The troubling glorification of rock stars who “burn out” was largely absent with the death of Sublime frontman Brad Nowell. But this is because Nowell died before he had the chance to experience the glory his band would experience in his wake. On May 25, 1996, Nowell was found dead in a hotel room in San Francisco following an accidental heroin overdose, per Rolling Stone.

The ska-rock band’s third album, simply titled “Sublime,” had been completed but not yet released. In the year or so that followed Nowell’s death, the album entered the Billboard Top 20, saw multiple major hits, sold extensively, and cemented the band’s status in late-90s music history.

“We will go on in music and do other things,” Sublime manager Jason Westfall told the Press Telegram at the time of Nowell’s death (via MTV). “But just like Nirvana, Sublime died when Brad died.” Still, over a decade later, in 2009, the surviving members of the band announced that they would reunite, with young guitarist Rome Ramirez in Nowell’s place, as Sublime with Rome. This news was met with skepticism by fans, per Maui Time. Original Sublime member Bud Gaugh left the band in 2011. “It was really good for the first few months; after that, it just felt wrong,” Gaugh later said (via The Vogue). “Not playing the songs but playing them with the name Sublime, without Brad.”

If you or anyone you know is struggling with addiction issues, help is available. Visit theSubstance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration websiteor contact SAMHSA’s National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).

Although they may not have quite as major a place in rock ‘n’ roll history as Nirvana, Soundgarden were signed to the same label, Sub Pop, and helped shape the sound of Seattle in the ’90s. A possible reason Soundgarden may not have been quite as culturally impactful as Nirvana is the fact that the former’s breakup was comparatively anticlimactic.

“Once you sort of define what the band is, then you have to move on from there or you’re finished, you’re done,” Soundgarden frontman Chris Cornell told Spin in 1996. The following April, the band’s record label, A&M Records, issued a press release stating that the band’s members had “mutually and amicably disbanded to pursue other interests” (via Spin). The reasoning behind the decision was unclear, perhaps because it wasn’t particularly dramatic or explosive — the band reportedly just decided their time had passed, in part because they were tired of touring.

“They looked honestly at themselves and decided it was time to move on,” said Cornell’s wife, and the band’s manager, Susan Silver. An “inside source” told Spin it was “the most boring breakup in history.” A fellow Seattle musician, Jason Finn of the band Presidents of the United States of America, was more complimentary: “Soundgarden paved the way for a lot of bands,” he told Spin. “Now they’re pulling the plug with dignity.”

In their final interview of the 1990s, The Verve were described as “the most important band in Britain, and potentially the most thrilling group of the ’90s” (via The Verve Live). But following what appeared to be a successful performance at the T in the Park music festival in August 1995, the band’s lead singer, Richard Ashcroft, quit the band. His only explanation was that his place in the band “no longer felt right.” The Verve announced their first split that September.

The Verve reunited in 1997, and with great success. That year, the band’s third studio album, “Urban Hymns” received widespread critical acclaim and became their best-selling album and one of the best-selling albums of 1997. The single “Bitter Sweet Symphony” was named the “song of the year” by multiple publications and cemented their status in the realm of British rock.

Still, guitarist Nick McCabe left the band in July 1998, and the band announced their second split the following spring, reportedly due to McCabe’s “wild partying,” per Rolling Stone. The Verve reunited in 2007, but disagreements between Ashcroft and McCabe doomed the band’s future. “Their management called Simon and Nick in for a crisis meeting in September,” a source told Rolling Stone. “They were told that Richard refused to tour or work with them again as long as Nick continued to drink.” The band announced their third split in 2009.

Love and work are arguably the most important areas of a person’s life — but it’s not always a great idea to mix the two. New York rock band Sonic Youth proved to be a prime example of this. 

Sonic Youth formed in 1981. In October of 2011, members Kim Gordon and Thurston Moore announced they would be divorcing after 27 years of marriage, per Rolling Stone. As it turned out, the end of the pair’s marriage also meant the end of Sonic Youth. According to NME, it was later revealed that Moore had been unfaithful to Gordon. “I find it really strange that I get demonized for the break-up of Sonic Youth when I myself had no intention of breaking up the band; that was a real surprise to me,” Moore told Collide in 2016. “I get the reasons behind the band not existing at the moment – everyone has to be on the same page — but there was never any announcement. Well, I never made one … The band will be forever with me; the fact that we’re not playing at the moment comes down to what happened in our personal lives.”

In 2009, Noel Gallagher of Oasis told his bandmate and younger brother, Liam Gallagher, that he wanted to quit the band. An explosive argument ensued between the brothers — one that would last indefinitely.

A decade later, Liam spoke about the split during a 2019 appearance on The Jonathan Ross Show.”I don’t know why we split up, so I’d love to know,” he said. “Maybe I might have been a bit too rock ‘n’ roll for him, and I might have cancelled a few gigs, and I might have stayed up later than I should’ve some nights … Maybe he just wanted to go solo and do his thing and just be on his own … We’ll get to the bottom of it one day.”

Still, Noel argues that Oasis’ breakup is part of what solidified the band’s legacy of greatness. “Oasis, back in 2009, were not lauded as one of the greats of all time,” he said during an appearance on the 2021 Sky Arts show “Noel Gallagher: Out of the Now” (via NME). “There was a kind of undercurrent of: ‘Well they should really call it a day.’ That’s what I felt anyway. And I felt that people had stopped listening to the records and were coming to see us trot out the hits and it’s a position I never wanted the band to be in. But now of course we’re seen as up there with all the greats.”