Phish. Photo by Joe Goldberg.
So, here’s a thought musicians.
Say you’re in a band, right? You’ve been together for a period of time. You don’t especially like one another anymore. You decide to take a break, as your guitarist is about to crush your lead singer like a pancake in between two Marshall amps. You guys hate each other so much that you don’t think you’re ever going to get back together.
Hold off on actually saying that shit.
In the past two years alone, Phil Collins has reunited with Genesis after a decade and a half apart. The Police returned to action after twenty years. New Kids on the Block got back together after a 1 year absence. Scott Weiland returned to Stone Temple Pilots after taking off the entire 21st century so far. Even A Tribe Called Quest have gotten back together for a handful of tour dates. Now, there’s the news that Phish (who, to be fair, never ruled out a reunion at some point in the future) are headed out on a tour, their first since their breakup four years ago. Somewhere, a barefoot longhair is smiling (no disrespect to you, Rock Dad. I don’t figure you for a Phish fan! 🙂 )
What gives?
I mean, you could very easily say it’s the promise of a big payday. It’s easy to think that both Collins and NKOTB’s Wahlberg looked at pending alimony payments and realized they needed a quick infusion of cash. However, does anyone think any of the three Police-men needed money? What about Phish? Has pot become that expensive that the band members need to reunite to keep themselves rolling in that sticky icky?
So here’s my proposal. This is for The Talking Heads, The Jackson 5 and any other band that might have preliminary discussions about getting together, but it’s more for bands who may be contemplating the idea of splitting up and think that the breakup will be permanent. Don’t do it to yourselves! 10 years from now, there’s going to be a tearful reunion (or someone is going to hold up dollar signs that will be just too impossible to resist) and you’re gonna end up eating crow. Even though the fans that are cursing you for going back on your word are probably gonna shell out top dollar to see you anyway.
