10 Rock Bands That Continued Without Major Members

Any rock and roll band tends to feel like family after a while. When you have to rely on every member of the group to make ends meet, you've got to at least have some sort of affection for your musical brethren whenever you walk up on that stage. That makes it all the more sad though when you have to part ways.

For one reason or another, these bands had to let go of some of their closest friends to make their bands thrive in the future. These weren't just some hired hands that they were replacing either. These were often major power players in their respective acts, who mostly wrote a lot of the material or had a key influence to the group's sound. This didn't mean just losing a band member...it meant losing a part of the group's collective identity.

Though the version of the group without these players looked a lot different, they managed to actually persevere and most of the time ended up becoming a stronger group by soldiering on with new blood. Compared to the usual rock stars that are only in it for the money and fame, these people were in it for the long haul and managed to find some life after death. This may have been a death blow, but these bands were due for a resurrection.

As the early '80s gave way to the bands off of the Sunset Strip, Motley Crue felt like a band ripped straight out of a cartoon. Across albums like Shout at the Devil, every single one of the members felt like their own unique character in some supremely messed up heavy metal family. Like all brothers though, things are bound to fall out every now and again.

After the tour started to wind down for Dr. Feelgood, Vince Neil was getting more and more frustrated with the band dynamic and abruptly quit during rehearsals for the next album. Almost trying to say "we don't need you anyway," the band quickly replaced Neil with John Corabi, who's voice almost seemed like the polar opposite of Vince, staying much more in the lower register with a grizzly baritone.

As much as the OG Crue fans weren't ready to accept this version of the group, the band's self titled album with Corabi ends up having some of their most inventive playing, with Tommy Lee leaning into a more muscly side of his drumming and having some more metallic riffs on songs like Hooligan's Holiday. The fallout behind this album eventually led to the Crue building bridges with Vince later down the line, but it is a crime that we never got to see what this version of the group sounded like for a second record.