BOC: real and alternate histories (was Re: 80s Metal)

[Carl Edlund Anderson]

On 10 Sep 2008, at 12:12 , Theodore O Jackson wrote:
> OTOH, BÖC by that time had become quite a cash
> cow, and who could blame the rest of the band for not wanting to pull
> the plug on a great band that was still making lots of money, esp.  
> given
> the musical climate of the times.  Why should BÖC call it quits  
> when the
> musical landscape of the day was rather barren?  It's not like Buck  
> is/was
> a shabby songwriter, he just doesn't work fast enough to write an  
> album's
> worth of material on his own.  Joe was still in the band before CN,  
> and he's
> always been a great songwriter.  But when he left the band, it was  
> time to
> call it a day...


Yeah, I can easily see how the prevailing logic at the time  
encouraged them not to officially break up -- it's just that 20/20  
hindsight view that makes me think that in the long run breaking up  
might have worked out better ... Had all the cards been played right,  
and there'd been a good following wind. ;)

In my "alternate history plan" (in which the band definitively breaks  
up after ETL or at worst RBN), Buck goes on to an 80s pop-rock career  
(shades of Don Henley or Glenn Frey! ;)) as he seems to have sort of  
intended to try, or maybe forms some short lived supergroups in a  
Jimmy Page kind of way.  The others do their various things, be it  
working in production, working at Cinnabon ;) or whatever ....


> Can't blame CBS for wanting to make a buck off the band.  Imaginos,
> though brilliant, showed almost zero commercial potential.  Whilst  
> adored
> by the hardcore fans, a lot of casual listeners would have been left
> scratching their heads...


Indeed -- though I think that's why in my "alternate history plan", I  
would have seen Imaginos utterly shelved (barring perhaps some minor  
bootleg leaks of the Iommi "Eighth Star" variety to keep the hardcore  
fans' appetites whetted ;)) ... until the time for the triumphant  
reunion.


>> I would _like_ to say that the plan should have been (with shades of
>> Sabbath) to triumphantly reform the original lineup in the latter
>> 1990s or for the new millennium  -- giving everyone time to, ya know,
>> work out their various issues with any luck.  And that perhaps would
>> have been the time to unleash the _Imaginos_ material with all new
>> recordings.  As it is, I think the years of touring with the puppet
>> show and a rotating cast around 2OC or 3OC have "diluted the brand".
>
>
>
> I think by that time, there was just too much bad blood on all sides
> to make that happen.


Well, here I'm thinking in terms of my "alternate history plan".   
Sure there was bad blood when Albert went, but I think a lot of other  
stuff went on to keep the blood bad or make it even worse  
thereafter.  If the band had just quit after ETL or RBN, and there'd  
been nothing else (for example, no abortive "Albert Returns" tour, no  
record company shenanigans with Imaginos), perhaps things could have  
been patched up eventually.  After all, there was a lot of bad blood  
over Ozzy's sacking from Sabbath, yadda yadda, and we could make a  
list of further sackings and breakups that were later sorted out to  
some extent when heads were older, wiser, and cooler.

With a long 15-year hiatus from the early 80s to late 90s, perhaps  
bridges could have then been built and triumphant returns plotted.   
However, in the event, the Old Gods could not really Return because  
they'd barely been away, albeit with a reduced pantheon, increasingly  
shrunken powers, and dwindling pools of worshippers.

But in my alternate history plan, sometime in the last 10 years  
perhaps would have been the time for to try out a reunion tour, and  
then (in the wake of its obvious success :)) move directly to re- 
recording the old Imaginos demo material with real involvement of all  
the principals: the Bouchard Bros., Pearlman, and of course Buck.   
Then there would have been might and glory for at least a few tours  
-- and who knows, perhaps they could have worked out yet another  
whole new album between them.  (Even without further involvement from  
Pearlman, think of the best things Buck wrote since RBN or after, and  
all the best bits of tBS, and condense them into an album: Woah! :))

Oh well! Reality is a harsh mistress!

Cheers,
Carl

--
Carl Edlund Anderson
http://www.carlaz.com/