. But anytime anybody talks about her, she is referred to as "Julia Roberts' niece" and not "Eric Roberts' daughter." Even in some interviews Emma will be asked what it's like to have a famous aunt. So rest easy Eric Stefani. You're doing just fine.
Tracii Guns
Have you ever wondered why Guns N Roses had that name, besides the fact that Axl's last name was Rose? The reason for the name is that there actually once was a Guns in Guns N Roses. It was Tracii Guns, a rocker with a propensity for double shots and double vowels.
Tracii showed up one day to find that the band he formed had moved on without him. He had missed a rehearsal, not an unforgivable offense but definitely a worthy one if you're looking for any excuse to oust Tracii with two I's.
Honestly, you know you're not likable if people would rather hang out with Axl Rose than you. Tracii moved on, though, and formed L.A. Guns, which isn't exactly obscurity. The group has experienced moderate success and still performs to this day, regularly touring and releasing albums. The same can't be said for Guns N' Roses. Perhaps Tracii made the right choice after all. His relative innocuousness allowed him to avoid such embarrassing fiascos as being punched out by Tommy Hilfiger, wearing dreads, and waiting a decade and a half to release an album that everybody has already forgotten about.
AC/DC managed an incredible feat: They netted an incredibly talented singer/songwriter who had an identity all his own and then, after he died, managed to find another singer/songwriter who actually led them to sell more albums than they ever had. But before Bon and Brian there was Dave Evans.
Dave was replaced by Bon Scott in October of 1974, a mere four months before the release of the band's debut album High Voltage. Funnily enough, Dave even recorded a version of "Can I Sit Next To You, Girl" before he was booted. AC/DC fans likely recognize the song from the American (or, if you will, international) version of the High Voltage album. True blue Aussies who put shrimps on barbies will remember the song from the band's Australia-only album T.N.T.
It's a long way to the top if you wanna rock and roll and it's even longer if you get near the top and fall back down again. Once Dave was ousted, possibly for having too much noise pollution and not enough rock and roll, he went on to form a series of bands that would fail to break into the Billboard Top 1 Million.
But Dave took the change in stride, and genuinely seemed fine with it. When Bon died, Dave even recorded a live memorial concert for his fallen usurper. That would be like Jennifer Aniston throwing a party for Brad and Angelina's tenth wedding anniversary.
Anybody familiar with the Black Eyed Peas probably can name exactly two members of the group: will.i.am and Fergie. The other two guys get lost in the background, but they're probably happy just to be a part of the team, unlike ex-member Kim Hill. Right now you're probably asking "who the hell is Kim Hill?" But were it not for a last minute switcheroo in the Black Eyed Peas, Kim would be the one singing about lady lumps and butchering Super Bowl halftime shows.
To be fair, Kim left the group in 2000 of her own volition. And it took another two years for Stacy Ferguson to join the ranks. There were creative differences between Hill and the rest of the group, and this might have been due to Hill's supposed overtly feminist views. Many of her performances as a solo act include diatribes against negative female body images, and Hill continues to DJ under the anagrammatic and likely feminist-inspired name DJ Kill Him. In other words, she wanted to focus on social issues while the rest of the band was more concerned with getting retarded in here.
What was so surprising, though, was that the Black Eyed Peas' decision to have fun and make some arguably empty alternative hip-pop instead of focusing on contemporary gender roles in society led the Peas to their biggest fame yet. Who would have guessed it? 2003's Elephunk sold over three million copies in the United States alone and Fergie became a household name to anybody not familiar with Kids Incorporated; or, in other words, everybody. But some naysayers argue that the Peas' mainstream breakthrough came about only after they put a pretty whitish woman front and center. And there are those who argue that Hill was ousted simply for being black. A quality that, thanks to will.i.am, the group already had in spades. Note there is no pun intended, please. But the true story seems to be one of Hill choosing to leave and, as to the group achieving acclaim because of a white woman, Fergie is actually of both white and Hispanic descent. One might also imagine that Hill isn't too broken up about the outcome. She still records music and, as a feminist, she may even be happy that a female has achieved such a powerful status and is able to chant her empowering rhetoric, using her humps to obtain fancy ices from men while denying their sexual advances.
Kristen Hall
Kristen Hall with Sugarland on the back cover of the Twice The Speed Of Life albumKristen stuck around for a good while, still performing with Nettles and Bush as their breakthrough hit, "Baby Girl," climbed the charts and proved they were here to stay. But things began to sour when all the media focus on the band was planted squarely at the formidable voice box of lead singer Nettles. As we found out when we spoke with Jennifer, she shows no signs of lead singer syndrome, and considers herself an even half of Sugarland. Still, she was seen as the face of the group, whether she wanted it or not. To make matters worse, the only other female of the trio was Kristen, who couldn't help but be overshadowed by Nettles. If any ladies can remember having a friend who was younger and prettier and got more attention, try to imagine touring around the world with that woman and see how long it takes you to walk away. And, as is the case with many of the folks on our list, Kristen actually started the band, named it, and penned its first song. Nettles came on only after a couple previous singers didn't work out. When Kristen left in 2005, it was hard to blame her. When she sued them three years later for $14 million dollars, it was settled out of court and her payout was most likely substantial.
Ian Stewart
By 1963, the group that the world would soon know as the Rolling Stones had been officially formed. Childhood friends Keith Richards and Brian Jones brought in the swagger of Jagger earlier on and then added bass extraordinaire Bill Wyman to the motley crew. They then found an incredible drummer with a jazz background known as Charlie Watts. This powerhouse, combined with the keyboard plinking skills of Ian Stewart, melded into one of the grooviest blues-inspired bands ever formed.
But six Stones was one Stone too many and manager Andrew Oldham thought that booting Ian Stewart from the band was the best way to keep the Stones rolling.
And lest you think that Stu fared poorly, consider that he enjoyed certain rock star perks without associated pathos. The rest of the band was friends with Stewart and, though he was out of the lineup, he still played piano and keyboard on some recordings. He also served some management functions for the group, which was something he was better suited to anyway, being a much more aloof and mature member, often eschewing the hedonism and highjinks that Jones and Richards enjoyed. Jones, for the record, was kicked out of the band in 1969 for his drug and alcohol problems and died just a month later from complications brought about by his downward spiral. After all, if you get kicked out of a band for drug use and one of the members is Keith Richards, you know you've got a problem. Meanwhile, Stu continued to play and recorded tracks with Led Zeppelin, including "Boogie With Stu," which was named after him. He also played with luminaries throughout his career that include such heavy hitters as Clapton, Ringo Starr, Steve Winwood, and George Thorogood. Clearly, Stu made out just fine.
Rick Dufay
Rick Dufay (bottom right) on the back cover of the Rock In A Hard Place albumFlash back to 1980. Aerosmith had spent the last half of the '70s building up an incredible amount of steam. Their early body of work, devoid of any songs by Dianne Warren, was a white hot fire of productivity that was, like most of a band or artist's best output, fueled by drug and alcohol addiction. But by 1980 everything had fizzled. Joe Perry abandoned ship and formed The Joe Perry Project. The next year Brad Whitford also left the crumbling group and Aerosmith looked cooked. Those few years certainly had more heartache than success: Steven Tyler collapsed on stage in 1980 and the next year he got into a serious motorcycle wreck. To make matters worse, the band released the widely panned Rock in a Hard Place, which performed far worse than Aerosmith's previous efforts.
During these languishing days of woe, several replacement guitarists came and left the band, including Jimmy Crespo and Richard Supa. But it was Whitford's replacement, Rick Dufay, who was the sacrificial lamb that would return Aerosmith to its former glory.
Dufay saw that Aerosmith was floundering in a sea of mediocrity. Tyler was a mess and it was clear that only the original lineup of Aerosmith could set things right. Dufay helped to take care of Tyler when he was dopesick and hating himself. He likely saved Steven's life more than once. More importantly, he was on friendly terms with Whitford and Perry and, thinking nothing of his own career, set about reuniting the original band. There of course was no place in that reunited band for Dufay, and he knew this. But he also knew that the whole situation was much bigger than him, and in an act that saved both Tyler and Aerosmith, he stepped aside. Aerosmith returned to full form a year later with "Back in the Saddle" and they went on to become the highest selling rock band in American history. When inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2005, Perry made a point to thank Rick Dufay during the acceptance speech.
And now we come to the granddaddy of all could-have-beens. If you could become famous for not becoming famous, Pete Best would be the very band that kicked him to the curb: The Beatles. And Pete Best is indeed famous for not being famous, and so he is indeed the Beatles. And making sense of this paradox is enough to make one's head explode.
The reasons for Best's ousting have become legendary, but one interesting possibility (and one that carries a lot of credence) was that the rest of the Beatles were jealous of Pete's good looks. If you watch the film A Hard Day's Night, you can see shreds of truth to this logic. In the early days, according to this movie, young girls apparently not only chased the Beatles after gigs but also around London at all times. Imagine if the handsome Best was in there and Ringo was out. Those girls might have actually killed the Beatles in a stampede. We might have lost all of them in one go. Or perhaps Yoko would have tried to hook up with Pete instead of John, which might not have been such a bad thing, but still a large portion of pop culture history would have been rewritten. So perhaps Pete's ousting was all for the "best."
But Best's tale gets rather dark. For a time he sunk into a major depression and even tried to off himself. A full twenty years went by before he decided to pick up the drum sticks and go on with his life. He even managed to have a sense of humor about the whole thing. Best cleverly released an album called Best of the Beatles which went on to sell quite a few copies thanks to people thinking that they were buying a greatest hits compilation of the greatest band of all time.
January 17, 2012
Written by Landon McQuilkin with contributions from the Songfacts Forums and Bertrand - Paris, France.
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