Grab your Whammy pedal, Rage is back. Psyched?

[smopo24]

It looks like breakups are turning into reunions again. Rage Against the Machine, Smashing Pumpkins, Slint, The Police; It seems like everyone you loved long ago is back for round two (or three?). What do you think about this latest batch of reunions? Are they only in it for the money? Are you going to see them? Do you think they will be/are as good as they once were? How do you feel about reunion albums? Is it the same without your favorite original member?

[dolivas]

Never been much a RATM fan but it seems they are only doing it to relive old glories for the fans dunno how much they could do if they did a new album, it would be painful groan-inducing territory to hear them record again.

The Police, Genesis (Phil-Collins suck era), and Cream definately came back for the money imho. I can imagine Copeland and Summers needing more cash to pay some bills than Sting, Sting wouldn't mind patching things up a bit and get them some more money and recognition. Genesis it might be the case of Rutherford and Banks after their own Genesis-Collins-less (which is 10 times worse!) debaucle need more cash to mooch out of Collins' fame and rekindle whatever critical fame it had.

Cream definately needed the money from stories told Ginger Baker and Jack Bruce are earning very little from the older recordings they made and can't live through their legacy like Clapton does. Smashing Pumpkins probably came back just because of Corgan being stuck in a funk/rut writing wise.

I don't believe any good reunion albums would come out of those. For the most part 95% of the reunion albums I've heard from anyone in rock blow monkey ass (case in point the Stooges recent one). There are some exceptions i.e. the Byrds did an excellent reunion album which went nowhere but typically they are par the course.

[GearJunkie]

Um, HELLO!?!? What about Kiss?! They've reunited a BUNCH of times (sometimes with new members, sometimes with original member) and all their subsequent albums..... oh wait... they're all terrible. Yeah, ok. You guys were right.

Nevermind.

[dolivas]

I do have to mention a great comeback/reunion album. It was Amon Duul II's Nada Moonshine which brought Krautrock up-to-date marvelously however the album sank like a stone.

KISS reunions are there to promote new garbage they want to sell to the KISS Army, oooh look new KISS beer totes. They're like the Joe Camel of rock.

[SorenP]

The thing about when Rage broke up was it happened really suddenly. It wasn't like they put out 3 records that sucked more and more (back off on the jokes, I know i just set it up about as bad as you can.. but I love that band) The singer just wigged about one day about how the band had turned into a music-for-the-sake-of-music group more than a political message. Now that he's cooled off and the political activism scene is all the rage (bah.. terrible accidental pun) i'm sure the album will be more crazy guitar sounds and killer rhythm section grooves.

yeah. i'm kinda excited. and i heard The Police are a jam band now? the grammy performance they did of roxanne had this trippy space jam section part. Maybe i'll go hang out on a wrigley rooftop this summer when they play there.

[smopo24]

I'm going to see Slint because I missed them their last go around. I'm betting there will be a ton of hipsters in the audience, but they are playing all of Spiderland, so it's worth it. I've heard that they are working on new music, but don't hold your breath; if it ever sees the light of day, any new material is a long way off. If they put something else out, I think there is an excellent chance it will be better than most reunion albums; but because of the legacy that comes with their name (to most fans), no matter how good it is, it will never be the classic that Spiderland is.

[dolivas]

Yep I don't believe they can match Spiderland. Tortoise, in a similar vein, released a pretty average reunion/comeback album.

RATM seemed to me always commercial I'm pretty sure Zach got it right. When you have RATM stickers, Che Guevara shirts, Commie hats etc etc talk about the "revolution" being co-opted. I'm pretty sure the other guys in Rage did sell-out. What kind of a band signs on with Chris Cornell (the grunge Lenny Kravitz) and says with a straight face they are still against the man. I would much rather see what Zach's done in the past years solo. I know he worked with DJ Shadow a whiles ago plus some other peeps.

[smopo24]

Originally Posted by dolivas

Yep I don't believe they can match Spiderland. Tortoise, in a similar vein, released a pretty average reunion/comeback album.

RATM seemed to me always commercial I'm pretty sure Zach got it right. When you have RATM stickers, Che Guevara shirts, Commie hats etc etc talk about the "revolution" being co-opted. I'm pretty sure the other guys in Rage did sell-out. What kind of a band signs on with Chris Cornell (the grunge Lenny Kravitz) and says with a straight face they are still against the man. I would much rather see what Zach's done in the past years solo. I know he worked with DJ Shadow a whiles ago plus some other peeps.

I always heard that he left because he couldn't decide if he wanted to be a rock star, or a revolutionary. Calling Chris Cornell the grunge Lenny Kravitz is a low blow; but i must say that Audioslave was worthless. Has anyone heard the Dinosaur Jr. reunion album? It's been getting raves most places, but panned on a handful of sites.