Post by The Curmudgeon on Nov 12, 2007 18:51:31 GMT 2
It seems to me that we live in a state of constant progressive bankrupcy. Our movies are 99% remakes, our music charts are dominated by retreads of old hits, be it cover versions, samples (seriously, do we really need ANOTHER use of Bowie's "Let's Dance?") or lame dance retreads.
And there is now the never ending assortment of old bands getting back together.
Now, I know "we're getting the band back together" is a well worn rock cliche, but never before has it been in such abundance as it is now. And it's not like it's grizzled rock veterans playing the hits one more time (although that's happening too), we suddenly have ever crappy boy and girl band under the sun squeezing back into their sequinned suits with two big £'s for eyeballs.
In the last two years, we've had (from the top of my head), Take That, Spice Girls, All Saints, Five, East 17, 911 and now Boyzone in the singing/dancing brigade all eager to recapture former glories, while smaller bands like Kula Shaker, Shed Seven, Bis, Dodgy and (probably many) more all back together, while stadium monsters like Led Zepplin, RATM, The Police, Genesis and The Eagles are all making big bucks once more.
Just make it stop. Yes, it's great to see our favourite acts again, and its for a genuine love of the music or a good cause, then great. But when it's clearly for nothing more than to feed a coke habit or simply to get back on TV again - that's when the whole band reforming thing becomes cheap, and belittles any genuine, passionate comebacks.
Maybe it's just like this in the UK, or is the US been over run by this sort of thing too?
And there is now the never ending assortment of old bands getting back together.
Now, I know "we're getting the band back together" is a well worn rock cliche, but never before has it been in such abundance as it is now. And it's not like it's grizzled rock veterans playing the hits one more time (although that's happening too), we suddenly have ever crappy boy and girl band under the sun squeezing back into their sequinned suits with two big £'s for eyeballs.
In the last two years, we've had (from the top of my head), Take That, Spice Girls, All Saints, Five, East 17, 911 and now Boyzone in the singing/dancing brigade all eager to recapture former glories, while smaller bands like Kula Shaker, Shed Seven, Bis, Dodgy and (probably many) more all back together, while stadium monsters like Led Zepplin, RATM, The Police, Genesis and The Eagles are all making big bucks once more.
Just make it stop. Yes, it's great to see our favourite acts again, and its for a genuine love of the music or a good cause, then great. But when it's clearly for nothing more than to feed a coke habit or simply to get back on TV again - that's when the whole band reforming thing becomes cheap, and belittles any genuine, passionate comebacks.
Maybe it's just like this in the UK, or is the US been over run by this sort of thing too?
