The Five Most Crushing Divorces In Music History

There's probably some very sound psychological research that explains why we have a fascination with the personal lives of celebrities we admire so much, but it's still quite strange that the splitting of a couple that we have never met can have a genuine emotional impact on our lives.

Alas, some divorces in the world of music have been absolutely devastating for fans, as well as the two parties who are actually going through the heartbreak first-hand. Whether it's a couple who wrote and recorded together or a muse who is now lost forever (after one last great breakup record), we care who our favourite musicians love and, more importantly, we care when they stop loving them.

Today it has been revealed that Captain & Tennille are splitting, the kind of news that makes you think that perhaps there really is no such thing as true love, so we've decided to go through some of the splits that have been most crushing over the years.

Bob Dylan and Sara Lownds

We probably wouldn't have cared so much about this divorce if it wasn't for the music that came out of it. Dylan and Lownds were married in 1965, had four kids (as well as one from Lownds' previous marriage) and seemed a pretty incredible couple, until things started to get fractured in the mid-1970s.

In 1975 Bob Dylan released Blood On The Tracks, a record many believe to be the single most heartbreaking album ever committed to tape, and a record that many believe was largely written about his relationship with Lownds. While Dylan himself has denied it, no one really believes him. Even his son Jakob said in Howard Sounes' book Down the Highway: The Life of Bob Dylan, “The songs are my parents talking.”

Thurston Moore and Kim Gordon

All those indie kids who were too cool to care about love suddenly realised how much it meant to them when the coolest couple in rock music announced they were splitting (and, as a result, so was Sonic Youth, their ridiculously incredible and influential band).

This sketch from Portlandia is pretty crushing. Are we really just the orphans left behind? Watch from the two minute mark.

Jack White and Karen Elson

You'll never really get the full story about celebrity divorce in the media, it's generally sensationalised in order to get click and sell magazines – that's the way it has always been and it's not going to change anytime soon. But that said, we were pretty bummed when we heard that Jack White had been issued with a restraining order by his ex-wife Karen Elson.

The divorce had seemed pretty amicable with the two throwing a party to celebrate their split, but things got nasty with regard to custody of the children the two share. Thankfully things with his first ex-wife Meg White went a little smoother immediately following their divorce, the two going on to become one of the biggest rock bands of the past decade.

Fleetwood Mac Circa Rumours

Not sure if the all-in lovefest turned divorce party that was Fleetwood Mac in the mid-1970s was actually devastating or just really weird, but you can't talk rock'n'roll divorces without mentioning it. Their 1976 record Rumours was almost a celebration of breaking up, with the band making one of the most iconic records of all time all while in the midst of the harrowing emotional pain a break up can bring.

Keyboardist/vocalist Christine McVie and bassist John McVie were married in 1968 and began to split when the band was writing Rumours. Christine wrote You Make Loving Fun about their lighting director and Don't Stop about the end of her relationship with John.

“It just seemed to be a pleasant revelation to have that 'yesterday's gone',” she told Bob Brunning in his 2001 book Rumours And Lies: The Fleetwood Mac Story.

Lindsay Buckingham and Stevie Nicks, who were the newest member of the group, weren't married but were in a relationship when they joined. But, sure enough, around the time of Rumours things became strained and they split as well. Nicks wrote Dreams which is kinda sweet and hopeful, while Buckingham wrote Go Your Own Way, which… well, listen for yourself.

On top of all this, drummer Mick Fleetwood was in the midst of divorce proceedings with his wife Jenny Boyd, a couple of years after he found out the she was having an affair with Bob Weston, the band's former guitarist. They ended up remarrying for a couple of months, Fleetwood and Nicks had an affair and… it's just too much, really.

Captain & Tennille

“Love. Love will keep us together.” It has been a mantra that so many have tried to stick to and failed, but we never thought that the two people who released the irritatingly catchy song that would become a staple for any occasion that professed the virtues of love would go against their own word.

Yes, Captain & Tennille are splitting up after almost 40 years of marriage. There are rumours circulating that it's only for insurance reasons, but we're not going to speculate on such matters.