The Band of Theseus
Ship Of Theseus does completely sound like an album title that fits the band name of Styx.
Good question…
I’d argue this…
Let’s say you have 4 band members:
John, Paul, George, and Ringo
John drops out, is replaced by George^2.
Ringo drops out, replaced by Pete.
Paul drops out, replaced by Brian.
George drops out, replaced by Billy.George^2, Pete, Brian, Billy.
You could argue they are still the same band as 3/4 of them each played with original members. Billy is the first to have never played with any of them.
Now… if George^2, Pete, and Brian get replaced, no, it’s not the same band.
But you have a pot of soup and at the end of the day you have a little left and so you add more ingredients and fill the pot back up. You do this for years. Is it still the same pot of soup?
Sure, it’s just evolved.
Art is a conversation, and a study of choice. It’s hard to see how treating a band as something fixed or essential rather than a collective voice or viewpoint that can change over time can add clarity to anything.
So then as a band are they a perpetual band? Are there any famous bands that basically did that? Like from the start just randomly changing members including the vocals? Something like the band is the lyrics and music not the performers, just like a symphony.
That soup is going to develop bacteria and make everyone ill.
No joke, it’s probably a fair analogy for replacing band members after the original band members have all died over the past 50 years.
I saw them for free last year and it was pretty whack with so much flag waiving super the troops patriotism shit and none of the members. Time to wrap it up
What counts as an original member? By the time the first recording is released there may have been multiple line up changes
What about when they split and multiply? Like Saliva.
Napalm Death has been playing this game for years.
Reminds me of that time in the early-70s when David Bowie was swooning backstage while meeting The Velvet Underground, only to be informed a little later that he’d been talking to Doug Yule, who replaced John Cale then took over as frontman when Lou Reed quit the band, and if I’m not mistaken with the timeline, even guitarist Sterling Morrison and drummer Moe Tucker had already also split.
