Blink182 To Reunite

There are reunions, and then there are reunions. Mark Hoppus, Tom DeLonge and Travis Barker reunited on stage at the Grammys two nights ago to present the award for Best Rock Album, and subsequently announced they would be reuniting to perform as Blink182 again. How is that going to work out?

Bands are constantly breaking up, changing members, and reuniting, so this move is right in line with what's normal in the music industry. But reunions are tricky. It's like trying to catch lightning in a bottle. Most of the time the creative spark, the chemistry, that allows a group of three or four people to churn out good new music seems to last from three to six years. Then interests start to diverge, personalities to clash, and that's the end of it. Putting the pieces back together doesn't mean the mojo will come with them.

Which is probably why most reunions are more about cashing in on nostalgia, and on the greater disposable income of a core audience that has grown up. (See The Eagles, The Spice Girls, The Rolling Stones... oh, wait, they never officially broke up. No matter. It's the same principle. People go to Stones concerts to hear their old songs, not the new ones.)

Perhaps the new incarnation of Blink182 will beat the odds. But if they don't it won't necessarily matter, because they won't have needed to.