Led Zeppelin On/Off Saga - I'm Past Caring!

Led Zeppelin... Will they? Won’t they? Will they? Won’t they? By this point I suspect everyone in the world has stopped caring. Never mind, it’s a great way to end a legacy - with live appearance rumours that play out like a shoddy rom com. Shame really, I’m a big fan, but if your childhood heroes aren’t there to let you down then who the hell is?

Anyway, this brings us on to a wider issue - can everybody please stop reforming? Is that too much to ask? At first it was novel, almost exciting, but now, as we find ourselves in an ever contracting industry can we not save some space for fresh blood? (Not you Ting Tings, you can just fuck right off and take Fight Like Apes with you).

I’ve always been fairly anti-reforms, after all there is something terribly cringe-inducing about err... about 90% of reforms. The mere word conjures an abundance of images of classic bands - aged, passionless, wearing ill fitting suits and massacring their own songs (see The Who).

Occasionally, however, the odd reform can actually work. In order for this extraordinary occurrence to take place there are a couple of simple rules:
1. The band must not be too old
2. The band must still be culturally relevant
3. It’s generally a bad idea to record new material.

Off the top of my head I can think of a handful of bands who, on hearing of their reformation, didn’t make me wince - obviously biased to my own musical tastes (if you don’t like it, you write it).
So, firstly, Take That – I know, I know, great group. When I was younger I thought they were absolute shit, but with age I can appreciate the pop. Furthermore, there is something very likeable about the members themselves, they seem humble and grateful for the second chance. Fuck you Robbie Williams – I hope they never let you back in the group.

Let me see, who else do we have? Two of my personal favourites: The Pixies and My Bloody Valentine. I understand that these two are both tenuous when it comes to rules 1 and 2 and the Pixies even recorded a new track, but hey I don’t care. Both were incredibly popular bands first time around, and both have gone on to have not only successful, but in my own opinion impressive reformation tours.
A slightly more hit and miss reform was The Smashing Pumpkins – I was a massive fan and was lucky enough to get tickets to their incredible one off gig at Shepherds Bush. No support and nearly 3 hours of classic songs - I even managed to walk away with one of Jimmy Chamberlain’s drumstick, although this was at the expense of one whale-sized, female gig-goer whom I had to savagely beat to claim my prize. Still, I feel like my joy offset her misery.

Unfortunately, after this the Pumpkins got cocky and went on to break rule 3. 'Tarantula', the initial single from 'Zeitgeist', promised so much, but little on the album lived up to this (excluding the sublime 'Bring the Light'). It really is a crushing blow when a band you have followed for such a long time go and put out sub-par material. Frustratingly, the following American Gothic EP was even worse.

Probably most heart-breaking, however, was the Velvet Underground reforming to play a few shows, including Glastonbury. They put on an ok performance which doesn’t sound too devastating or catastrophic. The problem is, VU were supposedly a superb live act, musos often name checking them as one of, if not the best of all time. So what do they do? Reform and prove that it isn’t true. Ok, they were all older, but they still managed to smear this iconic title they had acquired through myth and legend.

It’s fairly apparent that the reform is incredibly risky; however, this may not be such a big problem for groups after all. This may sound unlikely, but there have been some vicious rumours going round that some groups don’t actually care about their legacy, respect, pride and are just in it in the money!!! I’ll believe that when I see it...
Oh dear, I’ve just heard a Genesis reform is potentially on the cards, remove your ears or abandon all hope.