Music fans don’t have to stray far to stumble across a ‘Best Of’ list – whether it’s the hottest songs, coolest music videos, compilation albums, or the torrent of end-of-year lists, they’re never in short supply.
A ‘Worst Of’ list however, is usually a relatively rarer beast, but a new list is increasing those numbers with a look at those bands that really should call it a day.
Taking the opposite view of those diehards who live in hope for a fabled reunion of… oh, let’s say, Led Zeppelin, The Smiths or Axl Rose and Slash getting the band back together, Rolling Stone ran a poll asking ‘what are the bands that should be permanently hanging up their instruments’?
The resulting ‘Top 10 Bands That Should Break Up’ list has got some of the usual suspects that regularly draw derision from music purists (*cough* Nickelback) but there’s also some interesting picks among the more obvious selections as well. After all, this is the same readership that named Nirvana as one of the ‘Worst Bands of the 90s (yes, really).
Kicking off the Rolling Stone poll is Limp Bizkit, who already proved they couldn’t be killed so easily after their 2009 comeback. Though they’ve yet to ‘treat’ the world to the follow-up to 2011 album Gold Cobra, the Lil’ Wayne-aided Stampede Of the Disco Elephants, Fred Durst and co. have still been touring regularly, including an Australian visit courtesy of Soundwave Tours last year. But as Rolling Stone point out, “it seems like American fans aren’t quite nostalgic for ‘Nookie’ yet.”
The first of a few ageing rockers who have done their dash according to the poll is The Who. Though “no sane rock fan can dispute that the Who are one of the greatest bands of all time,” the lack of original members and the encroaching of old age are cited as dampening the band’s legacy in the winter years of their career, even as they plan their “last big tour” in 2015.
There’s some of the usual suspects that regularly draw derision from music purists (*cough* Nickelback) but there’s also some interesting picks tooThe same ‘use by date’ logic can be applied to The Rolling Stones, who rank at #4. Though continuing to roll past their 50th anniversary tour celebrations last year, its hard to ignore the fact the Stones are beginning to show signs of gathering moss. It’s an unspoken acknowledgement that the legendary quartet’s forthcoming Australian tour could be their last Down Under (which explains the high cost of tickets, and the even higher prices scalpers are charging).
On the other end of the spectrum, the Top 10 list also makes plea bargains for bands earlier in their careers to enter early retirement, including the arena-straddling Coldplay at #8 (closely followed by their key inspiration, U2, at #7) and emo-rock poster boys Fall Out Boy, who land at #5 even though they only just returned last year with a rally to Save Rock And Roll with a new album and world tour.
Bon Jovi are also on the break up wishlist, at #5, critiqued for bothering people for performing “the same songs over and over and over;” though the thousands of fans that turned out for Bon Jovi’s 2013 world tour, generating $2 million for the band and making it the highest grossing biggest tour of the year in the process, might disagree with that.
The Top 3 is rounded out by – in order – Southern Rock legends Lynyrd Skynyrd (in Australia in a matter of days), the Beach Boys (whose 2012 reunion tour was tarnished by sour relations between Brian Wilson and his estranged bandmates), and coming it at #1, one of the most hated bands of all-time, The Mr. Avril Lavigne-fronted Nickelback.
“Maybe it’s because they broke at a time when the Strokes and the Hives were supposed to be the next big rock bands, but they faded away and Nickelback just got bigger and bigger,” reasons the Rolling Stone poll, arguging “they are merely one in a long line of crappy bands, and they’re also the top group our readers hope go away forever.” We’re pretty certain readers of the US magazine aren’t the only ones.
The 10 Bands That Should Break Up
via Rolling Stone
10. Limp Bizkit
9. The Who
8. Coldplay
7. U2
6. Bon Jovi
5. Fall Out Boy
4. The Rolling Stones
3. Lynyrd Skynyrd
2. Beach Boys
1. Nickelback
