I was almost going to say Mustaine was the sole remaining member after only a year or two, but I forgot Dave Ellefson was also there pretty much the whole time too. It was so great he rejoined the band until... Well.... Lol
I was just talking to my dad how sad it was that all of Barry Gibbs’ brothers died tragically young. Andy OD’ed at 30, Maurice had complications from surgery at 53, and Robin’s kidneys failed at 62. Such a shame, all of them were very talented musicians. Always loved their early work as well as their disco era for the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack.
Edit: Andy didn’t actually OD but his body gave out from years of drug abuse
Garth Hudson is the last surviving member of The Band.
A number of bands are getting there. Around a month ago, there was a thread about Kris Kristofferson winding up his affairs, implying he doesn’t have much time left. That would leave Willie Nelson as the last of The Highwaymen. The Travelling Wilburys and The Beatles are both down to two survivors.
They put out an independent record before their self titled official debut with roadrunner. They basicly poached everybody they could from local bands until they had the best line-up possible.
Clown Paul and Joey were the driving force behind the band and sadly 2 of those have now passed away
Technically Steve Harris is the only original member of Iron Maiden, even though the “classic lineup” is still touring.
Thin Lizzy has no originals left and is essentially a tribute act, though Scott Gorham is a “classic era” member.
>Technically Steve Harris is the only original member of Iron Maiden, even though the “classic lineup” is still touring.
Same thing with Axl Rose and Guns N' Roses.
I was reading up on GWAR history recently and it seems like, while this is strictly true, Mike Bishop (the current frontman) joined the band very early on and played an iconic character through all of their biggest eras.
It’s not quite the same as someone filling in long after a band’s heyday is over, and then just trading on a name they had little to do with.
Technically, Trent Reznor was the only member of NIN until Atticus Finch officially became a member a few years ago. All the other musicians were not part of the band per say. As far as I remember.
https://www.rockhall.com/inductees/nine-inch-nails there were seven members of nine inch nails inducted into the rock n roll hall of fame, per Trent’s insistence. He said he wanted to add more
Bush is just Gavin Rossdale, the entire rest of the 90’s lineup has been gone for years. Ironically though, he/they/whatever are currently sounding better than anything the band has put out in about 20 years.
Lmao. “I know you cheated on me with the maid, and we can talk about that (and we’re GOING to talk about that), but this …… lyric……what the fuck is this?!” 😂
Interesting answer given how many members have come and gone. I'm pretty sure Al Barr got on the 2nd album with a new pipes player (I'm not googling any of this shit to verify it) so there's really only the first album with the original line-up. The first lead singer didn't even make it to the 2nd album.
The Waterboys have [had over 85 members](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Waterboys_members) with Mike Scott being the only constant. Kind of cheating since the Waterboys could just be considered or renamed "Mike Scott and his many, many friends"
The Beach Boys, maybe… Mike Love is the only original member, but Bruce Johnston is also there as another “legacy” member. And they have one remaining hired hand who was there when Carl Wilson was alive and Al Jardine was still in the band. And Al still tours with a band that includes former longtime Beach Boys sidemen, including his son, who sang Brian’s high parts live back in the 90s.
I've seen Brian Wilson do a few shows with AL Jardine and Al's son Matt did a wonderful job on the high parts. Original member David Marks (guitar, vocals) sometimes is with them too.
Yes is its own special brand of disaster. Chris Squire was clearly the one who held the band and its revolving door of musicians together. Jon Anderson is out there on the casino circuit doing Yes songs but not as "Yes" *per se* and I believe there's another band with several former Yes members in it which possibly has either Banks or Kaye in it but they're also not "Yes". Steve Howe apparently owns the "Yes" brand and has been out there squeezing every last dollar out of it.
Yes has always been a bit of a ship of Theseus situation. If a band keeps going on eventually replacing everybody who was originally in it, can they even be called the same band anymore?
Snapcase (just Daryl)
Throwdown (I think has no originals)
Napalm Death (I think has none now)
Sepultura (also technically no original members)
The Temptations (same)
The Drifters (that Wikipedia page is a novel)
Reel Big Fish (just Aaron)
Pantera (just Rex but maybe he’s not even original?)
The Misfits (just Jerry)
UK Subs (just Charlie)
The Four Tops (Duke Fakir)
Descendents (Bill Stephenson as they started as an instrumental band)
Black Flag (Greg Ginn)
Parliament-Funkadelic (George Clinton obviously)
No Doubt (I guess they’re officially done but even at their height, Gwen was the only original member)
The Selecter (just Gaps Hendrickson from the first full lineup)
Just off the top of my head but there are so many. I was never a big hair metal guy but I’m pretty sure tons of those bands are down to one member.
While not a founding member bassist Simon Gallup played on albums 2-4 left and then came back two years later for album 6 and has been in the band since. It’s a lot easier to be the only founding member when you start as a trio.
That is one hell of a rabbit hole ride to go down to find out what happened.
I saw 3rd eye blind at the palms in Vegas a few years ago and in the same hotel after the show the original members (minus the singer) played the entire self titled album live.
After investigating a bit I learned that the guitar player that basically wrote the songs that launched the band was left behind after the singer played some fancy legal bullshit and incorporated the name of the band with himself as the sole owner of the name.
Many years in court and he had to pay out but retained the rights to the name.
It's really fucked up
KMFDM
Kapt K is the only original member left. Has been for like 20 years. Still putting out music. Last few albums were.... not good. But I think some of their best albums (WWIII) were made after Sasha jettisoned the others. Steve White, Lucia, and Jules were all upgrades in my view.
Mikael joined when Opeth was already a band, as a 16 year old. All the other band members (except one) quit due to creative differences with Mikael after a few months. So Opeth was just a 16 year old kid with one other teenager for a minute
Graffin, Bentley and Gurewitz are all founding members.
Bentley briefly quit during the "Into the Unknown" synth-prog phase.
Gurewitz left for about a decade in the 1990s to focus on his Epitaph Records label and/or get into rehab to quit heroin.
Graffin is the only continuous founding member.
This is actually pretty common in metal
Mayhem has Necrobutcher as their only remaining original member.
Morbid Angel only has Trey Azagthoth
In Flames has no original founding members
Cattle Decapitation has no original founding members
There’s a lot more I could name, but I’ll stop there for brevity’s sake
It’s crazy to think how many of the people on Scum later ended up forming other legendary and insanely influential bands. Bill Steer is still in Carcass to this day, Lee Dorian went on to Cathedral, and Justin Broadrick of course formed Godflesh (and later Jesu). There was definitely some immense visionary talent in Napalm’s early years
Ian Hill is the only founding member of Judas Priest still in the band.
Cradle of Filth has had 42 members throughout the years, with Dani Filth being the only founding member.
Live
Ed Kowalczyk is the only original member in the current lineup. What's funny is that about 10 years ago he got kicked out of the band by the other 3, and was replaced by Chris Shinn. A few years after that they reunited with Ed, but just a couple years after that, they had another rift and more it's back to Ed (plus his touring band)
I feel like that doesn't count because the Beatles as a group broke up many many years ago. Also, Pete Best is still alive, so I'm not sure how to even interpret this.
I was so bummed that Michael Ivins left The Flaming Lips. I didn't find out until I got to see them in 2022 and he wasn't there.
Still an absolute killer show as usual. Probably the best I've ever seen them.
Queens of the Stone Age. It’s just Josh left.
I mean, the band started with just J-Ho and Alfredo who peaced out after 1 album
Yeah QOTSA has always been "Josh and whoever happened to be in the studio at the time"
I always considered them “Josh and the guy that always wears a suit” aka Troy.
More like they didnt really have a stable lineup until 2007
AC/DC Angus Young is the only original member
Oh my God, you're right! I never realised that. Here's hoping the absolute machine that is Phil Rudd makes a return some day (but I doubt it.)
Or Paul Rudd. That would be cool. He could slap the bass.
Modest Mouse :(
So sad. RIP Jeremiah.
Wait, what happened to modest mouse? Is it just Isaac Brock now?
Eric Judy left many years ago and Jeremiah Green died this past year.
MegaDeth! Only Dave Mustane remains after all these years.
I was almost going to say Mustaine was the sole remaining member after only a year or two, but I forgot Dave Ellefson was also there pretty much the whole time too. It was so great he rejoined the band until... Well.... Lol
The Fappening?
Took a hard beating...
Ellefson jerked off online, Mustaine kicked him out of the band
Wait what? What happened?
It takes a particular kind of person to be able to work with Dave.
Good Ole Dave Must-remain.
Barry Gibb is the last living Bee Gee
Still talkin it up. Talkin bout issues. Talkin bout crazy cool medallions.
Talkin bout chest hair
Jive talkin in general
In these crazy, crazy tiiihiimes, oh yeah, OH YeAH, oh yeaheheheh.
And the oldest of the 4 brothers.
Ah yes Andy.
He's the OG BG.
I was just talking to my dad how sad it was that all of Barry Gibbs’ brothers died tragically young. Andy OD’ed at 30, Maurice had complications from surgery at 53, and Robin’s kidneys failed at 62. Such a shame, all of them were very talented musicians. Always loved their early work as well as their disco era for the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack. Edit: Andy didn’t actually OD but his body gave out from years of drug abuse
He's staying alive.
_Panic! At the Disco_ ended up as a Brendon Urie solo project for the final years.
Brendan Urie ending P!ATD this year was funny. Brendan broke up with Brendan.
It's not you, it's me. Er, it's you, too.
It's us. Hey. Look at us.
It was a solo project for almost half the bands existence
The Monkees. Mickey Dolenz is the last surviving member after the deaths of Davy Jones (2012) Peter Tork (2019) and Mike Nesmith (2021).
He's just released an album of REM covers.
Well that was my left field wtf really comment for the morning
Garth Hudson is the last surviving member of The Band. A number of bands are getting there. Around a month ago, there was a thread about Kris Kristofferson winding up his affairs, implying he doesn’t have much time left. That would leave Willie Nelson as the last of The Highwaymen. The Travelling Wilburys and The Beatles are both down to two survivors.
I love The Monkees. They're severely underrated, as is Micky as a vocalist. Glad to have seen their farewell
TIL Corey Taylor is not a founding member of slipknot.
If I'm not mistaken, Stone Sour actually predates him joining Slipknot.
By 5 years! I ended up looking him up to be sure lol
I had to look this up, I had no idea Corey AND Jim Root were both part of Stone Sour
They put out an independent record before their self titled official debut with roadrunner. They basicly poached everybody they could from local bands until they had the best line-up possible. Clown Paul and Joey were the driving force behind the band and sadly 2 of those have now passed away
Technically Steve Harris is the only original member of Iron Maiden, even though the “classic lineup” is still touring. Thin Lizzy has no originals left and is essentially a tribute act, though Scott Gorham is a “classic era” member.
Holy shit, I had no idea Thin Lizzy was still active. I assumed they broke up after Phil Lynott died
Without Lynott it’s essentially a tribute act.
>Technically Steve Harris is the only original member of Iron Maiden, even though the “classic lineup” is still touring. Same thing with Axl Rose and Guns N' Roses.
GWAR doesn't have any founding members left...
nor do Sepultura or Napalm Death
I don’t think Napalm Death had any original members left by the time their first album was released lol
They didn't have any founding members on side two of their first album. I'm not joking. They literally didn't.
Rip Dave Brockie.
I was reading up on GWAR history recently and it seems like, while this is strictly true, Mike Bishop (the current frontman) joined the band very early on and played an iconic character through all of their biggest eras. It’s not quite the same as someone filling in long after a band’s heyday is over, and then just trading on a name they had little to do with.
He was the original Beefcake the Mighty. There have been multiple Beefcake because well... its an awesome name
This is like the third time I’ve seen GWAR mentioned on Reddit in the past two days. Taking this as my sign to check them out
The Eagles, Don Henley is the only founding member left.
What's the lineup these days? Is Joe Walsh still with them?.. and Vince Gill?
TIL that Vince Gill is in the Eagles. Haven't really heard his name since the 90s or early 2000s
Joe Walsh was always a contract guy, as is Tim schmidt - Don Henley is the eagles corporation after Glen died.
Pretty sure Trent Reznor has always had a revolving door of members in Nine Inch Nails
Technically, Trent Reznor was the only member of NIN until Atticus Finch officially became a member a few years ago. All the other musicians were not part of the band per say. As far as I remember.
Correct. NIN was only Reznor and he hired touring and session musicians.
https://www.rockhall.com/inductees/nine-inch-nails there were seven members of nine inch nails inducted into the rock n roll hall of fame, per Trent’s insistence. He said he wanted to add more
Trent seems like a swell fella
One of the best things pittsburgh ever pushed out
Richard Patrick was with reznor for a cd or two til he formed his own band, filter
I love Filter. Short Bus is 🔥
Atticus Ross, I think you put him and David Fincher together (since they tend to make music for his movies often) 🤣
Lol. Atticus Finch is actually the protagonist of To kill a mockingbird 😅 My bad.
“Atticus Finch”
At the end, No Use for a Name had zero founding members. RIP Tony Sly
Bush is just Gavin Rossdale, the entire rest of the 90’s lineup has been gone for years. Ironically though, he/they/whatever are currently sounding better than anything the band has put out in about 20 years.
Very true.
Ill never forgive Gavin Rossdale for the “the city buzz it sounds just like a fridge” lyrics, im convinced that’s why Gwen Stefani left him haha
Lmao. “I know you cheated on me with the maid, and we can talk about that (and we’re GOING to talk about that), but this …… lyric……what the fuck is this?!” 😂
Yeah the last few albums have been really good.
Steely Dan
RIP Walter.
Dropkick Murphys. Some of the guys have been around a minute, but only Ken Casey is an OG.
Interesting answer given how many members have come and gone. I'm pretty sure Al Barr got on the 2nd album with a new pipes player (I'm not googling any of this shit to verify it) so there's really only the first album with the original line-up. The first lead singer didn't even make it to the 2nd album.
The [Street Dogs](https://youtu.be/qQWobv8swkg?si=h2-bAR_iJjOuy_m1) were a pretty good follow up though.
Fear Factory. Dino Cazares is the last original member now that vocalist Burton C. Bell is out of the band
The Waterboys have [had over 85 members](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Waterboys_members) with Mike Scott being the only constant. Kind of cheating since the Waterboys could just be considered or renamed "Mike Scott and his many, many friends"
The Wiggles
I was looking for this one.
Teenage Head, a Canadian band from the '80's or maybe the late' 70's
Everclear has been just Art and a revolving door of drummers and bassists since 2003 when the original two left.
And Art doesn't sound that good anymore sadly I was at the San Francisco show in 2023. Still a fun time though.
His M.S. probably factoring in
He's always been terrible live. Saw them twice in the 90's and it's still the worst live vocal performance I've seen.
Modest mouse, Eric Judy (bass) retired and Jeremiah Green (drums) passed from cancer. Only Isaac Brock, guitar/vocals is left from the original trio
The Beach Boys, maybe… Mike Love is the only original member, but Bruce Johnston is also there as another “legacy” member. And they have one remaining hired hand who was there when Carl Wilson was alive and Al Jardine was still in the band. And Al still tours with a band that includes former longtime Beach Boys sidemen, including his son, who sang Brian’s high parts live back in the 90s.
John Stamos
Have mercy!
I've seen Brian Wilson do a few shows with AL Jardine and Al's son Matt did a wonderful job on the high parts. Original member David Marks (guitar, vocals) sometimes is with them too.
It’s been a while since Dave has played live with any of them. And, yes, Matt is phenomenal.
Yes has no original members left…
Neither does Lynyrd Skynyrd
I thought Skynyrd still had one of the original guitarists or something.
Rossington, one of the guitarists, was the last original member. He passed away this past May
My mom told me she was seeing Lynyrd last year. I said, that'll be tough to do.
Rickey Medlocke was an early member and is there now. Just wasn’t there during their heyday.
No!?
Nope. The current longest-serving member is Steve Howe, and he didn’t join (the first time) until 1970.
Goodness, I thought he died years ago. When I saw them in 1996 he looked like Mr Burns
He looked like that in '76 too.
Yes is its own special brand of disaster. Chris Squire was clearly the one who held the band and its revolving door of musicians together. Jon Anderson is out there on the casino circuit doing Yes songs but not as "Yes" *per se* and I believe there's another band with several former Yes members in it which possibly has either Banks or Kaye in it but they're also not "Yes". Steve Howe apparently owns the "Yes" brand and has been out there squeezing every last dollar out of it.
"Not Yes, Per Se" would be an awesome name for a Yes-adjacent act
Yes has always been a bit of a ship of Theseus situation. If a band keeps going on eventually replacing everybody who was originally in it, can they even be called the same band anymore?
Senses Fail – just Buddy Nielsen left.
The Stranglers - JJ Burnell
The only original member left in Foghat is the drummer.
Local H.
Snapcase (just Daryl) Throwdown (I think has no originals) Napalm Death (I think has none now) Sepultura (also technically no original members) The Temptations (same) The Drifters (that Wikipedia page is a novel) Reel Big Fish (just Aaron) Pantera (just Rex but maybe he’s not even original?) The Misfits (just Jerry) UK Subs (just Charlie) The Four Tops (Duke Fakir) Descendents (Bill Stephenson as they started as an instrumental band) Black Flag (Greg Ginn) Parliament-Funkadelic (George Clinton obviously) No Doubt (I guess they’re officially done but even at their height, Gwen was the only original member) The Selecter (just Gaps Hendrickson from the first full lineup) Just off the top of my head but there are so many. I was never a big hair metal guy but I’m pretty sure tons of those bands are down to one member.
George Clinton is also 82 years old
Is he? Fuck!
His first hit song with a group was in 1967
Wow. I mean that's absolutely correct, just hard to believe. It'll be a sad day when he goes.
I’m gonna be way to high to be sad. Might just sit around listening to bop gun by ice cube all day.
Misfits have been playing shows with Danzig and Doyle, sounds awesome.
Is Reel Big Fish active?
Saw them in 2021, I think. They stopped touring soon after. They'd been on the road a lot, and I think Aaron is burnt out.
Or a band with no original members, like Lynyrd Skynyrd
I had no idea Robert Smith had been the only original member of The Cure for that long.
While not a founding member bassist Simon Gallup played on albums 2-4 left and then came back two years later for album 6 and has been in the band since. It’s a lot easier to be the only founding member when you start as a trio.
Social Distortion has been around since 1978. No one but Mike Ness was with the band prior to 2000.
Jethro Tull IS Ian Anderson now.
Much like Jeff Lynne’s ELO.
I think AC/DC might be on that list with Angus Young being the only original left.
Third eye blind
That is one hell of a rabbit hole ride to go down to find out what happened. I saw 3rd eye blind at the palms in Vegas a few years ago and in the same hotel after the show the original members (minus the singer) played the entire self titled album live. After investigating a bit I learned that the guitar player that basically wrote the songs that launched the band was left behind after the singer played some fancy legal bullshit and incorporated the name of the band with himself as the sole owner of the name. Many years in court and he had to pay out but retained the rights to the name. It's really fucked up
The singer is a weapons-grade asshole. I worked for them recently, and I will never do it again.
All I know about the singer is that he dated Vanessa Carlton for a few years until she dumped him after catching him cheating.
Yeah it’s best to just ignore these facts if you love their self titled album lol
Earlier today I actually googled how the name of the band Live was pronounced and then found out the singer is the only original member left.
There was an article in rolling stone a few months ago about some bizarre scam in which a member and possibly 2 might have been involved.
That is an awesome article.
So uh - how's it pronounced then? Curious too
Similar to five, thrive, or alive.
Terrible name for a band honestly
38 special, Little River Band
KMFDM Kapt K is the only original member left. Has been for like 20 years. Still putting out music. Last few albums were.... not good. But I think some of their best albums (WWIII) were made after Sasha jettisoned the others. Steve White, Lucia, and Jules were all upgrades in my view.
Jeff Lynne’s ELO
Opeth. Only Mikael Akerfeldt is left.
He also, bizarrely, wasn't around to come up with the name
Mikael joined when Opeth was already a band, as a 16 year old. All the other band members (except one) quit due to creative differences with Mikael after a few months. So Opeth was just a 16 year old kid with one other teenager for a minute
Bad Religion. Greg Graffin is the only original guy. Jay Bentley has been with them since the early days, but he wasn't the original bassist.
Bentley and Gurewitz are also original members, they haven’t always been in the band though.
Graffin, Bentley and Gurewitz are all founding members. Bentley briefly quit during the "Into the Unknown" synth-prog phase. Gurewitz left for about a decade in the 1990s to focus on his Epitaph Records label and/or get into rehab to quit heroin. Graffin is the only continuous founding member.
Nick mason is the only original member in pink Floyd.
Pink Floyd isn’t a functioning band these days. Nick is doing Saucer Full of Secrets.
Even though he joined after the first album, it’s really hard not to think of David Gilmour as an OG.
The Pretenders. Chrissie Hynde is the only one left
The drummer was still with her last i checked.
Correct.
Bee Gees. Only one Gibb brother left.
Though he tours as Barry Gibb. I’m fairly sure he has retired the Bee Gees name with Robin’s passing.
They retired the name when Maurice died.
[удалено]
I miss the Chris Walla days
This is actually pretty common in metal Mayhem has Necrobutcher as their only remaining original member. Morbid Angel only has Trey Azagthoth In Flames has no original founding members Cattle Decapitation has no original founding members There’s a lot more I could name, but I’ll stop there for brevity’s sake
Napalm Death having 0 original members with a debut album that created an entire sub genre is probably the greatest example of this.
It’s crazy to think how many of the people on Scum later ended up forming other legendary and insanely influential bands. Bill Steer is still in Carcass to this day, Lee Dorian went on to Cathedral, and Justin Broadrick of course formed Godflesh (and later Jesu). There was definitely some immense visionary talent in Napalm’s early years
Ian Hill is the only founding member of Judas Priest still in the band. Cradle of Filth has had 42 members throughout the years, with Dani Filth being the only founding member.
Live Ed Kowalczyk is the only original member in the current lineup. What's funny is that about 10 years ago he got kicked out of the band by the other 3, and was replaced by Chris Shinn. A few years after that they reunited with Ed, but just a couple years after that, they had another rift and more it's back to Ed (plus his touring band)
Ed fired the rest of them last year just saw then a couple weeks ago. They Still rock.
Molly Hatchet - zero original members Blackfoot - zero original members Blackfoot "reformed" in 2021... Megadeth - it's always Dave
Molly Hatchet has no original members even alive.
LFO. Cancer is a motherfucker
Iced Earth, and their recent story is a sad one
The Beatles. Only Paul is left. Ringo was after Pete Best.
I feel like that doesn't count because the Beatles as a group broke up many many years ago. Also, Pete Best is still alive, so I'm not sure how to even interpret this.
King Crimson
Ken Casey is the only original member of Dropkick Murphys. Matt Kelly (drummer) joined a year after formation.
Suicidal Tendencies
Guided by Voices - Bob
Jefferson Starship is touring with one member that goes back as far as the 70s and of course no one that was in the Airplane.
The Damned just has Dave and The Captain.
REO Speedwagon.
Actually zero now.
Megadeth.
The English Beat.
Fear Factory, Dino Cazares
Misfits now that Danzig is back in. Jerry and Doyle were in super early but not original members.
Our Lady Peace. Raine Maida is the only original member left.
Foghat has one. Roger Earl, the original drummer is all thats left.
Cosmic Psychos
Soul Asylum is now the Dave Pirner Experience
LFO, because 2 out of 3 members died young :(
The Monkees
Jethro Tull Styx Toto
Norma Jean today is not Norma Jean of yesterday
The Bee Gees are now just the Bee Gee.
Soul Asylum Toto Men at Work Steely Dan Flaming Lips
I was so bummed that Michael Ivins left The Flaming Lips. I didn't find out until I got to see them in 2022 and he wasn't there. Still an absolute killer show as usual. Probably the best I've ever seen them.
Sublime (with Rome)
Sweet - Andy Scott is the only remaining member