There's something to be said for musicians who quit while they're on top of their game.
And although fans are often left with some amazing music when musicians go quiet, they
sometimes still want more.
Here's why a few of your favorites musicians have disappeared off the radar.
Missy Elliott was a mainstay on MTV thanks to her eye-popping videos and unforgettable
beats.
The hip-hop singer and producer had a hit streak in the late '90s and early 2000s, and
is best known for her smash hits "Work It" and "Get Ur Freak On."
That's why it's a little weird that nobody's heard much from her recently, besides the
occasional appearance with another artist — such as that famous 2015 Super Bowl halftime
pop-in with Katy Perry.
But most of the world had no idea why she actually disappeared.
An autoimmune illness called Graves' disease began affecting the star around 2008, although
she wasn't aware until she tried to press down the brakes of her car one day — and
discovered that she couldn't, which almost caused her to crash.
She had already been suffering from tremors and noticed she couldn't do normal motor tasks
like holding a pen without a lot of effort.
That's when doctors pinpointed the thyroid condition.
"Yeah, I was scared.
Anybody that has Grave's disease, you feel like you're finna be outta here.”
The singer then underwent radiation treatment and now claims to be fully healed.
In the last few years, she's released a few standalone singles — and is now finally
teasing a new album.
With six Grammy awards and over 25 million records sold, Outkast doesn't really need
an introduction, as they're easily one of the most successful hip-hop groups ever.
And maybe that's why, after the release of 2006's Idlewild, the group decided they didn't
really have to prove anything to anyone.
With Big Boi's elastic rapping style and Andre 3000's esoteric lyrics, the two complemented
each other in their diversity, but as they aged into their 30s they became confident
enough in their differences to explore their own avenues of creativity.
And that's fair — releasing their first two landmark albums, Aquemini and Stankonia
would count as a fine career for anyone.
Andre in particular discovered a love for acting and notably took on the role of Jimi
Hendrix in the 2012 bio-pic Jimi: All Is By My Side.
Andre found acting came so naturally, in fact, that he put rapping on hold for a long time
— and never really seemed to miss it.
When an interviewer asked in 2017 what he hoped to be doing in ten years, Andre remarked:
Big Boi, however, has stayed with his preferred craft, putting out three highly-acclaimed
solo albums to date.
The pair did reunite for a 2014 tour and seemed to enjoy each other's energy onstage, but
even before the tour started Big Boi reaffirmed that a new album wasn't on the cards.
Billy Joel hasn't put out any new original music since 2001, and even that was a handful
of classical piano pieces that he composed for a friend — which he didn't even perform.
You have to go all the way back to 1993's River of Dreams for anything resembling a
hit, and Joel himself has admitted to getting pretty tired of pop music in general.
He delved into the issue with The New Yorker in 2014.
In that interview, Joel said he's aware people think he's, quote, "lazy or contrary", but
that it hasn't made him want to take up music again.
He explained:
Joel did release a live album in 2011, but it had been recorded in 2008, which should
tell you exactly how much drive he has to get an album published.
Luckily, he's at least still enjoying playing live, having had a remarkable monthly residency
at Madison Square Garden that's been going on since January 2014 — and regularly sells
out with ease.
Back in the '90s, Rage Against the Machine was a punch in the teeth to everything corporate
America stood for.
And that's not just speaking musically, as they backed up their fervent rhythms with
more political angst than anybody back then was used to.
In the span of three proper studio albums, Rage set fire to the status quo and then,
just as quickly, vanished into the ashes.
Unfortunately, the band broke up in 2000 after vocalist Zack de la Rocha admitted that they
couldn't agree on anything anymore, but they did reunite for a few shows in 2007 — and
played a music festival in London in 2011.
But a band with so much to say about the world has always been curiously hesitant to discuss
their personal relationships.
Guitarist Tom Morello has stressed that they've all always been on the same page politically,
and that it's all the other aspects of their relationship that have tended to cause confrontations.
“The shows never suffered.
But we just couldn’t agree on stuff and that just sort of unearth feelings that made
it hard to make records."
Morello has even said that it's a miracle the band lasted as long as it did in the first
place.
Of course, it probably didn't help that de la Rocha got ditched by his bandmates, who
all went off and formed Audioslave to incredible success.
And while the Rage members can still hang out and get along easily enough, a full reunion
— with new music — hasn't happened yet.
One of the quirkier bands to have become mainstream in recent memory, System of a Down took their
Armenian heritage and stirred in some incredible metal riffs, creating a bizarre melodic potpourri
that resulted in no fewer than five critically acclaimed albums.
But the last two, the companion pieces Mezmerize and Hypnotize, both came out in 2005.
They toured those albums into the next year before guitarist Daron Malakian
finally announced they would take a several-year hiatus.
During that time, Malakian stole System drummer John Dolmayan for a side project
called Scars on Broadway, which saw some modest success.
Singer Serj Tankian, meanwhile, embarked on a solo career, which resulted
in considerably more fanfare.
When System of a Down reunited for concerts in 2011, it quickly became clear that new
music wasn't coming as easily as it had done in the past.
Dolmayan would say an album was imminent and then Tankian would publicly shoot it down.
Eventually, bassist Shavo Odadjian angrily posted on
Facebook in 2013 that Tankian was the real reason behind the lack of new music, writing
Soon after that, Tankian admitted that he simply didn't have time for the "three years"
a new album cycle required.
The most recent update to the band's album progress was in June 2018, when Tankian redirected
songs he'd intended for System to his own solo album.
As it is, despite some shows in 2019, things aren't looking good.
When Oasis burst onto the music scene in the mid-'90s, they were famously touted as the
next Beatles — something even they gleefully bought into.
The long string of hits they produced in such a short span even helped make that a plausible
thing to believe.
But then stardom took hold, and the brothers that led the band, Liam and Noel Gallagher,
got to work hating each other to an almost absurd degree.
At a 1994 show, Liam derided the band's American audiences and hit his brother with a tambourine,
causing Noel to quit the band for a few days.
Two years later, the band was slated to perform on MTV's Unplugged, but Liam pulled out with
a supposed sore throat.
The show went on with Noel taking on front man duties, while his brother loudly heckled
the band from a balcony.
Unsurprisingly, this caused another rift, with Liam skipping a couple of the tour dates
that followed Unplugged.
The brotherly spat basically continued off and on until 2009, when Oasis canceled one
of their gigs and Noel blamed it on his brother's hangover.
Liam, as a result, sued Noel.
Not a week later, Noel announced his departure from the band.
Both brothers have since begun successful side projects — and with a history like
that, it would be a real shock if Oasis managed to record and release new music ever again.
There are probably few musicians out there who are more synonymous with the 1980s than
Phil Collins.
Between his solo work and the albums he put out with Genesis, Collins left a string of
massive hits in his wake.
Once the '90s arrived, however, Collins' work took on a more adult contemporary flavor,
and he began settling into a groove of cover albums and Disney soundtracks.
Although Collins released an album of Motown covers in 2010, most fans probably would have
preferred some new original music.
Unfortunately, he revealed that he was retiring from music in 2011, admitting not only his
desire to spend time with his family, but also revealing that his body was falling apart.
In 2000, Phil went completely deaf in his left ear, which is obviously a pretty serious
thing to happen to a musician and singer.
Several years later, a dislocated vertebra led to nerve damage in his hands and left
him unable to play his beloved drums.
Again, that's quite a blow for a man considered one of the greatest drummers of all time — and
a member of one of the most revered progressive rock bands of all time.
Recently, Collins has revealed that his health is good enough for him to resume touring — so
it's entirely possible that his creative spark and fresh rejuvenation will lead to some new
music.
But it hasn't happened yet.
When guitarist David Gilmour seized control of Pink Floyd in the early '80s — after
over a decade of leadership by bassist and primary lyricist Roger Waters — it opened
a rift that had been years in the making.
Waters had already embarked on a solo career, but tried to fight Gilmour and the rest of
the band in a lawsuit, which he ultimately lost.
Pink Floyd would see some of their biggest financial successes after their subsequent
split, hosting huge concerts and building an almost cult-like following.
But Waters and Gilmour's hatred for each other over what the band had become cast a shadow
over all of it.
That's why fans were left so totally stunned when it was announced the full original lineup
would play the Live 8 festival in 2005.
That show gave Pink Floyd one of their biggest gigs and some of the widest exposure of their
lives, and they amicably played three of their hits, before sharing a group hug at the end.
After that, the band was offered an obscene sum to play a tour, which they ultimately
declined.
Sadly, keyboardist Richard Wright would die three years later, ending fans' hopes for
a full reunion.
But the surviving members weren't quite done — they went back to the well in 2014, digging
through studio recordings of previously unreleased music from the '90s that they then dressed
up as The Endless River, the band's 15th studio album.
And while Pink Floyd fans should consider themselves lucky that they got anything at
all, The Endless River probably didn't constitute "new" music of the kind that they had hoped
for.
At least it's something, though, and something is better than nothing.
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