24 Bands With The Most Members
As the longevity of bands continues to grow (hell, who hasn’t reformed in the last few years to make some money touring as their record royalties dwindle), acts who have maintained their original lineup up becoming rare – that the ZZ Top crew have remained unchanged for almost 45 years is amazing (although interestingly in their first year back in 1969 the lineup did change a couple of times before settling into the Billy Gibbons, Dusty Hill and Frank Beard lineup we know and love). These days it’s more about slotting in replacements whenever and wherever a band wants!
If you are going to talk about bands with the most members, the conversation has to start with the P-Funk crew. While Parliament and Funkadelic make the list in their own right, the P-Funk crew have morphed into 23 different bands over the years. Total number of people who have played in those bands? A staggering 189! But let’s take a look at the more straightforward approach of which individual bands have had the most variations in lineup over the years. The cutoff point was set aat 20 members and, as always, if you have got any more additions to the list please let me know in the comments below.
1. The Waterboys (76 members)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Waterboys
2. Santana (67 members)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santana_band
3. Iron Butterfly (59 members)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_Butterfly
4. Dexy’s Midnight Runners (43 members)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dexys_Midnight_Runners
5. Canned Heat (43 members)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canned_Heat
6. Cradle of Filth (39 members)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Cradle_of_Filth_band_members
7. Whitesnake (39 members)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitesnake
8. Parliament (37 members)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parliament_%28band%29
9. Dragon (35 members)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon_band
10. Funkadelic (32 members)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funkadelic
11. Steppenwolf (26 members)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Steppenwolf_band_members
12. Ministry (26 members)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ministry_%28band%29
13. Simply Red (26 members)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simply_Red
14. Lynyrd Skynyrd (25 members)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Lynyrd_Skynyrd_band_members
15. Black Sabbath (25 members)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Black_Sabbath_band_members
16. Nine Inch Nails (25 members)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nine_inch_nails
17. Uriah Heap (25 members)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uriah_Heep_%28band%29
18. Jethro Tull (24 members)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jethro_Tull_%28band%29
19. The Kingsmen (23 members)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Kingsmen
20. Guns N’ Roses (22 members)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Guns_N%27_Roses_band_members
21. Mayhem (22 members)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayhem_band
22. Blue Oyster Cult (22 members)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_oyster_cult
23. Butthole Surfers (22 members)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butthole_Surfers
24. King Crimson (21 members)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_crimson
Look at Blood Sweat & Tears on Wikipedia – I think they will top the list.
What about “Hawkwind”? There has been around 40 different memebers in that band.
Savoy Brown, 64 members.
what about AKB48 the group has over 140 members
AKB48 has 148 members as of november 2018.
Johnny and the Hurricanes
what about AKB48 they have 104 members
Embryo top the list at over 400 members. FOUR HUNDRED!
No Jefferson Airplane / Starship?
The Drifters members from all times is 70
Blackfoot: 47 former members (wiki)