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Life & Arts

Some bands should stay gone

Stay Sick 

Jason Gagnon 

It disturbs me to no end when I hear about some great, classic band that has long since been retired or broken up deciding to go ahead and put out a new album. There is a reason these bands aren't around anymore, people. Either they couldn't get along well enough to write songs, or maybe there was just nothing left in the tank after a couple of albums. However, if you want to get back on stage and belt out the classic tunes, then by all means go ahead. Just don't try to recapture the magic that made you legends 20 years ago.

When it was first announced that my darling New York Dolls would be heading back to the studio decades after their last album dropped, I became enraged. How in the hell do you justify such a decision when the primary songwriters of all your hits died in the 1990s? Davey Jo and Syl's solo records went nowhere, except for that Buster Poindexter crap, which makes one wonder about whether these two got the chops to carry a Dolls record without Johnny Thunders and Jerry Nolan. Why tarnish your wonderfully sleazy reputation for another grab at some quick bucks?

I gradually came to the conclusion that a new Dolls record would be a thousand times better than most of the garbage released these days, but then the details emerged about One Day It Will Please Us To Remember Even This, and I got nervous again. It's great they got the producer of their debut album back, but what in Elvis' name is up with all the star cameos? I hate that junk, and it's even worse when it's on a comeback album. Iggy Pop, Bo Diddley and Michael Stipe all contribute to a track, and it seems to me as if we're going to get a very uneven and unnecessary album.

Now the news has broken that the Stooges are going to put out a new record and I'm much less worried about that. Sure, Iggy Pop hasn't put out a record worthy of his name in a while (Skull Ring was OK, but what was up with that song he did with Sum 41?) but you have principal songwriters Ron and Scott Asheton, who jell so wonderfully with Pop's vocal style and lyrics, returning. This is a very good thing. 

Plus, Steve Albini (Big Black, Nirvana) will be producing, so at least we can be sure this album is going to sound as close to original fuzzed-out tones of Funhouse as possible. And let us not forget the great results Albini produced with his childhood heroes Cheap Trick. 

The only rat hair in the tuna here is that Jack White is playing bass -- it may be a bad thing if he gets in on the songwriting. He's already begun plagiarizing himself, and, let's be honest, Get Behind Me Satan is just a stale White Stripes' record with some funk thrown in.

Get over it, critics and fans. Even though the odds seem to favor the Stooges, we still must ask ourselves if they can kick out the modern jams on par with the glories of their past. Only time will tell.
 

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