 VH1 Bands Reunited (VH-1) Host Aamer Haleem, who comes off alternately as smug and savvy, literally chases down members of once-big bands, trying to get them to agree to meet up and stage a glorious reunion show. He uses any number of tactics usually reserved for private investigators … staging fake package deliveries, ambushing people on the street, setting up fake lunch meetings with intermediate parties as a means of foisting his film crew into the faces of musicians who were once in the spotlight, but who now mostly occupy the stages of very small clubs who are happy to have them. That Haleem has the backing of VH-1 behind him tends to open doors with his subjects; drummers and bass-players, especially, from formerly huge bands tend to accept the reunion offer on the spot. Each episode entails Haleem tracking down the original members of a given band, getting them to agree or disagree to appear as part of the staged reunion, and interviewing them about their stardust memories. As with most VH-1 programming, the viewer's enjoyment is predicated on particular interest in any given band. The episode I watched attempted (unsuccessfully) to reunite The Beat (aka The English Beat), and I was transfixed … though I would surely be less so for episodes on, like, The Motels, or whatever. Haleem is a capable host, though he seems more attuned to his job as a VH-1 host than any sort of "music geek" dominance … with the members of The Beat, he came off as somewhat knowledgeable but not at all passionate. The bands featured in the show are inevitably revealed (realistically) to be far past their glory days and surprisingly amenable to reuniting, and/or enthralled with a channel as big as VH-1 giving them any attention. If anything, Bands Reunited is an instructive show that pulls back the curtain on music-business fame, showing it to be as fleeting as anything, and especially difficult to maintain. The downside is, as a fan, I don't particularly enjoy seeing the reality of some of my favorite old bands … that they are most likely playing shitty clubs somewhere, grasping desperately at the spotlight no matter how big the royalty checks are. It's a cool show, but esoteric in the same way MOJO magazine is … for music dorks only. That said, much better this than the smug commentary of I Love the 90s or whatever. At least Bands Reunited is, at base, about the music. Review by Prez, First Teen President © 2004 |
