A rock star is opening up about how he feels responsible for a popular band breaking up. The Black Crowes' rock star Chris Robinson got candid about the band breaking up in 2015.
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Appearing on Jay Mohr's Mohr Stories podcast, Robinson said that he feels terrible that the popular band, which he co-founded with his brother, Rich, in 1984, broke up. He blames himself.
"I was angry and I felt that I was in a situation that, you know, the only thing I could control is..." he said. "At the time, the manager goes, 'Well, what would you want to keep doing this?' And I knew this would be the nail in the head. I knew I could also set it down. I said, 'Oh, I want more money then. If this is a cash cow, then I want my side of beef.'"
However, the band broke up when Rich claimed that Chris wanted them to give up their shares of the band. Chris says that he was unhappy with how things were going. "I was like, 'I'm not here for that. And I'm not done as an artist, as a person. I'm not done. This isn't over,'" he said. "I'm also completely aware and prepared for that to sound selfish, self-indulgent."
Rock Star Breaks Up band
He continued: "I did it to be cruel in a way, too, 'cause my heart was broken, and I wasn't gonna allow my spirit to be broken [by] the business and the attitude and culture that the band had cultivated at that time within."
Following the split of the rock band, Chris and Rich did not speak for several years. But eventually, they made amends and started performing together again.
"The only thing I'm really responsible for or can have control over is our presentation," he said. "What's going on with the music, what's going on on the stage. Everything else in life, we're all subject to the same chaos and whims of the gods at any minute."
Meanwhile, Rich said things are better between the brothers.
"We're going to talk about things," he said. "We're not going to let them fester. It's a much more positive experience, and while doing that, it's kind of made being creative better, too. It's a more positive element instead of this kind of negative slog that you go in, which sometimes can generate good art and good music, but other times, it's miserable to live in."
