What band do you think had the dirtiest break up?

[Steve w]

My guess is the Talking Heads but I'm no expert in this area.

[Dave]

Van Halen! Actually, probably The Beatles with all the publicity surrounding theirs.

[Grant]

Seeing how the core of Van Halen is still intact, I would have to vote for the Beatles.

[Dave]

Oh I don't know Grant. I believe Dave to be a much better entertainer than Sammy was/is. But, Sammy was good for Eddie and the band at the time, some good songs. Sadly, after Sammy, that was it. I know there has been at least one other album since Hagars departure, but I didn't find it worth the price of admission.

[Grant]

Originally posted by Dave
Oh I don't know Grant. I believe Dave to be a much better entertainer than Sammy was/is. But, Sammy was good for Eddie and the band at the time, some good songs. Sadly, after Sammy, that was it. I know there has been at least one other album since Hagars departure, but I didn't find it worth the price of admission.
I must be one of two people on this planet who thinks that Van Halen III wasn't half bad. Great? NO, but if VH hadn't had such a history of great recordings it would have fared better.

[Gary]

I cannot confirm the details but I believe Rossington-Collins was sorta messy.

Gary Rossington and Allen Collins got togeather with the remains of Lynyrd Skynyrd a few years after the crash and reformed the bank with the surviving members. They wisely chose a female singer (Dale Krantz), knowing that any male singer would be compared to Ronnie.

Well Gary fell in love with Dale and they left the band. Got married, had two children. Someone told me that Allen chased Dale down the street yelling "YOU B*TCH, YOU B*TCH" at one point.

After this Allen Collins released an album and Rossington released two albums before Skynyrd reformed - which was difficult because of legalities.... but that's another story!

I sorta hate to repeat all this since I cannot verify it.... can anyone confirm or deny this?

G

[HeavyDistortion]

Badfinger
Simon and Garfunkel
The Everly Brothers

Even though my last two selections were duos, I don't think that we can overlook them for this topic; it seems like the members of these duos have been feuding with one another for years.






HeavyDistortion

[Uncle Al]

The Dirtiest: Creedence Clearwater Revival

Consisted of (2) friends and (2) brothers. John Fogerty did the lions share of the songwriting and vocals - he wrote and sang all the bands orignal hits. Tension had been building within the group about John's monopoly of the band. John's brother Tom left the band, no longer willing to stand in the shadows. Their final abum was recorded as a trio, and, at the insistence of the other members, the songwriting was equally split. It became obvious that John Fogerty's material is whatmade the band special. They completed a tour and disbanded.

Legal wranglings after the split left JF on one side - and the remining band members and Fantasy record exec Saul Zantz (sp?) on the other. John Fogerty essentially found himself cut out of the Creedence catalog and songwriting royalties. He refused to play the old Creedence songs live for a decade - he didn't want to promote the old material and "line the pockets" of his ex-band mates. Saul Zantz sued John Fogerty for plagerizing himself (saying "The Old Man Down the Road" was the same song as "Run Through the Jungle"). John and brother Tom were estranged up until Tom was on his deathbed - when John went to visit him in the hospital. In their final visit, Tom told John that he was wrong, and Saul Zantz was a "saint".

When they were inducted in the rock n' roll hall of fame, John refused to perform with either of the surviving members of the band, indeed he was forced to appear onstage with them to accept the honor. Apparently after accepting the award - the other memebers of the band just slipped out of the hall quietly. They now tour as Creedence Clearwater Revisited. They still don't have any contact with John.

Pretty nasty eh, got a better one?

[guy incognito]

How about the Band? I don't think there's much love lost between Robbie Robertson and Levon Helm even today.

[AudioGirl]

Fleetwood Mac ??

Theirs was pretty ugly. :(

[tonytonitone]

Originally posted by AudioGirl
Fleetwood Mac ??

Theirs was pretty ugly. :(
Hi, I'm new to the forum.

AudioGirl, could it have been that bad if they performed together not too long ago? Or is it back to the animosity again?

[Scott Wheeler]

Pink Floyd and Roger Waters was ugly

[Dan C]

Originally posted by Uncle Al
The Dirtiest: Creedence Clearwater Revival

Consisted of (2) friends and (2) brothers. John Fogerty did the lions share of the songwriting and vocals - he wrote and sang all the bands orignal hits. Tension had been building within the group about John's monopoly of the band. John's brother Tom left the band, no longer willing to stand in the shadows. Their final abum was recorded as a trio, and, at the insistence of the other members, the songwriting was equally split. It became obvious that John Fogerty's material is whatmade the band special. They completed a tour and disbanded.

-edit-

Pretty nasty eh, got a better one?

Very well said. CCR would be my vote, mostly because it was between blood. I remember a pretty good VH-1 special about the whole mess.

I'll add The Pixies to the ugly breakup list. Francis and Deal pretty much despise one another.

On the jazz side, I believe that Miles Davis had a few ugly breakups with bands during his career.

Dan C

[tonytonitone]

After reading Uncle Al's post, I have to cast my vote for CCR as well. I had no idea it was that bad.

[Dave]

Originally posted by Grant
I must be one of two people on this planet who thinks that Van Halen III wasn't half bad. Great? NO, but if VH hadn't had such a history of great recordings it would have fared better.
Well, at least Eddie knows who to thank for the one of two cd's that did sell of VH3. :D

You're probably right about the prior history thing. I just find that when you hear what they're really capable of, it's really hard to swallow what VH3 is trying to feed us.

[AudioGirl]

Originally posted by tonytonitone

Hi, I'm new to the forum.

AudioGirl, could it have been that bad if they performed together not too long ago? Or is it back to the animosity again?

I think they are civil now.

They had a TV thing on them a couple of years ago and each of the band members talked about how bad it was. At that point there were members that still didn't speak directly.

I guess they have pretty well worked things out. But I don't think that is indicative of how bad the break up was.

Amazing what money can do as a motivator to get people together. Just look at the Eagles. ;)

[lukpac]

Originally posted by Uncle Al
Legal wranglings after the split left JF on one side - and the remining band members and Fantasy record exec Saul Zantz (sp?) on the other. John Fogerty essentially found himself cut out of the Creedence catalog and songwriting royalties.
Well, didn't John basically give up everything to get out of his Fantasy contract? From what I understand, he kind of brought that on himself.

Am I missing something?

[Uncle Al]

Originally posted by lukpac

Well, didn't John basically give up everything to get out of his Fantasy contract? From what I understand, he kind of brought that on himself.

Am I missing something?

Yeah I think so.....

John Fogerty may have volunteered his rights, but he was pressured to do so... bands break up all the time without seriously effecting recording contracts. Fantasy could have retained John (and the others) as solo artists - but Saul Zantz and the other members formed a partnership designed to get the recordings and publishing. They knew they would never get the "old" John back if he was forced to play in Creedence, and they also knew (as least Saul Zantz did) that the other guys could not cut it...

It always seemed to me that John was quite manipulated into the position he ultimately found himself.

The other side of the coin was that the other band members felt John was a control freak and that he only gave up artistic control when there was nothing left but contractual obligations. While this may be true - I also don't doubt John when he says that he was doing the lions share of arranging, songwriting, and producing and consequently he was getting a bigger piece of the pie. His contention is that the band didn't really want artistic control - they wanted John to retain the helm while they got a larger piece of his publishing profits.

John says Saul Zantz ruined him, his brother called him a saint with his (nearly) last breath. The smart buisnessman would think Creedence's break up was a no-brainer, sweeten the pot to retain John as a solo artist, release the other three. How in the world did it go the other way - unless Saul, Tom, Stu and Cliff knew damn wel they could get it all........

[lukpac]

Originally posted by Uncle Al
John Fogerty may have volunteered his rights, but he was pressured to do so... bands break up all the time without seriously effecting recording contracts. Fantasy could have retained John (and the others) as solo artists - but Saul Zantz and the other members formed a partnership designed to get the recordings and publishing. They knew they would never get the "old" John back if he was forced to play in Creedence, and they also knew (as least Saul Zantz did) that the other guys could not cut it...

It always seemed to me that John was quite manipulated into the position he ultimately found himself.

Well, John actually released his first solo album on Fantasy. As I understand it he wasn't happy with how Fantasy was promoting him, and the only way to get out of his contract was to give them all his old publishing rights. I.e., if he would have stayed signed to Fantasy, he would have retained his rights.

Anyone?

[hoboken lad]

lukpac,

I think you're right about the situation surrounding John leaving Fantasy after his first solo album. That's the way I remember hearing it at the time.

As a sidebar concerning Saul Zantz, in a long forgetten book called "Inside Creedence" (which was basically about CCR's recording of "Pendulum"), the author, John Hallowell, asked Zantz how he still hung onto CCR despite "big fat sharks" after them. According to Hallowell, Zantz replied "With a contract!" No talk about liking the guys (who he had under contract from 1967 on) or loyalty.

I still can't fathom Doug and Stu's continued loyalty to Zantz. Somehow, I think the entire story has yet to be told accurately.

And let's not forget the Sex Pistol's break up in San Francisco after the U.S. tour. True, they got back together 20 years later, but even Johnny R. admitted that was strictly for the money.

[Togo]

The Pixies and the Smiths were pretty acrimonious break ups - Deal and Black Francis...Morrissey and Marr respectively.:rolleyes:

[Highway Star]

Let's not forget Sonny and Cher. Sure, they weren't a band, but there was a wedding band involved.

[Jimbo]

Has anybody mentioned the Go-Go's? Their original break-up was pretty nasty. Despite a couple of reunions, it's clear they still have some issues. I saw them on tour a couple of years ago, and the acrimony on stage was palpable.

[Sound]

The Eagles never got along. period.
The Doors breakup was the ugliest.

[Elegy]

This wasn't really ugly and this isn't a break up in the true sense of the word but it did leave some aweful hard feelings. I am referring to the Jethro Tull "break up" after the Stormwatch release in 1979. Three members of the band, which played together for years, were replaced. Names included, Barriemore Barlow, John Evans and David Palmer. David Palmer has played in role in the band since the early days of Tull and later on became a touring member of the band. John Evans and Ian were friends and played together even before Jethro Tull was a band. Anyone remember the John Evans Band? Ian and Barriemore were high school chums back in Blackpool.

The recent passing away of bassist John Glascock also had great affect on Ian and others. The outcome of all this was "A" and IMO, the band has never been the same.

There have been many incarnations of Jethro Tull but I believe this line up was the best. It was sad to see it end the way it did.

Take care.