Reunions: The Search for More Money
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Artist:
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Album:Battle Of Los Angeles
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Track:Roll Right
Summer is a time for reunions with friends, family and — estranged band members? Maybe that last one doesn’t apply to you, but it seems relevant in a time when bands are reliving their glory days left and right — The Police, Rage Against the Machine and Smashing Pumpkins have all recently retrieved their instruments from dusty closets and hit stages across the country. In a time of stagnation in the record industry, many wonder just what these reunions mean for fans and musicians alike.
The Police: Andy Summers, guitarist in The Police, recently said in an interview, “It just all sounds non-creative to me. The kind of chemistry in our band, there’s no reunion.” That makes sense — a band breaks up, gets back together and goes on a highly publicized international tour of huge arenas. Reunion? Never.
Despite their protestations, The Police are essentially creating and exploiting nostalgia. At Dodger Stadium, they opened with “Message in a Bottle” and did exactly what the crowd expected — belt out hit after hit with expert skill and precision. “Don’t Stand So Close to Me” sounded as good as ever, and the aging crowd relished every moment of the set and its three (yup, three) encores.
Rage Against the Machine: Rage began their unexpected tour by headlining Coachella. The group has since added a few shows in the States but has said nothing about long-term plans.
Unlike The Police, Rage are back with a vengeance. Tom Morello is still a DJ masquerading as a virtuoso guitarist, and Zack de la Rocha remains one of the angriest, most powerful vocalists in modern music. At the Rock the Bells festival in San Bernardino, their bone-crushingly heavy riffs kept nearly every fist in the air from opener “Guerilla Radio” to closer “Killing in the Name Of.”
Commanding a crowd of 60,000 isn’t easy, but Rage can do it like none other. When delivered by de la Rocha, lines like, “All hell can’t stop us now!” and “Fuck no,/ I won’t do what you tell me!” could galvanize a revolution. Like The Police, Rage focused on their hits, but their riveting performance made me think they were never gone in the first place.
Smashing Pumpkins: Billy Corgan has also excavated the bones of the past by reviving his ‘90s chart-topping act, Smashing Pumpkins; “I want my band back,” Corgan said. But clearly, having your band back doesn’t really require band members — only drummer Jimmy Chamberlain has returned to Corgan’s flock. The group has a new album (“Zeitgeist”) and is touring the States and Europe.
The Pumpkins and Corgan have drawn heavy criticism as profiteers for releasing multiple versions of “Zeitgeist” (six, by my count), but this chrome-domed, self-hating superstar always keeps a few tricks up his sleeve. The show I attended at the Fillmore, the last of a nearly two-week residency, had two “sets” — one acoustic, one electric. Billy and Co. surprised everyone by opening with a completely new tune (“Mama”) that was actually written just a few days before. In fact, six of the 13 acoustic songs were written during the tour. And several songs in the electric set had been completely reworked since their original studio release (including a remarkably improved “Shame”). The Pumpkins are my favorite band, and to see them live and hear songs I didn’t know was jarring but exhilarating.
The Bottom Line: Reunions can shake our faith in a band’s artistic intentions, but, when done right, they offer up a chance for growth and new direction. The Police have definitely lost some musical integrity — although I enjoyed their performance, I can’t ignore their money-grubbing. And Rage? Well, let’s just say the world needs more bands like Rage to keep the government and those evil multinational corporations on their toes; I’ll gladly welcome Rage back any time, under any circumstances.
And then there’s the Pumpkins. Criticize them and their new album if you must, but they are truly pushing the envelope, and not in the same way as they did in the ‘90s. Back then, loud guitars were enough; now, it takes breaking away from the surefire formulas and surprising audiences with what they never could have expected ... though we all know the real reunion was your awkward embrace with last year’s summer fling. So much for summer love.
Originally published in The Stanford Daily on August 17, 2007.
http://www.stanforddaily.com/article/2007/8/16/reunionsTheSearchForMoreMoney
Pumpkins at the Fillmore
The Song I Sing (new!)
Rage at Rock the Bells
The Police: Andy Summers, guitarist in The Police, recently said in an interview, “It just all sounds non-creative to me. The kind of chemistry in our band, there’s no reunion.” That makes sense — a band breaks up, gets back together and goes on a highly publicized international tour of huge arenas. Reunion? Never.
Despite their protestations, The Police are essentially creating and exploiting nostalgia. At Dodger Stadium, they opened with “Message in a Bottle” and did exactly what the crowd expected — belt out hit after hit with expert skill and precision. “Don’t Stand So Close to Me” sounded as good as ever, and the aging crowd relished every moment of the set and its three (yup, three) encores.
Rage Against the Machine: Rage began their unexpected tour by headlining Coachella. The group has since added a few shows in the States but has said nothing about long-term plans.
Unlike The Police, Rage are back with a vengeance. Tom Morello is still a DJ masquerading as a virtuoso guitarist, and Zack de la Rocha remains one of the angriest, most powerful vocalists in modern music. At the Rock the Bells festival in San Bernardino, their bone-crushingly heavy riffs kept nearly every fist in the air from opener “Guerilla Radio” to closer “Killing in the Name Of.”
Commanding a crowd of 60,000 isn’t easy, but Rage can do it like none other. When delivered by de la Rocha, lines like, “All hell can’t stop us now!” and “Fuck no,/ I won’t do what you tell me!” could galvanize a revolution. Like The Police, Rage focused on their hits, but their riveting performance made me think they were never gone in the first place.
Smashing Pumpkins: Billy Corgan has also excavated the bones of the past by reviving his ‘90s chart-topping act, Smashing Pumpkins; “I want my band back,” Corgan said. But clearly, having your band back doesn’t really require band members — only drummer Jimmy Chamberlain has returned to Corgan’s flock. The group has a new album (“Zeitgeist”) and is touring the States and Europe.
The Pumpkins and Corgan have drawn heavy criticism as profiteers for releasing multiple versions of “Zeitgeist” (six, by my count), but this chrome-domed, self-hating superstar always keeps a few tricks up his sleeve. The show I attended at the Fillmore, the last of a nearly two-week residency, had two “sets” — one acoustic, one electric. Billy and Co. surprised everyone by opening with a completely new tune (“Mama”) that was actually written just a few days before. In fact, six of the 13 acoustic songs were written during the tour. And several songs in the electric set had been completely reworked since their original studio release (including a remarkably improved “Shame”). The Pumpkins are my favorite band, and to see them live and hear songs I didn’t know was jarring but exhilarating.
The Bottom Line: Reunions can shake our faith in a band’s artistic intentions, but, when done right, they offer up a chance for growth and new direction. The Police have definitely lost some musical integrity — although I enjoyed their performance, I can’t ignore their money-grubbing. And Rage? Well, let’s just say the world needs more bands like Rage to keep the government and those evil multinational corporations on their toes; I’ll gladly welcome Rage back any time, under any circumstances.
And then there’s the Pumpkins. Criticize them and their new album if you must, but they are truly pushing the envelope, and not in the same way as they did in the ‘90s. Back then, loud guitars were enough; now, it takes breaking away from the surefire formulas and surprising audiences with what they never could have expected ... though we all know the real reunion was your awkward embrace with last year’s summer fling. So much for summer love.
Originally published in The Stanford Daily on August 17, 2007.
http://www.stanforddaily.com/article/2007/8/16/reunionsTheSearchForMoreMoney
Pumpkins at the Fillmore
The Song I Sing (new!)
Rage at Rock the Bells
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