Bands break up, and life happens. Sometimes the music is the very thing that brings people together in the first place. But sometimes, it’s also the thing that ends up tearing them apart. Here are some albums from the 70s that you probably didn’t know created problems for some of your favorite groups.
Videos by American Songwriter
‘Head Games’ by Foreigner
In 1979, Foreigner released Head Games. It would be a few albums before the group achieved mainstream success with “I Want To Know What Love Is”. That almost didn’t happen, though, because they nearly broke up over this one. According to Lou Gramm’s “Life Of The Record” episode, some band members felt that the album was a little too similar to the group’s last project. If they couldn’t continue to evolve as a group, what was the point?
Gramm explained that a lot of the bass riffs reminded them of what had already been done on tracks like Double Vision. “Mick and I started having talks on a regular basis about if we couldn’t come up with a really great album for our next album, that we should probably hang it up,” he shared.
‘The Long Run’ by The Eagles
The Eagles’ The Long Run caused so much tension that the project actually did cause the group to break up. That is, until the band reunited for Hell Freezes Over in 1994. Let’s face it, it’s pretty hard to top an album like Hotel California, and that’s exactly why it took the Eagles nearly three years to do so.
Guitarist Glenn Frey reflected on how working on the project affected his friendship with bandmate Don Felder at the time.
“We could talk about girls or football for a while, but it wouldn’t be long before we’d remember that we had to make a decision about this – or that we had to get another song written for the next album,” Frey explained.
‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’ by Simon and Garfunkel
Simon & Garfunkel were the ultimate duo until they broke up in 1970, after releasing this project. According to Simon, the tension between the two songwriters, who had known each other since elementary school, began when Garfunkel got an offer to star in the movie Catch-22. The agreement was that while he was away, Simon would write the songs for the project, and then they would reunite and record them together. Apparently, this led to significant tension and pressure between the old friends.
“We were really best friends up until Bridge over Troubled Water,” Simon explained to People. “[Afterwards], it didn’t have the harmony of the friendship… that was broken.”
Photo by: Columbia Records/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
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