Music General : Groups whose classic lineup was not their original lineup?

What are some music groups whose classic lineup was not their original lineup? I can think of a few. Tommy Shaw was not an original member of Styx. The late John Curulewski played guitar on their first five albums before being replaced by Shaw. Most fans consider Deep Purple's Mark II lineup to be their classic lineup. Lead singer Ian Gillan and bass player Roger Glover were not original members. The Classic 5 lineup of The Temptations featured David Ruffin on lead vocals. Ruffin had replaced the Elbridge Bryant. The Tempts had so many personnel changes they should have been renamed The TEMPS.

Grace Slick was not an original member of Jefferson Airplane, yet she's the first name that comes to most minds on hearing the group's name. Signe Toly Anderson was the group's first female singer.

Faith No More didn't have Mike Patton until the third album.
Red Hot Chili Peppers didn't have Frusciante or Chad Smith until their fourth.

Of course there's the Beatles, who started with Pete Best on drums.


Tell me more!

I still consider Ringo Starr as The Beatles original drummer because they didn't record any albums with Pete Best.

Yes
Fleetwood Mac

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Ignorance and prejudice and fear walk hand in hand

Fleetwood Mac
Deep Purple
AC/DC
Rainbow
Yes
Whitesnake
Genesis
Status Quo
etc. etc.

There are probably more of these than the reverse!

They're all dead Dave

Some more:

Pink Floyd (Gilmour/Waters/Wright/Mason)
Megadeth (debatable which is the "classic" lineup but Mustaine/Friedman/Ellefson/Menza seems to be the favorite)
Anthrax (Belladonna/Spitz/Ian/Bello/Benante)
Napalm Death (Greenway/Harris/Embury/Herrera)
Soundgarden (Cornell/Thayil/Shepherd/Cameron)
Nirvana (Cobain/Novoselic/Grohl)
Rush (Lee/Lifeson/Peart)
Dream Theater (LaBrie/Petrucci/Myung/Rudess/Portnoy [one might argue Moore over Rudess but LaBrie wasn't there until album 2)
Iron Maiden (Dickinson/Smith/Murray/Harris/McBrain)
Black Flag (Rollins/Ginn/Dukowski/Robo)

Then there are bands like King Crimson that have a rotating cast and whose classic lineup can be argued about endlessly. I'd personally go with Fripp/Wetton/Bruford/sometimes Muir and Cross.


Tell me more!

The New York Dolls. Jerry Nolan was on drums for their albums but their original drummer Billy Murcia died just prior to their first album. Although he didn't record any albums, I think Thunders or Sylvain said The Dolls weren't the same without him.

Unwound
Sonic Youth
Sleater-Kinney
Motorhead




Normal Is A Myth.

How are you defining "original lineup"? Very rarely do guys form a band and nobody leaves so most bands' "classic lineup" isn't the original one.

My favorite band is the Sex Pistols, to most people who don't know much about the band the Sex Pistols were Sid Vicious' band. But he replaced Matlock and Vicious had next to nothing to do with the music so while the Vicious era is the more widely known and popular era and to most people the "classic" Pistols lineup I certainly would disagree.

"Classic lineup" is pretty subjective as is "original lineup" in most cases.

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How are you defining "original lineup"?

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I guess original lineup of a group is the musicians who played on their first album.

Judas Priest

Halford
Tipton
Downing
Hill
Holland


Rock Under Fire
https://itun.es/us/dm3Qdb.c

Am partial to the Les Binks era myself.