We are in the era of bands who have had lots of different members. With this, a lot of different music has come out with various members, some songs have been good and some? Well, some will never get past the diehards.
A poster on Reddit made the connection between the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Blink-182 as Tom DeLonge recently played two songs from the Matt Skiba era at Coachella. Could we get the same case for the Chili Peppers with John Frusciante back?
The poster started the conversation by saying: “So I was just browsing the blink182 sub Reddit & saw at their show last night they played 2 songs which were written while Tom was out of the band.
It really does make me wish John would add some OHM / IWY or TG tracks to the set, even just 1 or 2.”
Comments began to come in about this as some echoed the sentiment.
A commenter said: “Saw that too, and came right here to see if this discussion had happened yet. The way Tom and Matt Skiba handled their transition back and forth was done with pure class, and Tom playing those two songs is an extension of that class. Cool to see.”
Not everyone was with this though.
Another commenter said: “Ok but let’s not act like the band is choosing not to play stuff as a whole when they were w josh they only performed aeroplane and the band has openly stated that the album doesn’t represent them anymore and it was a dark time for all of them. As much as we know John might have an ego let’s not act like it’s solely his choice to not play those tracks.”
On one hand, playing songs written or performed by past members can be a way for bands to pay tribute to their former bandmates. It can be a powerful moment of catharsis for both the band and their audience. It can also help keep the memory of departed members alive and create a sense of continuity for the band’s legacy if a member has passed. Additionally, it can be an opportunity for the current members to showcase their versatility and musical prowess by taking on the challenge of playing songs that were not originally their own.
On the other hand, these performances can be seen as a diss to some. Sometimes, the former musician played it differently or even better.
Furthermore, playing music that past members have played can also lead to internal tensions within the band. For example, some former members may not want their music to be played without their permission or involvement. They may feel that their creative contributions to the band are being erased or diminished by the current members. Additionally, some current members may feel that they are being unfairly compared to their predecessors and may struggle to live up to their legacy.
This is a really complex issue that works sometimes and fails other times. With bands such as Alice In Chains, it works very well in my opinion, on the other hand, I wasn’t stoked on the Tom DeLonge rendition of Matt Skiba songs. I think it varies band to band. For the Chili Peppers, I think it could work, but I also feel that most fans of the band want to hear work that was done when Frusciante was/is with the band.
