10 Most Dramatic Band Splits In Music History
2. Beatles
After being the spokesmen for the 60's Revolution, the Beatles were a band that seemed destined for a long career beyond their initial moptop days. While the band's later years produced some of the greatest music the rock genre would ever see, the good times were not meant to last.
The first sign of the band splintering came with the death of their long-time manager Brian Epstein, whose business mindset gave the band financial security. With their business affairs in jeopardy, the band decided to create their new project Apple to bring in new recording artists. At the same time, the members were going in different artistic directions, from John Lennon's more avant garde experiments with wife Yoko Ono to George Harrison's more Indian-inspired musical directions.
When the band got together to create another record, the creative spark they once had was replaced with open frustration, which was eventually documented in the Let It Be film project. After the band regrouped to create their masterpiece Abbey Road, the group officially decided to split into different solo projects.
While the band originally intended to make a public announcement, Paul McCartney quickly released his first solo album and made the split public, leading to years of resentment from his former bandmates. The Fab Four may be gone, but their music endures as some of the greatest pop songs the world has ever known.