Bands that got back together to play the hits on tour was a phenomena that, like so many things in American culture, catered to baby boomers until very recently. About a decade ago, the Pixies started playing shows again and hipsters in their twenties and thirties suddenly had something in common with all the grayhairs who enjoy the classic rock circuit.
SportsAlcohol.com founders Jesse and Marisa had the pleasure of seeing The Replacements play with Deer Tick and The Hold Steady at Forest Hills Stadium in Queens this past weekend with a bunch of friends. Afterwards, they discussed their uncomplicated feelings of getting into reunion acts in their thirties. What do they want to see and why? They discuss their specific experiences and idealize what they want to see with reunion acts. They were joined by recently-minted SportsAlcohol contributor Ben and future SportsAlcohol contributor Derrick, who has participated in a couple of our music list surveys.
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Here are just some of my thoughts about what you discussed:
– Guided by Voices reunion was a reunion of the ‘classic’ lineup. Before that, Pollard went by a model similar to Jarvis in Pulp, where it was him and a rotating cast because of the longevity of the band. I call it the Mark E. Smith model. I think the difference with Jarvis is that most of Pulp’s most-celebrated work came from a time when the lineup was most stable.
– As for Jarvis going solo, maybe he wanted to do some shows where it was less expected that he play songs he’s been sick of for decades. Are there more parallels to be drawn with Bob Pollard here? I would need to delve into his non-GBV stuff to answer this and that is daunting.
– I am generally pro horn, but there is a non-horn recording of Can’t Hardly Wait that is pretty great.
– 2003-2011 is a long time to not go to a Dismemberment Plan show. Don’t say it wasn’t that long! What if they forced out a record in ’04 and made it big like Death Cab? Probably wouldn’t have happened, but a guy can dream.
– I initially bristled when Jesse said Uncanney Valley is maybe the weakest of 2nd weakest Plan record, but then I thought about it. I’ve been listening to “!” a lot and my estimation of that has improved for the songs I like on it. Uncanney Valley is probably stronger throughout.
– Jesse is historically dismissive of the time he saw Mission of Burma. He brings it up so often it’s like it’s Ron Howard’s The Paper. I’m not super into them either, but they are the one band that got back together, made new music, and that music was as revered as their original work. They’re like the one band that Chunklet magazine seems to not hate.
– RE: Yuck. This path actually worked out really well for the Dropkick Murphy’s. I had seen them at least twice and they at least one record on Epitaph out before they completely overhauled the band including the singer and became way more famous.
– Marisa nailed the pronunciation of Kowalchick. I think
– I get the feeling that Pavement was pretty well off by the time they broke up. By the end they all lived in different states and owned a racehorse together. That all says life of leisure to me.
– “The Hook” is the name of a second song off of the first Jicks record. I don’t know what it sounds like, just that there’s a song about a pirate on that album.
– There was definitely a period of time that I wanted the Talking Heads to get back together. Two things cured me of this. One was the happy ending the band got with their rock n roll hall of fame induction. The other was seeing David Byrne live and it being one of the best shows I’ve ever seen. He seems to be doing fine without the rest of the band.
– Along those lines, I never wanted to see The Clash get back together because Strummer and Jones seemed to be good on their own.
– Hey Jesse, not everyone got to see Sleater-Kinney live. I wish they would get back together and make new records too, but they all seem to be doing fine on their own.
– The Stone Roses played Coachella but were bumped from the headline spot at like the last second. I think that is the outer bounds of what Americans are into now that they weren’t into in the 80’s and 90’s.
– Blur. I’ve never seen Blur in any incarnation. They seem to be the platonic ideals of a band that should reunite for real. I don’t enjoy live albums like I used to, but Parklive is great. They put out two songs that showed they could still write songs. What they do by themselves isn’t as what they do together. I think the British music press did a number on their psyche or something. The world has cuaght up to the fact that they were maybe the best out of their contemporaries. They need to just give in and own it.
– RE: The Smiths. My feelings are very complicated about this. I guess I respect them for taking a stance, but 1. I am one of those Morrissey fans who generally find him being insufferable to be charming (and that’s a bad impulse) and 2. I would go to that show in a heartbeat.
– RE: The Replacements’ outfits. Saw some pictures of the Forest Hills show. What they wore is them toned down compared to their heyday. I would term The Replacements’ hair and fashion from the 80’s and 90’s as horrible. They looked like a bunch of handsome Bobcat Goldthwaits. This was much better.
– Performative Drinking – surely some of these bands that are older than us know about Dean Martin and how his drunk routine was often an act? Maybe some of them are doing that? One would hope.
– Bands Reunited. So glad you mentioned this. I say I hate reality television, but I watched this show fairly regularly. The first season was a lot of low hanging fruit, mostly one-hit wonders from the 80’s. The first episode was Romeo Void. The saxophonist couldn’t play music or go to shows anymore because drugs had messed up his hearing so bad. They got the band back together, but needed a hired gun to play the sax and the real guy had to watch it on CC feed in another room. It was so sad.
Season two they got too ambitious. They tried for New Kids on The Block, and could only get like two of them on camera. I also saw the Extreme episode. I remember when they ambushed Gary Cherone and the first thing he said was “let me see some id.” He was super cautious about the whole thing. You could tell that he had been screwed over at some point. I’m guessing the Van Halen thing was not a happy experience.
– Pete Doherty said The Libertines getting back together for the money was in the original spirit of the band. Hard to argue that.
I’m a little bummed that no one in S-K seems to be making much music at the moment (although maybe more Corin Tucker Band records are coming? I get the feeling they didn’t do so well, though I liked them both). Wild Flag was pretty much confirmed to be a one-and-done and Carrie does her Portlandia thing. I guess it makes more sense for the band to be broken up when they’re not actually making new music together, because it seems like if they were all going to still be in bands, they might as well keep doing Sleater-Kinney. That box set seems to put a pin in it even more definitively, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see them touring in five years. Then again, hardly any reunions could really surprise me any more, short of a voodoo-assisted Beatles resurrection.
FWIW, I just read a Replacements article in Rolling Stone where (a.) Tommy and Paul seem to get on famously (b.) they talk about doing another Replacements album together and (c.) Paul mentions constantly forgetting the words to his own songs.
RE: the Stephen Malkmus album
I could name others from that album, I just knew Jesse couldn’t! “Deado” immediately came to mind, because it’s the one after “Jenny and the Ess-Dog,” and says the title in the first word. But “Phantasies” is actually pretty great! But after that, I love “Gardenia,” “Senator,” and “Lariat” and can take or leave the rest.
RE: Blur
Yes, yes, yes, they should get back together for real, tour the U.S., and make more music as a band. (This flies in the face of most of what we say in the podcast, which is generally “reform, tour the hits, and go away or do a side-project.”)
RE: Bands Reunited
I had to look it up on Wikipedia after reading this to see who reunited from the show. The only New Kids they got on camera were brothers, so it doesn’t count! (But the band did reunite, so they get half-credit?) Also, I had no idea that the English Beat is just the Beat in England, although that should’ve been fairly obvious.