The Rock Bottom Remainders, comprised of Stephen King, Dave Barry, Amy Tan, and Mitch Albom among other authors, has always been the biggest rock band of the literary world, which says something, though we’re not exactly sure what. King described the band’s talent in his book “On Writing,” saying, “You’d pay to hear us. Not a lot, not U2 or E Street Band prices, but maybe what oldtimers call ‘roadhouse money.’” And The Boss, after seeing the group play, said they weren’t that bad, but “don’t get any better or you’ll be just another lousy garage band.”

But alas, all better than average things must come to an end. After playing a couple charity functions a year for about the last 20 years, the group announced they’ll be breaking up after two remaining shows in California.

“We’ve gotten as good as we’re ever going to get,” Dave Barry told the AP. “You can’t get any better. Well, you actually can get a lot better. But we can’t get any better. We’re up to almost four chords now, and the Beatles quit at that point, I’m pretty sure.”

Sadly, the group is disbanding because Kathi Kamen Goldmark, the book publicist who got the band together in the early 90′s, died of breast cancer last month. “We sort of felt this would be a good time to end it because it just isn’t going to be the same without Kathi,” Barry said.

They might not have been the best, but they lasted a lot longer than bands and raised about $2 million for charity over their two decade run. Not bad for a group with sub-garage-band level talent.

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