Isn’t it amazing that you can still see so many classic musical acts? And they’re all over the place. Our nostalgic teen years can be continually played and replayed over and over again. It’s great, I don’t ever have to grow up.
Hey Mickey you’re so fine, you’re so fine you blow my mind, hey Mickey!
Oh, sorry, got carried away. Anyway, who are these people? It’s one thing to see the Stones and view Keith Richards suspended in a perpetual age of 192 since he was 27, but for lesser bands it’s not always so sure.
I have this very basic criteria: For a band to be that band, they must have at least one original member. One. And for simplicity sake I define “original” as the lineup when their first album was released. No need to go back to the first garage jam session, just the first album. Otherwise they’re just a cover band. And no, the height of the band’s popularity isn’t good enough. Must… be… original. Maybe it’s just me… it usually is… but I don’t think this is an unreasonable criteria.
Believe it or not, some bands claiming to be whoever have no original members at all, just hangers-on from later in the band’s career when the band was dying anyway. There are several instances where there have been TWO bands of the same name, each one with an original member and each original member hating each other.
Then there’s the case of the J. Geils Band. For legal reasons, the band calling itself the J. Geils Band in recent years doing nostalgic shows had most of the original members… but not J. Geils. He had disputes with the rest of the band, so they wouldn’t let him in, but they got to legally keep the name. That’s actually funny.
I’m not convinced Keith Richards will ever die, btw… then again, maybe he’s been dead for 40 years. Can’t tell.