Career Bands Who've Always Had the Same Lineup

Technically yes, because there was another guy in the group who left before they changed their name to U2.

doesn't matter

sorry, i was confusing them w/ the who, who obv went on without moon after he died.

fine fine fine, as long as post-breakup reunions don't count as being part of a group's "lifespan" or what have you.

Oh well, in that case, Talking Heads.

No. Gillian Gilbert wasn't in the band at its inception and she isn't now. Whether Phil Cunningham (ex-Marion) is her permanent replacement remains to be seen; he played throughout the Get Ready tour but I don't know whether he's recording with them.

They had the usual "other guy" in proto-lineups - but that hardly counts - though according to the u2 thing it does. Though they have disbanded and re-grouped so that probably exempts them.

Doors did 2 lps after Jimbo "went to africa"

Talking Heads did a Byrne-less lp.

I had a band that did 2 gigs before the percusionist moved to Holland and now its over. Hows that?

Yo La Tengo made early changes, but the current lineup has been together over ten years now.

Portishead should qualify. Their bio on AMG says they formed in 1991. Can anyone name a less prolific band than them? Two full lengths in twelve years of existence?

the other day I was listening to Gordon Lightfoot's Sunday Concert, which was released in 1969 and featured a 3-piece band of Gord, Red Shea, and Rick Haynes. Red Shea continued to play with him until he died in '08. Rick Haynes was with him until Lightfoot himself died. Guess he must've been a good guy to work for!

similar story with Weird Al, not sure if it's true anymore but I remember people saying his backing band remained the same ever since his first record

He seems to have Rick Derringer on his records a lot. Not sure if he's a band member though.

I guess Weird Al has had the same three guys with him since the beginning, but added a 4th guy at some point and has used a ton of session musicians

George Thorogood, of all people, has mostly kept his band together forever:

The Destroyers
George Thorogood – vocals, guitar (1973–present)
Jeff Simon – drums (1973–present)
Billy Blough – bass (1976–present)
Jim Suhler – guitar (1999–present)
Buddy Leach – saxophone, piano (2003–present)

Former members
Michael Levine – bass (1973–1976)
Ron "Roadblock" Smith – rhythm guitar (1974–1980)
Hank "Hurricane" Carter – saxophone (1980–2003)
Steve Chrismar – rhythm guitar (1985–1993)

I think Golden Earring had the longest unchanged stretch until one of them died... or something. I'm away to check Wiki.

... OK, so they had the same lineup from 1970 (they actually formed in 1961) till they were forced to break up in 2021 due to guitarist and original member George Kooymans being diagnosed with motor neurone disease.

i would add Madness to this.
yeah, they split for a few years.
but since the reformation, they have been absolutely solid re the line up.
of course chas left for whatever reasons.
whereas the rest have absolutely hit the nostalgia/festival/special events thing hard.
i would suggest that they are totally a career band now.

from inception...

pre-Madness:
Dikran Tulaine replaced by Suggs on vocals
Chas replaced by Barso's girlfriend's brother on bass
Suggs sacked and replaced by then-drummer John Hasler on vocals
Garry Dovey joined to replace Hasler on drums
Kix quit after his playing was criticised by Barso
Suggs rejoined after filling in for Hasler
Kix rejoined
Dovey left and replaced by Woody
Barso's girlfriend's brother replaced by Bedders

as Madness:
Chas joins as BV/dancer after the release of first LP in 1979
Barso quits in 1983, replaced on tour by Paul Carrack, then by Seamus Beaghan (who will continue to guest on stage, TV and record occasionally until 2012) and later on record and tour by Steve Nieve
Woody and Bedders leave and/or band breaks up in 1986

The Madness:
Suggs, Chas, Kix and Chrissy Boy (and Steve Nieve) do one album as The Madness in 1988

since the reformation...

reunion A:
main lineup reforms as seasonal nostalgia act in 1992
Bedders quits in 1995 because he doesn't want to take any more time off his day job, replaced by Norman Watt-Roy 1995-1996
Suggs leaves for solo career
Barso quits or drops out again
Chas recruits a big-time manager who can wrangle the other three for mostly-California US summer gigs to cash in on the ska-punk craze mid-1998, they do another Madstock in that run, Suggs' second album flops late in the year, new manager has a suggestion

reunion B:
they turn back into a proper band in 1999 and release LP
Chrissy Boy takes hiatus sometime around the time of jukebox musical Our House c. 2002
Chrissy Boy quits early in 2005 during recording of covers album, replaced by Kevin Burdette on tour and two 2007 non-LP singles
Chrissy Boy returns for Christmas tour 1996 and re-records one of the singles for 2008 release
Bedders takes hiatus in 2009, replaced by Graham Bush who had subbed on stage in 2005 and on record in 2008, is sole bassist on 2012 LP
Bedders gradually rejoins in 2013 after guesting at Olympics closing in 2012
Chas "takes hiatus" in 2013, is yet to return.

they've all got such exhausting names

^ ah, a Cathalic

(I meant to hide tag the from inception chunk, apols)

Garbage
The Strokes
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Rammstein
Phoenix

I think most shoegaze bands?

Slowdive
Ride
My Bloody Valentine

Cardigans
Coldplay

Animal Collective sort of? They have an inner rule that they can come and go as they please so there's some record missing Panda Bear or Deakin but they come back so it's not a breakup.

Records released under the name "Animal Collective" may include contributions from any or all of its members. Evolving from early collaborations between Lennox and Portner,[12] the collective was not officially established until all four members came together for the album Here Comes the Indian (2003). Most prior collaborations between the band members were then retroactively classified under Animal Collective's discography.[13][14] In the case of Dibb, who often takes breaks from recording and performing with the band, his time off does not constitute full leave

I think it's a great way of working as a band. I can't think of another band atm that has this dynamic where any pairing of the original members still counts as an album of the main band if they wish to do so.

Sometimes one member of the band is burned out or wants to explore sounds on their own or maybe move to a foreign country or whatever for a long span of time, and it's admirable that the rest of the bandmates are ok with it and not rushing to seek a substitute.

I am now curious to know if there's more bands with this sort of dynamic.

No idea how the financial side of things works out in that dynamic. Would be interested in knowing how such contracts work with the label.

Do the rest of the members get money for using the main band name? What if two members do a terrible record that shits on their legacy? Do the rest of the bandmates get a say before it gets published?

My Bloody Valentine

I am now curious to know if there's more bands with this sort of dynamic.

Sloan since 1991

Triawd y Coleg, the gentle Welsh harmony group led by the great Meredydd Evans, had the same lineup from their formation in 1945 up to their last (I think?) performances in the 80s.

had loads of lineup changes pre 1989, only Kev and Colm are founding members, and if you believe the Wikipedia page they were just Kev and Bilinda for a bit after Loveless
― assert (matttkkkk)

Welp you’re right

I always forget they had a bunch of eps before Bilinda joined the band.

Slowdive also doesn’t qualify I guess since they had 4 different drummers at some point.

The Jam

The Jam had quite a few pre-fame members, and only Weller was there from the absolute start.

Huh. I read Paolo's book and I have no recollection of that.

The Jam "formed" when Weller was 14 years old and was playing with school friends. Seems more a case where a guy keeps using a band name he likes.

Yeah, their lineup was certainly stable throughout their recorded career.

“Form” The Jam

The Fall was pretty consistent as I recall, Mark E. Smith and yer grannie on bongoes...

I think it's a great way of working as a band. I can't think of another band atm that has this dynamic where any pairing of the original members still counts as an album of the main band if they wish to do so.

― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Thursday, 12 October 2023 05:52 (eleven hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

Not quite the same thing but I find it interesting how the Killers have sort of operated like this recently. Their bassist sat out the last album, while the guitarist sat out the one before that.

Are there many bands who have gradually cycled round over the decades to having their original lineup again, despite big changes in the interim? I can only think of Killing Joke

Simon and Garfunkel pretty much always consisted of simon and Garfunkel.

Ditto Peter, Paul, and Mary

Seals & Crofts

Loggins & Messina

Etc.

true, but there was a Seals & Seals for awhile

Peaches & Herb has had seven (7) different "Peaches"

Next you will tell me that Tennille had multiple Captains

How many Ikes had Tina?

Herb had multiple Peaches. (Or was it vice versa?)

xxp Nope, just one Captain.

The Everly Brothers

i mean nobody could replace daryl dragon

other than an actual dragon

Dragon & Oates

But could an actual dragon stretch his own arm to outrageous lengths?

(no)

Imagine Dragons backing Tennille. I can’t even!

The Horrors; eighteen years without a change iirc.

Muse are coming up for 30 years as the same three.

Sub Sub / Doves have had the same lineup since 1991 even having changed name and genre partway through.