10 Bands That Actually Got Better After Losing Members

It's no secret that Pink Floyd are pretty much musical gods at this point. Across the '70s, these British prog rock juggernauts created some of the most thoughtful rock and roll ever created, along with one of the most parodied and culturally significant album sleeves with Dark Side of the Moon. The legend of these guys looms so large that people tend to forget their far more trippy beginnings.

Long before David Gilmour entered the picture, the original incarnation of Floyd began with Syd Barrett, whose psychedelic songs fit like a glove in the age of flower power. However, things started to get a bit too trippy as time went along. Even though Floyd have always had a more surreal quality to their music, Barrett's struggles with hallucinogenics led to him suffering a near psychotic breakdown, which inevitably caused his departure after A Saucerful of Secrets.

With Barrett only there in spirit, Gilmour was drafted as the new guitar player, as Roger Waters started to take the reins of the group's conceptual direction. The shadow of Barrett's unresolved mental state even led to the creation of one of Floyd's greatest musical triumphs in Wish You Were Here, which was dedicated to his musical influence. While Pink Floyd is the soundtrack of the '70s for many people, their career trajectory could have turned out a lot different if Barrett were able to hold on to his sanity.