10 Weirdest Replacement Members In Rock History

It's never easy to replace a member of a band, let alone one that you've known since you were kids. From the very beginning of R.E.M.'s existence, they have always been in it for the right reasons, with every band member trying their best to serve the song in the best way they knew how. And when Bill Berry decided that he had had enough, the rest of the band decided that he was irreplaceable as well.

For the rest of the band's tenure, most of the drums on their subsequent albums were played using drum machines, which led to their sound changing drastically. As opposed to the signature college rock act that they had been since the '80s, this led to material that was a lot more downtempo and even flirted with the electronic side of things, like they were trying to reinterpret their sound to be in the vein of New Order.

While albums like Accelerate are still great for what they are, you can still feel Bill's absence there, with the human element of the group being washed away. That was the way that Bill wanted it though, saying that he couldn't be the schmuck that broke up R.E.M. after leaving. When you replace your best friend with a machine though, things are never really going to be the same when you sit down to write.