In Memoriam: Bands We Lost In 2025

This is my 17th annual Oscars-style tribute to all the bands who broke up in the past year, and every year it gets more difficult to figure out which acts are really over. I put plenty of research into it, but already some of the groups from last year’s montage — REO Speedwagon, Mr. Big, METZ — have reunited, even if just for one night. Doesn’t anybody stay apart anymore?

Look, I get it. If I were in a decades-old band, I would hint that every tour is a maybe a farewell tour whether I hated beach balls or not. And then I would make that tour as long as possible. So props to Candlebox, whose farewell tour will stretch into its fourth year next summer. That’s just good marketing.

I've done my best to determine who is eligible by parsing 12 months of vague social media statements, and there are a few obvious ground rules like they can't have any more shows scheduled. (The exception is Gang Of Four, who just announced a festival gig while I was writing this intro.) I’ve excluded any act that technically didn’t break up, but won’t use its name anymore, so you’ll have to make your own In Memoriam for "Why Don’t We," "Me First And The Gimme Gimmes," "Vcha," "Cosmorat," "Sis," and "NJZ" (2025-2025). (Related: goodbye to the one-man brands "Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs," "Post Moves," and “Kenny Beats.")

I did include Jesus Piece even though Aaron Heard says he’ll eventually front Je$us Piece, as it's otherwise an entirely different band. On the other hand, the bands Dogma, 12 Rods, and Vitriol each lost most of their lineup, at a remote gas station or elsewhere, but they’ll solider on in new configurations, so they didn't make the cut. And the K-pop group ATBO broke up today, which was after my deadline.

I really did think I’d get to include Aerosmith this year, but YUNGBLUD had other ideas. We stopped minting pennies and printing the Farmers’ Almanac this year, but can't let Aerosmith hang it up?

Thanks as always to Matt Neatock for the video editing help. And save your tears because when god closes a Lost Under Heaven, he opens a WU LYF.