# Bands with NO original members? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 13, 2015, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-with-no-original-members/722404 "2015-06-13T02:04:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![nani](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/58956e/32.png) [@nani](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nani)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2015, 9:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-with-no-original-members/722404/41 "2015-07-01T09:23:51Z")
Laibach has no original members in the current band, but Milan Fras and Ivan Novak have been in it since the mid-1980s. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2015, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-with-no-original-members/722404/42 "2015-07-01T11:35:02Z")
If one stretches the definition of “band” to include “orchestra” than the Royal Danish Orchestra claims its origins as far back as 1448. But more in spirit of the OP I have to go with the Glenn Miller Orchestra. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2015, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-with-no-original-members/722404/43 "2015-07-01T13:52:19Z")
> [@JohnClay](#): > > One of my favourite bands - Sugababes: > [Sugababes - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugababes#Members) And then the original three got over themselves, made up, and [reformed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutya_Keisha_Siobhan), but couldn’t use the _Sugababes_ name anymore. That has to be a completely unique situation. ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2015, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-with-no-original-members/722404/44 "2015-07-01T16:09:16Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > And then the original three got over themselves, made up, and [reformed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutya_Keisha_Siobhan), but couldn’t use the _Sugababes_ name anymore. That has to be a completely unique situation. As mentioned upthread, the original members of the Little River Band no longer have rights to the name. From [wiki:](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birtles_Shorrock_Goble#Legal_battles) > [@](#): > > As the other members left over time, by 1997 Stephen Housden was the sole remaining member and ownership of We Two Pty Ltd (including rights to the name Little River Band) passed to him. He formed a new band which, with various personnel changes, is called the Little River Band and continues to tour North America. When Birtles, Shorrock and Goble initially proposed to re-form as The Original Little River Band, Housden asserted his rights to the name and took the matter to the Federal Court of Australia. In an out-of-court settlement, it was agreed that Birtles, Shorrock and Goble would not use the trade mark (name) or logo as the name of their band, or in the name of their band, but “shall be entitled to refer prominently but always only in a descriptive way in promotional and advertising material, to the fact that they were members of the original line up of the Little River Band”.[9] Loss of access to the LRB name for Birtles, Shorrock and Goble came as a shock to many fans and received considerable attention in the Australian media. ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2015, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-with-no-original-members/722404/45 "2015-07-02T05:15:13Z")
Peace Hotel Jazz Band in Shanghai long ago lost their original members. The current line up still look to have been around since dinosaurs roamed the earth, but that’s neither here nor there. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2015, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-with-no-original-members/722404/46 "2015-07-02T05:33:05Z")
> [@tapu](#): > > If you had a ship, which over time had had every single board in it replaced, is it still the same ship? If no, how many boards would have to have stayed original? One? Half the ship? What exactly makes it the same ship or not? > > I forget which philosopher to attribute this to, but I’m sure someone here will tell me. GMTA! I wanted to pop into this thread to mention this. All these Bands of Theseus! ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2015, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-with-no-original-members/722404/47 "2015-07-02T05:37:56Z")
I think The Kingston Trio qualifies? ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2015, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-with-no-original-members/722404/48 "2015-07-02T14:18:03Z")
From the world of Irish folk music… Tommy Makem is dead, as are all of the original Clancy Brothers (Pat, Tom and Liam). But I think various sons, nephews and cousins still tour as “The Clancys” from time to time. ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2015, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-with-no-original-members/722404/49 "2015-07-02T19:47:34Z")
The L.A. glam metal band **London** formed in 1978, and soon gained reputation as a “feeder” band as some of its early members became famous in other, more successful bands. Early members included Nikki Sixx, Blackie Lawless, and Izzy Stradlin, as well as future members of Cinderella and Keel. The final founding member, Lizzie Grey, quit the band in 1988, leaving vocalist Nadir D’Priest (who joined in 1985) as the longest surviving member. They’ve broken up a few times but are currently active. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2015, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-with-no-original-members/722404/50 "2015-07-03T01:47:23Z")
> [@Mister\_Rik](#): > > [Morning Musume](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morning_Musume) > [@slitterst](#): > > Menudo. These would be excluded in the OP: > [@Apocalypso](#): > > **Also out are “manufactured bands”, like boy bands, etc., that are created and controlled by someone who is not and never was a member of the band.** Just a band that at some point had no original members left. Are there any? ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2015, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-with-no-original-members/722404/51 "2015-07-03T13:25:31Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > It looks like the Christian pop/rock band [Newsboys](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newsboys) has undergone a complete turnover of personnel while maintaining a significant degree of popularity among their target audience. I had not realized this had happened. Wow, they really have none of their original band left. Weird. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2015, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-with-no-original-members/722404/52 "2015-07-03T13:37:34Z")
So if you buy the trademark/copyright of a band, are you entitled to use it any way you want? If I bought the rights to the name "The Beach Boys’, could I turn it into a “boy band”, and staff it with teenage boys? When the original members are all dead, does it make any sense to think of what is now called the “Beach Boys” as anything but a name? ---
**Author:** ![Dingbang](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ac8455/32.png) [@Dingbang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dingbang)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2015, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-with-no-original-members/722404/53 "2015-07-03T14:05:07Z")
Reminds me of the old joke about a small town museum whose pride and joy was the actual hatchet that George Washington used to cut down the cherry tree. A visitor is amazed and asks if it’s all original. “Well, of course, the wooden handle rotted away years ago so we had to replace that. And the iron head, well that rusted away too so we replaced that. But it occupies the same space!” ---
**Author:** ![Apocalypso](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Apocalypso](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apocalypso)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2015, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-with-no-original-members/722404/54 "2015-07-03T16:39:55Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > So if you buy the trademark/copyright of a band, are you entitled to use it any way you want? If I bought the rights to the name "The Beach Boys’, could I turn it into a “boy band”, and staff it with teenage boys? When the original members are all dead, does it make any sense to think of what is now called the “Beach Boys” as anything but a name? I’m not a lawyer but yeah, I’d imagine you could make and sell “Beach Boys Iced Tea” or “Beach Boys Sex Toys” or anything else you wanted, with pictures of your new boy band on it. If you have the rights to the name and previously released material you can do whatever you want, respectful to the original or not. You could re-record the older BB songs, or splice new stuff into the old songs, etc. Why you’d want to do this, or how well the fans of the original version of the band would accept it, is a different story. In my OP I was thinking more along the lines of the Yes or Styx examples mentioned, where the original members left or were replaced gradually rather than examples like 50’s/60’s groups that disbanded and were reformed much later by the manager/label, although those are interesting too. The Quiet Riot and Judas Priest ones were interesting, as I listened to both back in high school but didn’t realize until this thread that they weren’t the original band members. I am kind of surprised that you guys came up with so much stuff! I thought maybe a few bands at most would fit the criteria. But I should know better by now than to underestimate the resourcefulness of the Dope! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-with-no-original-members/722404.md?page=2)