Odd reasons for quitting bands

[Stumpy Pepys]

Jeremy Spencer left Fleetwood Mac to join the Children of Good cult. Didn't tell the rest of the band either.

Angus MacLise quit the Velvet Underground because he objected them charging money for gigs, believing they had sold out.

Tony Kaye, original keyboard player for Yes, departed because he didn't want to play a Mellotron or a Moog. (He did later rejoin and remained for many years.)

[Hot Pepsi]

Some band - the Offspring, I think - just kicked somebody out for being antivaxx.

Didn’t Clapton leave the Yardbirds because they had a hit? Maybe that’s not unusual.

[Toby Gymshorts]

That's not strictly true about The Offspring. The drummer has a condition which means the vaccine may actually be harmful and so they've amicably parted ways.

[Amor de Cosmos]

Arguably Jeremy Spencer wasn't a full-fledged member of Fleetwood Mac. They were frequently introduced as "Fleetwood Mac with Jeremy Spencer." Apparently because he had no real interest in collaborating with anyone else in the band. He'd frequently come on halfway through a set do his Elmore James stuff, then leave. The way he left was pretty strange though, Mescalin paranoia I guess. Coincidentally Peter Green had quit the band a year earlier after an acid trip in a German commune.

[danielmak]

This isn't answering the topic, but I was talking with a guy who was getting ready to start a tour with a band as a tour manager. One thing I told him from my perspective as someone who has never played in a band but that most bands implode because the individual members get so caught up in the irritations surrounding the routines of being together. That's totally understandable. But the bands that survive seem to have figured out how to get some distance from one another while touring -- the tour seems to be the killer for most bands. So, instead of everyone in the band doing everything together every day, they'd be better served splitting up a few times each week and then coming back together to play the gig. Of course, this theory only works if there is not a total asshole in the band. If there are one or more complete scumbags then it won't matter. But if everyone is basically on the same level of being both nice and a jerk (as most of us are) then I think creating a little time apart a few times each week can help a lot. And then working on projects with other musicians. So, you get back from the tour and people can work on their own stuff for a bit before the band comes back together.

Again, nothing to do with the OP. Sorry.

[Hot Pepsi]

That's not strictly true about The Offspring. The drummer has a condition which means the vaccine may actually be harmful and so they've amicably parted ways.

I see.
Still, it may be unique in rock history.

[Stumpy Pepys]

Didn’t Clapton leave the Yardbirds because they had a hit? Maybe that’s not unusual.

He left after they recorded For Your Love, which was quite pop and it offended his purist blues sensibilities.

[Lang Spoon]

What a dreary bastard.

[Stumpy Pepys]

What a dreary bastard.

Thing is, two years later he recorded Disraeli Gears with Cream, which is a psychedelic classic.

(Although something like Strange Brew is admittedly way better than For Your Love.)

[3 Colours Red]

Didn't All Saints split up because they argued over who should wear a jacket for a photoshoot?

Brian Robertson was told to leave Motorhead because he was "too good".

[Sporting]

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[Antepli Ejderha]

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[Sporting]

No idea.

[Jah Womble]

The majority of these seem to feature 1960s and 1970s bands, eh?

Another: Steppenwolf bassist Rushton Moreve quit at his band's most successful period because he was terrified of the prevalent 'earthquake scare' in and around LA at the time.

A slightly later one: Andy Leek, original keyboardist with Dexys Midnight Runners, left the band just as they hit big with Geno. He claimed he didn't want to become famous and felt his dad - on a minimum wage all his life - deserved more credit than he did. (Leek apparently became a mortuary attendant immediately thereafter but had later success in music, writing songs recorded by Tom Jones and Frida [ie, Anni-Frid Lyngstad out of Abba].)

[Stumpy Pepys]

Andy Leek, original keyboardist with Dexys Midnight Runners, left the band just as they hit big with Geno. He claimed he didn't want to become famous

Be honest, Kevin Rowland apart, would you recognise any of Geno-era Dexy's were you to be in the same room?

(On a good day, I might recognise Helen O'Hara.)

[Benjm]

This isn't answering the topic, but I was talking with a guy who was getting ready to start a tour with a band as a tour manager. One thing I told him from my perspective as someone who has never played in a band but that most bands implode because the individual members get so caught up in the irritations surrounding the routines of being together. That's totally understandable. But the bands that survive seem to have figured out how to get some distance from one another while touring -- the tour seems to be the killer for most bands. So, instead of everyone in the band doing everything together every day, they'd be better served splitting up a few times each week and then coming back together to play the gig.

I remember reading an interview with New Order after they reformed in the late '90s in which Bernard Sumner explained how he had come to detest Peter Hook's habit of licking his fingers clean one by one after finishing a bag of crisps. It sounded like an unhappily married couple trapped in the same house by negative equity and suggested that they had spent enough time cooped up together to last more than a lifetime.

Winston Poshcunt's departure from Mumford and Sons to spare his bandmates from the consequences of his tireless search for truth was quite strange and entirely fitting at the same time, I thought.

[Guy Profumo]

Donnie Munro?


(And then Pete Wishart?)

[Jah Womble]

Be honest, Kevin Rowland apart, would you recognise any of Geno-era Dexy's were you to be in the same room?

(On a good day, I might recognise Helen O'Hara.)

'Oh, you know - the bloke in the beanie hat!'

(I think Helen O'Hara only joined during the band's 'raggle-taggle' era, tbh.)

[Mr Delicieux]

I remember reading that Curt Smith knocked it on the head with tears for fears because he became sick of Roland Orzabal's increasing obsession with astrology.
Funnily enough, Orzabal didn't see it coming.

[Antepli Ejderha]

Donnie Munro?


(And then Pete Wishart?)

Peter Garrett too.

[Hot Pepsi]

Thing is, two years later he recorded Disraeli Gears with Cream, which is a psychedelic classic.

(Although something like Strange Brew is admittedly way better than For Your Love.)

He also recorded a load of overproduced sappy shit later on that isn't nearly as good as "For Your Love."

[Hot Pepsi]

Didn't All Saints split up because they argued over who should wear a jacket for a photoshoot?

In fairness, concern for shit like that is what makes bands like All Saints successful.

[Hot Pepsi]

Peter Garrett too.

I don't know what all of this refers to.
Peter Garrett quit Midnight Oil, temporarily as it turns out, to serve in politics for a bit. That is fairly unusual.

[Jah Womble]

In fairness, concern for shit like that is what makes bands like All Saints successful.

Until they all fall out over it?

I remember reading that Curt Smith knocked it on the head with tears for fears because he became sick of Roland Orlazabal's increasing obsession with astrology.
Funnily enough, Orlazabal didn't see it coming.

'Orzabal'. Your guy's a golfer.

[Antepli Ejderha]

I don't know what all of this refers to.
Peter Garrett quit Midnight Oil, temporarily as it turns out, to serve in politics for a bit. That is fairly unusual.

So did the other two, they are from Runrig and went into politics with the SNP.