# What is the biggest rock band with no living, original members? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 17, 2026, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-biggest-rock-band-with-no-living-original-members/1027744 "2026-02-17T14:24:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CaveMike](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cavemike/32/16379_2.png) [@CaveMike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaveMike)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2026, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-biggest-rock-band-with-no-living-original-members/1027744/1 "2026-02-17T14:24:33Z")
Continuing the discussion from [TPUSA Halftime show featuring Kid Rock](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tpusa-halftime-show-featuring-kid-rock/1027422/373): It’s interesting that after 50-60 years, all of the biggest rock bands still have living members – some of them still performing: Beatles, Stones, Who, Zeppelin, Floyd, etc. What is the biggest rock band with no living, original members? Feel free to define your own terms for ‘biggest’, ‘rock band’, and ‘original’. Solo artists, like Elvis, don’t count. But bands named after a front person, like **The Jimi Hendrix Experience** , are ok. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2026, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-biggest-rock-band-with-no-living-original-members/1027744/2 "2026-02-17T14:26:04Z")
The Ramones are the first to come to mind. And the last of the original Crickets (Jerry Allison) died in 2022. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2026, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-biggest-rock-band-with-no-living-original-members/1027744/3 "2026-02-17T14:36:17Z")
All the original members of Bill Haley & His Comets (“big” in the sense of 9 top twenty hits) are no longer with us. The last to go was drummer Dick Boccelli\* at the age of 95 in 2019. \*he replaced an earlier drummer before the band’s first big hit, “Crazy Man Crazy” in 1953, so he was sort of the band’s Ringo Starr. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2026, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-biggest-rock-band-with-no-living-original-members/1027744/4 "2026-02-17T14:41:11Z")
How could I forget Rock’s kings of bad luck, Badfinger? ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2026, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-biggest-rock-band-with-no-living-original-members/1027744/5 "2026-02-17T14:41:53Z")
The last surviving member of the Jimmy Hendrix Experience died in 2008. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2026, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-biggest-rock-band-with-no-living-original-members/1027744/6 "2026-02-17T14:48:34Z")
Throw New York Dolls into the running. I’m not going to attempt to name the “biggest” of the nominees so far. Nobody is ever going to agree on that and my personal opinion about rock bands changes all the time. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2026, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-biggest-rock-band-with-no-living-original-members/1027744/7 "2026-02-17T14:52:34Z")
The Band, since keyboardist Garth Hudson died about a year ago. ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2026, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-biggest-rock-band-with-no-living-original-members/1027744/8 "2026-02-17T14:59:43Z")
Far from being one of my favorites, but they were big to the point where _Freebird_ being ubiquitous is a joke: Lynyrd Skynyrd ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2026, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-biggest-rock-band-with-no-living-original-members/1027744/9 "2026-02-17T15:08:02Z")
This is actually an interesting question; I’m skipping around Wikipedia and there are many fewer of these than I would have expected. Half of The Doors are still with us, two-thirds of The Kinks, the lead singer of Paul Revere & the Raiders, two out of the five Animals, half of Herman’s Hermits, a couple of the Bobby Fuller Four, and on and on. I’m hoping somebody pops up with a good “oh yeah, didn’t think of them” candidate. ---
**Author:** ![GESancMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gesancman/32/2923_2.png) [@GESancMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GESancMan)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2026, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-biggest-rock-band-with-no-living-original-members/1027744/10 "2026-02-17T15:11:05Z")
ELP was pretty big, right? Yeah yeah, Carl Palmer is still alive. But the short-lived offshoot band while Palmer was in Asia, ELPowell, has no surviving members. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2026, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-biggest-rock-band-with-no-living-original-members/1027744/11 "2026-02-17T15:12:21Z")
> [@Si\_Amigo](#): > > The last surviving member of the Jimmy Hendrix Jimi. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2026, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-biggest-rock-band-with-no-living-original-members/1027744/12 "2026-02-17T15:12:30Z")
If we want to limit it to still existing bands with no living original members, the easy pickings are Doo-wop groups like the Drifters or the Coasters. Those bands go on forever with a revolving door lineup long after all of the original members are dead. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2026, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-biggest-rock-band-with-no-living-original-members/1027744/13 "2026-02-17T15:13:50Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > he replaced an earlier drummer before the band’s first big hit, “Crazy Man Crazy” in 1953, so he was sort of the band’s Ringo Starr. A good bar bet is “Who are the last two surviving original members of the Beatles?” ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2026, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-biggest-rock-band-with-no-living-original-members/1027744/14 "2026-02-17T15:18:20Z")
Is the OP’s question a big enough band with no living original members or no living, _performing_, original members? As a practical matter, a band first becomes a Band of Theseus when the last original member moves on from performing with that band, not later when they die. The next step in further fossilization (needs a better word here) is when the last original member retires from performing in any capacity whatever with anyone. And the band is fully enzombified when all original members are dead and yet the band still shambles out on stage someplace sometime with a wholly different cast. Who may themselves be pretty youthful people despite the band’s great age. ---
**Author:** ![batsto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b2d939/32.png) [@batsto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/batsto)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2026, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-biggest-rock-band-with-no-living-original-members/1027744/15 "2026-02-17T15:43:22Z")
I don’t think Quiet Riot has any left. Rudy Sarzo has been there since the 70s, but I don’t think he was the original bass player. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2026, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-biggest-rock-band-with-no-living-original-members/1027744/16 "2026-02-17T15:46:59Z")
My choice for biggest: Foreigner is still touring without Mick Jones (Parkinson’s) or Lou Gramm (has his own eponymous band which doesn’t go far from his home). In fact, they’re listed on one of those Kid Rock shows, in a crossover with another thread. ---
**Author:** ![CaveMike](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cavemike/32/16379_2.png) [@CaveMike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaveMike)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2026, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-biggest-rock-band-with-no-living-original-members/1027744/17 "2026-02-17T15:58:36Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > How could I forget Rock’s kings of bad luck, Badfinger? Interesting that this is the only pure UK band so far. I always think of the UK as more band-oriented and the US more solo-oriented (at least here in the states). Update: ELPowell is all UK too. > [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > I’m not going to attempt to name the “biggest” of the nominees so far. Nobody is ever going to agree on that and my personal opinion about rock bands changes all the time. Agreed. It could be sales, influence, artistic merit, even number of members. > [@LSLGuy](#): > > As a practical matter, a band first becomes a Band of Theseus when the last original member moves on from performing with that band, not later when they die. Agreed. I think there are quite a few bands without original members still performing. When I tried to answer the question of which is the biggest, I realized that most bands still have at least one living member. This surprised me considering it is an industry with a lot of premature deaths. For the purposes of this thread – any interpretation (living, performing, etc.) is fine with me. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2026, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-biggest-rock-band-with-no-living-original-members/1027744/18 "2026-02-17T16:14:38Z")
Of my three nested categories, the largest / least restrictive is bands with no original members still performing with them for whatever reason. That set must be huge. The smallest / most restrictive category is bands still performing with no original members still living. And IMO that last one is the first of them that gets small enough (and significant enough) to be interesting to talk about its individual member bands. It speaks to the staying power of the b **r** and (deliberate, not typo) and the music itself beyond the lives of the mere mortals who got that ball rolling (and rocking 😉 ). ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2026, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-biggest-rock-band-with-no-living-original-members/1027744/19 "2026-02-17T16:17:26Z")
> [@CaveMike](#): > > It’s interesting that after 50-60 years, all of the biggest rock bands still have living members Yes, especially when you consider how many of those rockers offed themselves at a young age via heavy drug use and unhealthy lifestyles in general. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2026, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-biggest-rock-band-with-no-living-original-members/1027744/20 "2026-02-17T16:21:45Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > It speaks to the staying power of the b **r** and (deliberate, not typo) and the music itself beyond the lives of the mere mortals who got that ball rolling (and rocking 😉 ). If Mike Love dies before Bruce Johnston that will likely be what happens with the Beach Boys. Then again, with Mike gone, original member Al Jardine might rejoin. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-biggest-rock-band-with-no-living-original-members/1027744.md?page=2)