Albums that Broke up the Band Trivia Quiz

Answer: Creedence Clearwater Revival

Creedence Clearwater Revival released seven albums in their five-year career. Six of those albums are legendary, full of songs still played on classic rock radio stations many decades later. Their seventh album was a different story.

Dysfunction in the band had already been apparent by the time "Mardis Gras" was recorded. CCR's last major hit, "Have You Ever Seen the Rain?" was about how dysfunctional the band was. The "Sunny day" refers to how famous the band was, but "The rain" refers to the dysfunction and unhappiness in the band. Tom Fogerty left the band after that. The rest of the band stuck around for one more album. The album was a huge flop and it generally got bad reviews. The main reason for this was because there are songs written and sung by band members who were not John Fogerty. Depending on whose side of the story you believe, either John was burned out on songwriting and asked his band mates to pitch in, or his band mates were tired of being overlooked and they asked to have some songs on the album. Either way, the result was a disaster. The "Mardis Gras" album proved once and for all, to those who didn't already know, that Creedence Clearwater Revival were popular for two reasons: John Fogerty's singing and John Fogerty's songwriting. The rest of CCR were not good musicians and they should all be thanking John for the fame he brought them. They don't.

CCR broke up after this album. They never reunited, and they never will because Tom died.

Answer: Styx

Styx were an American band that fused progressive rock with arena rock and occasionally played other styles. They released four straight albums that were certified triple-platinum: "The Grand Illusion," "Pieces of Eight," "Cornerstone," and "Paradise Theater." Despite their success, there was some friction between Dennis DeYoung, and his band mates Tommy Shaw and James Young, much of which is described in the book "The Grand Delusion, the Unauthorized True Story of Styx" and VH1's "Behund the Music."

This friction began around the time Tommy Shaw joined Styx. He wrote the hit song "Fooling Yourself (The Angry Young Man)" about Dennis DeYoung. Tensions only got worse after that. Even though the DeYoung ballad "Babe" was a number one hit on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, Shaw refused to let the record company release another DeYoung ballad, "First Time" as the next single. DeYoung was briefly fired from the band after this, and then he was rehired. After this there was some disagreement over what style of music the band should do with their next album, with DeYoung wanting to do some progressive rock and some ballads while Shaw and Young wanted to do arena rock and hard rock. DeYoung got his way with the next two albums, "Paradise Theater" and "Kilroy Was Here." Shaw and Young weren't too mad about the former because it was a huge success, fans loved it, and Shaw scored his biggest hit on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart with "Too Much Time on My Hands." Then they did "Kilroy Was Here."

"Kilroy Was Here" was meant to be a concept album. The story is that an army of robots led by Dr. Righteous (James Young) takes over the world and bans rock and roll. The protagonist and hero, Robert Orin Charles Kilroy (his initials spell ROCK and he's portrayed by Dennis DeYoung) has been imprisoned but he disguises himself as a robot to break out of jail. Some guy named Jonathan Chance (Tommy Shaw) had Kilroy's back. That's about as much of the story as I understand.

The album did reasonably well commercially, with two top ten hits ("Mr. Roboto" and "Don't Let it End"). However, the album was not well-liked by fans, or Shaw and Young. Shaw said on VH1's "Behind the Music" that he just couldn't write songs about robots. The three songs he contributed to the album don't even have anything to do with the story! Also, who knows how Young's song "Double Life" fits with the story? As a result, the story is murky and probably unfinished. What alienated Shaw, Young and the fans even more is that they recorded a short film together of the Kilroy story. Shaw was not known for his acting skills. This film was played at the beginning of every show on the Kilroy tour, so thousands of fans got to witness the band's (non-existent) acting skills. That was the last straw. Styx broke up when the tour was over.

Styx reunited without Shaw in 1990 and made the hit song "Show Me The Way." Then they all reunited in 1996. Then DeYoung was fired and replaced with Lawrence Gowan in 1998 after the "Brave New World" album but before the tour for that album, and the band continued on with this line-up for decades.

Answer: The Clash

The Clash were a band from England who started off as a punk rock band but branches off into other styles. Their album "London Calling" sold over five million copies worldwide and "Rolling Stone" magazine ranked it as the eighth-best album of all-time. Their album "Combat Rock" was certified double-platinum in the U.S. had the hit songs "Rock the Casbah" and "Should I Stay or Should I Go." Despite their success, all was not well for them. The drama of the Clash was described in the book "Passion Is A Fashion: The Real Story Of The Clash" by Pat Gilbert.

Before making "London Calling," the Clash had fired their manager Bernard Rhodes and replaced him with Blackhill Enterprises. This seemed to turn out to be a good move, considering how popular "London Calling" was, and even though the follow-up "Sadinista!" was not as popular as its predecessor, it was still well-loved. That album is noteworthy because all four members have a lead vocal on at least one song. However, singer Joe Strummer and bassist Paul Simonon were not happy with their new manager. So they convinced the rest of their band to re-hire Rhodes, and Jones did not like this. To make matters worse, Headon was heavily addicted to heroin during this time. Between "Combat Rock" and their last album, Jones and Headon were fired from the group.

I don't even know if I can name their last album here, because the last word in its title may not be allowed here. The album certainly lived up to the last word in the title. Considering Jones sang two of the Clash's three biggest U.S. hits ("Train in Vain" and "Should I Stay or Should I Go") and Headon wrote the third one ("Rock The Casbah"), it should surprise no one that they were heavily missed on the last album. The single "This is England" is actually a great song, but the rest of the album, not so much.

The Clash broke up after this and never reunited, and never will reunite because Strummer is dead.

Answer: The Pixies

The Pixies were an alternative rock band. The Pixies were one of the most influential bands of all-time. Kurt Cobain said that when he wrote "Smells Like Teen Spirit" he was trying to rip off the Pixies. Weezer, Radiohead, Alice in Chains, Bush, and Everclear also cite the Pixies as an influence.

Their album "Doolittle" was certified platinum and "Pitchfork" magazine ranked it the 4th-best album of the 1980's. It also turned out to be the beginning of the end of the band. The story of the Pixies is told in the book "Fool the World: The Oral History of a Band Called Pixies."

Deal was more popular among fans than Black. This made Black jealous. He felt that as the lead singer and main songwriter, he should be the most popular member of the group. Black threw a guitar at Deal during a concert in Stuttgart, Germany. Then, Black nearly fired Deal when she refused to appear at a concert in Frankfurt, Germany. Black just couldn't understand how anyone could hate having a guitar thrown at him or her.

Black did not allow Deal to have any more songs on any more albums. Deal then started a new band, the Breeders, with her sister Kelley in 1990. The Pixies released two more albums, "Bossa Nova" and "Trompe Le Monde," but neither of them were very good and the latter was atrocious in my opinion. The Pixies broke up after that.

The Breeders had some success. They had a top fift hit in the U.S. and U.K. and a top ten hit in France with their song "Cannonball" and they had a platinum selling album "Last Splash." Black never achieved this kind of success with his solo projects.

The Pixies reunited in 2004, and remained a band for many more years after that. However, Deal left the band again in 2012. The band released the albums "Indie Cindy" and "Head Carrier" after Deal's departure, and those albums are terrible.

Answer: Guns N' Roses

Guns N' Roses were arguably the biggest hard rock band in the world at one time. Their album "Appetite For Destruction" has sold over 30 million copies worldwide, had the hit songs "Welcome to the Jungle," "Paradise City" and "Sweet Child O' Mine," and is widely regarded as one of the best rock debut albums of all-time. However, every album after that sold progressively less. Their next three albums were all certified seven times platinum or better, which is great by most standards but disappointing compared to "Appetite For Destruction." These albums showed growth and maturity, which some fans loved but other fans wanted more 100% hard rock albums with no ballads or anything different (like "Appetite For Destruction"). To make matters worse there was friction between singer Axl Rose and the rest of his bandmates, and they started to leave one by one.

Guitarist Izzy Stradlin left the group during the "Use Your Illusion" tour and was replaced with Gilby Clarke. Then, Guns N' Roses put out an album of all cover songs, which was called "The Spaghetti Incident?" The album was certified single platinum, which would be good for most bands but was horribly disappointing for Guns N' Roses. I love this album, but a lot of people didn't. A lot of people just didn't want a covers album. To make matters worse, they included a cover of a song written by murderer Charles Manson as a hidden track. They received a lot of backlash for this. Axl Rose regretted putting this on the album, and he donated all profits made from the song to the son of one of Manson's victims, according to articles in the "L.A. Times" and the "New York Times."

Guns N' Roses did not tour for this album. They recorded one more cover song of the Rolling Stones' "Sympathy For the Devil" for the movie "Interview With The Vampire." By the time Guns 'n Roses released another album after this, everybody had departed the band and been replaced except Axl Rose. Axl Rose had bought all the rights to the name "Guns 'n Roses." This angered a lot of people who do not think it should be called "Guns 'n Roses" when the only original member is Axl.

Guns 'n Roses were inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012, but Axl Rose refused to show up for the ceremony because he knew his former and original bandmates would be there, according to a letter he wrote to the Hall.

Answer: Alice Cooper

Alice Cooper were the first major shock rock band. They combined hard rock music with a highly theatrical live show.

As a band, they released four albums with legendary producer Bob Ezrin, "Love it to Death," "Killer," "School's Out," and "Billion Dollar Babies." These are all fantastic albums with at least one major hit song ("I'm 18," "Under My Wheels," "School's Out," "No More Mr. Nice Guy") that would be played on classic rock radio stations for years to come.

After "Billion Dollar Babies," Alice Cooper parted ways with Ezrin. According to bassist Dennis Dunaway, in an interview with "Classic Rock Revisited," this was because guitarist Michael Bruce refused to change "Woman Machine" for Ezrin, thereby meaning he had stood up to Ezrin who wasn't going to tolerate that. Alice Cooper then decided that they wanted to release a straight-forward rock album instead of a concept album. The result was an album that sold less than its predecessor and had no hits. Fans had mixed reactions to it. Some people loved it, but others missed Ezrin. After this, the Alice Cooper band broke up. Then, singer Vincent Furnier legally changed his name to Alice Cooper and continued on as a solo artist.

Answer: Stone Temple Pilots

The Stone Temple Pilots were considered to be one of the top five bands of the grunge movement of the early 1990s. With their debut album "Core," they were originally criticized for sounding too much like Pearl Jam, but plenty of people either didn't care or didn't agree with that. "Core" has been certified eight-times platinum and many songs from that album such as "Sex Type Thing," "Dead and Bloated" "Wicked Garden," "Creep" and "Plush" were mainstays on rock radio stations everywhere for decades to come. Every album after "Core" sold progressively less, but the next three albums have all been certified platinum or better and they all also have one or more songs that have gotten significant play on radio stations everywhere ("Vaseline," "Interstate Love Song," "Big Empty," "Trippin' on a Hole in a Paper Heart," "Sour Girl").

Then they released "Shangri-La-Dee-Da." By this point in time, singer Scott Weiland was a full drug addict. He talked about his issues with drugs in a 2007 interview with "Rolling Stone" Magazine. Probably because of this, the album was terrible. "Tiny Music... Songs From the Vatican Shop" and "No. 4" got mixed reviews initially because they were changes in style, but many Stone Temple Pilots fans grew to love those albums for what they were. That wasn't the case with "Shangri-La-Dee-Da."

After this album, the Stone Temple Pilots broke up. Weiland went on to form Velvet Revolver with former members of Guns 'n Roses (minus Axl). That project had some short-lived success with the multi-platinum 2004 album "Contraband."

After Velvet Revolver fizzled and dissolved. Stone Temple Pilots reunited. That reunion was short-lived. Even though, in their 2010 single "Between The Lines," Weiland said "We used to take drugs," the phrase "Used to" implying that he had stopped taking drugs, that turned out to not be the case. The 2010 album was possibly even worse than "Shangri-La-Dee-Da" and Weiland had developed a penchant for showing up to live shows late and/or high. One such example is talked about in an article on UltimateGuitar.com. He was fired from the band in 2013. The Stone Temple Pilots replaced him with former Linkin Park singer Chester Bennington. Then Bennington left the group and they replaced him with Jeff Gutt.

Answer: Van Halen

Although the other three bands also had a disappointing (for many fans) third lead singer in their history, the key to the question was the word in all-caps, because Gary Cherone was the lead singer of the band Extreme.

Van Halen were a hard rock band who enjoyed success in the 1970's, 1980's, and 1990's. From 1978-1984, their singer was David Lee Roth. They call him "Diamond Dave" because they released two albums with him that were certified diamond (10 million copies sold), their self-titled debut album and their 1984 album which is called "1984." Roth left the band in 1985 and was replaced with Sammy Hagar, who was famous for his hit "I Can't Drive 55." Van Halen had four straight albums go to number one on the U.S. Billboard top 200 albums chart with Hagar from 1986-1995. In 1995, Hagar left.

Then Van Halen brought in Gary Cherone, who had enjoyed success with a hit song called "More Than Words" from his band Extreme. Although the album charted in the top five and had a minor hit in "Without You," its overall commercial performance was very bad compared to everything Van Halen had done before. Plus, while Van Halen fans have often argued about David Lee Roth vs. Sammy Hagar, one things they almost all agree on was that they did not like Gary Cherone, or the songs written for the album, or the production quality of the album. Van Halen's nearly 20 years being a commercially relevant band (not an oldies act) came crashing to an end. Cherone left the group in 1999, and Van Halen was practically defunct between then and 2003. They have since reunited with both Hagar and Roth (separately, not at the same time!).

Interestingly, Gary Cherone was supposedly the only person ever to leave Van Halen on good terms. There is a lot of bad blood between Eddie and all of his former bandmates (Roth, Hagar, and bassist Michael Anthony). Comments that Eddie has made about them and vice-versa can be read in "Ultimate Classic Rock."

Answer: The Smashing Pumpkins

The Smashing Pumpkins were one of the biggest rock bands of the 1990s. Their albums "Siamese Dream" and "Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness" both sold over four million copies in the U.S. and over six million copies worldwide, with the latter being certified diamond. Despite this, the band was never happy.

Even when they were recording "Siamese Dream," the band was dysfunctional according to interviews with "Rolling Stone" and "Pitchfork." Drummer Jimmy Chamberlin and bassist D'arcy Wretzke were addicted to drugs, Wreztky and guitarist James Iha had recently divorced, and singer Billy Corgan demanded to play all the guitar and bass parts on the album, angering Wretzke and Iha. The album turned out shockingly well considering all of this. Thing swent a little more smoothly for "Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness." After that though, it all fell apart.

Chamberlin could not stay clean and was fired according to an article on "Archive." He returned in 1999, but then Wretzke "was fired for being a mean-spirited drug addict who refused to get help" according to Corgan in an interview with CNN. Then, their last two albums (before the first break-up) did not sell well and were poorly received by fans due to changes in sound and concepts that fans didn't understand. After all this, the Smashing Pumpkins broke up. Corgan blamed Iha for that in an interview with CNN.

The Smashing Pumpkins eventually reunited, albeit with some different members. In 2016, all original members of the Smashing Pumpkins reunited except Wretzke. She told "Rolling Stone" that she was offered a contract, but Corgan rescinded the offer. The Smashing Pumpkins went with Jeff Schroeder as their bassist instead.

Answer: Oasis

Oasis were a band that tried to be the Beatles of the 1990s. They were a huge deal in the U.K., selling out stadiums. They weren't that huge in the U.S. but their album "What's the Story Morning Glory" rose to number four on the U.S. Billboard top 200. Despite their success, the band's leaders, the brothers of Noel and Liam Gallagher, hated each other.

According to the "Supersonic" documentary, the rivalry began when Liam urinated on Noel's new stereo when they were kids. It basically just got worse and worse from there. Despite the hatred, The two of them managed to be in a band together for 18 years and record seven albums together. Their 2008 album "Dig Out Your Soul" was acclaimed as the best Oasis album in many years, but Noel quit the band in 2009. Liam had broken one of his guitars.

Liam and Noel continued attacking each other online via Twitter even after Oasis broke up.