Back in 1997, drummer Bill Berry left R.E.M. When asked whether the band was still R.E.M., Michael Stipe replied, “A three-legged dog is still a dog, it just has to learn how to run differently“. Given that they went on to make five more albums as a band, all of which were at least good and some were great, he was certainly onto something. And they all sounded like R.E.M. on the very simple grounds that they were. It got me to thinking. When is a band still the same band it always used to be and does it really matter if they aren’t?
We never found out whether The Beatles would still have been The Beatles had Paul McCartney left to be replaced by Klaus Voorman. No wait. They definitely wouldn’t have been. The greatest band of all time – oh yes they were – could not have survived without Macca, as they could not have survived without either John Lennon, George Harrison or Ringo Starr because they were greater than the sum of their individual parts. You may raise your eyebrows at the inclusion of Ringo but only if you ignore the testimony from other drummers and musicians who all say the Beatles’ sound would not have been the same without his brilliance. And of course Lennon never said Ringo wasn’t even the best drummer in The Beatles. As ever, repeat an untruth enough and some people will believe it.
If The Beatles would not be The Beatles without any of the original members, then what about other bands? The Rolling Stones have lost three original members in Brian Jones and Charlie Watts, who have died, and Bill Wyman who retired long ago. But the band plays on, with Ronnie Wood, who became an official member in 1976, and various other brilliant players who have augmented the class Stones sound and still make it sound authentic. I’d say that the Stones are still the Stones and and will be until Mick Jagger and Keith Richards call it a day.
As for other musical giants, how about Queen, who lost Freddie Mercury nearly 32 years ago? They still perform but with Adam Lambert fulfilling the Mercury role, alongside two original members, Brian May and Roger Taylor and they bill themselves as Adam Lambert and Queen or the other way round, an acknowledgement that this is not the original band and that Mercury was simply irreplaceable. You don’t have to like Queen – and I don’t like Queen, to put it mildly – to understand that but it would be churlish to deny that the current line-up keeps the memory and legacy alive and if you liked Queen back in the day, I am sure you will like this version today. So how about some of my favourite bands? I find there is no hard and fast rule.
My all time favourite band, Steely Dan, died along with founder member Walter Becker when he shuffled off his mortal coil in 2017. Donald Fagen still tours with a stellar backing band, churning out the old songs, but although Becker’s stage contribution was not as vital as Fagen’s, Steely Dan was the two of them, plus other musicians. The current final version of the band is not, and never will be, Steely Dan.
Yet The Doobie Brothers are without doubt still the Doobie Brothers. Their line-up has changed over the last 50 years, but they still have originals Tom Johnston and Pat Simmonds, as well as John McFee and Michael McDonald. The loss of musicians along the way is of course very sad but I look at the band and think that if they ever come near the UK again, or even pretty well anywhere in Europe, this elderly fan boy will be there.
ZZ Top, the greatest three piece of all time, are still ZZ Top, for as long as Rev Billy F Gibbons is stage front, despite the sad death of Dusty Hill. But Toto, shorn of the final surviving Porcaro brother with just the great Steve Lukather remaining from the original line-up, struggle, at least for me, to be more than an oldies band, albeit songs played by some truly great musicians. I could go on forever, picking out my favourite bands, like Crosby, Stills and Nash who cannot carry on because the great David Crosby has died. But with other bands, it’s more complicated.
Whether The Who are really The who without Keith Moon and John Entwistle is a matter for those who care about such things and personally I very much doubt that Who fans will care too much for as long as Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend are performing. Led Zeppelin, to all intents and purposes, died with John Bonham. They didn’t make any new music after this death and reformed only occasionally for big shows. There were massive calls by fans for them to reform and insane offers from promoters, but they never accepted them. Broadly speaking, I think they were right.
The opposite could be said of The Beach Boys who, to me, died in 1998 when the voice of the band, Carl Wilson, died. It’s been wonderful to see Brian Wilson touring under his own name, but the Beach Boys with Mike Love is merely a touring jukebox, a tribute act led by one original member. I wouldn’t cross the road to see them these days, but that’s me, not you.
In the end, it comes down to what you like. I’ve seen Dr Feelgood a few times and they don’t have a single original member, but they’re really good. A few weeks ago, I saw the Zombies, formed in 1961, who feature two original members, Rod Argent and Colin Blunstone, who just so happen to be the key members and it felt like watching The Zombies.
Not everyone is as sadly obsessed with music as I am and don’t overthink everything as I do. And if you like seeing older bands with hardly any, or even no, original members then good for you. Rishi Sunak’s government is trying to stop some people voting and stop everyone protesting, but he can’t stop the music. Not yet anyway.
