Styx has few original members. Lynyrd Skynyrd has … none? When is a band still a band?
Styx has few original members. Lynyrd Skynyrd has … none? When is a band still a band?
Of all the questions posed by pop music over the years — Will you love me tomorrow? Should I stay or should I go? — among the toughest is this: When is a famous band no longer itself?
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Good question...
I'd argue this...
Let's say you have 4 band members:
John, Paul, George, and Ringo
John drops out, is replaced by George^2.
Ringo drops out, replaced by Pete.
Paul drops out, replaced by Brian.
George drops out, replaced by Billy.George^2, Pete, Brian, Billy.
You could argue they are still the same band as 3/4 of them each played with original members. Billy is the first to have never played with any of them.
Now... if George^2, Pete, and Brian get replaced, no, it's not the same band.
I would add that also there should also be a connection between the art/music for them to be considered the same band
For example: Black Sabbath only changed their vocalist and they sound like two, quite, different bands. On the other hand, Iron Maiden also changed their vocalist and they sound like the same band with both Dickinson and Di'anno.
Or you look at Pink Floyd, Syd Barret, Roger Waters, Dave Gilmour, all vastly different sounds, yet all Floyd.
Are they really? Im not too familiar with pink floyd but they dont sound that different to me I even have trouble telling which "era" their songs are.
Listen to some truly old albums like Atom Heart Mother. You won't recognize Pink Floyd.
Syd Barret Era:
Roger Waters Era:
David Gilmour Era:
Ok, I see what you mean now. Then I dont know what makes a band "the same band" but I stand with what I said: Ozzy's Sabbath is a different band than Dio's Sabbath lol
Thanks for sharing I have never heard the Sid Barret songs.
But you have a pot of soup and at the end of the day you have a little left and so you add more ingredients and fill the pot back up. You do this for years. Is it still the same pot of soup?
Sure, it's just evolved.
Art is a conversation, and a study of choice. It's hard to see how treating a band as something fixed or essential rather than a collective voice or viewpoint that can change over time can add clarity to anything.
So then as a band are they a perpetual band? Are there any famous bands that basically did that? Like from the start just randomly changing members including the vocals? Something like the band is the lyrics and music not the performers, just like a symphony.
That soup is going to develop bacteria and make everyone ill.
No joke, it's probably a fair analogy for replacing band members after the original band members have all died over the past 50 years.