A Purist Rant About Band Reunions
Queen, Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, The Doors, INXS. 5 great bands. No, 5 *fantastic* bands. These 5 bands are 5 of my favourite bands. Besides that, They have 2 other things in common.
1: They all have one member named John.
2: They all have members who are no longer with us.
Now, as stated by the title, this is a bit of a Purist rant. All of these bands have had "reunions" of sorts. The Doors have reformed with Ian Astbury (of The Cult fame), and without drummer John Densmore (either he declined to take part, or wasn't invited, depending on who you ask). Led Zeppelin have played a handful of times as Led Zeppelin since the death of drummer John Bonham, once with Bonham's son Jason sitting in as drummer. (Fact fans, he's the kid playing the mini orange vistalite drumkit during the footage in John Bonham's solo Moby Dick in "The Song Remains The Same") Jimmy Page and Robert Plant have, in the late 90's performed as Page/Plant, without the participation of Zeppelin bass player John Paul Jones. The Beatles had their sort of "reunion" which culminated in the release of 2 new Beatles songs, "Free as a Bird" and "Real Love", created from 2 demo tapes made by John Lennon that had been in Yoko Ono's possession for a good many years. This coincided with the release of The Beatles Anthology, which was a 6 CD set of archive tracks, demos, works-in-progress and live takes. And if that wasn't enough, there was also an 8 part series documenting the history of the band. (And that was great for me at the time, having just discovered them at the age of 17)
INXS recently conducted a reality-type TV show to find a new lead singer. JD Fortune is now part of the new INXS, and I've not heard any of their new material.
Queen were one of the biggest (if not THE biggest) band to come out of England. Queen formed a few years before I was born, and continued to rock us until the early death of Freddie Mercury in 1991 at the age of 45. The world lost one of it's best performers the day he died. If you watch the Live in Wembley DVD, he at one point says: "We're going to stay together until we fucking well die, I'm sure of it!" Well, how right he turned out to be. There aren't many music fans who don't know who Queen are. (Well, except maybe the teenyboppers who think Britney Spears is just the best thing since sliced bread) Their "Greatest Hits" CD is a great addition to anyone's music collection, in fact, I'll be pretentious and go one better than that and say it's a MUST HAVE. I first heard Queen when I was 15 or so, although I do remember hearing about Freddie's passing at the age of nearly 13 and thinking "who is that man?", having no clue about him or Queen. Oh, the only thing I knew about Queen at the time, was that I had seen the video clip of "I Want It All" on Video Hits (a weekend morning music video program) a few years earlier, and thinking "who the hell are these 4 geezers?" and let's just say, I didn't think much of them. Well, times change like sweaty socks, and Queen's Greatest Hits was one of the first 10 cd's I bought in 1993/94 when I got my first CD player. Needless to say, I've never regretted buying it. It was a CD you could listen to intently, or just have it on as background. A friend gave me a copy of "Greatest Flix Volume 1", which spent many, many countless days in my VCR, being played and rewound. And played and rewound. Reverse, repeat. Now that I remember these memories, I was very much drawn to the band.
However, I really digress. Back to the rant. Queen have done a wierd reunion tour of sorts, rounding up Paul Rodgers (of Free and Bad Company fame) to fill the void left by Freddie (Though all parties claim that Paul is not replacing Freddie in the band. Incidentally, John Deacon declined to participate and has retired from the music scene, even though he endorses Queen related projects undertaken by Brian May and Roger Taylor.) They've done their tour and put out a live CD/DVD set called "Return Of The Champions".
Now here's where I get purist about it. While I can admire these bands for wanting to carry on playing with each other, for whichever reason, some people you just cannot replace. In the case of The Beatles, I would be completely skeptical if Paul and Ringo reformed with 2 other guys. Led Zeppelin... I admired Page and Plant's enthusiasm in reworking some of the Zeppelin catalogue, even if it WAS a little strange sounding. And sorry, but Robert's voice is half shot now, if not worse. Likewise with INXS, I've not heard the new incarnation of The Doors, so I'm not going to comment.
I've been on a Queen kick lately, as I said they've been a favourite of mine since I was 15 (at least), and I pulled out my DVD's (that I could find).... Greatest Video Hits 1+2, and Live At Wembley. (I also have Live and the Bowl, and the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert) So, after spoiling myself rotten listening again to all this fantastic music, and reading about Freddie and the band, I gave the new live set with Paul Rodgers a listen, thanks to a friend who lent me the CD. And I think I made it to about the second or third track before screwing up my nose at it. I listened for a couple more tracks, until "Love Of My Life" rolled around. Paul Rodgers has a bit of a blurb at the beginning, and mentioned that Freddie's mother was with them that night. Well at that point, I lost it. There aren't that many Queen songs I've heard that make me cry. One is "One Vision", and it's only because at one point in it, Freddie's voice sounds so beautiful and completely pure that I get tears in my eyes from listening to it. But it's still one of my favourite songs of theirs. The other, is "Love Of My Life", because it's a pretty sad song lyrically, and live, Freddie would get the whole audience singing along with him (Hearing 72,000 people sing along with him at Wembley is pretty damn impressive). And to hear that Freddie's mother was there, and Paul was singing a song that Freddie wrote, just made it even sadder and not fair that he's not alive anymore. Plus, I don't particularly care much for Paul Rodgers' voice. The only person who I think is really good at doing Freddie's songs is George Michael.
Freddie's voice was so amazing, there is part of the Wembley DVD where he is singing notes, and he sounds almost like a guitar (it's hard to describe, but it's a fabulous example of his vocal range), and his voice could be anything from strong and powerfully awesome, to gutsy sounding, to gentle and beautiful. Put simply, Freddie had a very unique style all of his own and is something that can never be replaced. It wasn't just his voice, either. Freddie had a style that was all FREDDIE. He was unlike any other performer I have ever seen. He wasn't the type of guy to just stand in front of a mic and belt out tunes, he danced around, jumped around, bounced around and completely got into the music he was performing. No wonder Queen are one of the greatest bands ever. True, Freddie was only 1/4 of the band, but all 4 of them as a group were awesome. Brian May is one of the best guitarists in the world, Roger Taylor was a good solid drummer, and John Deacon a great bass player. And without each other, it's just not the same.
So, with all due respect to Brian May and Roger Taylor, I'd much rather watch my DVD's and listen to the old stuff. I know you guys aren't trying to replace Freddie, but even without him there, it pales in comparison.
/end self-indulgent musical rant
~Frostilicus~
1: They all have one member named John.
- John Deacon - Queen (Bass)
- John Bonham - Led Zeppelin (Drums)
- John Lennon - The Beatles (Guitar and Vocals)
- John Densmore - The Doors (Drums)
- Jon Farris - INXS (Drums)
2: They all have members who are no longer with us.
- Jim Morrison - The Doors (Lead singer, died in 1971 of heart failure)
- John Bonham - Led Zeppelin (Drummer, died in 1980 of asphyxiation after a hard night on the booze)
- John Lennon - The Beatles (Vocals and Guitar, murdered in 1980)
- Michael Hutchence - INXS (Vocals, found hung in his hotel room in late November, 1997)
- Freddie Mercury - Queen (Vocalist, died in late November, 1991 due to bronchopneumonia, a complication of AIDS)
Now, as stated by the title, this is a bit of a Purist rant. All of these bands have had "reunions" of sorts. The Doors have reformed with Ian Astbury (of The Cult fame), and without drummer John Densmore (either he declined to take part, or wasn't invited, depending on who you ask). Led Zeppelin have played a handful of times as Led Zeppelin since the death of drummer John Bonham, once with Bonham's son Jason sitting in as drummer. (Fact fans, he's the kid playing the mini orange vistalite drumkit during the footage in John Bonham's solo Moby Dick in "The Song Remains The Same") Jimmy Page and Robert Plant have, in the late 90's performed as Page/Plant, without the participation of Zeppelin bass player John Paul Jones. The Beatles had their sort of "reunion" which culminated in the release of 2 new Beatles songs, "Free as a Bird" and "Real Love", created from 2 demo tapes made by John Lennon that had been in Yoko Ono's possession for a good many years. This coincided with the release of The Beatles Anthology, which was a 6 CD set of archive tracks, demos, works-in-progress and live takes. And if that wasn't enough, there was also an 8 part series documenting the history of the band. (And that was great for me at the time, having just discovered them at the age of 17)
INXS recently conducted a reality-type TV show to find a new lead singer. JD Fortune is now part of the new INXS, and I've not heard any of their new material.
Queen were one of the biggest (if not THE biggest) band to come out of England. Queen formed a few years before I was born, and continued to rock us until the early death of Freddie Mercury in 1991 at the age of 45. The world lost one of it's best performers the day he died. If you watch the Live in Wembley DVD, he at one point says: "We're going to stay together until we fucking well die, I'm sure of it!" Well, how right he turned out to be. There aren't many music fans who don't know who Queen are. (Well, except maybe the teenyboppers who think Britney Spears is just the best thing since sliced bread) Their "Greatest Hits" CD is a great addition to anyone's music collection, in fact, I'll be pretentious and go one better than that and say it's a MUST HAVE. I first heard Queen when I was 15 or so, although I do remember hearing about Freddie's passing at the age of nearly 13 and thinking "who is that man?", having no clue about him or Queen. Oh, the only thing I knew about Queen at the time, was that I had seen the video clip of "I Want It All" on Video Hits (a weekend morning music video program) a few years earlier, and thinking "who the hell are these 4 geezers?" and let's just say, I didn't think much of them. Well, times change like sweaty socks, and Queen's Greatest Hits was one of the first 10 cd's I bought in 1993/94 when I got my first CD player. Needless to say, I've never regretted buying it. It was a CD you could listen to intently, or just have it on as background. A friend gave me a copy of "Greatest Flix Volume 1", which spent many, many countless days in my VCR, being played and rewound. And played and rewound. Reverse, repeat. Now that I remember these memories, I was very much drawn to the band.
However, I really digress. Back to the rant. Queen have done a wierd reunion tour of sorts, rounding up Paul Rodgers (of Free and Bad Company fame) to fill the void left by Freddie (Though all parties claim that Paul is not replacing Freddie in the band. Incidentally, John Deacon declined to participate and has retired from the music scene, even though he endorses Queen related projects undertaken by Brian May and Roger Taylor.) They've done their tour and put out a live CD/DVD set called "Return Of The Champions".
Now here's where I get purist about it. While I can admire these bands for wanting to carry on playing with each other, for whichever reason, some people you just cannot replace. In the case of The Beatles, I would be completely skeptical if Paul and Ringo reformed with 2 other guys. Led Zeppelin... I admired Page and Plant's enthusiasm in reworking some of the Zeppelin catalogue, even if it WAS a little strange sounding. And sorry, but Robert's voice is half shot now, if not worse. Likewise with INXS, I've not heard the new incarnation of The Doors, so I'm not going to comment.
I've been on a Queen kick lately, as I said they've been a favourite of mine since I was 15 (at least), and I pulled out my DVD's (that I could find).... Greatest Video Hits 1+2, and Live At Wembley. (I also have Live and the Bowl, and the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert) So, after spoiling myself rotten listening again to all this fantastic music, and reading about Freddie and the band, I gave the new live set with Paul Rodgers a listen, thanks to a friend who lent me the CD. And I think I made it to about the second or third track before screwing up my nose at it. I listened for a couple more tracks, until "Love Of My Life" rolled around. Paul Rodgers has a bit of a blurb at the beginning, and mentioned that Freddie's mother was with them that night. Well at that point, I lost it. There aren't that many Queen songs I've heard that make me cry. One is "One Vision", and it's only because at one point in it, Freddie's voice sounds so beautiful and completely pure that I get tears in my eyes from listening to it. But it's still one of my favourite songs of theirs. The other, is "Love Of My Life", because it's a pretty sad song lyrically, and live, Freddie would get the whole audience singing along with him (Hearing 72,000 people sing along with him at Wembley is pretty damn impressive). And to hear that Freddie's mother was there, and Paul was singing a song that Freddie wrote, just made it even sadder and not fair that he's not alive anymore. Plus, I don't particularly care much for Paul Rodgers' voice. The only person who I think is really good at doing Freddie's songs is George Michael.
Freddie's voice was so amazing, there is part of the Wembley DVD where he is singing notes, and he sounds almost like a guitar (it's hard to describe, but it's a fabulous example of his vocal range), and his voice could be anything from strong and powerfully awesome, to gutsy sounding, to gentle and beautiful. Put simply, Freddie had a very unique style all of his own and is something that can never be replaced. It wasn't just his voice, either. Freddie had a style that was all FREDDIE. He was unlike any other performer I have ever seen. He wasn't the type of guy to just stand in front of a mic and belt out tunes, he danced around, jumped around, bounced around and completely got into the music he was performing. No wonder Queen are one of the greatest bands ever. True, Freddie was only 1/4 of the band, but all 4 of them as a group were awesome. Brian May is one of the best guitarists in the world, Roger Taylor was a good solid drummer, and John Deacon a great bass player. And without each other, it's just not the same.
So, with all due respect to Brian May and Roger Taylor, I'd much rather watch my DVD's and listen to the old stuff. I know you guys aren't trying to replace Freddie, but even without him there, it pales in comparison.
/end self-indulgent musical rant
~Frostilicus~
posted by FrostilicusFrost at 11:01 pm
2 Comments:
Good Points.
I'd rather often hear the older stuff when a band was complete rather than a modern version of "two original members and two hired guns" touring under the original band name. Its just not the same.
Foreigner was here not too long ago. Undisclosed was that Lou Gramm wasn't with them. Many people were annoyed.
Also agree about Robert Plant. His voice is shot. Unledded was awful. What should've been a reunion of Page, Plant and Jones was killed by Plant's ego. Didn't have to come back as Zep, but could've done it under another name to respect Bonzo. Disgraceful.
I just listened to Whole Lotta Love 7/7/80. Back when Plant had the voice of the Gods. Oh the memories...
Worst offender of reunion tours is the Who. Entwistle dies on the road, and the show doesn't stop. Now thats cold.
7/7/80 ...wasnt that the last show they played in Mannheim? I knew a guy once who collected Zeppelin bootlegs, and he had a phenomenal tape and CD collection and he taped a small selection of 10 tapes for me, and I think I ended up with one good quality show for every tour they did, in cluding a couple of songs from one of the last shows they played.
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