This is not my original idea, I freely admit to reading another poster pose the question in a thread a few years back. But all the recently deceased musicians made me recall the question, so I made it it’s own thread.
Let’s define band as 3 or more members, with at least one single in the top 100 at some point.
Let’s also say the formed date is when the band started calling themselves by their current name.
My nomination would be the Ramones, formed in 1974, last original member died in 2014.
This just might win the title and it is odd to me. Because for the longest time the in-joke was the The Ramones were immortal and unchanging, never looking or sounding appreciably different over a decade and a half.
The Traveling Wilburys has three living members and three dead ones (two of them original members), so they’re halfway there.
Considering how many bands from post-1974 are all drug addicts and fly around in Buddy Holly specials, I’m surprised there aren’t a lot more bands on this list.
I just went through the R&R HOF list and even with the old doo wop groups there is at least one surviving original member. This is a much harder task than I imagined.
T. Rex might qualify, but Tyrannosaurus Rex originally formed as a duo and the subsequent T. Rex also formed as a duo. The original touring drummer, added when they went to a quartet thus making them eligible to be a “band” by this thread’s definition, survives.
The ones who might be don’t have their own listings in Wiki. This, plus the group’s incredibly shaky history, makes me doubt they could even agree on who the original members are. Louis Price and Charlie Thomas are still alive, but both joined long after the group was formed.