10 Bands Who Survived A Lead Singer Change
8. Pink Floyd
As the 60's were coming to a close, Pink Floyd were on the cusp of a new kind of rock music known as prog. While the band was a group effort in its inception, the main standout of the group was Syd Barrett, whose eclectic style and theatricality gave the band its zany identity.
However, as the band went on, Barrett began consuming too many mind-expanding drugs and was slowly losing his sanity. The sessions between band members became so contentious that Barrett eventually parted ways with the group, falling into obscurity and retreating from the public eye altogether.
When the sessions began to get difficult, the band hired guitarist David Gilmour as a permanent guitarist, but Gilmour eventually filled the gap that Barrett had left. With the band now a duo of singers with both Gilmour and bassist Roger Waters, the band became mainstays of the prog scene while creating some of the most adventurous album experiences in rock from Animals to The Dark Side of the Moon.
The band eventually wrote tribute songs to Barrett's memory in the form of the album Wish You Were Here, but by the time Barrett had met up with them later, the magic of the early days was gone.