Sometimes you miss a big break by that much. Nirvana’s original drummer, Chad Channing, began to lose interest in the band in 1990 despite having just gone on a rather successful UK tour. He left before Nirvana’s Nevermind story began with Dave Grohl as the band’s drummer.
New Yardbirds bassist Chris Dreja decided he preferred photography and left the group, just as they were changing their name to a little band known as Led Zeppelin. A bassist named Tim Staffell walked out of a band called Smile he shared with a roommate in 1970. Staffell is a nice guy, though: he pointed to his flatmate, a fellow by the name of Freddie Mercury, in the direction of his eventual Queen bandmates.
Guitarist Keith Levene only lasted five shows with The Clash in ’76 and left a month before they broke out on The Sex Pistols’ Anarchy Tour. Unluckily enough, he also walked out of Public Image Limited two months before their they broke out commercially. Bad timing, Keith.
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