We’ve all been here before, people.
In case you somehow missed the NEWS THAT BROKE THE INTERNET today, Zayn Malik has left One Direction. He has abandoned his four fellow band-mates. Stranded them. Left them to fend for themselves. Worse? He’s broken millions of young and impressionable female hearts worldwide.
But we’ve seen it all before, right? One member of the band wants out, storms out, and the others bravely soldier on. But the magic is gone, and they eventually call it a day amid finger-pointing, rehab stints and endless attempted reunions for comeback tours.
Read more: Zayn Malik’s announcement about boy band One Direction explodes the internet. Boom.
Here are 7 other band break-ups that almost broke us. And the stories behind which band member tore the groups apart…
1. The Beatles.
In possibly the first hair-tearing teen split, John Lennon told the Beatles that he wanted out of the Biggest Band in the Entire Universe Ever in September, 1969. This traitorous move was widely blamed on his intense, marriage-ending relationship with performance artist Yoko Ono, forever spawning the phrase, ‘She’s doing a Yoko’ when a high-profile girlfriend is perceived to come between musos. But it was really all over when Paul McCartney started to work on a solo album, secretly, the same year.
The promotional material for the album contained a fact sheet that spelt out the end for The Beatles as a group, with a slight jab at band-mate John Lennon thrown in too. It read: