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Mainly Gone

This page is dedicated to those bands and line-ups whose survivors are outnumbered by those who have passed.

From mod to psychedelia, and one of the greatest concept albums ever

The Tottenham sound of the British invasion

Hit machine devastated by recurring tragedy

Bromley + Hull = Spaceman

Folk music survivors there at the beginning of folk-rock

The San Francisco band that launched Janis Joplin

Prog-rock excess?

Much more than Southern rock - six musicians who could really jam

Pioneering multi-racial LA rock group - massively influential

Keyboards-led power trio, with a single hit

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Two jazz musicians who couldn't get on, and a blues guitarist, combined in a power trio that ruled the world for a short period of time in the 60s

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Three unrelated Americans who each eventually became a "Walker", and found fame in the UK with great pop songs, lushly orchestrated and sung primarily in Scott Walker's rich baritone voice.

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Soft rock supremos of the early 1970s, when they had a string of memorable hits.

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Merseybeat group who joined Brian Epstein's stable. Still going today, with no original members

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Anglo-Welsh power popsters who signed to Apple, becoming victims of music business madness, leading to suicide and dissolution.

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Born out of the ashes of The Crazy World of Arthur Brown, Atomic Rooster had two main incarnations, with keyboardist Vincent Crane an ever-present. A touring version re-emerged in 2016.

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Heavy, hard rock, not quite prog rock. Those of us who bought Nantucket Sleighride (I taped it off a friend's copy...) were truly gobsmacked when the title track turned up as the theme to ITV's political flagship programme Weekend World in 1972, in the days when nothing happened in the UK on a Sunday.

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Glam rock brought them success, courtesy of Chinnichap, but they had paid their dues beforehand, and somewhat resented the pigeon-holing, although their style and campiness on stage was their idea.Their niche was rock sound and fury in a pop structure. They were a different (better, even) band live (Paperback Writer was a live staple), and they eventually grew into writing their own material, with some degree of success. 

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Venus is what we all remember, and later we all felt sorry for a generation that liked the Bananarama version, but didn't know the original (not that Venus was entirely original, with a lineage from a 19th century American folk song via Mama Cass, before Robbie van Leeuwen got to work on it). It was the first Dutch single to top the US charts - really, the only one unless you think the van Halens' birth place somehow made van Halen - the band - Dutch.

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The two Bennett sisters and their cousin Nedra started a Frankie Lymon-like vocal group when barely into their teens. Signed by Phil Spector in 1963, they had five Top 40 hits, released a single studio album, and toured Britain in 1964, with The Rolling Stones as their opening act. Later, they opened for The Beatles on their final US tour in 1966, but it was almost their final act, and they split up in 1967. Ronnie Spector reformed the band in 1973, without her sister or cousin, but it was not a success, and in 1975 Spector embarked on her solo career.

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One of Wiltshire's major contributions to 60s pop - the other was The Troggs. The name consigned them to the pop world, where they had considerable success, but they were solid musicians and have kept working - a version of the band still exists today, and Beaky is still in it.

Photo credits

DDDBMT - taken by Ben Merk (Anefo), made available under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication

Page last updated 8 March 2024

© 2024 Anaxas Publishing

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