With bands like Blink-182 and American Football putting out new music after five, ten or even 15 years, I always stop to wonder just how valid these comebacks are. Are they truly rooted in something genuine, or is it a cash grab at a new generation of fans?

Even comeback tours give off a very similar feeling to certain music fans. They are finally given an opportunity to grab onto something that they missed out on the first time. A few months ago, My Chemical Romance even put out a teaser trailer that had fans giggling in their seats over the mere possibility of a reunion tour. But to those fans I wanted to ask, “Would it really have been that great?” To Blink-182 fans, was the new album “California” really as good as “Dude Ranch”?

As a longtime Weezer fan, I was forced to sit through terrible album after terrible album. At the time, though, I went along with it. I would never have admitted that they were nowhere near what I considered the best of their catalogue. It is difficult to take off your nostalgia glasses and give an unbiased opinion on something you hold so dearly to your heart.

Reunion tours, comebacks and albums released after a long hiatus prey on this very idea. For a band or artist to “come back” after a long period of time, there is already a predisposed notion that it will appeal to a large, if not entire, portion of a fan-base.

On one hand, it could very well be as sincere as possible. Maybe American Football really did want to release this second album after 15+ years of absence. And maybe Blink-182 really did want Matt Skiba in the band after all, despite the drama.

Yet on the other hand, I see this as inherently manipulative to not only the fans of an artist, but also to the artist themselves. People create music at a certain point in their lives for a very specific reason that is unique and distinctive to them.

There is nothing wrong with becoming a fan of a band after-the-fact, or rather, after a band is long dead in the water. Many of my favorite bands are no longer active, yet I still listen to them on a regular basis. In the vast world of music as a whole, these things are bound to happen.

Anyone who is a fan of music should actively seek out new artists to take influence from to some capacity. I am sure some of your favorite bands that are active right now can cite a band or artist that is no longer creating music as influence to the music that they created. Music is a cyclical process that leads to progression.

So when a band comes back after many years to tour again or release new music, it is hard to see it as a form of progression. Sure, maybe it is progressive for that band themselves, but the very fact that they were once a band takes away from their honest intentions because of reasons I gave previously relating to manipulation.

I am not here to judge the validity of a band’s decision to ever create new music. If they release it and people like it, that is all that really matters in the end. And some bands do, in fact, take a break for genuine reasons.

So, with most things in life, I ask that you question these comebacks. Try to take off your nostalgia glasses and ask yourself if it really would be all that great to see The Misfits at Riot Fest this year. Come to this conclusion yourself, and do not let fancy marketing sway you into buying into mediocrity.

Joe Tucci is a senior English major. He can be reached at 581-2812 or jrtucci@eiu.edu.