It takes a lot of hard work, talent and good old fashioned luck to go from a garage to
a sold-out stadium tour.
But all too frequently, those successful bands of brothers and sisters end up walking away
from it all, and splitting up forever.
Thanks to creative disagreements, personality clashes, or the siren song of the solo career,
here are the bands whose reasons for breaking up, are as singular as their music.
Eagles
For a bunch of laid-back California hippies who sang smooth hits like "Peaceful Easy Feeling,"
certain Eagles weren't feeling it.
In July 1980, the band wrapped up its tour with a fundraiser for Senator Alan Cranston.
Pre-show, Cranston personally thanked the band, and guitarist Don Felder replied, quote,
"You're welcome, Senator…
I guess" according to bandmate Glenn Frey.
Frey confronted Felder, later remembering,
"Felder looks back at me and says, 'Only three more songs 'till I kick your ass, pal.'
And I'm saying, 'Great.
I can't wait.'"
However, in his memoir, Heaven and Hell: My Life in the Eagles, Felder claimed that Frey
"...came over while we were playing 'The Best of My Love' and said: 'F--- you.
I'm gonna kick your ass when we get off stage.'"
The next day, Eagles bassist Timothy B. Schmit called Frey to see what was up, and Frey told
him the band was done.
But while you can check out of the Eagles, you can never leave — the band reunited
for a massively successful tour and live album in 1994, and they continue to tour, albeit
with a changing lineup, today.
Blondie
A devastating illness shut down Blondie in its prime, snuffing out one of the most popular
bands of the late '70s and early '80s.
Singer Debbie Harry and guitarist Chris Stein, who together wrote "Heart of Glass," "Dreaming,"
and "Rapture," were also romantic partners — and when Stein got sick, it consumed Harry's
life, too.
According to the New York Post, around the time of the band's official breakup in 1982,
Stein was diagnosed with a rare disease which caused painful blistering on his skin, mouth,
throat, and lungs.
For several years, Stein was out of commission and Harry stayed by his side.
Harry told Saga in 2014,
"People say that I nursed him, but I was his mate, you know, and went to the hospital and
stayed with him."
Blondie reformed with a different lineup in the '90s, for better or worse.
The Clash
Once christened "the only band that matters," The Clash sputtered out in 1986.
In 1999 frontman Joe Strummer claimed that band members were exhausted, saying,
"I felt we'd run out of idea gasoline."
But Strummer gave another reason: the band didn't want to turn into their dads — or,
at least, rock 'n' roll dinosaurs.
Strummer said,
"We saw what The Who were like at the end of their tether.
It's a bad scene.
You quickly turn into nothing."
Uncle Tupelo
In the late '80s and early '90s, Uncle Tupelo was pioneering the roots-rock "Americana"
sound.
And the band's most prominent members, Jay Farrar and Jeff Tweedy, then went on to mainstream
success with new bands Son Volt and Wilco, respectively.
So what happened to Uncle Tupelo?
Creative differences between Tweedy and Farrar, which led them to stop talking.
Then, drummer Mike Heidorn left.
But Farrar told Relix in 2005 there was one more issue: the creep factor.
When Farrar's then-girlfriend Monica Groth, was sleeping, Tweedy had stroked her hair…and
Farrar caught him.
Farrar said,
"I found out later that he was telling her stuff, like, her loves her."
Farrar hung on, but eventually quit the band for good — blowing up Uncle Tupelo in 1994.
Queensrÿche
It was the end of a prog metal era.
Queensryche singer Geoff Tate told Rolling Stone in 2012,
"We've all known each other for 30 years.
For it to end in such a hostile way, it's just mind-boggling."
Tate said the trouble started early that year, when he and the band's management objected
to the rest of the band's decision to turn over its merch management to an outside company.
But the catalyst for the split, was a pre-show altercation.
While backstage at a gig in Brazil, Tate confronted the band about rumors that he was about to
get replaced — as various members of management and crew had just been fired, all of whom
were Tate's relatives.
Just before the band hit the stage, Tate says drummer Scott Rockenfield said,
"We just fired your whole family and you're next."
The show went on as planned, but that was it for the founding vocalist of Queensryche.
The Zombies
Sure, The Zombies' 1968 track "Time of the Season" frequently pops up in movies now,
but when their album "Odessey and Oracle" first came out, it was a flop.
Or so they thought.
Keyboardist Rod Argent told Express that the band's income cratered because,
"Our fees for playing live had gone down a lot, and we had no money."
The Zombies split because they couldn't afford to stay together.
Argent explained,
"We later found out after we'd broken up that we had hits at some place in the world at
almost any time.
It was just in the U.K., we had less success than anywhere else!"
Lead singer Colin Blunstone remembered,
"By the time the album was released, there was no band.
Time of the Season was a hit two years later."
The Everly Brothers
Don and Phil Everly were really brothers, were really successful musicians — and they
fought and bickered like both.
The story goes that Don informed Phil that their July 1973 show at LA's Knott's Berry
Farm would be their last as a duo, because he was, quote "tired of being an Everly Brother."
Then Don showed up drunk to perform, Phil left the stage, smashing his guitar on the
way out, and the Everly Brothers were over, except for an occasional reunion.
Jane's Addiction
They may have been right there at the rise of "alternative rock," but recording their
1990 breakthrough album Ritual de lo Habitual was so tension-fraught that Jane's Addiction
agreed to do the first Lollapalooza tour in 1991, organized by Jane's Addiction singer
Perry Farrell, and then break up.
That was probably for the best: Jane's Addiction's set on the first Lollapalooza ended early
because Farrell and guitarist Dave Navarro got into a fight in front of thousands of
fans.
By 1992, Jane's Addiction was done… for at least a little while.
Adam and the Ants
For the first iteration of Adam Ant's punky/New Wave band, the substance matched the style
— the band's debut record Dirk Wears White Sox sold well, and besides, they had to be
good if somebody tried to poach most of their musicians.
Sex Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren also handled Adam and the Ants, but when he quit in 1980,
he convinced everyone in the band except Adam to join him.
McLaren used them to create a new band called Bow Wow Wow — best known for its cover of
"I Want Candy."
Ant then found some more guys who like crazy costumes to be his new Ants.
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