Back in black ... (from left) Dave Navarro, Stephen Perkins, Perry Farrell, Eric Avery of the band Jane's Addiction pose together after performing at the NME Awards
The inaugural NME awards USA, held yesterday in LA, were notable for the first performance in 17 years by the original line-up of Jane's Addiction. Bassist Eric Avery had refused to be part of earlier reunions, forcing the band to employ Flea out of the Red Hot Chilli Peppers on occasion. it's a tough life when you're the world's premiere purveyors of narcotic-fuelled ditties about the joys of larceny.
Nevertheless, Avery's return, apparently to commemorate the band receiving the music paper's God-like genius award, throws up some interesting questions about whether great bands should reform and risk ruining our memories of their glory days.
Avery said in a statement last week that he had decided to appear because the award was about honouring the past "rather than trying to recreate it". He's got a point hasn't he? Two of my personal most memorable gigs were Happy Mondays in 1992 and Verve (pre 'The' I think) two years later. But I wouldn't want to go and see either outfit now.
Which bands would you least like to see return in their original line-ups? And who are the acts least likely to (excluding those with members who have since died, naturally)?
