Best "Bands Reunited" of all...

Or it should be… VH1 is airing four more episodes, and one is called "Backstage Pass." Looks cool. The other episodes are Scandal, Information Society and Vixen. I don't think I know a song by either Vixen or Information Society.

Bands on the Run: Backstage Pass

Over the past two seasons, Bands Reunited has tried to reunite many great bands. For the first time, youâ??ll see the methods we used to track down these musicians and hear about the unbelievable things we sometimes had to do to convince band members to reunite for one last concert. Youâ??ll also see the greatest moments of our top-secret failed episodes and hear all about the bands that went so wrong, we couldnâ??t even make an episode out of them!

This special Backstage Pass episode takes you behind-the-scenes of our attempts to reunite ABC, The Alarm, Berlin, The Commodores, Dramarama, The English Beat, Extreme, A Flock of Seagulls, Frankie goes to Hollywood, Generation X, Haircut 100, Kajagoogoo, Klymaxx, Information Society, The Motels, New Kids on the Block, Romeo Void, Scandal, Shalamar, The Smiths, Squeeze, and Vixen.

<small>[ 11-08-2004, 07:10 AM: Message edited by: kosmo vinyl ]</small>

Bummer. :( I got excited when I saw the thread title thinking VH-1 were going to bring back "Bands on the Run," the battle of the bands show with Flickerstick, et al. I loved that show.

Originally posted by Random Citizen:
Bummer. :( I got excited when I saw the thread title thinking VH-1 were going to bring back "Bands on the Run," the battle of the bands show with Flickerstick, et al. I loved that show.

thats what i was thinking aswell…

WOOPS – dumbass me. Kosmo, fix it if you can… I meant Bands Reunited….sorry. Bands on the Run was a blast…

;) Thanks, Kosmo!

Originally posted by Bags:
The Smiths,

good luck to them. what are the chances of this happening? 100 to 1? 200 to 1? Be great if it did. It'd be nice to see a talking heads reunion to. Odds of that happening, anyone?

Originally posted by palahniukkubrick:

Originally posted by Bags:
The Smiths,

good luck to them. what are the chances of this happening? 100 to 1? 200 to 1? Be great if it did. It'd be nice to see a talking heads reunion to. Odds of that happening, anyone?

Happened at the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame induction. That's about it. I remember seeing that, and then seeing a few days later in the paper or something that it was stated that a reunion was out of the question. That came from the lead singer (I just had a brainfart and forgot his name damnit)

Originally posted by hitman:

Originally posted by palahniukkubrick:

Originally posted by Bags:
The Smiths,

good luck to them. what are the chances of this happening? 100 to 1? 200 to 1? Be great if it did. It'd be nice to see a talking heads reunion to. Odds of that happening, anyone?

Happened at the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame induction. That's about it. I remember seeing that, and then seeing a few days later in the paper or something that it was stated that a reunion was out of the question. That came from the lead singer (I just had a brainfart and forgot his name damnit)

David Byrne. I was listening to an XM interview where the bassist (forget her name too) was describing how he would take credit for everything created and not give props to anyone else, specifically the intro of Psycho Killer in this instance.

Originally posted by Dandy01:
I was listening to an XM interview where the bassist (forget her name too) was describing how he would take credit for everything created and not give props to anyone else, specifically the intro of Psycho Killer in this instance.

Tina Weymouth

They need to run a marathon of these. I only caught the first go 'round. I missed the seconds series, and missed Scandal and Vixen. Regardless of musical tastes, they all end up being at least a little interesting.

Originally posted by palahniukkubrick:

Originally posted by Bags:
The Smiths,

good luck to them. what are the chances of this happening? 100 to 1? 200 to 1? Be great if it did. It'd be nice to see a talking heads reunion to. Odds of that happening, anyone?

Maybe even worse than that but who knows.

Just a side note on The Smiths front, if you go to the UK anytime soon and are a Smiths fan, keep your eyes opened for a band (or is this a person?) called Vinny Peculiar. Right now they are touring small pubs and clubs in the UK. The rhythm section is Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce.

Originally posted by palahniukkubrick:

Originally posted by Bags:
The Smiths,

good luck to them. what are the chances of this happening? 100 to 1? 200 to 1? Be great if it did. It'd be nice to see a talking heads reunion to. Odds of that happening, anyone?

That's the point of the show – footage not seen of bands they got together, and footage of bands they tried to get together and could not get to reunite (they already tried and failed) – to the degree they didn't even have enough footage for a half hour "they didn't reunite but gave some good interviews" show like the Squeeze episode….

Warning contains Smiths Reunion Spoiler :roll:

So this was definitely the weakest set of shows yet…

The Scandel episode was more interesting than expected. However, seeing as their entire career is based on one insanely catchy chorus (which of course is bouncing around in my head right now) it seemed a bit of stretch to even renunite them.

The Information Society episode was saved only by the lead singer who is marching to his own drum machine.

Vixen was the lamest episode by far. An all girl hair metal band with a gold record to thier credit. Only saved by the sailor mouth of the bassist being interviewed in a LA yarn shop.

The Wrap-up special was really lame as well. A couple interesting bits about Berlin, Andy Cox (The Beat), and Billy Idol. I was thinking a Generation X reunion would be fab, but Billy's such a nutcase these days it would have been painful to watch.

The attempt to reunite the Smiths was so utterly lame… Stand outside a Morrissey show for several hours only to watch him dart into the venue was hardly even worth the effort IMHO. It was clearly added in order to boost ratings for this show.

Marquee will probably want to watch the last 10 minutes or so of the show, to see the band which pops up very briefly.

You know it's a bad 'season' of shows when I'm not even watching two of them (Information Society and Vixen…). If I happen upon one of those episodes some rainy Sunday, maybe, but…

I thought Patty Smyth was pretty funny in the Scandal show. I always enjoy how these bands thought at the time, and still seem to believe, that their band was just as big and important as the flu vaccination…. Usually pretty funny stuff.

VH1 missed out on this one…

From Billboard.com:

Gang Of Four, one of the most influential post-punk groups of the late 1970s, has bowed to ongoing pressure from fans and industry supporters and will reform with its original lineup. The band has confirmed five U.K. shows so far, beginning Jan. 23 in Manchester.

The quartet of Jon King (vocals), Andy Gill (guitar and vocals), Dave Allen (bass) and Hugo Burnham (drums) have not worked together in that combination since 1981, by which time its place in the vanguard of the British new wave had been established thanks to the 1978 debut EP "Damaged Goods" and the albums "Entertainment!" and "Solid Gold."

Since then, Gill has become an in-demand producer of such artists as Red Hot Chili Peppers, Killing Joke and the Futureheads. He and King launched a new version of Gang Of Four in the '90s, releasing the albums "Mall" (1991) and "Shrinkwrapped" (1995).

This year, Gang Of Four has been the subject of renewed interest thanks to the success of Scottish rock act Franz Ferdinand, to whom its music bears a strong stylistic resemblance.

VH1 missed out on this one…

From Billboard.com:

Gang Of Four, one of the most influential post-punk groups of the late 1970s, has bowed to ongoing pressure from fans and industry supporters and will reform with its original lineup. The band has confirmed five U.K. shows so far, beginning Jan. 23 in Manchester.

The quartet of Jon King (vocals), Andy Gill (guitar and vocals), Dave Allen (bass) and Hugo Burnham (drums) have not worked together in that combination since 1981, by which time its place in the vanguard of the British new wave had been established thanks to the 1978 debut EP "Damaged Goods" and the albums "Entertainment!" and "Solid Gold."

Since then, Gill has become an in-demand producer of such artists as Red Hot Chili Peppers, Killing Joke and the Futureheads. He and King launched a new version of Gang Of Four in the '90s, releasing the albums "Mall" (1991) and "Shrinkwrapped" (1995).

This year, Gang Of Four has been the subject of renewed interest thanks to the success of Scottish rock act Franz Ferdinand, to whom its music bears a strong stylistic resemblance.

Speaking of bands reunited…The Alarm are playing next Wednesday, 11/17 @ the Ottobar in Baltimore…8pm doors.

Speaking of bands reunited…The Alarm next Wednesday at the Ottobar in Baltimore…8pm. www.theottobar.com