10 Rock & Metal Bands Who Fired Their Singer
Vince Neil? Fired. Ronnie Radke? Fired. Ozzy Osbourne? You get the picture...
Being fired from a job is one thing. Being fired from a major rock or metal band is quite another.
It should go without saying that the limits on what musicians can get away with in a rock band are far, far beyond the rules, restrictions and conduct expected on your shift at Subway. And while it shouldn't be too difficult to stay in line when the lines are made of cocaine and impressionable fans, more often than not it's the gosh-darned singer who just can't seem to hold it together.
Life on the road is tough, living with the same people day-in day-out, but some major stars over the years have royally pissed off their bandmates or made such a liability of themselves they've been asked to leave, via management, the internet, or a head-to-head screaming match.
As the vocals often form the core sound of a band, losing them can be devastating, but sometimes it's necessary. It's often a band's last resort to break things off for good, whether the singer's ego has gotten too big to share space, they've been abusive and undermining of their bandmates or, in Ronnie Radke's case, they simply got caught up in a good old fashioned murder...
10. Anthrax - Joey Belladonna
Internationally revered as one of the thrash metal Big Four (along with Slayer, Megadeth and Metallica), Anthrax haven't exactly enjoyed the lineup consistency of their genre brethren.
Despite having three core members in Scott Ian (guitar), Charlie Benante (drums) and Frank Bello (bass), the band have had their fair share of lead guitarists and somewhere in the region of nine singers (or, if we're using Ian's metrics, two). Considering these guitar and vocals tend to form the central sound of most bands, it's surprising Anthrax have managed to maintain some semblance of a consistent sound throughout their career.
Nevertheless, in chasing this very consistency, they have never found beyond themselves to fire members when they've reached the end of their usefulness -- or, in the case of Joey Belladonna, their tether. Twice.
Back in 1992 it was widely reported that the singer had quit, but according to Belladonna himself he was in fact fired from the group. They invited him back for some reunion work in 2005, but in rushing straight out on the road the rest of Anthrax again found the singer too much to handle, and a rapidly escalating division between them caused Belladonna to be given the boot once more. And, this time, he found out he'd been fired on the internet...