Let me throw out some band names…  The Eagles… Van Halen… KISS… AC/DC… Van Halen… Journey… The Stones…  Now if you pictured the band as a whole when you read those names, who was in the band?  The original group?  Maybe one from the band’s most popular period?  Or are you like me and you picture the era of the band when you first heard about them, maybe during their most famous era, or the one that you grew up with?  Change is good… or is it?

I thought about this the other day when reading something about Don Felder’s dismissal from The Eagles, which was also briefly covered in their excellent documentary History Of The Eagles.  When I think “The Eagles”, the first thing that comes to mind is the lineup of Don Henley, Glenn Frey, Joe Walsh, Don Felder, and Timothy B Schmit (Randy Meisner too) as that was the lineup that I was first exposed to via the Hotel California and The Long Run period.  That’s the band that I became attached to as the visuals from ads and videos from that era prominently feature these five.

Interesting when you think of the history of The Eagles as a whole-  the band had been around since 1971, formed by the core team of Henley, Frey, Meisner, and Bernie Leadon.  This band recorded two albums before bringing on Felder for two additional albums before Leadon left the band and Joe Walsh joined, moving the band away from their country rock roots into more of a heavier guitar based direction.  That tag team of Felder/Walsh gelled tremendously on the Hotel California and The Long Run albums.  Nothing against the earlier albums as they are very good in their own right, but the Felder/Walsh team really helped push the band to new heights and is my favorite era.  So when Felder was dismissed in early 2001 it stung a little as that guitar tag team with Walsh would no longer exist.

All that said…  I’m really not one to say “The Eagles ain’t The Eagles without Don Felder” in it, but I’m sure there are many of you out there who have favorite bands where original members are no longer part of the current touring entity.  How does that make you feel?  To me, it depends on the member that’s left or been replaced and why-  creative differences are always one popular reason, an unfortunate death is another, or just a flat out firing for whatever reason always seems to happen as well.  Besides The Eagles, let’s look at a couple others.

The Rolling Stones have been around since 1962 and are still rocking today with the core team of Keith Richards, Mick Jagger, and Charlie Watts.  When I think of the Stones, I’m always picturing the late 70’s\80s era lineup with Ron Wood and long standing bassist Bill Wyman, but for those of you that know your band history are familiar with two other guitarists.  Brian Jones was a founding member until leaving the band in 1969, to be replaced by Mick Taylor until he left in 1974 and was replaced by Woody, who is still with the band today (Wyman retired and was never replaced with an “official member”, although bassist Daryl Jones has been with them for over 20+ years!).  While their early hits with Jones cannot be denied, their most creative period is arguably the Taylor years.  However, their most popular years as a unit likely started when Wood joined and remains the longest standing core unit.

Now KISS is another matter entirely-  the original band formed in 1973 with Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, Ace Frehley, and Peter Criss.  THAT band took the world and the public by storm:  nothing was quite like these guys at the time as far as an overall marketing concept for a band.  KISS stuff was everywhere and their live show and theatrics was like no other band at the time other than maybe Alice Cooper.  As a burgeoning young music fan, the whole concept of the makeup and four distinct characters was the coolest.  KISS was so big that me, my brother, and two of our friends dressed up as them for Halloween!

So when Peter Criss left in 1980 and Ace Frehley left by 1982, that shine and shock of the overall KISS concept was starting to wear thin.  Musically the band was heading in a different direction plus times were changing with the advent of MTV.  Oddly enough a new spark hit during that period when they took off the makeup but for me it really wasn’t the same.  Nothing against replacement guitarists Vinnie Vincent and Bruce Kulick and drummers Eric Carr and Eric Singer, but my interest in KISS had started to fade.  A reunion in full makeup of the original four did pique my interest some but the resulting album Psycho Circus didn’t quite hit me like I hoped it would.

For the last 10+ years, KISS has been touring with the makeup on and replacements on guitar and drums that wear the same makeup and costumes displayed by their predecessors.  To some fans this is blasphemy- bring back the original band or design new characters and costumes for the two new guys!  To Simmons and Stanley, they likely believe that when casual fans think KISS they visualize the original four in makeup so there should be no real difference (Simmons has even said he could see KISS without original members; just have new members don the makeup and costumes and carry on).  What do I think?  I grew up with and loved the old band but my KISS fandom peaked around 1980.  The new guys (Tommy Thayer and a returning Eric Singer) are arguably better players than the originals but I miss that early spirit.  But who am I to argue if a band wants to carry on with different members?

What say you?