Classic Rock & Roll Bands Who Have Been Around For Over 40 Years!

ZZ Top

Some people respectfully refer to them as "That Little Ol' Band From Texas". The band formed in 1969 in Texas. They've had the same 3 original members for 45 years! In the first two years there were other members but they got called to serve in the military.

They were going to call themselves ZZ King to honor BB King but changed their minds as it sounded too much like BB King. They kept the ZZ but changed King to "Top" because BB King was at the "top" of the blues charts.

Each band member originally came from other local Texas bands.

Ironically, Frank Beard is the only member of the band that doesn't have a beard.

Dusty Hill grew his beard out first while on vacation. Bill Gibbson eventually started to grow his out too...and although it wasn't planned, Billy decided to keep his once he realized that Dusty wasn't getting rid of his. So that's the story behind their "signature" look.

Frank Beard, Billy Gibbons, and Dusty Hill were all born in 1949 which makes them 67 years old in 2016.

ZZ Top was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004. They hold the record for being the only American band to keep the original members for over 30 years

Billy Gibbons the guitarist and singer, said "Same three guys, same three chords".

Rush

1968 was the year that Rush formed in Toronto Canada.

The original members were Alex Lifeson on guitar, Jeff Jones on bass & John Rutsey on drums. Jones was replaced by Geddy Lee, shortly after forming the band. In 1974 John Rutsey left and Neil Peart took his place. This coming after their release of their debut album "Rush".

Since then the band has held steady with Lee on vocals, bass and keyboards; Lifeson on guitar, and Peart on drums.

In 1973, Rush released its first single, a cover of Buddy Holly's "Not Fade Away." Which didn't do well. Their debut album didn't do well either until a radio station in Cleveland WMMS (100.7 FM)started to air "Working Man". Soon after Mercury Records in the U.S. picked up the album and their sails went soaring.

In 1982, Rush changed things up a bit adding synthesizers to their music on their album "Signals". That album only produced one #1 single "New World Man" in the U.S. They also added a some ska, reggae and funk to that album.

While they continued to put out albums through out the 80's. They didn't go on tour much during that time, yet their albums continued to go gold & platinum.

After doing some tours in the mid 90's the band took a short hiatus in 1997 lasting 5 years. This was because Peart's personal life had suffered some tragedies.

Two months after it's announcement. Rush released their boxed set R40 commemorating their 40th anniversary of the release of their first album "Rush".

Universal Music Enterprises announce that they plan to reissue all of the albums in the band's Mercury catalog in chronological order in 2015.

In 2013 Rush was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

Rush is third in line for a rock band with the most consecutive gold or platinum albums. Ahead of them are The Beatles and The Rolling Stones.

The Who

2016 will mark their 52nd anniversary! The band came together in 1964. The band now only has two surviving members. Keith Moon died in 1978 and John Entwistle died in 2002. Leaving Pete Townshend and Roger Daltry.

They all grew up around London. Townshend and Entwistle knew each other at school and both played in a Dixieland band with Townshend playing the banjo and Entwistle on the trumpet. In 1962 left to join the Detours. Roger Daltry was a member of that band. The Detours made many changes which included Townshend and Moon joining them when some of their members left.

In 1964 they changed their name to The Who. Around this time is also when Townshend made smashing his guitar on stage part of their show.

In the same year they released their first single "I'm The Face", which didn't do well in Britain. They didn't become a "hit" in Britain until they released "I Can't Explain" and what is known as their anthem song "My Generation" in 1965. The album wasn't release in the United States until 1966.

"Tommy" became a household name. A rock opera if you will. Some fans saw this as the beginning of the end for the band. It was like an incomplete thought and effort thrown together. Townshend was going to do another "rock opera" sort of album follow up, calling it Lifehouse and was supposed to be about organized religion. While that never came to be, some of the tracks went into their next album "Who's Next" turning out some of their greatest works.

Who Are You was the final album featuring all of the original members. Some say The Who should have called it quits after Moon died, but they continued on making albums and doing tours. They have even done reunion shows which apparently each one being worse than the one before.

"The Kids Are Alright" was a documentary and an album proving them to be one of rocks best despite periods of decline in popularity.

The Who was inducted into the Hall Of Fame in 1990.

Take a guess as to who plays the drums for them now. If you said Ringo Star's son Zak Starkey, you'd be correct!

KISS

Gene Simmons - The Demon - vocals and bass guitar,

Paul Stanley - The Starchild - lead vocals and rhythm guitar,

Peter Criss - The Catman - drums and vocals and

Ace Frehley - The Spaceman or Space Ace- lead guitar and vocals was the bands line up when they formed in New York City in 1973.

Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons had both been part of another NYC based band called Wicked Lester. In 1972 they both left with the intent on putting together a new band. Basically a "new" version of Wicked Lester with a much harder rock style. It was that year that Peter Criss joined the band after Stanley and Simmons saw an ad in an East Cost version of Rolling Stones magazine. Criss auditioned for them and liking what they heard, invited Criss to join their band. It was also during this time that they started experimenting with their "style", introducing make-up as part of their act.

While Ace Frehley wasn't dressed to impress, (wearing two different colored shoes, one red and one orange) he did impress the other band members when he auditioned for them which led to him joining the band in 1973. Shortly after the band changed their now to what we know them as....KISS.

If you're curious as to how KISS got their name listen up. The band members were driving around NYC when Criss mentioned that he was part of a band called "Lips". That is when Stanley suggested "What about Kiss?". They went with it. Frehley was the one that came up with their logo. The "S's" came to be looking like lightening bolts when Frehley wrote the new name over the old name on a poster outside where they were going to play.

With their extravagant live stage performances consisting of blood spitting by the "Demon" (Simmons) and levitating drum kits, smoking guitars and pyrotechnics to list a few, the mid to late 70's was when their popularity began to soar.

In 83' they started to perform with out make-up. Continuing to be as popular as ever.

Due to creative differences, both Criss and Frehley had departed the group by 1982. Drummer Eric Carr, who had replaced Criss in 1980, died in 1991 of a rare type of heart cancer and was replaced by Eric Singer. Tommy Thayer replaced Frehley.

Criss and Frehley reunited with the band for their Alive/Worldwide Tour, which they also returned on stage with their make-up on, however both Criss and Frehley have since left the band again and have been replaced by Singer and Tommy Thayer, respectively.

Kiss has sold more than 100 million records worldwide, including 25 million RIAA-certified albums in their 43 years of being together.

On April 10, 2014, Kiss was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Simmons and Stanley are the only original members that still remain.

Rolling Stones

Dubbed "The World's Greatest Rock & Roll Band" the Rolling Stones formed in 1962. 2016 marks 54 years of being together.

One could jokingly say the band started to form in 1949 when Keith Richards and Mick Jagger, went to school together when they were just 6 years old. Jagger and Richards ran into each other years later. Jagger sang for Korner's Blues Incorporated and Richards was putting together a group which Jagger decided to join. The bad had already consisted of pianist Ian Stewart, bass player Dick Taylor, drummer Tony Chapman, and a guitar player named Brian Jones. Charlie Watts (Charles Robert Watts, born June 2, 1941, in Islington, England) replaced Tony Chapman and Bill Wyman (William Perks, born October 24, 1936 or 1941 (no one knows for sure), replaced Dick Taylor.

In 1963 they got a gig at the Marquee Club in London. They were billed as "Brian Jones and The Rollin' Stones" (after a song by Muddy Waters [19151983). Parents didn't like this group of long haired boys with attitude.

Brian Jones has been credited with getting the band together. He became a father in his early teens, having fathered two children by the time he was 16. Due to his lust for drugs and alcohol and rebel ways, he was asked to leave the band in 1969. Shortly there after he was found dead in his swimming pool. Some say he drowned and some say he was brutally murdered. Mick Taylor took his place in the band.

Taylor who was a quiet soft spoken charming young man, but in 1974 some say he was asked to leave the band because his ego got to big while others say that Taylor himself got himself hooked on heroin and decided to leave the band on his own accord. Taylor was replaced by Ronnie Wood. Taylor did rejoin the group for their 50 & Counting tour in 2013.

June 1963 they released their first single, a version of Chuck Berry's "Come On" backed with "I Want to Be Loved." Six months later is when they started to hit the big time. They went on to release songs that they covered by the Beatles and Buddy Holly and Bobby Womack. Their "Little Red Rooster," reached number one but was banned in the United States.

The Rolling Stones already had two albums out in England by the time they broke the U.S. Top 10 with "The Last Time," written by Jagger and Richards. In the summer of 1965 they had a worldwide number one hit with "Satisfaction."

The Rolling Stones continued to put out hit after hit. Although fans complained that their concert ticket priced were too high. Up to $300 per seat for their 1999 tour. Still they paid the high prices to see them.

There is talk of an album to be release by the end of this year (2016)

The Rolling Stones were inducted into the Hall Of Fame in 1989.