Opinion
Columnist wishes for reunited bands this holiday season
December 13, 2007
Usually my column consists of a rant about a hot topic which has gotten me riled up and I use my column as an avenue to vent my frustrations. However, because this is the holiday season and this is my last column of the semester, I’ve decided to tone it down a bit. Inspired by the recent reunion of Led Zeppelin and my recent trip to see Modest Mouse in Minneapolis, I’ve decided to compile a list of some musical acts which I loved and would like to see reunite. In order to make it on my list, all the band members must still be alive. I just want to hear my favorite broken up bands play again, not raise the dead.
Ben Folds Five
Yes, I realize that Ben Folds continues to tour by himself. I’ve seen him a few times and I enjoyed every concert I’ve seen but something seems lacking. Ben’s new music doesn’t really carry the same weight of a lot of his older music and he seems to have gotten a little sappier. Maybe Ben needs Robert and Darren to re-ignite the magic of his younger days.
The Spin Doctors
I will concede that since I was five my musical tastes have changed significantly, and many of the songs I loved seventeen years ago are terrible, but there was something golden about the Spin Doctors. I had forgotten about them until a couple weeks ago when they were on one of the trailer discs at my job at Blockbuster. It was like love all over again. I think the Spin Doctors are one of those bands who I remember liking them but nothing else. Honestly, I can’t even remember one of their songs.
Tyrannosaurus Rex
Awesome. That pretty much sums up this band. Any band that has two songs with ‘boogie’ in the title on their greatest hits album deserves some note. T. Rex was very much a product of their times, but their music still is catchy to me now. I can only imagine the music they would come out with now if only they got the respect they deserved. I know their songs; I just don’t know what any of them mean.
Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers
Are they broken up? I don’t even know. I know Tom Petty is lending his voice to King of the Hill. Good for Tom Petty, bad for everyone else. His voice is much more suited to serenading me, not being the hick boyfriend of Hank’s niece. Tom Petty is like the opposite of the Spin Doctors; every time I listen to one of his albums, I’m astounded by the number of songs I knew but didn’t know were his.
I could’ve included more bands. There are a lot of bands that had one good song and left before reaching full potential. Come to think of it, the Spin Doctors might have been one of those bands; I really don’t remember. I’ll make an exception for them. Okay, they might have been a stretch. I think its important to note my first column was about the state of emergency in Pakistan and Musharraf. Now I’m writing about the Spin Doctors.
There probably aren’t too many articles in the Voice which reference the global war on terrorism and the Spin Doctors in the same article, much less the same paragraph.
Joe Eggers is a fifth year senior from Appleton, Wis. He is a political science and international studies major. He has been involved in several activities on campus, including a stint as last year's Student Senate president.