10 Rock Music Bands That Quit On Top

Sometimes, it doesn’t matter how well things are going professionally; if you simply can’t stand your bandmates, it might be time to call it a day. In a remarkably short five years as a going concern, The Smiths released four albums (and the all-time best B-sides collection), influenced the next several generations of smart indie musicians, decided they hated each other, and parted ways, never to reunite.

While they hit their commercial peak one year earlier with The Queen Is Dead, swansong Strangeways, Here We Come might be their crowning achievement. The songs are varied, lushly textured, totally out of time, and, “Girlfriend In A Coma” notwithstanding, avoid Morrissey’s tendency towards occasional tweeness.

The catalogue on the whole is unimpeachable, though, from The Smiths’ pure indie to Meat Is Murder’s hard edge and The Queen Is Dead’s drama. Every record boasts paths they could have followed for many years; the union, specifically that of the two principal songwriters, just wasn’t working, and it had to end.

The personal differences still rumble on to this day, and with all that’s happened since the band split, it’s probably better they don’t get back together. You either die a hero or live long enough to become Stephen Morrissey circa 2023.