Most of the mainstream bands I liked in high school have been listed.
The rest were all either local and/or obscure punk/hardcore bands or 90s hip-hop artists, neither of which have long lives, the latter literally. Some examples:
Clutch: local band that has made it relatively big. Really the only one of that group of bands I liked that anyone is likely to know. Still touring and producing new music, though are probably past their creative peak at this point.
Wu-Tang Clan: they’re still around, put out an album back in 2017 I think, but are primarily a nostalgia act at this point. Long past producing anything new or innovative.
Notorious B.I.G.: murdered in a drive-by shooting in March, 1997.
One band I liked in high school that hasn’t been mentioned yet: Madness.
While there have been some hiatus times between then and now, the band still exists, with most of its original members, is still active, and IIUC is still quite popular especially in their native England.
REM is inactive. The Replacements toured in 2015 with Tommy Stinson and Paul Westerberg, but I think they’re done. Siouxsie & The Banshees haven’t been together since 2002. How many Ramones are still alive? Guadalcanal Diary broke up & their guitarist Jeff Walls passed away a few years back. The Dead Milkmen still do the occasional show. The Indigo Girls are still keeping on keeping on! Glad to hear Madness is still active. PiL is pretty much over and that’s probably a good thing considering how Lydon turned out. Hüsker Dü broke up, Bob Mould made some great records, Grant Hart made some great records & then passed away, Greg Norton’s in Porcupine. The two Johns of They Might Be Giants are still Gianting! Jesus & Mary Chain got back together and I hope their shows are longer than 20 minutes now. Circle Jerks broke up and Keith Morris is now in the band OFF! The Cure is still active, amazingly enough. Black Flag broke up pretty much right after I saw them live (thank god for all-ages shows) but apparently they’re back together minus Rollins and/or Morris.
As noted above the original line-up are all deceased. The longest running member left is Marky. CJ and Ritchie are also still around, I wouldn’t really count stand-in Elvis (aka Blondie drummer Clem Burke).
Pretty much this, and yet The Rolling Stones (and they were ‘old’ to me back then!) persist. ZZ Top is right on their tail, and remain with the original line-up!
Evidently the OP and I are around the same age, because we liked the same bands in high school. My two favorite bands of that time, Pearl Jam and Nirvana, were already covered.
In addition to the ones mentioned in the OP, I will throw Soundgarden into the mix; I don’t think anyone has mentioned them yet. Broke up in 1998, reunited in 2010, lead singer died in 2017 and the band disbanded presumably for good.
Towards the end of high school and beginning of college (which might be stretching the OP’s question a bit), my tastes expanded beyond grunge into ska, swing revival, and whatever you’d call Ben Fold’s music.
Ben Folds Five broke up in 2000, briefly reunited in 2011-13 for a new album and tour. Ben Folds himself, though, has had a successful solo career, and continues touring* and recording to this day. At his shows he performs material from both the Ben Folds Five era and his own newer stuff.
The Squirrel Nut Zippers broke up in the early 2000s as well, reunited for a few years in the late 2000s. Then founding member Jimbo Mathus reformed the band in 2016, but he is the only original member remaining.
The Mighty Mighty Bosstones – I guess you’d say I liked their one hit album in high school and then didn’t pay attention to them since. Then my local I heard on my local public radio station that they’d recently released a new album. I was honestly surprised that they were still active (albeit not with all the same members). That kind of renewed my interest in them, and if they do a post-pandemic tour and stop near me, I would consider going to see them.
But Ratt is still performing—they are playing the M3 festival in July. And Stephen Pearcy regularly puts out new solo material. I had tickets to see Ratt twice last year, both of which got cancelled. So they may not be huge commercially, but they’re still active.
Hmmm… I thought The Moody Blues were still doing the casino/ cruise ship circuit but it appears the remaining members, Justin and John, are currently doing their own things.
I graduated High School in '68. My very favorite bands then were (in order): Beatles, Doors, Stones, Mothers Of Invention, Beach Boys (with Brian Wilson at the helm), Turtles, Simon and Garfunkel, Iron Butterfly.
None of the remnants of these groups/artists are really viable today, with the possible exceptions of McCartney (whose post-Fabs career has never interested me), Simon & Garfunkel, and Flo & Eddie (Turtles).
Def Leppard are still going strong, putting out music, but unfortunately in my mind, they don’t really play anything but those 80s hits live, while I actually now prefer a lot of their post-80s music. One original guitarist did die back in the late 80s, but the “new guy” has now been with them for 30 years!
This is how it is to get older. I am always surprised to realize that:
Sepultura has had Derrick Green as their singer much longer than they ever had Max Cavalera - (25 years with Green, only 10-ish with Cavalera)
Robert Trujillo is now the longest tenured bassist with Metallica. Cliff Burton was obviously only briefly in the band. Jason Newstead did 15 years, but Trujillo has now been in Metallica 18 years!
Catch the Brian Wilson Band. In addition to Brian, they have Al Jardine and David Marks. Al’s son perfectly replicates Brian’s 1960s falsetto while Brian sings the Mike Love parts.
I have an absurd amount of admiration for Brian, bordering on reverence, but think he should have stopped performing ten or fifteen years ago. But I take your point.
