“I hope we could spend more time together/ a few hours is better than never”

The ’90s generation peed their collective pants a little when rumors started floating around that the Eraserheads were getting back together for a reunion concert, and had a spontaneous orgasm when it was announced this week that the rumors were spot on.

Rumor has it, or it’s probably official now, that the event will be sponsored by Marlboro, and that the E-heads are supposedly getting millions for playing again years after breaking up.

Considering that the ’90s generation now has considerable purchasing power, and that the ’90s is the new retro (supplanting ’80s nostalgia, which,for anyone actually born in the ’80s, was mostly smart marketing and false memories since none of us can really remember much of it,) what does this mean for the flayed, rotted carcass of rock and roll?

We’ve been having wet dreams of a reunion concert from Day One after Ely split from the band whose music saw us through high school and college. We bought the anthology albums, and even the tribute album, we still do the Punk Zappa bit every now and then, even just in our heads.

We gave up our allowance to see them play and to buy their albums, we made their songs anthems of our youth, the constant soundtrack of of our angsty, awkward lives, and then they were gone. Somewhere along the line, we got older, found jobs, and got generally less fun, discounting the random binges that we get into just to prove that we’re still badass (and then finding out that we’re really not.) Having them come back now, for a marketing blitz for a tobacco company with millions to burn since advertising cigarettes is now illegal, and not out of love for us, marks the end of a decade that lasted much longer than it should have.

Does corporate sponsorship make the reunion concert any less cool? Probably not. And it won’t stop anyone from going there on a matter of principle, either. Getting to watch a band you grew up with play again after so many years is a potential head trip that trumps all scruples, and getting in for free is very ecstacy. It’ll be a fun night, for sure, but one thing that it won’t be is rock and roll.

–OneTamad

Dear Reader,

Some questions for you:

If the reunion concert does turn out to be sponsored by Marlboro, what will this mean, if anything, for you? Will it make the event any less significant? Will it dampen your enthusiasm, or is it just one of those things that we can’t do anything about? Do you exist?