10 Musicians Who Decided To Quit Huge Bands

It's almost every musicians dream to finally hit the big time. While it may seem hard slaving away at a club pounding out riff after riff every night, all the effort seems worth it once you find yourself on the charts. Fame and fortune may be alluring, but the fact is that the life of a rockstar isn't for everyone.

Throughout time, many bands that have become huge didn't get there without losing some key members along the way. Whether it was a key songwriter or just a great technical player, these musicians couldn't really deal with all the pressure that came with being a celebrity. This could be because of royalties, creative differences, or just not being able to get along, but many of these guys ended up abandoning ship right as things were starting to get good.

Even if these bands were on top of the world at one point, it's not nearly as fun once you have your fire to create music be snuffed out. Though some of these artists ended up making music outside of their main gig, they were never quite able to equal the strength of their first band. Not making millions might be tough, but sometimes the musical beast you created loses its luster.

The Red Hot Chili Peppers were a true anomaly when they started getting the ball rolling. Even though the bass riffs of Flea were enough to send fans into a frenzy, the band didn’t absolutely explode until 1991’s Blood Sugar Sex Magik, which placed in the big leagues alongside bands like Nirvana and Pearl Jam. They may have been on top of the world, but part of the magic left shortly after the touring wrapped up.

Following a handful of big performances, guitarist John Frusciante decided that he had had enough of the fame and fortune that comes from being a guitarist in a rock band. This was no dispensable role either, with Frusicante being a co-writer of songs like “Under the Bridge” and “Give It Away.” Much like Kurt Cobain, Frusciante found the invasion of privacy brought on by fame to be too much to handle, which led to him quitting the band right as they were about to take the stage.

After the band eventually finished that gig, John went on to a solo career, where he proceeded to sink deeper into his addiction to heroin. Though he eventually got clean and reunited with the Peppers, the mid-90s was a very dark time for these kings of funk rock.