10 Musicians That Got Fired From Huge Bands

The rock and roll lifestyle has always come with its fair share of misbehavior. As much as you might come back to the music at the end of the day, this is a genre that comes with a lot of excess, and there have been countless stories that involve bands indulging themselves in whatever way they can. And that's all well and good...as long as it doesn't get in the way of the actual recordings.

While Pete Willis was one of the main originators of Def Leppard in the early days, he started to become increasingly out of step with the rest of the band, going on drinking benders that got more and more out of hand when he took to the stage. The performance aspect is one thing, but when Leppard got into the studio to record Pyromania with producer Mutt Lange, Willis didn't have a prayer of being able to keep up.

Since Mutt is always about perfection, Pete couldn't even record the rhythm tracks correctly, including one time where he came to the studio after drinking an entire bottle of brandy the day before and turning in one of the worst performances they had ever heard. After telling Pete to go back home to chill out for a few days, the guys were already drafting in Phil Collen from the band Girl, who brought a more technical expertise to their sound alongside Steve Clark. Though Pyromania does have Pete's original rhythm tracks intact, this is really Phil's shining moment.