I totally agree with donk on the Stone Roses Here you have a band that exploded onto the scene in the late 80s/early 90s and released one of the best debut albums ever and a great 2nd album, then broke up. The careers of the the founding members following the have been totally lackluster. Despite being off the radar, the Charlatans are still rockin. I thought their last CD (Wonderland) was up there with Some Friendly and Between 10th and 11th.
The Police - The release Synchronicity, their most heralded album and breakup soon after leaving their fans begging for more. Yeah, Sting is probably bigger now than he was with the Police, but I am not a fan of his crappy smooth jazz style music.
Another one was Brutal Juice (although not super popular). They were a metal band that was totally ahead of their time but broke up after their first CD.