The sounds of the ’90s come back around

By Koty Neelis
Western Herald

If you’re like me, typing the words “Limp Bizkit comeback” into a Google search engine can be slightly nauseating. Bands like No Doubt, Jane’s Addiction, Blink 182 and others will be either touring this summer or working on a new album. As a kid who grew up in the ’90s and spent hours as an angsty preteen rebelling against my parents through the use of loud music they hated, I think most of these comebacks are pretty awesome. Some, however, are not.

Exhibit A: Limp Bizkit. While fading into the background of the new millennium, like many other groups, Limp Bizkit has been hit with a wave of nostalgia and a new bolt of creativity and will be resurfacing with their summer tour entitled, “Unicorns ‘N Rainbows.” My guess is they’re flat broke and pissed off that other media figures like Kanye West and Hannah Montana are seemingly more important in the eyes of American consumers. Apparently Fred Durst is still worried about people finding him important, just like the old days of trying to convince people he matters.
Surfing over to www.limpbizkit.com you first find yourself with a video feed of Limp Bizkit rehearsing.

“I am important,” Durst says to the camera before the band starts up. Wow, who are trying to convince Durst? Me, the viewer, or you … the same guy who tried to convince the world you banged every pop star in the late ’90s? Nobody believed you then and nobody believes you now. Move on. Another video on the homepage of their Web site is literally just a 39 second clip of Durst staring into a Web cam clearly confused. Are you promoting a comeback or is simple technology of the future dumbfounding you? When you figure it out, let us know.

Other bands coming back aren’t so disappointing fortunately. Blink 182 announced at this years Grammy Awards they would be getting together again. In different interviews they said they were writing and recording. On www.blink182.com they confirmed the reunion news with a simple statement saying, “Summer 2009. Thanks and get ready.” With no tour dates assigned or album release dates I would like to know, get ready for what? As April is quickly turning into May and the official start of summer follows shortly after, as a long time Blink 182 fan, I’d like to know what I’m getting ready for. A new album? A tour I should be planning in my summer schedule? Let your fans know more details!

No Doubt will be touring all summer and hopes to gain inspiration from the tour in order to create a new album on the road. Their last CD release was “Rock Steady” in 2001. While my ’90s childhood memories consist of putting my copy of “Tragic Kingdom” into my cassette player and listening to old classics like “Just a Girl,” and “Spiderwebs,” I’m not so sure about No Doubt’s comeback. While the band helped put ska music on the radar in the mid‑’90s, Gwen Stefani’s creative direction lead the band into a pop music nightmare that strayed far away from their original musical roots of
Orange County, Ca. With lyrics about bananas and wishing to be a rich girl on her solo albums, hopefully Stefani’s bandmates will knock some sense into her and beg her to write something they can relate to. If No Doubt’s band members have any respect for what they do then they won’t allow Stefani to make every song lyric about her seemingly up and down relationship with husband Gavin Rossdale, which was the ultimate pitfall of their last album.

Regardless of what you’re doing this summer, there are some great bands coming back that suits music tastes of all kinds. Google one of your favorite bands from the ’90s and see what they’re up to. Who knows, maybe ’90s music will be the wave of the future.

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Posted by HeraldAdmin on Apr 20 2009. Filed under A & E. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

Cody Kimball
Web Manager: I'm a Communication Student at WMU, a SCUBA Diver, Boater, Ordained Minister, Notary Public, Web Designer, Film Maker, DJ, and of course a Journalist. Born and raised in Port Huron, MI and a graduate of SC4. http://www.codykimball.com