A month or so ago, emo/post-hardcore/whatever else band, Basement announced (well, hinted at) their reunion through a discreet but very obvious Twitter post. It was classy and sure upped their hype factor to the kids that already jock them, but for me as someone that didn‰’t care for them much to begin with, this announcement still rubbed me the wrong way. Usually, I‰’ll see most music announcements and if I don‰’t care about the artist or tour I’ll shrug my shoulders, maybe roll my eyes, and move on with my day. But this announcement was a little different than most considering Basement broke up a mere 15 months before. That‰’s not even enough time to write a decent album and tour on it. They basically “broke up‰” for the amount of time most bands take to write a new record. What was the point in that? WHY? My only thought it that it was just a lovely little marketing ploy to drum up interest in the band. I know nothing about the background of the band or their possible band drama or personal lives but it seems a little fishy, considering the onslaught of useless reunions that rarely spawn more than one off shows and mediocre new albums.

The month or so before this reunion was announced a multitude of others were announced too. Haste the Day, Midtown, Spraynard, and the North Carolina Over and Out (TTYC Unaffiliated) all announced plans to reunite. There are so many instances of bands reuniting recently that it‰’s barely even interesting. One band I had never heard of called Troubled Coast broke up last September and announced their reunion in February. Judge has now reunited 600 million times and every time they play one reunion show for a large festival, which undoubtedly pays them an insane amount of money. Don‰’t even get me started on the American Nightmare reunions. My Chemical Romance didn‰’t even give me a moment to grieve before releasing a song called “Fake Your Own Death‰Û, giving fans potentially false hope that this break up isn‰’t for good. Why rip my 13 year old hair out and then confuse me like that, MCR? I remember Spraynard‰’s breakup; I saw them less than two years ago in a DC basement. I like them but their reunion felt more like they took a longer than average nap and were back on the road again. I didn‰’t even get a chance to forget about them before they reunited and that‰’s a problem.

Ok, there‰’s more than one problem and the best way to talk about it is in list form or else I’ll rant and we all know that can get confusing and never end.

– Reunions after less than five years seem disingenuous, like the band had nothing better to do so they reunited to make some quick cash.

– They often (but not always) lack the passion they once had before the breakup.

– If the band tours, they only do limited runs, making it hard for fans in smaller places to see them.

– Reunions get expensive, for fans that is (travel costs to get to one off shows/fests, excusive merch/ album represses etc.)

– Shows that bands don‰’t know when to throw in the towel for good and accept that their band just isn‰’t what it used to be (I‰’m looking at you, Blink- 182)

Now this last reason needs a little more explanation so it gets a paragraph and not a bullet point: My major personal issue with reunions is that they allow bands/fans to stunt the growth of a genre. They allow us to pretend its still 2005, and the glory days are still in full swing, when in fact, they aren‰’t. We shouldn‰’t be looking forward to reunion tours; we should be looking for the next band that‰’s going to make us feel the way the reunited band did when they were relevant. I commend bands like Thursday who knew when their heyday was over and stepped aside, letting new younger bands take the limelight, allowing fans to grow and change with the scene. Reunions prohibit movement, and growth and movement are what keep music scenes creative living things making this reunions biggest problem.

Side notes/Disclaimers: There‰’s nothing wrong with any of these bands, I actually like quite a lot of them, I just have qualms about their reunion tactics. There are also probably a ton of other reunions I‰’m missing from the last few months too so don‰’t judge me for not knowing everything, I promise I searched long and hard for the ones I did mention. Finally, this list DOES NOT represent all break ups or reunions. There are plenty of bands that do them in ways that I have zero problems with. Example: The Promise Ring gave ample time between one off shows, toured a little, released some b sides/rarities and did an overall great job making me feel warm and fuzzy without being corny.