Now, the way I remember it, Rush stuck around for quite a bit longer - until 1991. Then they must have retired or something. This got me thinking… what other bands out there had promise once upon a time, then simply disappeared? I can think of a few:
Back in the '80s there was this really cool band called Metallica. They put out four great albums, the last one in 1988. I wonder what ever happened to them?
Then there’s Queensrÿche. They started out at the same time as Metallica, but lasted a bit longer - after their 1994 album, they vanished too. A pity.
An interesting case is Yes. They put out a string of great albums from 1968-1980, then went up in a puff of smoke… only to reemerge from the ether in 1996. It’s been nine years since their last album, but this time they haven’t vanished, their singer is just being a pain in the ass. But that’s another topic…
Dude, your info on every band except for Yes is wrong. Rush is still around and their last studio album came out in 2007. Metallica is also still around and their last studio album came out in 2008. Same with Queensrÿche. Their last album came out last year. None of them have disappeared.
Genesis disbanded in 1975 after being unable to find a suitable singer to replace Peter Gabriel.
Is that the kind of stuff you’re looking for? (This is like a musical verson of the “Highlander II or Star Trek V never existed!” meme.)
Same thing happened with Marillion, after Fish quit the band in '89.
Pearl Jam was on a meteoric rise to stardom, until they abruptly vanished after Vitalogy. Whatever happened to them?
Motorhead apparently broke up after 1984’s “Killed by Death”, then re-formed to record the incredible 1916, and then…nada. Maybe they’re still playing clubs somewhere?
And I’ve always wondered what Motley Crue could have accomplished if they hadn’t disbanded shortly after releasing Shout at the Devil.
x-ray vision: in Reality, Yes did indeed break up in 1980, but got back together with an inferior lineup in 1983; remember “Owner of a Lonely Heart?”
The band hasn’t officially broken up since then, but the “real” lineup (minus Bill Bruford) reformed in '96, after Trevor Rabin and Tony Kaye left. There’s a lot more to it than that, but that’s the story in a nutshell.
I realize you’re joking here, but by the late '90s or early 2000s I think quite a few people genuinely believed that Pearl Jam was no longer active. Pearl Jam deliberately stepped back from their fame around the time of Vitalogy (they weren’t merely on the rise, at their peak they had record-breaking album sales and were one of the most popular bands in the world) and stopped doing much of the usual promotional stuff for their albums. Their battle with Ticketmaster made it difficult for them to tour and a number of their 1995 shows were either canceled or rescheduled. They came close to breaking up but decided to carry on and have continued to work steadily since then. Their later albums have obviously come nowhere near matching their previous level of success, but they seem happy with their current situation.
I wonder what Dream Theater have been doing since 2003? Train Of Thought was a fine album even if some of the tracks could have done with a bit more fat-trimming, but perhaps they just got bored? 18 years is nothing compared to some bands, but it’s still a good run by anyone’s standards.
I’m going to get creamed for this, but what the heck, you guys don’t have my home address.
The Beatles went on their “Magical Mystery Tour” and never came back. What a shame. And the boys never really had solo careers to speak of. Then George joined up with The Traveling Wilburys.
Speaking of which, Bob Dylan quit after his motorcycle “accident” in '66, and only showed up every ten years or so, in time for “Blood on the Tracks” ('75); “Infidels” ('83), and “Oh Mercy” ('89), before coming back to life in '97 with “Time Out of Mind”. Some said he was going to release an embarrassment of a Christmas CD, but fortunately he never did. He showed up in the Wilburys, too, which was a lot of fun.
