9 Bands Who Need to Reunite Yesterday
Few things in life are more heartbreaking than finding out your favorite band has broken up. We always want to believe that the groups we love will continue making music forever, but the reality is the music industry is a tough business and many bands don't stick it out. After working through the stages of grief over the loss of your favorite band, one word remains as a beacon of hope—Reunion. We’ve seen it before, a band splits, and then twenty years later they reunite for a tour or new album. Let’s take a look at bands that have either broken up, have gone dark, or are on hiatus and imagine a world where they reunite. Some of these are plausible, others more fantastical, but it’s always fun to imagine your old favorite bands getting back together for one last hoorah.
Radiohead
While not formally “broken up” Radiohead is taking a break of sorts these days. The quintet hasn’t released a new album since A Moon Shaped Pool in 2016 and hasn’t toured since 2018. Radiohead has released some of the most iconic and groundbreaking music since their inaugural album Pablo Honey in 1993, and we’d certainly love to see more on the horizon for Thom Yorke and Co.
Talking Heads
Originally started as a cover band to entertain their friends, Talking Heads went on to create a genre of their own. All original members of Talking Heads are still alive so a reunion is technically possible, however, the band’s breakup in 1991 was somewhat tumultuous and the quartet has since had a complicated relationship. While fans spanning multiple generations would love to see David Byrne donning his iconic oversized suit on stage once again, it could be that the run of Talking Heads was truly once in a lifetime.
The White Stripes
The six-time Grammy Award-winning duo comprised of Jack White and Meg White played their final show in 2007 and announced they would stop making music as the White Stripes in 2011. While we’re left with six extraordinary studio albums and many unforgettable music videos, we’d love to see the White Stripes reunite at some point.
Oasis
Oasis’ sophomore album, (What's the Story) Morning Glory? is one of the most iconic albums of the 90s, featuring mega-hit "Wonderwall" which has racked up close to 2 billion listens on Spotify, placing it within the top 100 most streamed songs ever on the platform. Oasis officially split in 2009 although they always seemed on the verge of breaking up with the siblings Liam and Noel Gallaher feuding through the band's run. Despite the tensions between the siblings, there's always a chance they could make the reunion happen.
Rilo Kiley
Indie rock band Rilo Kiley was founded by Jenny Lewis and Blake Sennett in 1998 and disbanded in 2007 under somewhat messy circumstances. Beloved for their often quirky instrumentation, highly imaginative, sometimes nonsensical yet always sing-a-longable lyrics, Rilo Kiley’s four albums served as a soundtrack to many listeners’ formative years.
R.E.M.
The three-time Grammy Award-winning quartet behind hits such as “Losing My Religion," “Man on the Moon," “Everybody Hurts," and “It’s The End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)," among many others, wrapped up their illustrious 31-year career in September 2011. The band has stated they would never reunite, but stranger things have happened.
ABBA
ABBA’s music has a global reach with melodies that have withstood the test of time. The Swedish pop group behind mega hits “Dancing Queen," “Waterloo," and “Mamma Mia,” split in 1982. All members are still alive and an ABBA reunion has been much discussed in recent years. ABBA’s music lives on in the hit Broadway musical Mamma Mia! as well as countless cover bands and bar karaoke ballads across the world—but nothing would beat the original band getting back together.
OutKast
Atlanta natives Andre 3000 and Big Boi took over the hip-hop scene in the early 2000s as rap duo OutKast. The pair took home a Grammy for Album of the Year in 2004 for “Speakerboxxx/ The Love Below” and created hits such as “The Way You Move,” “Hey Ya!,” “Ms. Jackson,” “So Fresh, So Clean,” and “B.O.B. (Bombs Over Baghdad)." Andre 3000 has expressed interest in another OutKast album, and recently released an acclaimed solo flute album!
Something Corporate
If you grew up in the early aughts it is almost assured you had a CD-R with handwritten letters in Sharpie that read, “Something Corporate." Maybe it was a full album, or maybe it was a mix tape that featured “Punk Rock Princess," “Konstantine." or “I Woke Up In A Car." But you had it, and you loved it. After 20 years on hiatus, Andrew McMahon fans can rejoice—Something Corporate DID just reunite and is touring across the U.S. this summer.
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