Though their press release admitted the increasing strain of family interests and the resulting inability to tour to their fans’ satisfaction factored in their decision-making, they’ve also resigned themselves to some of the harsh realities of the music industry in which they work.
Good Riddance simply admitted that “the music landscape has continued to change and the material we play has been, to some degree, left behind”. They continued, “We have seen bands burn out and we have seen bands slowly decline. It is our ultimate goal to be able to walk away from this with a degree of grace and dignity and be able to look back on our modest career with nothing but fond memories.”
Not only must this have been a devastating realisation for the band, it is without a doubt a heartbreaking concept for even the mildest of Good Riddance fans, or anyone interested in the scene and ideals from which traditional punk rock sprung.
It raises questions about the direction this genre of music is headed in when the most earnest of bands feel their previously steadfast place within the genre is questioned with the rise and rise of marketable ‘punk’.
I had always thought that, apart from polluting the minds and tastes of the grossly misinformed, commercial ‘punk’ rock was a relatively harmless development, but clearly not. Good Riddance’s final comparisons of themselves with a diseased old dog, “with no desire to limp along until some outside force has the good sense to put us out of our misery”-albeit slightly dramatic- is nothing short of spirit crushing.
Here’s hoping more bands of their spectacular calibre don’t follow suit.
1 comment:
Good words.
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