I sort of agree with those who say The Who should’ve hung it up after John Entwistle died. But, “cover band” or no, seeing Pete play in person has been worth every penny I’ve spent on tickets since 2002. He’s on a self-described year-long hiatus, and I wouldn’t be a bit disappointed if he decided to retire for good. He’s earned it.
On the other hand, Roger has been recording and touring and keeping The Who’s music alive. His album with Wilko Johnson was well-received as was his recent solo effort As Long as I Have You. I think Roger feels the need to keep moving as long as he can.
As far The Stones and other classic rock bands go, as long as people want to see them and they still enjoy getting up on stage, I say go for it.
This…I saw the Grateful Dead over 120 times, I liked their first iteration after Jerry died, the whole band with Warren Hayes and Jimmy Herring, really liked several Phil and Friends iterations, but now it’s just gotten ridiculous, I saw Dead and Company once, yes it was well played, but it doesn’t have the same feel, I walked away thinking I just paid $120 to watch a really good cover band, never again, all done…
I completely disagree. I saw them live a couple years ago and they were amazing. The crowd went nuts over them.
I don’t understand threads like these. It seems like they’re about bashing old people. If you don’t want to hear/see a group, fine, don’t pay attention to them. But if their fans still like them and are willing to pay money to see them, more power to them. May we all be so lucky in our 70s.
I wish Fountains of Wayne had stuck around a little longer. They had just started doing stuff with more mature themes. I think Chris got tired of the whole rock and roll hamster wheel and without him that was it.
I’ll second (third, fourth, fifth, etc) The Rolling Stones being around too long and Derek & The Dominos not long enough.
I have no idea what The Doors would be like now, but I would have hoped that they would have continued at a high level. Unfortunately, Other Voices leads me to believe that they had already hit their peak before Morrison passed.
But…Cheap Trick is still pretty damn lively playing their classics and some new stuff, with 3/4 of their original members.
Noboby ever makes these threads about jazz or classical artists.
Pop and rock artists are usually connected to the fun young years of their fans life. Firstly, one usually isn’t having to same sort of life changing experiences at 40 that one had at 18 and secondly we also have a much wider appreciation of music. A Rolling Stone album from the nineties might actually be musically better than their classic material but we judge music differently as we mature.
The Sisters of Mercy. Their last album is old enough to buy a drink by now, but they’re still out touring with the same old same old. Although I guess it’s mostly the singer and a drum machine these days since everybody else left.
Agreed. I started following the Stones in 1965. Not very long ago I collected my favorite tracks into one enormous “album”; I just now counted the tracks and my tally isn’t too far off your guesstimate.
Brian Jones era: 45 songs
After Brian: 15 songs, four of them from Some Girls
Mick Taylor era: 7
Some Girls: 4
Emotional Rescue: 1 (Send It To Me)
Steel Wheels: 1 *(Can’t Be Seen With You)
*Voodoo Lounge: 1 (Baby Break It Down)
Bigger Bang: 1 *(Back Of My Hand)
*
But as someone else mentioned upthread, I’m glad they’re still around.
Cream should have stayed together longer.
The Stones had two good albums after Some Girls. Yes, Tattoo You was mainly older songs, but Undercover of the Night is a very underappreciated album.
There is the Modern Jazz Quartet and the Manhatten Transfer. But older jazz artists are usually revered. I don’t think we like our rock stars evolving and aging. Like us, they can’t go back.to 18.
I have to agree that Yes, and a lot of bands of my youth (or what remain of them), are nothing more than shadows now. I was deeply disappointed last time I saw them play live. They had the tribute band singer replacing a sick Jon Anderson (who then supposedly got upset that they didn’t just cancel the tour and wait until he recovered). It was a boring 90 minute, really low energy set. First time I ever saw Yes was in-the-round at Madison Square Garden, and that’s the band I want to remember.
Another band I loved as a kid was Kansas, and the last time I saw them, Steve Walsh’ voice was so bad and shot that it killed the whole concert. A friend of mine recently saw Kansas - he said pretty much only the bassist and drummer remained. I wouldn’t even call that a tribute band…it’s a cover band at that point. But I figure these guys didn’t put enough into their retirement accounts over the years, and have to keep at it to make ends meet. I had heard rumors that money was the reason why Chris Squire kept at it, and when his diagnosis became public, it made perfect sense (though, as a British citizen, I would imagine that his medical costs were pretty much fully covered).
ETA: I do wish the Fripp/Belew/Bruford/Levin incarnation of King Crimson had stayed together longer. Excellent music by accomplished musicians. But Fripp when through bandmates like a hot knife through butter.
I have to slightly disagree with that. Don’t Look Back went 7x platinum, IIRC, and personally, I thought it was a worthy successor to their debut album. And Third Stage wasn’t too bad, but mainly because of Brad Delp’s vocals. But they (or Tom Scholz) should have packed it in after that, especially with Scholz’s insistence on using Delp’s zombified vocals on subsequent albums.
I heard that Foghat did that because they still wanted to perform, but they didn’t have to tour because of their royalties and could therefore still make a living at it, and at least some of the band members didn’t want to be away from their kids for long periods of time. And they’re not the only artist or band who did that kind of thing.
Didn’t their lead singer move to a rural area in the Northeast, where he was able to live in relative anonymity (even though everyone in town knew who he was, and didn’t care or bother him) until he died some years back?