Bands Reunited

I actually fired-up the turntable and gave The Alarm's "Declaration" a spin for the first time since Ronald Reagan ruled!

Wow! Great idea for a throwaway series (and network). VH-1 seems to have scrapped the "Behind The Music" overkill, and tapped into endless 80's nostalgia, which is OK by me, but I'm sure will get old in a hurry as well.

In the meantime, it's kind of refreshing to see one-time music stars slugging it out out day-to-day like the rest of us after the glitter is gone. I especially enjoyed seeing a guy from Dramarama driving a road grater and some guy in The Alarm working in an office. Their candor about getting on with life seems just a bit more realistic than all the interviews we see and hear from the survivors of the LA glam metal scene. Side note to Bret Michaels---just go away for awhile, as we're sick of hearing about how many BJ's you received before heading out for an encore.

Since they haven't limited the focus to groups where every member has left the biz (both Squeeze & The 'Gulls have ex-members still performing), how 'bout taking a swing at some of the underground heroes of the 80's, many of whom are still at it in various forms. Off the top of my head, Husker Du, The Replacements, Black Flag, & The Dickies would be an interesting watch. In any event, keep 'em coming.

This VH1 T.V. show is about bands from the 80's that have broken up. Aamer Haleem trys to hunt down the members of these certain bands and get them to come back together so they can chat and have a one night only concert for there fans. They have attempted at regrouping ten bands so far. You may not remember there names because most of them only had a few big hits before they became unheard of. The ten bands include A Flock of Seagulls (They sang "I Ran" and "Telecomunications"), Kajagoogoo (They sang "Too Shy" and "Ooh To Be Ah"), Berlin (They sang "Take My Breath Away" from Top Gun and "The Metro"), Klymaxx (They sang "I Miss You" and "The Men All Pause"), Dramarama (They sang "Wonderamland" and "Anything Anything"), Romeo Void (They sang "Never Say Never" and "Say No"), Extreme (They sang "Little Girls" and "More Than Words"), Squeeze (They sang "Black Coffe In Bed" and "Hour Glass"), Frankie Goes to Hollywood (They sang "Relax" and "Two Tribes"), and finally The Alarm (They sang "Stand" and "Sold Me Down The River".) It is very entertaining to see how much the band members have changed. I think the best episodes are the ones on Berlin and A Flock of Seagulls. Most of the groups hadn't seen each other in up to twenty years. Some groups are happy to get together and they heal the pain they had in the past. Some of the groups, Frankie Goes To Hollywood for example, don't want to see each other and won't perform. It is a very entertaining show and is interesting to see how much has changed.