The Police commissioners meet with New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg on May 7.
Making up is hard to do in pop music, and when major bands split the sheet, the reunion offers start flying before the ink dries on the divestiture contract.
But groups that beg out of their partnerships should know: there is a window of opportunity for viable, crowd-pleasing reunions. If you miss that golden moment, there is a good chance that a late regrouping will disappoint fans, and an equal chance that lapsed acolytes will greet it with deafening apathy.
Three recent breakup and reunion situations come to mind: the Police’s regrouping and recent re-divorce; the Velvet Revolver/Stone Temple Pilots/Guns ‘N Roses soap opera; and Sub Pop Records’ upcoming 20th anniversary festival, featuring reunited grunge legends Green River. Each represents found and lost opportunities, and at least one cautionary tale.
The Police fattened their wallets last year with a massive stadium tour over two decades after breaking up. There was interest on the part of Stewart Copeland and Andy Summers as early as 1999, but it took the band eight years to make it happen. By then, Sting’s cache as a solo act had been marred by horrifyingly lame mellow pop and lute-oriented renaissance music. And to accommodate his diminished vocal capacity, Police songs had to be transposed down so Sting could hit the high notes.
People bought tickets, but few raved about what they saw. So when the Police announced it would play one more fundraising concert in New York City this year before locking it up for good, the world said, “Whatever.” A reunited Police could have been great 10 years ago. Instead, they were OK at best, underwhelming at worst.
Here’s a fine idea when it comes to reunions: lead singers should stop believing the messiah in the mirror and learn to play nice. That sounds easy and trite, but Scott Weiland is doing it now with Stone Temple Pilots after a few years in a nonproductive relationship with Velvet Revolver.
Now, Velvet Revolver’s Slash, Duff McKagan and Matt Sorum are reportedly considering reality television as a way of solving their human resources problem. Meanwhile, there’s a guy who’s been working on a Guns ‘N Roses album for 14 years and cannot seem to keep any musicians around long enough to finish it. There’s a logical solution here, but when were rock musicians ever logical? Again, this should have been resolved 10 years ago.
On a high note, Sub Pop Records is hosting its SP20 Festival on July 11, 12 and 13 in Redmond, Wash. SP20 features bands from Sub Pop’s entire history with a special caveat: a reunion of Green River, the seminal grunge group whose members went on to form Mudhoney and Pearl Jam.
That is great news, but while I’m carping here, there is one great lost opportunity. Since Jeff Ament and Stone Gossard of Pearl Jam will be onstage with Green River, Pearl Jam drummer Matt Cameron might have a free day. And I hear Chris Cornell’s old bandmates in Audioslave have been raging against the machine lately.
Can Soundgarden not take a hint? Just a thought, guys: don’t wait too long.