I remember when I was young and there were a bunch of old geezer bands from the sixties and seventies that kept staying together and touring and putting out horrible new albums, etc--the main offender was the Rolling Stones with their awful eighties records, but then there were lesser bands like the Moody Blues and their godawful "In Your Wildest Dreams" song and (Jefferson) Starship with the singular "We Built This City".
At the time, I never realized that the contemporary hipster bands of the eighties would decide to stay together to milk their aging fan base forever, too. The appropriate behavior for a group would be to put out one good debut album, and follow it up with 1 to 4 albums of lesser quality and then break up as a way of arresting their decline.
Here are a few of the main offenders:
U2 (together 35 years! First single released 31 years ago)
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| Adam Clayton always looked awful, didn't he? |
R.E.M. (together 31 years)
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| The mopey look that influenced countless jangle pop band photos in the 80s |
Sonic Youth (still peddling their hipster cred after 30 years)
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| Hey, it's that guy from Stranger than Paradise! |
Did you forget they ever looked like that, after all these years? What ancient bands do you wish would just stop?
I have but one question: Why isn't Obama doing something about this? I am so disappointed in him!
Uhhhh uuuuhhhh ... shoulders shaking from laughing. What does it say that I immediately recognized the songs AND the groups! (Except Sonic Youth although the name is familiar.) I never liked "We Built This City" - I confess, I shuddered seeing the title.
ReplyDeleteBut "In Your Wildest Dreams" I kinda-sorta like. I never saw the video - thanks for that link. The video was cute-corny-unintentionally funny all at once.
Thanks for the laughs. Please do rant again!
I was recently shocked to discover that Depeche Mode is still a band.
ReplyDeleteThere is a Depeche Mode-themed nightclub in Tallin, Estonia! I'm very old, so I didn't venture in during clubbing hours, but its mere existence cheered me. I don't really care for Depeche Mode, but Estonians are just the sweetest... Maybe Depeche Mode is to them what Hall & Oates is to viewers of *Glee*.
ReplyDeletePS to Guy: You mock the Rolling Stones' 1980s songs... I must warn you that I'm planning to karaoke several of the very stupidest of the lot. Whee!
80s Rolling Stones--oh noes!
ReplyDeleteI think Depeche Mode belong to that group of bands that was largely forgotten, but just kept chugging along, like The Cure.