A band is greater than a selected set of members. Let’s say that the primary singers of a band keep the identical throughout a long time, however they change session musicians regularly. It’s nonetheless the identical band, proper?
Cool, cool. Now, what if a band takes a hiatus after which returns with a brand new lead singer? That’s the identical band, too, proper?
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Now, what if a band outright breaks up. And then you definitely hear that they’re nonetheless performing anyway. What simply occurred precisely? There may very well be fairly just a few explanations, comparable to what occurred to teams like…
Fleetwood Mac
Fleetwood Mac seems to not be a gaggle proper now, although it’s exhausting to inform. Its roster has modified so many instances over time that we will’t definitively declare the band completed simply because Stevie Nicks or Lindsey Buckingham aren’t presently with them or as a result of a number of members not too long ago died. However immediately, we’re not going to put out a historical past of all of the modifications the group ever went by. We simply wish to spotlight what occurred in 1974.
That summer season, the group Fleetwood Mac went on tour. However this group didn’t include anybody who’d carried out on any of the albums. This assortment of unrelated musicians did this tour with out the permission of any of the actual members. However they did have the authorization of Clifford Davis, the band’s supervisor, who mentioned he owned the rights to the idea of Fleetwood Mac.
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“Theoretically, he can put anyone there,” mentioned the (actual) band’s Bob Welch on the time. “He can put four dogs barking on a leash and name it Fleetwood Mac.” However when that tour was completed, they went on to sue the man and fireplace him. And now that their enemy was defeated, they might transfer on to the much more fascinating activity of combating one another.
Alice Cooper
Alice Cooper, the band, was collectively from 1968 to 1975. Alice Cooper can also be the identify of that band’s lead singer. However the band wasn’t named for the man. On the time, Alice Cooper the person glided by his start identify of Vincent Furnier, and “Alice Cooper” was only a healthful identify they got here up with that they thought would make for a hilariously ironic identify for a shock rock band.
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Furnier later modified his identify legally to “Alice Cooper” — and never so he may take the band to larger heights. He modified it because the band was coming to an finish. That method, he’d be the one to retain ownership over the identify “Alice Cooper” as a result of it was now his authorized identify.
So, “Alice Cooper” was his. However then, 40 years later, the surviving guys all received collectively and determined to carry out as Alice Cooper once more as a result of who may even keep in mind why they’d damaged up, after so lengthy?
Invoice Haley & His Comets
Invoice Haley & His Comets fashioned on the very daybreak of rock ’n’ roll, and their identify hearkened again the massive band period, when teams would have names like “Ass McGoo and His Orchestra.” Who have been the varied members of the orchestra? You in all probability didn’t know, however you knew Ass McGoo.
Haley died in 1981. Afterward, a few of his former bandmates went on performing because the Comets. Different bandmates of his went on performing as The Original Comets. In actual fact, no less than seven completely different teams went on to name themselves the surviving Comets, as a result of a complete lot of various musicians had performed with Haley as a part of his band over time.
They do need to adapt slightly to altering instances. As an example, one of many Comets teams launched a tune referred to as “The Viagra Rock”:
This tailored to the instances in that it’s about being outdated. They weren’t adapting by being extra salacious. The unique “Rock Across the Clock” was already about having intercourse all evening. “Rock” was initially a slang time period for intercourse, as was “rock ’n’ roll.”
The Temptations
Otis Williams has sung with the Temptations since 1958. He’s 83 years outdated now and has been with the group for 66 years. The opposite members have stored altering; to that finish, there have been dozens of various Temptations.
Many of the churn was a easy matter of members transferring on, dying, and many others. Barely extra difficult was what occurred with David Ruffin, the lead vocalist on a number of the group’s largest songs, together with “My Woman”:
The group started to see Ruffin as unreliable for a number of causes, together with his substance abuse points, his cocaine behavior, the way in which he stored exhibiting up excessive and in addition the truth that he was an addict. There have been different elements as effectively (medication, for instance), and in 1968, the band fired him.
Ruffin responded by exhibiting up at concert events anyway. He’d await one of many songs the place he sang lead, and he’d hop on the stage uninvited, stealing the mic. This led to some completely happy audiences however to not him rejoining the group completely as he’d hoped.
Sure
The British band Sure broke up in 1981, after 13 years collectively. Two of the members, Chris Squire and Alan White, now joined up with Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Web page and fashioned a brand new group referred to as XYZ, whose identify meant “ex-Sure, and in addition Zeppelin.” That group lasted roughly so long as you could possibly count on a enterprise like that to probably final, after which Squire and White fashioned a brand new band referred to as Cinema, with a South African guitarist named Trevor Rabin.
Quickly, Cinema was joined by a brand new member: Tony Kaye, who used to do keyboards for Sure. Then the 4 of them have been joined by Jon Anderson, the outdated Sure lead singer. This now meant the whole thing of Sure had reassembled, save for a pair late arrivals to that band that they have been completely happy to be rid of. So, was the outdated band again collectively? And what would they name themselves?
That’s proper, they went proper again to being Sure once more. The one particular person angry about this was Rabin, who’d had nice expectations of founding a brand new band and no need to get roped into this outdated one, however they made him go together with the plan. They turned him right into a Sure man.
The Ink Spots
The Ink Spots are the oldest of the teams we’re immediately, since they have been massive all the way in which again within the Nineteen Thirties. They turned common with a later technology many a long time later, due to the online game Fallout, after which with a technology even later than that one, due to the TV present Fallout.
When the group broke up, two completely different members — Charlie Fuqua and Billy Kenny — every tried to kind their very own new group referred to as the Ink Spots. The matter went to courtroom, the place a decide mentioned Kenny may use that identify, whereas Fuqua now went with “The Authentic Ink Spots,” most misleadingly. However then different nomad members of the group began their very own bands, additionally calling them the Ink Spots. Then individuals who had no reference to the unique band in any respect began calling themselves the Ink Spots, too.
In 1955, the matter once more reached a decide, who dominated that the unique partnership that outlined the Ink Spots ended with the demise of member Hoppy Jones. That meant nobody was now allowed to name themselves the Ink Spots. However emblems don’t actually work like that, so by invalidating the trademark, what the decide truly did was say anyone can use the name.
And immediately, anybody does use that identify. You, too, can placed on a live performance, asserting, “It is a reunion of the Ink Spots” and nobody can cease you. True, when the time comes so that you can take the stage, everybody will uncover it’s simply you, and you’ll’t sing. However by that time, it is going to be too late.
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