Rolling Stones got old and boring but they never split up. They also made enough money to never have to work again but have carried on in spite of ridicule and old age. They are a big commercial group who never made any pledges of not selling out and so forth. My assessment is they actually must love what they are doing. No shame in that at all.
TG, Swans and many others quit after big bust ups and bold promises of never again, mission accomplished, we are dead etc. These are underground flagships who in their time stood for something very different to boring rockbands like the Rolling Stones. While me and my teenage friends laughed at the likes of them in the 80's we took comfort in knowing that heroes like TG and Swans would never become that pathetic. Well here we are 25 years later and the reunions just keep coming. Old heroes diluting their once vital catalogues with worthless albums and tarnishing their names with tours where they regurgitate old hits to people whose main excuse for supporting this sad circus is "I never got the chance to see them in the good old days". Then let me tell you you're not seeing them now either. The good old days are gone and this is just a reanimated corpse in front of you, at best an echo of the past, a NOSTALGIA ACT. And these has beens humiliate themselves for a lot less money than Rolling Stones, probably not even enough to secure a comfortable retirement. But so called fans of underground music swallow the same reunion turd time and time again. The saddest thing is people have less time for new groups trying to build something because they just HAVE to see St Vitus next month or go to Supersonic to see Godflesh/Swans and then there's God Speed You Black Emperor at ATP of course. The Rolling Stones aren't a problem. Groups like them don't matter. The problem are the once important underground bands who piss on their legacy and clog up the system. It's a sad state of affairs.
