The leader of the band has died

Since we have been talking about Syd Barrett I tried to think of other bands that would go on to achieve more success (or at least equal success) after the departure of their lead singer. In Pink Floyd’s case the situation is even more amazing since Syd Barrett was also their sole songwriter. Here are some other bands where new talent emerged to lead the band. It is amazing how many of these bands still sucked:

Genesis: Originally fronted by Peter Gabriel. If he envisioned what the band would be like with the former drummer, Phil Collins, fronting it then he was right to leave. I hate Genesis. My dad keeps saying that he heard Phil Collins was an Anti-Semite. He doesn’t know where he heard that and has no real reason to believe it, but in his mind Phil Collins is an Anti-Semite. I think he’s just anti-humanity. Anyone who would release Su-su-sudio on the general public is an animal.

AC/DC: When Bon Scott died in 1980 most thought AC/DC was over. Then they hired Brian Johnson and recorded their biggest album (Back in Black) and their biggest hit (“You Shook Me All Night Long”). Now they had the advantage of still having their songwriters in the band, but its pretty remarkable that they can switch lead singers and actually do better.

Van Halen: David Lee Roth left, Sammy “Right Now” Haggar filled in. Van Halen makes my top 5 most overrated bands of all time, so I didn’t like them before or after. I think they were best with the dude from Extreme.

Depeche Mode: Depeche Mode was formed by Vince Clarke, but he left and the band became big after. The best of all the bands on this list.

Jefferson Airplane: Two members left before Grace Slick was added -- she brought their two biggest songs “White Rabbit” & “Someone to Love” from her previous group. Later they changed their name to Jefferson Starship and later just to Starship (where they had success in their post Grace Slick lineup with their cheeseball hit “We Built This City”) and even later Jefferson Starship The Next Generation (not be confused with Degrassi, The Next Generation or Saved By The Bell, The College Years). The best moment had to be when Slick was insanemly drunk in a concert in Germany and kept taunting the crowd by singing over and over “Who won the war?”. Totally insensitive. Totally hilarious.

Journey: Originally started by a dude in Satana they had a few lead singers before master scholckster Steve Perry. Including Rob Fleishman (not to be confused with Rob Fleishmann pictured in this post)

Thanks to Jordan for the Depeche Mode and Jefferson Airplane entries.

Also Worth Mentioning:

The Beatles: OK, this is a bit of an apples-to-oranges comparison. When the Beatles started George Harrison was too young to even get in the Hamburg clubs they play in (they lied of course to get him in). He was just supposed to be the guitar player. It’s amazing that he would end up penning some of the biggest songs for the Beatles including “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”, “Here Comes the Sun”, “Taxman” and “Something”. Frank Sinatra once called “Something” the greatest love song ever written. I believe, don’t quote me on this, that it’s also the most covered of all the Beatles tunes.