To celebrate the MC5 releasing fourth album Heavy Lifting 53 years after their third, 1971's High Time here are some more acts who ignored such wisdom and took their own sweet goddamn time. (Louder)
English rock legends The Who had been inactive in the studio since 1982’s It’s Hard and lost bassist John Entwhistle to a cocaine-induced heart attack in 2002. But by 2006 band mainstays guitarist Pete Townshend and vocalist Roger Daltrey were back in action with an eleventh studio album, Endless Wire. It featured nine standalone songs, together with 10 pieces that formed a “mini-opera” titled Wire & Glass, and ably showed that — despite just 11 studio albums in 50 years — there’s still life in the old dog yet.
Who frontman Roger Daltrey recently announced dates for a 2025 U.K. solo tour, but he also has revealed that his famous band likely will be hitting the road in the new year, as well.
In a new interview with the Press Association, the 80-year-old Rock & Roll Hall of Famer confirmed that The Who has “a couple of things planned for next year.” This matches up with recent comments from his bandmate Pete Townshend, who told U.K. newspaper The Telegraph that the band had “accepted an offer from Live Nation to do something in America.”
Since 2019, all of The Who’s tours have featured the band playing arenas with the accompaniment of an orchestra. Daltrey told the Press Association that he wants the group’s next trek to be a more stripped-down affair. He also suggested that he’d like to see The Who get more improvisational during shows, like the band did in its early days.
The Cars – 24 years
Lumped in with new wave when they first appeared in 1978, Boston outfit The Cars were much more of a quirky pop/rock band at heart. Hits like Best Friend’s Girl and Drive made the group a fortune, but 1987’s Door To Door album saw their commercial popularity nosedive. Time for a break. Bassist Ben Orr sadly died in 2000, but the four remaining band members reunited for a seventh album, Move Like This, in 2011. There’s been no further material released since, and Rik Ocasek's death in 2019 means there almost certainly won't be.
Eagles – 28 years
Eagles lived the ‘70s West Coast dream to the full – right until it became a nightmare. The band sold gazillions of records, then developed drug habits and ended up hating each other. 1979’s The Long Run was a multi-platinum success, but everyone had had enough. By 1994, though, Eagles were back together. And despite another spat that saw guitarists Don Felder leave for a second time in 2001, they finally released a new album, Long Road Out Of Eden in 2007. It went on to sell over 3.5 million copies.
New York Dolls: 32 years
New York’s trash/glam/punk rockers descended into drug and alcohol-induced chaos in 1977, three years after their second album, 1974’s appropriately titled Too Much Too Soon. Three band members – bassist Arthur Kane, drummer Jerry Nolan and guitarist Johnny Thunders – were dead by the time a third studio album appeared, 2006’s One Day It Will Please Us To Remember Even This. Held together by original vocalist David Johansen and guitarist Sylvain Sylvain, the album was hailed, if not as a triumph, then certainly as a worthwhile endeavour.
The Yardbirds - 36 years
Famous for giving us über-guitarists Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck, the Yardbirds were nonetheless anchored by rhythm guitarist/bassist Chris Dreja, drummer Jim McCarty and vocalist Keith Relf. The band’s fourth album, 1967’s Little Games, came before a 1968 split. Relf died in 1976, but McCarty and Dreja reformed The Yardbirds in 1992 and released a new album, Birdland, in 2003. It featured seven new tunes and eight reworkings of the band’s classics. Beck made a guest appearance on My Blind Life.
