Seven bandmates who were fired for strange reasons
Being in a band is difficult at the best of times, as egos get out of control and clash. After spending months on tour with one another, irritation can go through the roof, and often, unfortunate bandmates are left jobless due to a falling out.
However, not every firing is a simple falling out, and some result from utterly peculiar circumstances that seem downright bizarre. Admittedly, although the reasoning comes across as strange on the surface, it’s usually the straw that breaks the camel’s back, and the exit is just the final part of a long journey out of the band
Occasionally, a firing can work out best for both sides. Take Red Hot Chili Peppers, for example, when they brought back John Frusciante to replace Josh Klinghoffer, who understood the decision and now performs live with Pearl Jam. “John [Frusciante] and Flea have a musical language,” Klinghoffer explained on Marc Maron’s WTF podcast about his exit.
He added: “I’ll never be able to contend with the history him and John had. I rode my bike over [to Flea’s house]. They just said, ‘We’ll get right to it. We’ve decided to ask John to come back to the band.’ And I just sat there quiet for a second and I said, ‘I’m not surprised.’ And the only thing I could think to say was, ‘I wish I could have done something with you guys, musically or creatively, that would have made this an absolute impossibility.’”
Below, we are looking at less civil splits between bandmates and firings that range from the bizarre to the absurd.
The strangest firings from bands:
Glen Matlock and The Sex Pistols
It was initially claimed Glen Matlock was fired by The Sex Pistols because of his love of The Beatles, which was too poppy to coincide with their punk image. Their manager, Malcolm McClaren, declared this to the NME, but it later surfaced Matlock quit after growing tired of being continually treated poorly by his bandmates.
Matlock confirmed in his book, I Was a Teenage Sex Pistol that he left because he was “sick of all the bullshit”. Bizarrely, he was regularly abused by his bandmates because of how frequently the bassist washed his feet, which Steve Jones later apologised about. In 2002, Jones conceded: “We were what we were. Who cares if he washed his feet? That was him. I’m sure I had things that bugged him.”
Courtney Love and Faith No More
Faith No More haven’t had the best luck with vocalists. In the early years, they were led by Chuck Mosley, who was fired in 1988 because of creative differences, and he was replaced by Mike Patton, who helped the band achieve mainstream success.
Mosley wasn’t their first singer, and before him, future Hole vocalist Courtney Love fronted the group. Love only lasted six months before they got rid of her because of her “dictator” style approach. Billy Gould later said: “It got to this point where things were just too much. Courtney’s not the sort of person you could just be an equal with in bands – she’s got to lead and tell people what’s what. She was the dictator, and in our band, things were democratic.”
Slade and Dave Glover
Slade have had a catalogue of members throughout the years, and Dave Glover played with the group for three years before his abrupt departure in 2003. It was revealed by the tabloid press Glover was engaged to notorious serial killer Rosemary West, who is serving ten consecutive life sentences in Durham Prison.
Glover denied they were planning to marry and also tried to play down their relationship, but it didn’t save his job. Speaking to the Birmingham Post, Slade’s Dave Hill explained: “I was stunned when I heard what Dave Glover was planning to do. I had absolutely no idea that he had any contact with Rose West or even had a girlfriend. I am completely horrified by it. It’s very upsetting to me personally. I am glad to see the back of him. He’s a nice bloke and all that but this is just totally sick. He had to go for the good name of the band.”
The Smiths and Andy Rourke
Andy Rourke’s dismissal from The Smiths came entirely out of the blue, and the bassist couldn’t wrap his head around the decision of his bandmates. He found out the devastating news thanks to a postcard from Morrissey that simply read, “Andy, you have left The Smiths. Good luck and goodbye, Morrissey.”
Rourke was only out of the band for a short time before they invited him back, but they split up shortly after. Unfortunately, the bassist no longer owns the postcard, “My ex-wife has it. Because I left in a hurry, she has a lot of my stuff,” he told The Daily Beast. Morrissey still denies the postcard exists, and only Rourke’s ex-wife holds the evidence to prove him wrong.
Queen and Doug Bogie
In all likelihood, you have no idea who Doug Bogie is, and only people with an encyclopedic knowledge of Queen will be familiar with his story. Bogie was in the group’s original line-up but only lasted a couple of shows before he was informed of his fate by his bandmates, who didn’t like his energetic stage presence.
“So I was having great fun, standing beside Roger Taylor – who I admire greatly, drumming and singing,” Bogie later said of his brief stint in the group. “Must have just upset Freddie. It seems Brian was very unimpressed, too. Why didn’t they say so? I could have happily adapted. But I loved playing so much. Who wouldn’t jump about?”
Pixies and Kim Shattuck
Following Kim Deal’s exit from Pixies in 2014, Kim Shattuck joined the group as her replacement. Yet, after just six months, the bassist was informed her services were no longer required. Shattuck believes her firing resulted from a stage dive, highlighting that she was different from the rest of the band.
“Everything had gone well, the reviews were all good,” she later told NME. “We [all] said goodbye at the airport and the following morning the manager called me and said: ‘The band has made the decision to go with another bass player.’ I was surprised.”
Shattuck added: “I get the feeling they’re more introverted people than I am. There was a show at the Mayan in Los Angeles where I got overly enthusiastic and jumped into the crowd, and I know they weren’t thrilled about that. When I got offstage the manager told me not to do that again. I said, ‘Really, for my own safety?’ And he said, ‘No, because the Pixies don’t do that.'”
Jimi Hendrix and Little Richard
Before Jimi Hendrix became a world-famous artist in his own right, he was a session musician, and for a short spell, he worked with Little Richard, but it didn’t last long. Charles White’s The Life and Times of Little Richard: The Authorised Biography says they crossed paths when a young Hendrix played for Gorgeous George.
The two dynamic musicians initially got on like a house on fire, and Hendrix was invited to join the group. Unfortunately, the partnership wasn’t built to last, and Richard’s brother soon fired him because he had a tendency for lateness and regularly stole the thunder during concerts.
Robert Penniman recalled: “He was a damn good guitar player, but the guy was never on time. He was always late for the bus and flirting with the girls and stuff like that. It came to a head in New York, where we had been playing the Apollo and Hendrix missed the bus for Washington, DC. I finally got Richard to cut him loose.”
