10 Bands That Fell Apart After One Album

Every album in the history of rock has been a small miracle to even get made. Before you even sit down to write songs, you have to make sure that the band is all clicking together and then try to translate that kind of artistic magic onto the tape. Some bands have coasted on that kind of magic for ages, but there are a few that have only been able to reach those heights once.

One of the biggest reasons that artists like these fall apart is just because of how dysfunctional they became, with most of them breaking up in the time that it took most of these albums to actually come out. These aren’t reserved for just the flameout albums either. Outside of the bands that burned brighter than they could handle, a lot of the acts on this list only have the one great album to their name, spending the rest of their creative tenure trying to recapture the magic of that one album.

Even though some of these artists have some great songs that are completely separate from these records, they are going to be holding themselves to this standard for the rest of their days. It’s probably not the kind of career that you would choose for yourself, but be glad to have had a classic like this once rather than not have it at all.

Before the Britpop movement even got rolling, it looked like the Stone Roses were already going to be the kings of the genre. Having a guitar hero in John Squire and one of the best debut albums to come out of Manchester, their dance tinged take on classic rock and roll made them the main inspiration for bands like Oasis when they were first starting out. With that much to measure up to though, their album Second Coming seemed doomed from the start, with everyone going their separate ways months after the project was finished.

John Squire wasn't ready to turn it in just yet though, finding a new singer songwriter around England named Chris Helme and inserting him into his side project the Seahorses. And while Squire's guitar work might be the signature of the Roses' sound, he may have topped himself on the Seahorses' only album, putting a bluesy spin on Chris' folksy melodies on tracks like Blinded By the Sun.

While there are many decent single cuts on here, Love is The Law may be the most underrated guitar moment of the '90s, with a jam that lasts nearly 5 minutes and is basically a masterclass on Britpop shredding. After the initial breaking in period, Squire found himself in the same position as the Roses, putting in too much guitar both live and in the songs until the band decided to call it off. It might be possible to see a revival somewhere down the line, but playing to a crowd of people at Oasis' Knebworth gigs is enough to put you in legend status.