10 classic rock bands that overstayed their welcome by a decade: Do you agree?
The farewell tour is one of the oldest scams in the music industry. Rolling Stone documented this in some detail. The bands on this list are not being indicted for bad music; most of them made great music. They are being indicted for the specific crime of continuing well past the moment when continuing made sense. Do you agree?
The Rolling Stones
They should have stopped after Some Girls in 1978, or Tattoo You in 1981, depending on who you ask. They are currently the Rolling Stones minus Charlie Watts, which is a different band than the one that recorded Let It Bleed. The Stones, Eagles and Dead and Co. were in the top five grossing tours of 2021, pulling in a combined $225 million.
KISS
They signed a cessation-of-touring contract in 2014 and were back on the road within two years. They announced the End of the Road tour in 2018, which ran until 2023. Gene Simmons has discussed replacing the members with new people and continuing KISS indefinitely.
Mötley Crüe
The cessation-of-touring contract was signed at a press conference in 2014. The enforcement mechanism was vague. They returned in 2022 with a stadium tour. The farewell tour is one of the oldest scams in the music industry and Mötley Crüe performed it with more paperwork than most.
Aerosmith
Joe Perry told Rolling Stone in 2001: “We made every mistake six times.” Steven Tyler fractured his larynx onstage in 2023 and the band announced they were done touring. This came after the Permanent Vacation, Pump, Get a Grip, Nine Lives, Just Push Play, Honkin’ on Bobo and Global Warming tours.
The Eagles
Don Henley and Glenn Frey said Hell would freeze over before the Eagles reunited. Hell froze over in 1994. Frey died in 2016 and the Eagles continued with his son Deacon in his place. Their Long Goodbye farewell tour ran through 2025.
Def Leppard
Their peak was Hysteria in 1987, which sold 25 million copies and produced four top ten singles. They have been touring continuously in various configurations since then.
Lynyrd Skynyrd
Three original members died in a 1977 plane crash, including Ronnie Van Zant. The band reformed in 1987 with Ronnie’s brother Johnny on vocals. The question of whether this is still Lynyrd Skynyrd has been asked politely since 1987 and aggressively since approximately 2000.
Foreigner
Lou Gramm left. Mick Jones continued. Kelly Hansen has been the singer since 2005. By the time their Farewell Tour wraps up, Mick Jones will have spent almost 50 years leading Foreigner. The hits are the same. The band is not.
Journey
Steve Perry left in 1996. The band hired Arnel Pineda in 2007, a Filipino singer discovered via YouTube covering Journey songs. He sounds exactly like Perry, which is either inspiring or unsettling.
The Who
Two of the four original members are dead. Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey are the two remaining. They have announced their Song Is Over tour as their final one. The Who have announced final tours before.
The bottom line
Every band on this list made music worth hearing. The overstaying is not about quality. It is about the specific sadness of watching something great try to remain great past the natural end of what made it great.
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