Just about every famous band has featured a lineup switch at some point. Even Rush, whose lineup has been static for 39 years, had a different drummer for their first album. But every now and then we see a band whose lineup gradually erodes. The switches pile-up until, one day, the longest-serving member joined a decade after the band originally formed.
It's crazy to think that any band could continue after that. After all, if you saw them before and after, you'd be seeing two entirely different bands with the same name. Nevertheless, it does happen because the legal ownership of band names can be a weird, tumultuous thing to even think about.
Plus, there's still money to be made off those band names. These are ten you might want to think about before you decide to buy tickets to see them next time around.
10. Stratovarius Even excepting the years when the Finnish power-metal band was called "Black Water," every member that started using the name Stratovarius in 1986 is gone. The longest-serving member now is vocalist Timo Kotipelto, who joined in 1994.
9. In Flames The last remaining original member of In Flames, founded in 1993, was Jesper Stromblad, who bailed in 2010. That left vocalist Anders Friden and guitarist Bjorn Gelotte, both of whom joined in 1995, to keep it going.
8. Blackfoot Lynyrd Skynyrd guitarist Rickey Medlocke's other band formed in 1969 and continues today with a lineup who all joined in 2012, "handpicked" by Medlocke. Medlocke hasn't played with them himself since 1997.
REWIND:
Lynyrd Skynyrd & Bad Company at Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion, 7/11/2013
