If a band lasts longer than a few years, there's an excellent chance that someone's going to leave or get kicked out, and if it lasts long enough, this could become a frequent occurrence. However, these five bands somehow managed to maintain a consistent line-up for their entire careers.
1. Hüsker Dü
When Grant Hart, Bob Mould, and Greg Norton first played together, it was in a cover band in 1979 called Buddy and the Returntables, with a keyboardist named Charlie Pine. However, the band was unhappy with Pine's contributions, but instead of kicking him out, Hart, Mould, and Norton simply started another band on their own, which became Hüsker Dü. These three remained the sole members of Hüsker Dü throughout its nine-year career.
2. The Strokes
Even though the personal relationships between the five members of the Strokes have been rocky in the past (singer Julian Casablancas recorded his vocals for the 2011 album Angles completely separated from the rest of the band), none of them have ever left the band. Since the band's inception in 1998, its line-up has consistently been Casablancas, Albert Hammond, Jr., Nikolai Fraiture, Fabrizio Moretti, and Nick Valensi.
3. Beat Happening
One of the true pioneers of American indie rock is Olympia's Beat Happening, formed in 1982 by singer Calvin Johnson, guitarist Bret Lunsford, and drummer Heather Lewis, whose primitive and amateurish style kick-started the twee pop genre. Though technically Beat Happening's core trio has remained the same for 32-years, since it never officially broke up, the band hasn't released an album or performed live since the early '90s.
4. The Bats
Like Beat Happening, New Zealand indie pop band the Bats formed in 1982, and yet unlike Beat Happening, the band remains active to this day (I know this firsthand, since I saw them in Hoboken last year). In its 32-year career, the Bats have remained the four-piece of Robert Scott, Kaye Woodward, Paul Kean, and Malcolm Grant.
5. Radiohead
Though Radiohead's debut album Pablo Honey was released in 1993, the band actually formed back in 1985, under the name "On A Friday," with a five-piece line-up of Thom Yorke, Colin Greenwood, Jonny Greenwood, Phil Selway, and Ed O'Brien. After playing together for nearly thirty years, Radiohead has never broken up or even changed its line-up a single time. The closest the band came to an altered line-up was when Portishead drummer Clive Deamer joined its most recent tour as an additional percussionist, though he's not an official member.
What other bands have never gone through a line-up change? Let us know in the comments section!
