(Credits: Far Out / Subpop)

Firing a band member is never the easiest thing in the world. The entire group can feel like family after a while, and sometimes, parting with someone tends to mess up the morale (and other egos) without really knowing it. Although it couldn’t have been easy having to say goodbye to some good friends along the way, acts like The Heartbreakers and Rush have proven why dropping someone can be an upgrade once in a while.

First of all, that’s not to say that every member that was fired was bad, per se. These artists may have been integral to their respective outfits and may have even been responsible for some of the best riffs and songs they had ever put out…it’s just that it took one more person to bring them to the next level.

Not all of these firings were meant to be overnight decisions, either. While it’s easy for people to drop members like flies before they’ve been discovered, some of the more high-profile groups tend to have members who have been in there for the long haul, which meant a lot of money was on the line once they were suddenly not in the fold anymore.

Regardless of the bad blood, vicious arguments, and maybe a few too many expletives exchanged, each of these acts ended up not only coming back from the brink but actually getting stronger with age, managing to make themselves into a new and improved version of themselves without even realising it. It might hurt to see your old band doing so well without you, but sometimes you need to drop some weight to really fly.

10 bands who fired core members:

10. Jim Lenahan – Mudcrutch (Tom Petty)

In the early 1970s, nothing was going to stand in between Tom Petty and rock and roll stardom. Others may have had it as a hobby, but Petty was determined to become the best rock star that anyone had ever seen, even if that meant travelling across the country to do it. All this, and yet he didn’t feel comfortable enough singing when he formed his first band, Mudcrutch.

Although Petty eventually gained the confidence to step out in front of the microphone, Jim Lenahan was the original singer out front in their native Gainsville, usually singing all the songs that Petty wrote. By his own admission, even Lenahan admitted the dynamic didn’t make much sense. He knew that Petty had a decent voice, so he might as well be the one singing his own songs.

By the time they started gaining traction and coming close to a record deal, Lenahan didn’t have any ill will towards the group, either, eventually following Petty on the road, becoming his stage director and directing the music video for the song ‘You Got Lucky’. But if it weren’t for Petty overcoming those nerves, chances are he would have still been peddling away in Gainsville. Nice songs might go a long way, but it takes a true artist to turn them into classics.

9. Chad Channing – Nirvana

The biggest joke of Nirvana was that they had some of the most classic songs of all time yet could hold onto a drummer to save their life. Kurt Cobain may have been one of the best songwriters of his generation, but it didn’t seem to matter as long as the percussion wasn’t what he heard in his head. While Chad Channing seemed like the perfect guy for a while, he made the bad move of suggesting he work his way into the songwriting conversation.

As Dave Grohl will tell you, the last thing a drummer should do is suggest doing one of their songs, and Channing speaking his mind didn’t sit well with Cobain. Since his drumming also wasn’t up to snuff, they let him go right before they went into the studio to record Nevermind, by which point they had already hooked up with Grohl to bring ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ to life.

Then again, there could have easily been some animosity between Channing and Grohl if he wanted to, since Grohl was eventually able to get his songs like ‘Marigold’ heard by the general public. Still, if you’re a drummer and you have to go toe-to-toe with Grohl behind the kit, you’re going to lose almost any day of the week.

8. Pete Willis – Def Leppard

In a world full of hair metal posers, Def Leppard seemed to be in it for the right reasons. If anything, the fact that they got started just before the Sunset Strip started spitting out hair metal acts left and right gave them a level of credibility for being a bunch of scrappy lads from Sheffield. The brotherhood was not supposed to go on forever, and Leppard lost one of its skins when Pete Willis decided that he’d rather rely on the booze than his guitar playing.

Since Leppard were on the cusp of making one of the biggest statements yet on Pyromania, Willis found himself completely oblivious to what the rest of the group wanted. Producer ‘Mutt’ Lange is known to whip almost anyone into good shape, but the fact that Willis couldn’t even play a decent guitar solo in the studio led to the rest of the guys giving him time to cool out, which is band-speak for “on the chopping block”.

As Willis continued to rest up, Lange brought in Phil Collen on guitar, who traded in Willis’s AC/DC-style guitar riffs for the kind of virtuosic swagger that you would expect out of someone like Ritchie Blackmore. Willis may have gotten a writing credit on Pyromania, but whenever you hear an amazing shredding solo or a whammy bar dive, that’s probably Collen’s job.

7. Dave Mustaine – Metallica

As the 1980s started, no one was placing bets on Metallica becoming the biggest act in the world. This was the era of Michael Jackson and Madonna, and to think that a couple of drunken metalheads were going to be the biggest names in music would be like saying that there was going to be a sudden swing revival by the end of this year. Life can be crazy sometimes, but Dave Mustaine’s firing came much to the benefit of metalheads everywhere.

Then again, Mustaine probably didn’t like the idea of being kicked out of one of the greatest metal acts ever. Once he started trashing people’s houses on their way to New York City, James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich decided that he was too much of a loose cannon to keep around, eventually sending him home with a bus ticket best to the West Coast as soon as they got to Manhattan.

Many would argue that Kirk Hammett has divided the metal community thanks to his reliance on wah-wah, but the fact that Mustaine was so mad that he started another legendary metal band is amazing, forming the basis of what would become Megadeth. They could have done without the sparring sessions in the press, but sometimes it’s okay to have both a Master of Puppets and a Rust in Peace.

6. Tony McCarroll – Oasis

Most of the plan for getting Oasis to the top of the charts seemed to take place in Noel Gallagher’s head. They had the ability to become the biggest act in the world, but it all hinged on whether the songs were good enough, and Noel started getting in tune with the best music of his career once the mid-1990s rolled around. They just needed a bit more steadiness behind the drums, and Tony McCarroll just wasn’t the guy for the job.

At the same time, McCarroll probably didn’t go the distance because he didn’t really want to. The rest of the group had been complaining about his drumming style ever since they started, and he would often be the butt of everyone’s jokes when they were on the road. In the background, Noel was also starting to realise that the drums on songs like ‘Champagne Supernova’ would need to be a bit more precise than before.

After letting go of McCarroll after the recording of ‘Some Might Say’, bringing Alan White in was a match made in heaven, breathing new life into the songs that wasn’t there before with his amazing drum rolls on ‘Don’t Look Back In Anger’ and the amazing groove on ‘Morning Glory’. If McCarroll was the punk spirit behind Oasis in their infancy, then White was the one who strapped their songs to a rocket ship.

5. Syd Barrett – Pink Floyd

Okay, so this one has a bit of an asterisk next to it. While I’m certainly not going to say that Syd Barrett was wrong for Pink Floyd (he did start the group, after all), there would always be so many places they could go with him at the helm. The future seemed limitless initially, but the final years of the 1960s made for one of the most tragic endings for any rock star frontman.

After years of battling his mental struggles, Barrett finally started to crack up, eventually turning up to shows not being able to hold onto his guitar pick and staring at the audience for minutes on end, not doing anything. His bandmates may have tolerated it for a while, but there are only so many times that you can tolerate a dead-weight frontman before you have to decide to cut him loose.

Once they “forgot” to pick up Barrett for rehearsal one day, Pink Floyd adopted David Gilmour into the group as their new lead guitarist, eventually leading to him and Roger Waters turning in some of the greatest progressive music of the 1970s. Barrett never left their minds in that time, and albums like Wish You Were Here still stand as glowing tributes to their fallen icon. Barrett may not have seen Pink Floyd turn into legends, but he will always remain a permanent fixture of what made them so special.

4. Al Sobrante – Green Day

Working in a punk rock band doesn’t always mean everything must be perfect. It might be nice if you try to stretch out every now and again, but no one’s coming to an album by Ramones or The Clash and expecting to hear a Van Halen-style guitar solo. It’s still about having chemistry within your ranks, and Green Day knew that Al Sobrante was a little bit too offbeat for them to continue.

Real name John Kiffmeyer, Sobrante was practically the “everything” for Green Day behind the scenes initially, serving as the drummer, manager and producer. Once he decided that he wanted to go to college, a bunch of high school dropouts weren’t going to spend their time waiting on him. They were musical freaks…so they needed someone equally freaky to keep up.

Although Tre Cool was a little younger than the rest of them, his manic energy behind the kit gave Green Day the punk rock answer to Keith Moon, especially once they hit it big with Dookie and he became the glorified court jester of the group. Cool may be considered one of the most animated characters in 1990s rock, but once you heard him lock in with Billie Joe Armstrong and Mike Dirnt, this was no joke. They had hit the musical lottery, and there was nowhere to go but up.

3. Brian Jones – The Rolling Stones

Stop! Don’t! Okay, before you kill me, please allow me to plead my case, Your Honour. Yes, Brian Jones is one of the greatest guitarists the 1960s ever spit out. Yes, he was the brains behind The Rolling Stones in the early days and could play nearly any instrument that came his way and made them a thousand times better. All of these statements are true, but by the end of the decade, things really needed to change.

If anything, Jones’s leaving the group should have been a blessing in disguise in the late 1960s. Since everything had been taken over by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, this could have been Jones’s chance to stretch out on his own and do his own thing. Before he could do anything, his body seemed to get the better of him, ultimately passing away under “mysterious” circumstances in his swimming pool shortly after being sacked.

It’s never easy to recover once one of your mates dies, but adding Mick Taylor to the mix turned The Stones into a completely different group. Whereas Jones may have served as a damn good lead guitarist and a phenomenal arranger, the way Taylor and Richards worked off each other steered them through the greatest albums of their career, including Sticky Fingers and every single second of Exile on Main St. Jones deserved more than just to be known as ‘The Rolling Stone that died’, and what he brought to the group while he was there is still the best music of the 1960s for a damn good reason.

2. John Rutsey – Rush

Working in a trio is always a bit of a struggle. Compared to other rock outfits with a lot of weight for every member to carry, it gets ten times heavier when every member has to hold up more or less equal weight to prevent everything from collapsing. Rush already had the chops to pull off a power trio, but John Rutsey leaving may have been the happiest coincidence in the history of rock and roll.

Because there was nothing wrong with Rutsey, technically speaking. He could lay down a decent groove when he wanted to and even had a bit of stage presence, but his health was the big problem. After being diagnosed with juvenile diabetes, Rutsey knew that he would never be able to commit to a full tour and go through all the hassle of being in a rock band while worrying about his health.

While the bond that was there from high school was suddenly gone between everyone, getting a drummer like Neil Peart was the perfect situation. Not only could he play like John Bonham and Keith Moon combined, but his grasp of lyrics turned them from a blues boogie act to one of the greatest prog acts of all time. Everyone who jammed along to songs like ‘Working Man’ might be disappointed, but considering how many classic albums came out afterwards, it’s more than a fair trade.

1. Pete Best – The Beatles

There’s a certain cinematic quality about putting The Beatles’ story. The tale of a bunch of lads from Liverpool turning into the greatest band in the world has been well-documented countless times, and no doubt, will be a challenge when it comes time for Sam Mendes to put out his four-part biopic. As George Harrison could recall, Ringo Starr was always destined to be in the group, and it just took someone like Pete Best to leave that the Fab Four was solidified.

Even though there are still Pete Best defenders, his drumming would never have been able to work with the latter half of the group’s career. He may have worked great in the various club shows they played, but George Martin could tell within two seconds of playing that he wasn’t the right guy for the job. Then again, he wasn’t that satisfied with Starr, either, relegating him to tambourine when they made their first single, ‘Love Me Do’.

Starr wasn’t just some meatheaded drummer looking to showboat. He was always a musical thinker, and his way of sitting in the song and playing whatever was needed for any of the group’s material is the reason why he should be put on the same level as his other mates out front. For everyone thinking that Starr was just the least talented member of The Beatles, just listen to how he responds to the rest of them next time you hear a Beatles song. That’s not something that can be taught. That’s sonic telepathy, and Starr was more than capable of putting himself to the test whenever he got behind the kit.

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