While watching Dinosaur Jr. play at the Avalon on Aug. 17, I
thought to myself, “People have waited so long for these guys
to play again. I’m lucky to have this opportunity.”
Suddenly I snapped out of my self-congratulation and realized I
have said this to myself many times recently.
When rock historians classify 2004 and 2005, there’s a
good chance they’ll call them the Reunion Period. And there
really isn’t a more apt description.
Some would say this phenomenon began with the Pixies’
announcement of a small reunion tour at intimate venues culminating
at the 2004 Coachella Festival. Well, this “small tour”
continues.
The Pixies continue to add dates, and in a year have gone from
being “the band that did the song at the end of “˜Fight
Club'” to being belatedly acknowledged in the
mainstream as a pivotal alternative rock band. Frontman Frank Black
has even discussed a new Pixies album, something unfathomable a
couple years ago.
However, the Pixies weren’t the first indie band to
reunite in recent years. Mission of Burma, a post-punk band from
the early ’80s, began playing together again in 2002 and
released “ONoffON” in 2004, its first album of new
material since 1982’s “Vs.”
Other recent examples have been Gang of Four and Bauhaus, two
bands with short-lived yet influential careers. Yet the reunions of
Mission of Burma, Gang of Four and Bauhaus weren’t as
unprecedented as those of the Pixies and Dinosaur Jr.
This is because, no matter what the band members say publicly,
there is still a heavy amount of resentment among them.
Both bands had slow and similar dissolutions. Later Pixies and
Dinosaur Jr. albums were solo records for Black and J Mascis,
respectively, that happened to have the band’s name on the
cover. Eventually, Black broke up the Pixies by fax machine and
Dinosaur Jr.’s original lineup was compromised when frontman
J Mascis told bassist Lou Barlow that the band was breaking after
hiring a replacement bassist behind Barlow’s back.
On a scale of crappiness, these two breakups rank up with
dumping a significant other by changing relationship status on
Facebook and then never speaking to them again. Obviously, any sane
person would not give someone like that a second chance. So why are
these bands all smiles now?
I love both bands, but the simple answer is money. It may be the
root of all evil, but it can solve any dispute. What were the
Pixies and Dinosaur Jr. doing for the past decade?
Frank Black released solo albums whose quality seemed to cut in
half every time. Kim Deal was with the Breeders, who are to the
Pixies what Wings was to the Beatles. As for the Dinosaurs, aside
from Mascis scoring indie films, none of them were setting the
world on fire. So of course these band members would want some
disposable income.
If these two particular bands can reunite, anyone can, aside
from bands whose members have died or, in Syd Barrett of Pink
Floyd’s case, gone insane. Imagine what it would be like if
any living band could magically reunite. Suddenly you can see The
Police, The Smiths, the true Guns N’ Roses line-up or At The
Drive-In. Then again, is this a good thing?
Reunion concerts are great, but what about bands recording new
material? Personally, I’ve never heard a transcendent reunion
album. Jane’s Addiction’s 2003 comeback
“Strays” was an example of a band being away for too
long. On that album, it was easy to tell that the band didn’t
connect and was unsuccessfully drawing from a number of disparate
influences.
And while Weezer never actually broke up, their
post-“Pinkerton” career has disappointed. If anything,
reunion releases sully legacies because so much is expected.
Frequently, you can tell the only reason a band is together again
is for the money. Pat Wilson, Weezer’s drummer, has hinted
that he hates Rivers Cuomo.
So as Frank Black and company sit down to possibly record new
material, I implore them to consider the immortal query posed by
Jack Black in “High Fidelity”: Is it better to burn out
or fade away?
If you think Lou Barlow’s solo career set the world on
fire, e-mail Humphrey at mhumphrey@media.ucla.edu.