Band as Brand

Inspired by seeing that a group of musicians calling themselves “Uriah Heep” are playing in town tonight. The guitarist is the only original member left...so it’s not really Uriah Heep, right? What’s the tipping point for when a band becomes a brand?

i've often thought that the logical endpoint of brand culture vs pop music is that (say) the rolling stones brand will preempt the death of mick, keith and charlie by making a big deal outta recasting the players in the band

a carefully managed transition "to ensure future generations can enjoy the unique experience of seeing the greatest rock and roll band in the world - live!"

ac/dc with angus and axl (& no malcolm) felt only a few steps away from this

the rolling stones are overrated, sorry that is just how i feel

Gwar is essentially that, no original members left.

Last time I saw the Halle Orchestra there were no original members. Total rip-off.

napalm death have no original members but i don't think anyone would quibble with them calling themselves napalm death

There are a few ensembles kind of fitting the bill - Sun Ra's Arkestra these days maybe?
Also I suppose the Plastic Ono Band being a brand before a band might have been pioneering this concept.
But there are many other options where the members have fought over the name and toured their brand with non-original players besides themselves. Mike Love comes to mind.

The Arkestra has a few original members (at least they did a few years back), but it is mostly young guys in their 30s and 40s.

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/514-wUfVzeL._SY445_.jpg

i know short seasons are common enough in britain but i had to reread a couple of times when i saw taggart have only done 110 episodes in 35 years

it feels kind of like cheating do call something that was literally only doing one or two episodes per year for its first decade or so "continually running"

25 years, I think, most of which without the lead character who died after 10 years or so (hence the (tenuous) link to this thread). Two hours per episode usually.

huh, the "continually running" made me lazy enough not to notice the last episode was back in 2010

Uriah Heep is one of those old bands that has tentacles on those rock family trees going EVERYWHERE as they have had lots and lots of members. To be fair, their current singer and keyboard player have been with them now over 30 years and their original lead singer David Bryon died young in 1985. They also had their long time bassist die a couple years back too. The video I saw of them online from a few years ago sounded pretty good and I know they are still like a low-rent Deep Purple in that they tour all over the place and have large followings in odd corners of Europe and South America.

Mingus Big Band started with ties to the Mingus band and has kept on going.

This thread will be archive material when in 120 years and MOTORHEAD is a large conglomerate and the band is not remembered.

napalm death have no original members but i don't think anyone would quibble with them calling themselves napalm death

What about Steely Dan...because Fagen is the voice and the frontman, it’s somehow easier to pull off the guise that he IS the band. But if he had died before Becker, I doubt the latter would have an easy time doing the same

How does # of original members relate to "band as brand"? Napalm Death have been the same for 90% of their career. The fans' go-to listening is likely their last 12 albums, not the 1987 Peel sessions.

Ramones, Misfits etc are currently brands, not bands. Discuss.

My personal reformed band acceptability index equation includes #of original members, value of those members' contributions, reason for missing members' absence (death/litigation/indifference). Are new members simply aping playing unique styles of absent legends? Is there new material and is it worthy? Every case is different.

And crucially, how much did/do I even give a shit about this band in the first place?

Definitely not the type to get het up about "how dare they"-type fan outrage, but I do find this kind of hidden calculus of pop/rock pretty interesting - eg that Bad Lieutenant clearly decided that adding Gillian again was enough to tip the scales to playing New Order shows again, despite the absence of would-be (should-be?) crucial member Peter Hook.

there are about 5 million current versions of "The Drifters" i think

& all those other old doo wop groups

Right, it would've been impossible for Becker to continue now as SD without Fagen. They're an interesting example because while no one would argue that their young backing band "isn't authentic" or something because of the way they made their records in the 70s. So they're an ensemble in that way, but without Fagen's persona and more so his voice, they couldn't reasonably exist. Jazz ensemble mentality vs. rock band mentality.

xp and extraneous 'while'

Little River Band to thread.

xp
s/Fagen/Temp
s/Becker/Fagen
s/Temp/Becker

Ramones, Misfits etc are currently brands, not bands. Discuss.

― everything, Thursday, February 22, 2018 10:38 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I think everything hits on the more interesting idea of band as brand here -- the use of the band as a shorthand or style accessory. Surely the number of ramones t-shirts sold in 2017 far outpaces the number of ramones albums old in the same year. I'm tempted to add "Unknown Pleasures" to his list, just based on the sheer number of products you can get which feature the cover art. Nirvana is well on their way to being a brand. Really, any of the bands where Target is selling the T-shirts are at least trending in this direction.

i bought a britney shirt at target last week

Nirvana “on their way”? Nirvana has been a brand most of my life. Tho this is confusing - everyone knows the fucked up smiley face shirt, but everyone also knows Kurt Cobain and a good bit of the substance of the band. So many of these examples don’t go beyond logos or one song- Ramones is a good one.

Zappa plays Zappa is a good example of this