One of my favorite bands has always been the Misfits. I love them. But to me the Misfits without Glenn Danzig is like cake without frosting.

Which brings me to my main point. I really…really hate it when key members of bands leave and the band replaces them with a hack and keeps the band name the same.

To me if the bass player leaves, keyboards or maybe even the drummer. You can still “sound” the same. But when your singer leaves or your main songwriter leaves…change the name.

Like Pink Floyd without Roger, or the way Black Sabbath was down to only Tony Iommi…not Sabbath anymore. Judas Priest trying to replace Rob Halford, come on. Deep Purple now has lost Blackmore and Jon Lord, not to mention Ian’s vocals are not what they used to be. Hang it up or change the name.

Lee Ving did the same thing with Fear, it was just him and he toured as Fear until changing it to Lee Ving’s Army. Skynard is still trying to cash in after loosing their singer plus about four other guys. Anthrax tried it, failed. I think Bowie losing Mick Ronson had the same effect, never the same again.

Cro-Mags lost their singer and Harley picked up, I thought it was ok for a while but suffered in the end. Voivod tried it for a while. Robert Pollard did it with GBV, replaced everyone, but kept the name. Just not the same band anymore.

It’s like if Mr. Bungle lost Patton, or if Rush lost Peart, they could not carry on. Nirvana did not try to replace Kurdt. Like Ozzy losing Randy, way too much talent to replace. Slayer without Lombardo…icky. Van Halen…Sammy Hagar = WTF?

Or what about Thin Lizzy, Lynott’s been dead for a long time, but somehow they are still touring? Come on, he was the band. He’s rolling over in his grave. What a travesty.

I don’t understand why bands can’t see that the band is the members, not the name.

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