Just Rock and Roll

Midtown recently announced they are planning a reunion show for the Spring, date and location TBA.

Maybe this will out me as a crazy person, but I am already mapquesting how to get to New Jersey (the band's home state, and assumed location of the show).

Honestly though, I'm not *too* sad the band broke up. After accosting lead singer Gabe Saporta after a Cobra Starship concert (his new band, but don't try to draw comparisons to Midtown; there are none), he offered an explanation that, surprisingly, satisfied me.

Midtown's first two albums were average, late '90s rock (think comparisons to Sugar Ray even). The band broke up, but a year later, reformed to create Forget What You Know — possibly the most insightful, existential album ever penned by a formerly-generic pop rock/punk band (sample lyric: "Don't cry for me / Because I'm already dead"). In short, it was what got me through my senior year of high school. Read the band's biography, written by Saporta, on Midtown's website. Even if you could care less about this band, take the time to read this - it's hysterical.

After talking with Gabe, the reasons for pulling the plug the second time made complete sense; where can the band go after that album? The songs were too depressing to play night after night on tour and no future songs could ever match the intensity of Forget What You Know.

So instead of putting out something sub-par, the band quit for good, and Saporta moved on to Cobra Starship, a band where he believes in having fun and making money, not changing lives. I guess that's as worthy a goal as any.

You can listen to tracks from Forget What You Know on Midtown's purevolume site

I'd also kill to see reunions shows from Something Corporate and Ben Folds Five. What reunion are you most anticipating?

- Susan