10 Musicians That Got Fired From Huge Bands

Not everyone who comes into the world of rock is necessarily ready for the baggage. Even if you just want to play your songs for anyone to hear, the world of big business is always bound to get in the way of things sooner or later, leading to bands having to either compromise their sound or get frustrated to no end trying to make music the way they want to make it. It happened to Kurt Cobain, it happened to John Frusciante, and nowhere did it happen more drastically than with Syd Barrett.

While the origins of Pink Floyd may have been much more psychedelic than they became, Syd started to become less and less reliable both on stage and in the studio, numbing himself with drugs and slowly losing his mind over the next few years. This wasn't just some usual rock star meltdown either, with Syd struggling to even hold his guitar pick and some shows where he would go up onstage and not be able to get a single word out. Before the rock star life claimed a victim though, the rest of the band brought in David Gilmour to help out on guitar, deciding to kick Syd out of the band so he could take care of himself.

Even if Syd wasn't in the band, the rest of Floyd's existence would be defined by his absence, being the inspiration behind the element of madness on Dark Side of the Moon and the character of Pink in The Wall practically being a stand in for what Syd represented in Floyd's mind. Syd might not have been there in the physical sense, but his spirit is alive and well every time you put on something like Brian Damage.