Five bands who broke up but actually still like each other
Whenever rock bands break up, chances are it’s not for the happiest of reasons. Either all the members have fallen out, someone has died, or one particular person has grown so big that they start eclipsing all the others and have to make a break for it on their own. Usually, it’s not just a case of the fire fizzling out, but the entire empire crashing and burning.
This is nothing new when it comes to the state of the music industry, but for the fans, it always still stings when their favourite band decides to go their separate ways for whatever reason. No matter how much any group tries to protest that they just couldn’t hack it alongside each other anymore, something about it will ultimately never ring true when we all know there’s so much acclaim and money at stake.
In that sense, it’s always so much nicer for everyone involved when bands break up but still remain supporters of one another, even though it may be a rarity. When you know that members do actually still like their former bandmates, it somehow softens the blow of their break-up and also doesn’t tarnish their musical legacy anywhere near as much, as we can all enjoy the songs without a shred of guilt niggling away.
Of course, as much as rock and roll is often built on the foundation of fiery feuds and we can all happily reap a brand of entertainment from this, on certain occasions it is just peaceful when the guns fall silent and a calmness descends, knowing that when bands break up, we don’t always have to fear the worst in examining the fallout of what went wrong. As any good relationship counsellor will tell you, sometimes it’s not about hating each other, but needing to split up in order to grow.
Five former rock bands who genuinely still like each other:
The Beatles
Listen, we all know that when The Beatles broke up in 1970, things could hardly be described as rosy between the four of them. John Lennon and Paul McCartney were at loggerheads, George Harrison was increasingly disgruntled at not having his chance to shine, and Ringo Starr felt the band wasn’t allowing him to be at his musical best. Those fractures took a long time to fully heal.
And while for obvious reasons a full reunion of the Fab Four never came to be, the general consensus was that despite their differences, the Liverpudlian legends still always loved each other deep down, even if they couldn’t work together any longer. Between supporting each other’s solo music to staging partial reunions, there’s no denying that the pounding heart of Beatlemania may have initially pulled them apart, but eventually did always bond them together, cementing a legacy that will undoubtedly live longer than them all.
REM
If there’s any guide manual for bands on how to amicably navigate a break-up, they only need to look as far as REM to find the ultimate examples. In fact, the Georgia natives are perhaps one of the only examples of a band who didn’t go their separate ways because of some kind of significant event, just because they’d been treading the boards for over 30 years, and realised it was time to call it a day.
To this end, when questioned about their break-up by CBS News when receiving their induction into the Songwriters’ Hall of Fame three years ago, Michael Stipe made it very clear that there was never a hint of animosity. “We’re also here to tell the tale,” he said, “And we’re sitting at the same table together with deep admiration and… lifelong friendship. A lot of people that do this can’t claim that.”
Pixies
Pixies are another example of a band that may not have finished their original run on the best of terms, but with the help of a little bit of time and distance, relearned to love each other for the benefit of all. After tensions had risen and words had clearly been exchanged, Black Francis pulled the trigger in a 1993 interview with BBC Radio 5 Live, when he announced that the band would be breaking up, without consulting any of the other members.
While this invariably wouldn’t have won him any popularity at the time, in a perverted sense, Francis’ leadership call to play the trump card may have been what actually saved the band from the ultimate sonic graveyard of disaster. Eventually bringing each other back into the fold of their lives, Pixies announced their reunion only a decade later, and although not all of the original members still stand, it’s testament to their ongoing longevity that the hiatus did the band a power of good.
Boygenius
Maybe we can use those same laws of attraction to put the reunion of Boygenius back out into the universe, however unlikely it seems to be. But when they released their cover of ‘The Parting Glass’ with Ye Vagabonds at the end of 2023, worst fears were confirmed as it seemed that this was possibly the permanent end of the road.
Of course, you could never believe rumours of a feud between the trio – not least because two of them, Lucy Dacus and Julien Baker, are now an official romantic item – because they have always been each other’s most dominant supporters in a solo music capacity, and that doesn’t seem like it will be changing any time soon. But quite simply, the sad indie rock girls yearn for a reunion, and time will only tell if those prayers get answered.
Fleetwood Mac
Now, it goes without saying that this is, of course, a questionable entry. If years of arguments and lore have demonstrated anything to us, it’s that Fleetwood Mac really are no strangers to a feud or ten when the chance would happen upon them – and as it turns out, that came around quite regularly. But hear me out, because could there be a possibility that the days of fights and bitterness could be behind them?
When longtime enemies Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham re-followed each other on Instagram last week, it already sent fans into a frenzy. But the excitement then reached fever-pitch with the series of posts that followed from them and Mick Fleetwood, featuring the Buckingham Nicks song ‘Frozen Love’. If the wheels are the band are getting back in motion, even when everyone thought it was dead in the water, it proves that deep down, love has always existed.
