For example, a band like Joy Division. Two masterpiece albums in the form of Unknown Pleasures and Closer, and the untimely death of Ian Curtis cut it all short. They were even heading into the direction that New Order eventually went in, and it would have been interesting to see what Ian Curtis would have done if they fully made the leap into electronic music while he was still alive.
I always liked the band Jellyfish.
I just took a gander over to Wikipedia to learn why they broke up. It was there where I read one of the best break up write ups ever:
“During the tour for Spilt Milk, Sturmer and Manning grew increasingly distant as friends. On their return home, the two songwriters independently wrote material for a third album, provisionally titled Nausea Trois. By then, they were drifting apart musically. Manning remembered that, prior, they would bond over albums such as Paul McCartney’s Ram or the Zombies’ Odessey and Oracle; however, “it was clear that none of that was happening anymore.” He said that he was “rediscovering my love of […] high-energy, fun melodic pop with attitude. And Andy was Leonard Cohen. That was it.” When Sturmer presented him a country ballad song, he accordingly “left in tears because I had zero interest in recording it.” Sturmer felt that Manning had outgrown the partnership, and for his part, was fearful that Manning’s new songs would likely inspire journalists to persistently compare the band to Alice Cooper.”
Really paints a picture!
They were a good band while it lasted.
Also…In 2004 or 2005, Coachella organizers invited Manning to reunite Jellyfish for a one-off performance at the festival. Manning advised the organizers to consult Sturmer first. Sturmer, through his lawyer, responded he would not accept the offer regardless of any amount of money involved.
Woah!!
Frightened Rabbit. Good body of work still but would have loved to see them keep going. Their music really hit close to home. Plus I only learned of them several months after Scott Hutchison’s suicide. What could’ve been.
+1 - I recently re-listened to all of his albums while creating karaoke versions of them all (here in case of interest: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjPVqMYwkaP4zaPCEhTfkTyRspxoOyjfY ) and it made me sad to think how much of Scott’s reality was actually coming through in his lyrics.
Device.
This was an industrial band project that only released one album in 2013. This was made during the time Disturbed was on hiatus and David Draiman got to be a part of something new. Would’ve been nice to have seen what a second album could’ve been.
Blind Melon
Shannon Hoon went out way too soon.
The death of Mark Sandman (such a great name) on stage, 24 years ago, brought an end to Morphine. No other band can match the imagery and atmosphere of Noir as well as they could. You could also feel the evolution of their sound from their last album The Night.
Slint. They broke up before dropping one of the greatest, most influential albums of all time.
I haven’t heard Slint, but I have caught the reference to Slint in a couple Pinback songs.
Listen to Spiderland and remember that it was recorded by college kids in the 1980’s.
Came here to say this, if I had a time machine I’d just go back and catch a Slint live show.
Power Trip. I don’t even know what happened to the guy but I’ll respect the family’s privacy.
Apparently it was Fentanyl
Mother Love Bone: broke up before they’d released their first album. RIP, Andrew.
Also, School of Seven Bells (RIP, Ben)
Can we include Trevor Moore in this discussion?
2 albums of music in addition to the wkuk (which had songs as well)
Story of out times
High in church
I don’t have any bands that just… Disappeared after releasing a banger or two, but I do lament how Kings of Leon drastically changed after their first album.
Loved the way the singer sounded on that first album. But the subsequent releases sounded like a totally different singer and band and musical style, and I don’t like them beyond their first album.
No wait… I do know of a couple bands that disappeared way too soon. Fastball, who was deemed “too ugly for music videos” when MTV was at its height making it difficult for them to go anywhere, and Blind Melon, whose frontman died at a young age and kinda destroyed the band.
Traveling Wilburys. I know a supergroup of old guys is kind of cheating as an answer to your question. But it’s a shame they weren’t able to record more.
They never did release volume 2, only volumes 1 and 3. So sad.
Device.
This was a group that consisted of David Draiman from Disturbed and Geno Lenardo who is a former guitarist from Filter. Only one album was released in the entire discography and the project lasted 2 years. It was a nice breakaway to hear David branch out from Disturbed to see what else he can do and I wished more albums was released. It could’ve been an industrial supergroup.
Sublime.
Fuck, that was so tragic. Would it have changed his life if he had lived a couple more months? Would he have cleaned up and gotten his shit together? We’ll never know. The news really cast a pall over that year, especially for those who already knew of Sublime. It just felt so unfair, man. We had finally come to accept Kurt’s death, were still mourning Shannon’s passing, and now Brad, who never got to reap the fruits of his labor, was gone. He left us a gift, and I mean one hell of a gift because it’s a freaking beautiful album, but it’s hard to not wonder “what if?”
Like Kurt and Shannon, he was just so wonderfully talented and beloved, the world suddenly felt very cold and slightly less bright in his absence. Just so unfair. Pour one out for Brad, he is still sorely missed.
Well said. I also think people would dig more of their catalog/non mainstream recordings. Brad’s voice was magic imo.
Pure gold, without a doubt. I’ve seem them with Rome and while I do like his style, it’s just not the same. I was supposed to see them right before Brad’s passing.
Rome is no Bradley, but he’s excellent in his own respect.
Hard to say whether it would have changed anything. He was in a vicious cycle that’s claimed many before and since, but it would have been nice to at least have him see the magic he brought into the world.
System of a down. I mean they’re not gone but they’ve only produced music for like 6-7 years and nothing since.
I think they’re pretty much gone, they’ve said they can barely work together due to creative differences. They released 2 singles out of the blue 3 years ago in support of Armenia and I thought there was a chance of a reunion, but I highly doubt it
IIRC Daron ended up being a huge Trump supporter and fascist, so they refuse to make new music together.
They still put on one hell of a show, though.
Whoever performed the theme song for Sealab 2021.
That was Calamine.
These days lead performer Julie Stepanek teaches ukulele in Massachusetts.
