Musicians Kicked Out Of Bands Right After They Made It Big

There has to be something painful about being a musician who gets kicked out of a band just before it hits the big time. There's the sting of rejection, of course, and the constant wondering, the bitterness, and that little voice in the back of your head that won't stop repeating: It could have been you. Your friends got rid of you, they're all the better for it, and now you're stuck working in a dentist's office in Utah. All in all, it's not hugely fun.

But it might be even worse to be thrown out of a group just after they've found fame and fortune. In that scenario, you've had a taste of success — enough to show you what it's like, but not enough to leapfrog into your own lucrative solo career. In many ways, it's the ultimate nightmare for artists — and it does happen, every now and again. Just ask these musicians.

When Matt Chamberlain left Pearl Jam in 1991, he had suggested that Dave Abbruzzese come in as his replacement. Abbruzzese was with the band through the release of Ten (which has since gone platinum 13 times) and Vs., which set a brief record for the most sales of an album in its debut week. After the band's third album, Vitalogy, had been recorded, however, Abbruzzese left the group. The band suggested the split was mutual and had come about because Abbruzzese wished to play and study music elsewhere.

In fact, it soon became clear that Abbruzzese had been fired by the band. "For reasons that I don't completely understand," he said, "the other members decided it was necessary to fire me in order to pursue a philosophy which they perceive as incompatible with mine." The band's manager soon admitted this was closer to the truth, as in, exactly the truth. Pearl Jam released their third album soon after, while Abbruzzese suggested he might "gather up the nest egg, climb in a mobile home and get lost in America."

Topper Headon joined The Clash after meeting their guitarist, Mick Jones, at the bar in London's Rainbow Theatre. After a brief audition, he was invited to join the band and was soon thrown into the group's punky, raucous world. During Headon's tenure with The Clash, the band found fame in the U.K. — touring with a host of legendary punk bands — and finally broke through to American audiences with the release of London Calling, by far their most famous album. London Calling received widespread critical acclaim and sold 2 million copies.

Headon, however, was taking fame badly. He had developed a significant drug problem that was seriously affecting his playing. He was given one last opportunity by Joe Strummer to make good at their next stop on the tour. Unsurprisingly, he succumbed to his desires at the gig — which took place in Amsterdam — at which he wantonly cut cocaine in front of all his bandmates. (In other bands, this would probably be a requirement, but good for The Clash.) Headon was suspended from the group on their return to London and was cut for good shortly afterward. He struggled with drug addiction, disease, and homelessness for years before finally overcoming his demons and finding work rehabilitating other addicts.

Guns N' Roses were on top of the world by the time they fired Steven Adler. Their debut LP, Appetite for Destruction, had made their name and then some, and the album's standout track, "Sweet Child o' Mine," quickly became one of history's most successful and iconic rock songs. The follow-up album G N' R Lies wasn't exactly a commercial failure, either.

During this time, however, Adler (who was the band's drummer) had a serious predilection for drugs. In 1990, he was making an attempt to give up heroin and had succumbed to the intense physical effects of going cold turkey. When he asked Slash for some time to recover before recording "Civil War," Slash refused — and fired him when he was unable to play in the studio. Adler fell back into drugs, became suicidal, and almost died in a truck crash a few years later. He is now sober.

Although they formed in the mid-'90s, it wasn't until the beginning of the 21st century that Queens of the Stone Age really found their footing. Their first two albums gained them a little attention, but it was Songs for the Deaf that really saved the day. It was critically lauded and commercially successful, and by 2003 it was certified gold. Less than a year later, Josh Homme had taken the decision to fire Nick Oliveri, the band's bassist, from the group.

Since his firing, Oliveri has shown understanding toward Homme, explaining that he had been let go for drinking a bottle of vodka before a show and "freaking out" when Homme refused to play with him. Rumors have persisted to this day, however, that Homme actually kicked the musician out of the band after it became clear that Oliveri had been acting in an abusive manner toward his (Oliveri's) girlfriend.

In 1963, David Ruffin — a young singer from Mississippi — was brought in to join The Temptations when their previous tenor vocalist, Al Bryant, was kicked out of the group. It was with Ruffin that The Temptations rose to fame, scoring hit after hit through the latter half of the '60s.

Fame came for Ruffin, too, but so did its downsides. The musician began using cocaine and became more and more egotistical toward the other members of the group, at one point even demanding they change their name to David Ruffin and the Temptations. Ruffin's excesses at last grew too many, and he was fired from the group in 1968. His solo career was a disappointment compared to his time in The Temptations, and a few brief stints in prison led him down an even darker path. A brief reunion with his old group in 1983 couldn't save him, either: Ruffin died in 1991 after visiting a crack house in Philadelphia.