The reunion pt. 2

What is the true value of the reunion?

The notion of what could have been is as powerful as what already has been.

Recently, the Police reformed to take on a world tour that netted record profits. All of the original members got back together and they put together a solid nostalgia set for their long lost fans to reminisce to. Despite the astronomical ticket prices, I support this effort. Yes, it was a ploy to make some money, but the bulk of their audience is middle-aged people that are obviously willing and able to dish out a few Franklins in order to relive that 80’s vibe. The expectations were clear from the beginning; pay us lots of money and we will give you what you want. They did their tour and have once again, gone their separate ways. Their legacy is left intact. People still don’t know what more they could have offered.

There are acts that start like this, and then try to take it further. These are dangerous waters. Fleetwood Mac and The Bauhaus went out as legends with solid legacies. Each of these acts reformed in the late nineties for tours much like The Police (minus the outrageous ticket prices). Each then put out a live disc documenting the tour. Great! I love them both. That was great, but then they gave in to the temptation to add a new chapter to each of their stories. A comeback is a dangerous thing. A mediocre comeback can scar your reputation in the eyes of history. Fleetwood Mac’s Say You Will maintained and lived up to their reputation. Bauhaus’ Go Away White, written as a long overdue swansong, really brings their integrity into question.

When you are part of a disbanded legend, there is an unspoken expectation that whatever you were doing that was so great was going to get even greater. If you reform and put out an album that is just as good as the one that people remember you for, then that is the least that people expect. That is a very high and impractical standard to meet. From what I’ve heard of comeback discs, the ones that hold up the best are often the ones that take the music somewhere it hasn’t gone yet and often are met with skepticism by die hard fans.

How to make it work:
Say You Will blended classic Mac type songs that sit perfectly next to their songs from 20 to 30 years ago with songs that sound new. There is some real poppy stuff as well as some noisier stuff that reflects what Lindsey Buckingham has been up to on his own. It is a solid record that maintains their reputation and puts them in a position to either move forward or call it a day again without marring their place in rock history. Moving forward and adding new elements is key. Skinny Puppy broke up in the mid nineties under the duress of drug addictions, a tragic death, and a record label that abandoned them. The two remaining members went their own ways and grew artistically through their own projects. When they reformed in 2004 and brought all that they have learned over the past decade to the table, they created the most focused and brilliant record of their career.

How not to make it work:
Go Away White sounds remarkably like what the Bauhaus were doing during their short career in the early eighties. This would have been great if it were 1983. I like it, but it answers the question, “what more could they have done?” with a less than stellar answer: not much. Jane’s Addiction did the same thing. They retired as alternative rock gods. When they reformed and recorded a new record that was ok, it left the listener thinking, “Oh, I guess that was all they had to offer.” The question of what could have been is answered with a definitive answer, which is never a good thing. The Eagles also recently reformed and recorded an album of songs railing against the trappings of corporate America. And they released it exclusively through Wal-Mart. The fact that their comeback is a faux stand up to the man effort completely shatters their reputation in my eyes. It could be two discs of the best songs ever written, but it will still be a zero for its lack of integrity and sincerity.

The Beatles, Nirvana, The Doors, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Tupac Shakur, Bob Marley and the Wailers, etc. These are all groups that will never reunite due to a lack of key members that are living. Because of this, their reputations are all the stronger. They are not only maintained by what they have done, but they are further immortalized by the notion of what they might have gone on to do but never will. They have never had to reach the point of revealing the fact there was nothing left to offer. If Curt Cobain had not killed himself and put Nirvana back together for a new album, I don’t think that his reputation as a genius would hold as well as it has and is set to.

As a general rule of thumb, the reunion isn’t a good idea long term. A band is really a complex relationship. When that relationship goes bad and you break up, it is kind of like milk that has soured. When it is bad, you throw it out. You don’t put it back in the fridge and hope that it will be better tomorrow.