The B List: The Band Played On

3. Big Brother & The Holding Company – Janis Joplin was such an immense talent that she often overshadowed her first band, Big Brother & The Holding Company. Joplin dumped the band in 1969 and things looked bleak for Big Brother. The band regrouped and put out a few decent albums with vocalist Kathi McDonald in the early ’70s.

4. Fleetwood Mac – Despite the band’s name being a mix of members Mick Fleetwood and John McVie’s surname, Peter Green was the clear leader of Fleetwood Mac. Green retired in 1970, but the band played on and found commercial success when Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham joined in 1975.

5. The Grandmothers – Frank Zappa fired all of his Mothers of Invention bandmates in 1969, but kept the name. A number of original Mothers reformed without the guitarist in 1980 under the name The Grandmothers for a few subsequent tours. The band has continued under the name The Grande Mothers with other Zappa alumni.

6. Pink Floyd – Over the course of their long and incredibly successful career, Pink Floyd survived two key member departures. Syd Barrett’s loss of reality led to the writer/vocalist/guitar player leaving the band early in 1968 after fronting a number of brilliant Pink Floyd recordings including Interstellar Overdrive. David Gilmour replaced Barrett and led the band along with bassist Roger Waters until Waters decided to disband the group in 1985. Gilmour kept the name after some legal haggling and toured along with Nick Mason and Richard Wright in the late ’80s and mid ’90s.

7. JGB – Jerry Garcia fronted two incredible bands and surviving members of both bands are still touring. Keyboard wiz Melvin Seals decided to keep Jerry’s solo band going in 1996 and they’ve been playing tons of shows featuring Garcia’s solo repertoire ever since.

8. Lynyrd Skynyrd – Southern rock legends Lynyrd Skynyrd disbanded soon after the 1977 plane crash that killed members Ronnie Van Zant, Steve Gaines and Cassie Gaines. In 1987 the group reformed with Ronnie’s little brother on vocals and original guitarist Ed King back in the mix. Skynyrd released a few decent albums and have toured relentlessly, but their future is in question after the January death of keyboardist Billy Powell.

9. Little Feat – Shortly after Frank Zappa cut loose guitarist Lowell George and bassist Roy Estrada from the Mothers of Invention, the pair formed their own band called Little Feat. Estrada soon left the band which went on to find major critical success behind George and keyboardist Billy Payne. Little Fest disbanded shortly before George’s death in 1979, but reformed with vocalist Craig Fuller in 1988 and still tours to this day.

10. Blind Melon – Singer/songwriter Shannon Hoon left his Indiana home for the glitz of Los Angeles to start a band. Hoon formed Blind Melon shortly after arriving and went on to find commercial success with the band’s self-titled debut and critical success with the follow-up Soup. Shannon was found dead on Blind Melon’s tour bus after a long night of partying in October 1995. The band didn’t continue on without Hoon until 2006 when they reformed with new lead singer Travis Warren. Warren left the band last November and their future is unclear.

Other Bands In This Debate: AC/DC, Metallica, Van Halen, Moody Blues, Faces, Genesis, Journey, INXS, Joy Division/New Order, Creed/Alterbridge not to mention all the hair bands and ’50/’60s artists that tour with one or no original members.