This weekend, Paul Westerberg announced the end of The Replacements‘ brief, tenuous reunion. Like seemingly every other band from Michael Azzerad’s Our Band Could Be Your Life, the group reunited in 2012 to massive fanfare and lucrative festival billings. Mats 2.0 lived up to the hype: They were beautiful and disruptive in equal parts, even if they were more sober than they were the first time around.
The Replacements breakup got us thinking about some of our favorite reunions of all time, from the musical to the canine. Check ’em out below.
Sleater–Kinney (2014)
Drive Like Jehu/Rocket From the Crypt/Hot Snakes (2011)
John Reis returned to the road with his three-headed monster of San Diego post-punk bands in 2011, playing everything from Riot Fest to Pop Montreal to ATP Iceland and blowing out everyone’s iPhone speakers in the process.
National Lampoon’s Vacation (2015)
Sorry, Ethan Embry. Ed Helms stars as Rusty Griswold trying to reclaim his youth in this year’s return to Wally World.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7SI_3yCNfQ
Bauhaus (1998)
At a time when there was just too much hippy dippy electronic music ruling the zeitgeist (and, um, Travis), we needed Bauhaus to drag us back to the Sixth Circle of Hell. Actually, I think we made it all the way to the seventh. Benedictus dominus!
Blur (2008)
Even though they still like to shy away from making anything sound too permanent in interviews, we’ve been reaping the benefits of the Albarn/Coxon resolution for a few years now. After a few singles and many triumphant shows, this year’s The Magic Whip finally delivered us an album’s worth of new and exciting tunes from the Brit Pop heroes.
Crisis of Conformity (Fred Armisen, Ashton Kutcher, Bill Hader, and Dave Grohl — 2010)
From the “CADENA–NORTON WEDDING” placard to the Reagan-bashing spoken-word breakdown, every single second of this 2010 SNL skit nails its Our Band Could Be Your Life-era targets with love, respect, and a few broken tables.
Homeward Bound (1993)
Traumatizing multiple generations with a book and two separate movies, Sheila Burnford’s story of two dogs and a cat traveling way farther than is realistic was most iconically captured in the ‘90s version, Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey, where the payoff reunion scene features one of the most effective dramatic pauses of all time. But seriously though, how the hell did Shadow get out of that mud pit?
Seinfeld on Curb Your Enthusiasm (2009)
Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls (1995)
Even though they technically didn’t win the championship again that first season MJ returned, the three years and successive rings that followed are up there with the most exciting and impressive accomplishments in sports history. 72–10? Nuff said.
