Moon was close to being kicked out of the Who not long before he died. He was living in the LA area for a while and that did not help matters. He moved back to London not long before he died. He died in the same apartment Mama Cass died in 4 years before him (74 vs 78).
It’s a wonder there weren’t steady fisticuffs within the band. Moonie, Roger and Pete all had an aggressive, sometimes even brutal demeanor, and big egos. Only Entwistle , the quiet one, kept his calm, at least in public.
A contemporary band that HAD serious physical fights, some of them at stage for all to see, were the Kinks. But it’s hard to say who was the bad apple there.
I find it hard to picture Garth Hudson “wallowing in drugs and booze.” The guy was a music teacher, for god sake. I’ll bet Rick, Levon, and Richard went off to wallow in drugs and booze while Garth headed back to his hotel room for bible study.
I don’t remember the exact details, but I recall reading in a biography of Moon that Roger Daltrey was straight-edge (at least in the early days) and frequently got into arguments with the others about their drug habits, which may have come to blows a few times. I believe there was an incident where he flushed Keith’s pills down the toilet and briefly quit the band, but quietly rejoined when “My Generation” made the Top 10.
All his albums after 1985 finished in the top 40, with two charting 1 and 3.
It would appear based on what I’ve read only 1 of those 7 got panned, and one other mixed reviews. I didn’t take a look at his 70s solo albums to be fair.
Of course, you are entitled to your own opinion of his solo work. 
I have three villains:
George Lynch, guitarist of Dokken. During the 80s he was frequently interviewed in music magazines bitching that no band should be named after one member (Don Dokken) was the lead singer. In the mid to late 80s the group scored several top ten hits, and my reaction was, dude, just shut up and collect the check. I saw them live in 1988 and then entire set he stood there playing guitar while fans blew his hair. He just came across as a conceited, unlikable jackass. He finally left the band and created Lynch Mob which failed to crack the top 40 and faded into obscurity with one flop after another. Great guitarist, colossal douchebag.
Daron Malakian, guitarist, System of a Down. To his credit, he wrote most of this innovative bands songs with Serj Tankian as their charismatic unicorn front man resulting in one of the greatest metal albums of all time, “Toxicity”. Then with the third album, Daron decided he wanted to be a lead singer on many of the songs too, and the result was a rather tepid Mesmerize/Hypnotize two album release with many songs sung by Damon taking away the power of the band. But this time it was clear that there were tensions between him and Serj, and while they have toured, they have not produced a new album in 15 years, which I blame on Malakian.
I also saw them live in 2001, Malakian came out with his head shaved wearing a boa, and cursing at the fans. In my mind he seems like a jerk crying for attention because everyone came to see Serj not him.
Rick Davies, keyboardist Supertramp. Lets be honest, when you think Supertramp, you think the likable Rodger Hodgson, not the huge headed Davies who was lead singer on maybe 3 hit songs for them at tops. Hodgson left the group with a handshake agreement with Davies that Tramp would tour only playing Davies meager catalog of songs, and Hodgson as a solo act would only play his songs.
That all changed about 10 years ago when Davies toured with a Hodgson lookalike and sound alike:
In other words the clod Rick Davies, who no one really likes, proved he did not have the talent to build a Supertramp catalog of his own and tried to steal the legacy of his former bandmate.
Roger is definitely right up there to me as a rock n roll villain. He hijacked the band to create an admitted masterpiece in The Wall, then fired keyboardist Richard Wright and basically used the band to make a Roger Waters solo album, the Final Cut and then unilaterally declared the band finished.
David Gilmour, who sang and played guitar on most of their best songs, and was with the band for almost their entire existence said NO and rehired Wright and put out 2 or so decent albums while Roger whined he was “Pink” the entire time.
Not only that, Rogers career has included one regurgitation after another of his only creative masterpiece The Wall, one mildly acclaimed solo album, and an over the top condemnation of Israel, giving many the perception he might be an anti-Semite.
The final evidence he is a douchebag? Mouthing the words to “Comfortable Numb” behind David Gilmour at Live 8, just to remind all who was watching “LOOK AT ME I WROTE THIS!”
FUCK Roger Waters!
He was a musician, but he wasn’t a musician. Got it.
Keith Moon had no understanding of how to play the drums. He had no rhythm, he couldn’t keep time to save his life, he didn’t know what the various parts of his kit were or how to use them properly, he never practiced or had any kind of education, and his technique pretty much consisted of banging on everything in his field of vision irrespective of whether or not it fit the music he was supposed to be accompanying.
He was one of the greatest drummers to ever live in spite of all that, because he managed to wind up in a band so anarchic and insane that his lack of skill was made up for.
In addition to the story that russian heel told above about George Lynch, it’s worth mentioning that, after he left Dokken, Don Dokken (the lead singer of Dokken and founder of the band) attempted to form another group named Dokken. Lynch filed a lawsuit against him, and Don Dokken wasn’t allowed to name his new band Dokken. So Don Dokken decided to name his new band Don Dokken. Lynch took him back to court to prevent him from being able to use that name, as well.
Interesting about Rick Davies. I always viewed him as the Lennon foil to Hodgson’s McCartney. And Hodgon could stray way too far on the pop side of things.
At least for me “Goodbye Stranger” is Supertramp’s finest moment.
But he wasn’t a musician. Got it.
Nobody wants to say Creed Bratton?
Okay, I guess.
I was going to say use him. For Rainbow (wimpiest name for a metal band ever), he simply hired musicians, and would fire them at will.
Probably didn’t make for a great creative experience for his bandmates, but the end result was good rock.
Sadly, it looks like the band Ghost is going that way. According to Wiki,
Ghouls are never satisfied.
This is just wrong. Here is a partial list of the songs Rick Davies wrote and performed:
Those are some of Supertramp’s finest songs.
Roger Hodgson wrote some great songs as well (The Logical Song, Take the Long Way Home, Give a Little Bit, Fool’s Overture, Breakfast in America). They were about even in the number of great songs they each wrote. The difference was generally that Hodgson wrote light, poppy, upbeat songs, while Davies gravitated more towards experimental, keyboard-driven jazz and prog rock. Hodgson’s songs, being more pop-friendly, generally did a bit better on the billboard charts, but they both wrote hits.
The Lennon/McCartney comparison is a good one. John was more brooding and experimental, Paul was oriented more towards pop and melody. Together, they played to each other’s strengths and created great music. Separately, neither one ever reached the heights they had as collaborators.
Likewise Hodgson and Davies. Together they balanaced off their worst tendencies. Apart, Hodgson has produced little that’s memorable and most is acoustic pop, while Davies’ Supertramp put out more experimental prog ("Brother Where you Bound’) that wasn’t very catchy.
As far as Hodgson’s claim that Rick Davies agreed to never play his songs, we only have his word for that. Their breakup originally had a lot to do with Roger not wanting to be just a player in a large band, but a frontman, and Supertramp was always a group thing (where would they be without John Anthony Halliwell’s sax?). When the band reunited, Roger refused to come back because Davies’ wife was now the band’s manager, and he felt that Davies was controlling everything. Which may be true for all I know. I think the two just had clashing visions and clashing egos. I’m not sure there’s a ‘bad guy’ here.
Not to defend Waters in general but my understanding (from the Saucerful of Secrets band bio) was that Waters wanted to make The Final Cut as a solo album but CBS Records basically forced him to label it as a Pink Floyd album because they wanted the easier sales. Dude’s still a jackass though for a boatload of other reasons.
I’m not sure about bible study; I’m more inclined to speculate that Garth went back to his hotel room to pore over transcriptions of sackbut and crumhorn musical notation.
I’m a Band fan, so I’ve wallowed in the eternal question of the truth behind their tragic (though not untypical) career arc. One thing that emerges is that Garth is truly an enigma. He really seemed to be totally absorbed in doing his job/work, and somehow steering clear of the craziness and internal dissension of his bandmates.
This impression may partly be an artifact of Garth’s reticence. By this I mean that over the years-- and especially after the “Last Waltz” and the breakup-- Robbie and Levon had a lot to say; Richard and Rick less so, but they still made some public statements. Also, the latter three were fairly notorious about their personal excesses and issues, so there’s a lot of stuff out there about them.
But Garth is like a black hole of personal publicity. You can count his public statements about The Band’s career on one hand. I very much doubt this will happen, and of course I wish him a long life, but it would be deeply gratifying if once he passed, a comprehensive “tell-all” diary was found in his effects.
With The Band, God love 'em, the better question may be “Who is the good guy in The Band?”
It’s already been said but Brian Jones was an immense pain in the ass for the Stones in the 60’s. Obviously he was a very talented musician but he simply couldn’t write and back in the day, the Stones were expected to release a hit every 90 days or so. Jagger and Richards were workaholics and produced single after single. Jones saw his influence slip and began to lash out by getting deeper and deeper into drugs. Once he was THE star of the band but once the world caught on that it was Jagger and Richards who really were the talented ones, Jones simply lost interest. He would beat women and generally be unreliable in the studio or onstage. When the Stones sought to re-establish their careers after taking 2 years off touring and releasing the dreadful “Satanic Majesties” album they knew they had to capture audiences in a big way. They released “Beggar’s Banquet” without much input from Jones and then “Let It Bleed” with Jones on one track. They decided to tour in 69’ but Jones was such a liability as a musician and a druggie, they fired him. 3 weeks later he was dead.