10 Hard Rock Bands Who FIRED Important Members

As far as rock band dynamics go, there's no doubting that the frontman is the one that people focus on. It's kind of right there in the name.

Since you're the one singing the songs and eating up the crowd out IN FRONT of the stage, there's no reason why people would want to focus on the bass player instead of you. When you get up on that pedestal though, it gets a little bit difficult to come back down sometimes.

As Van Halen were making their way into the '80s, they were already gaining traction as one of the biggest bands in the world, having kickstarted the glam rock movement on the Sunset Strip. As their touring schedule got more and more hectic though, Eddie Van Halen wanted to explore new sonic avenues for 1984, which really didn't mesh with David Lee Roth's hard rock aesthetic.

While the album ended up selling like gangbusters, it would prove to be the last with Roth, with his ego becoming much too big for the Van Halen's to take anymore. Even though that kind of loss would have killed any other band, drafting in Sammy Hagar gave them a completely new lease on life, going from strength to strength with a completely different feel.

Any frontman can come and go in rock history, but if the music still kicks ass, what's there to worry about?