Kusha Navadar (2:01)

This is all of it. I'm Kusha Navadar in for Alison Stewart today. Hey, thanks for sharing part of your day with us. I'm so grateful that you're here. As you've been hearing, if you're a regular listener to the show, Allison is back after a bit of a medical leave and sounding great. It's been incredible to hear her return after that ordeal and we're all so grateful to hear how she's been crushing it again in the host chair. And it's a little bittersweet for me because it's been an honor to keep that seat warm for her. But now it's time for me to say goodbye. This will be be my last day as a temporary host on all of it. And so by way of saying so long, farewell, Alf Wiedersehen goodbye. We'll revisit some of the conversations I've gotten to have during my time with you all. That's coming up at the end of the show. But before that, we've got some great conversations lined up for today. We'll talk with WNYC Community Partnerships Editor George Badarchy about the station's Community Champions project, when we'll take your calls about some of the people working to make your community a better place. We'll also talk talk about a hidden sort of local gem, the FDR Presidential Library and Museum up in Hyde Park, New York, just north of Poughkeepsie in the Hudson Valley. We'll speak with the library and museum director William Harris about what you can see at the first ever US Presidential Library, including a lot of wonderfully weird political merchandise from the 1930s and 40s, and also about presidential libraries in general, since our guest also helped establish Bill Clinton and George W. Bush's presidential libraries. That's all coming up for but first, let's get things started talking about musical reunions. As of this week, the Gallagher brothers are letting their differences slide away. After reuniting oasis after a 15 year hiatus. Like they sing in that song, two of a kind will find a way to do what we've done, specifically going on tour. That's right, Noel and Liam have decided to stop crying their hearts out for a series of concerts in Britain and Ireland. This week, the band is releasing a new edition of their debut album, Definitely maybe for its 30th anniversary. The reunion news got us at all of it thinking about what other bands we'd like to see reconcile, to decide, in other words, not to look back in anger. Given the many hard feelings and financial and legal disputes that arise in a band, it's a wonder wall some of them don't stay broken up. So, listeners, call in with your picks for the band you'd most like to see reunite. Original lineups, supergroups, whatever kind of musical act who could plausibly return to the stage. Or tell us about a reunion show you saw and how it went. Hit us up. We're at 212-433-WNYC. That's 212-433-9692. And tell us, if your band did reunite, what would you like to hear? Back with me now to help take your calls. And with a few recommendations from our colleagues, we are lucky to be joined right across the table by all of it producer Simon Close. Hey Simon.

Simon Close (5:15)

Hey Kusha. Those were some terrible puns.

Kusha Navadar (5:19)

Says the person who wrote that and was egged on by me to figure them out. I appreciate it. I stand by my puns. Before we get into the other reunion ideas, let's talk about Oasis a little bit. Can you give us a sense of how we got here with the Oasis reunion? Why is this a big deal?

Simon Close (5:36)

Sure. I think everyone is familiar with the historic beef between the Gallagher brothers. I think it has been 15 years since they officially called it quits or I guess went on hiatus in retrospect now. And, yeah, I mean, they've been. There have been lawsuits, accusations against one another, lots of, like, petty stuff online. So this was one that I think a lot of people hoped would happen, thought maybe would happen someday, but also didn't have their hopes up too high. So there are. There's a lot of excitement about it.

Kusha Navadar (6:07)

It seems like this Oasis news has turned up a lot of talk in other bands reuniting. What are other band news on your radar?

Simon Close (6:15)

So there's some local band reunions that I'm aware of happening or talk of reunion. There's a band called the Babies, who are a Brooklyn indie rock band featuring Kevin Morby and Cassie Ramone, who were around in the late aughts. And they just earlier this year announced that they would reunite for a couple shows, one of which is in Brooklyn at the end of next month. And it's the. It's 10 years since the last time they played together. So that's one that's on my radar. That's the Babies, Another one that came up just this week that is still a little bit like a tease. No one really knows what it is. But TV on the Radio, another Arts New York kind of indie rock band, they posted on Instagram just the name of the band, TV on the Radio. And everyone is assuming that this means that there's going to be some rerelease or some reunion. It's. What is it? It's. That's. It's been a decade since their last album came out, so that's pretty good timing for some kind of reminder that you can still get the album online, maybe. But. Yeah, TV on the Radio. But I think the one that I've seen a lot this week in the aftermath of the Oasis announcement is the Smiths. A lot of people have been talking about the Smiths, so that's another historic beef between Morrissey and Johnny Marr. The band officially broke up, I think, in 1987. That's the last time the two of them played in a band together. There have been. There were personal differences between them. But more recently, Morrissey has been. Has had political beliefs that Johnny Mar has not agreed with. Many people have not agreed with. Earlier this week, someone tweeted online, if Oasis can do it, the Smiths can do it too. And Johnny Marr himself replied to that tweet with a photo of the British MP Nigel Farage, which is a. A reference that he's made to describe Morrissey's political beliefs in the past. So that was his reaction to the idea of the Smiths getting back together. In apparent retaliation or response to that attitude from Johnny Marr. Later, just in the last couple days, Morrissey's team put on his website a claim that a concert promoter, I think, had offered them a quote, lucrative, lucrative sum of money for the band to get back together in 2025, and which they claim that Morrissey said yes to and Johnny Marr ignored. And the end of that post, if you want to just see how like petty all this stuff really is. At the end of that post on Morrissey's website, they write, Morrissey undertakes a largely sold out tour of the USA in November. Maher continues to tour as a special guest to New Order. So there are some hurt feelings, clearly. But if the Smiths did get back together, it's worth noting that this is the 40th anniversary this year of their debut album. So if there were a time to do it, this might be the time. And I've got a clip of the Smiths. I was thinking that in honor of these two old blokes beefing publicly online and running their mouths at each other, this is the Smiths with Big Mouth Strikes Again.

Singer (9:17)

Big mouth Yada da da da Big mouth La da da da Big Mouth Strikes again.

Kusha Navadar (9:35)

That was the Smiths. Big Mouth Strikes again. Listeners. We're here with producer Simon Close talking about band reunions. As you know, Oasis just announced a reunion of their own and we are asking, what bands would you want to see get back together? We got a text here, I'll read it. It says, my biggest wish for a band reunion is rem. Absolute genius songwriting and such a unique sound. It would be great to have them back around, even if just to reunite to play some of their classics. Simon, let's get into some duos. Were you gonna say something before that, though?

Simon Close (10:07)

Well, if we want, we could jump ahead to rem. Yes, we can do that. So this is in a category of reunions that I'm calling Sorta Dids, because they sorta did reunite already, but haven't officially gotten back into the studio together or announced like a full length tour. So I did have REM as one of those. And this was also a submission from our colleague Jake Dobkin, the Gothamist co founder. So Michael Stipe and I think we have this piece of tape, but let me know if we don't. This is Michael Stipe talking on all of It. We do not. So I'm just going to paraphrase this. Great. So Michael Stipe joined All of It. This would be a six if we. Oh, we do have it. Great. Okay, so I'll set it up. Michael Stipe joined All of it in 2021. And it turned out that it was the exact decade anniversary to when the band decided to break up, which was a thing that Michael mentioned to us as we were talking about the history of the band. And so here's what he had to say on the air.

Caller (11:02)

Yeah, that's, that's, that's. That's wishful thinking at best. We will never reunite. We've decided. We decided when we. When we. When we stood up that that would just be really tacky and probably money grabbing, which might be the impetus for a lot of bands to get back together. We don't really need that. And I'm really happy that we just have the legacy of 32 years of work that we have from 1980 to, well, whatever it was 10 years ago. 2011.

Simon Close (11:29)

Yeah. So then fast forward to Michael says that about. It can never happen. Fast forward to June of this year. REM does get back together on stage, and they performed at the Songwriters hall of Fame. So it was just like a one off thing, but it was the whole band, I think they played Losing My Religion. So in honor of that and in honor of what he. We just heard him say on our show, I would say to fans who want to see their band get back together, never say never and have a little faith. And here's Losing my religion from R.E.M.

Singer (12:00)

That'S me in the corner. That's me in the spot. Like losing my religion Trying to keep up you and I don't know if I can do it oh, no I said too much I haven't said enough I thought that I heard you laughing.

Kusha Navadar (12:32)

Listeners, who would you like to see reunite? Give us a call. Send us a text at 212-433-9692. Okay, Simon, who is in your, like, who else is in kind of your sort of dids get back together category?

Simon Close (12:46)

Yeah, so my other sort of dids pick was Talking Heads, who. This is another request from our colleagues. This comes from Ed Haber and James d'. Adamo. So Talking Heads, probably many people listening already know they reunited on stage to talk about Stop Making Sense, which was released into theaters last year, I think. And even in the midst of that, there were some hard feelings that showed up between band members. Some egos that were the egos couldn't all fit in the room, or one, you know, who knows? So there's still some beef maybe, but the groundwork for them getting back together seems to be kind of laid. And also worth noting that Talking Head 77, their debut album, will mark its 50th anniversary in 2027. So with that groundwork laid and a little bit of time to maybe patch up some of those relationships, who knows? We could see a reunion from the Talking Heads in a few years. And I think that we have a clip from that album, too.

Singer (13:46)

Psycho Killer Kiss Kissy Psycho Pillar.

Kusha Navadar (14:12)

We're getting a couple texts coming in. We got one person here who says the band that we need reunited right now to save America has to be the B52s. We need to have that sort of fun again. Also, shout out to one of my favorite bands, UB40. It's another texter that.

Simon Close (14:26)

That's.

Kusha Navadar (14:27)

That's putting out that call for UB40. Let's go to Kevin in Brooklyn. Hey, Kevin. Welcome to the show.

Caller (14:34)

Hey, thanks. Yeah, so the band I'd like to see reunite is Daft Punk, who broke up in 2021, so not too far long ago. And I actually saw them at Coney island in 2007. The best show I've ever seen. Amazing light show. The setup, the pyramid setup they had was amazing. The sound and the music, the crowd, just everything was so good. So love to see them. There were rumors that they were going to reunite at the Olympics, but didn't happen.

Kusha Navadar (15:04)

Kevin, thanks so much for that shout out. It's a perfect thought because, Simon, you have Daft Punk that you want to talk about, right?

Simon Close (15:10)

Yeah. So we got another category, which is duos, because mathematically easier to get two people back together than a whole band. So, yes, Daft Punk, I was saving them for the end because their song is a good punchline to the duos getting back together. But, yeah, Daft Punk's a great choice. They broke up in 2021. There were rumors that they were going to be at the Olympics. We got Phoenix instead. But I found this quote from Tom Thomas. I don't know how to say his name. He's one of the members of the band. Thomas Bengalter told the BBC last year, as much as I love this character, the last thing I would want to be in the world we live in in 2023 is a robot. So that was his explanation for why the band broke up. Maybe Robots will make a comeback in the near future. Let's hope so. And here's in honor of bands getting back together one more time, here's one more time from Daft Punk.

Singer (15:59)

One more time, One more time.

Kusha Navadar (16:28)

That was Daft Punk. Other duos that you've got. Simon.

Simon Close (16:31)

Sure. So this was one that actually I was the one that I didn't get to in the New York anthems that we did last week, Simon and Garfunkel. So they famously reunited in 1981 in Central park, and then they did some other shows afterwards, kind of broke up again. The last time they performed together was, I think in 2020. Art Garfunkels had some health issues and didn't sing for a little while, but then got back on stage a little later. So if they can get over their differences, maybe they still would want to perform together. Who knows? But yeah, I pulled one clip from their debut album, Wednesday morning 3:00am, which turned 60 this year. And this is. This is, fittingly, Old Friends.

Singer (17:15)

Old friends, Winter companions the old old men.

Kusha Navadar (17:24)

Lost.

Singer (17:24)

In their overcoats Waiting for the sunset the sounds of the city sifting through trees Settle like us.

Simon Close (17:38)

Just a quick clarification before the Simon and Garfunkelheads come at me online. I know that one is not from Wednesday morning 3:00am that's from Bookends.

Kusha Navadar (17:46)

Okay, thanks for that. And you know, Old Friends is such a nice sentiment to talk about reunions. Maybe Outcast, I'm interested in that. Is that one that is possible.

Simon Close (17:57)

I think we got that one. So this, our colleague Jared Paul suggested Outcast for Reunion. It's been almost a few years, less than a decade since Outkast last performed together. But just earlier this year, Big Boi and Andre 3000 were together in Atlanta backstage at, I think it was maybe Andre 3000's concert because he's been doing his like, flute album and toy stuff.

Kusha Navadar (18:20)

Yeah.

Simon Close (18:21)

And let's see. Yeah. At the end of last year, Andre 3000 told CBS Sunday Mornings that he would be interested in doing another Outkast album. And it seemed like he was waiting for Big Boi to sort of push on that. And a reason that they might want to get together around now is that just last year was the 20th anniversary of hey Ya, a huge hit from them. And this year is the 30th anniversary of their album Southern Playlistic Cadillac Music. So here's the title track from that album.

Kusha Navadar (19:05)

So we've got a caller who actually wanted to have Outkast get back together. We've got Uma in Harlem. Hey, Uma, welcome to the show. What would you love to hear Outkast play if they got back together?

Caller (19:20)

Well, I'd love to go to their live concert or something and then hear them say, sing roses or something.

Kusha Navadar (19:30)

Roses, yeah, I hear that. Have you seen Outkast perform live before?

Caller (19:35)

No.

Simon Close (19:36)

No.

Kusha Navadar (19:36)

So this would be a first for you if it were to ever happen. That would be great. Uma, thanks so much. Yeah, go ahead, Uma.

Caller (19:42)

I think they separated before I started listening to them because I'm 12. So.

Kusha Navadar (19:50)

Yeah, Umo, I love to hear that you love outkast. I love outkast too. I used to listen to them all the time as well. Thank you so much for calling. Hopefully one day you do get to see them live. I've never seen them live either, either. I would love to. Listeners, what band would you love to see get back together? Give us a call. We're at 212-433-9692. We're going to take a quick break. When we come back, more suggestions from producer Simon Close. More of your calls. Stay with us. This is all of it from wnyc. We are talking about band reunions with latest news of Oasis. We asked our producer Simon Close to come in and talk to us about what might be possibilities for other bands to come up or at least what bands would we love to see get back together? If you have a band listening right now that you would love to see get back together, give us a call, send us a text. We're at 212-433-9692. That's 212433, WNYC. Or you can hit us up on our socials on Instagram or X. We're oflovitnyc. Simon, we got a bunch of texts come in so I'm gon read some of them. Here are a few. Milli Vanilli and Crisscross. Great. Got another one says Journey with Steve Perry. Not likely, but we can only dream. That's Jake from New York City. Thanks, Jake. We got another one that says does this have to be within the realm of possibility? Because no doubt it's the Clash for me. Got another one. Roxy music, amazing 50 year reunion tour last year. So only missing. Is it Eno or Eno? I Don't know how to pronounce that.

Simon Close (21:28)

Brian. Brian. Eno.

Kusha Navadar (21:29)

Yeah. Eno. Thank you.

Simon Close (21:30)

I think so.

Kusha Navadar (21:30)

Yeah. And then we've got Mike Robarchek in Union, New Jersey. Says the Catherine Wheel. Different kinds of suggestions. Boy bands, girl groups, those have reunited in the past. Last week when you came on, we had a lightning round section, and the people have been clamoring for another one. So out of curiosity, did you prepare a lightning round section for maybe boy bands and girl groups?

Simon Close (21:55)

Such a good question, Kusha. A question that I wrote for you in the script to set me up for. Yeah. In fact, I have prepared a lightning round again this week. And the theme for this lightning round is in the interest of manifesting, getting these bands back together, back to touring, back on stage, back in the studio. Here are a bunch of songs from boy bands and girl groups with the word back in them.

Kusha Navadar (22:19)

Nice.

Simon Close (22:20)

Thank you. So to start off with, we're gonna go with Britain's own Spice Girls. They've had a few reunions since their sort of first breakup as recently as 2019. And here's right back at you from the Spice Girls. That's right, everybody. Real friendship never ends. Next up, One Direction. This week, Harry Styles showed up at a Niall Horan concert. Here's back for you from One Direction.

Singer (22:57)

Baby, you don't have to worry. I'll be coming back.

Simon Close (23:09)

We're getting the band back together. Next up, bts, a pretty current band, but they've been on hiatus for the last few years while their members are completing their mandatory military service in Korea. They're expected to come back in 2025. Here's come back home from BTS.

Singer (23:29)

Come back. Come.

Simon Close (23:33)

Coming back Home. Brockhampton, a rap boy band founded exactly one decade ago. I believe this is Take It Back from Brockhampton. Yeah. Yeah.

Singer (23:45)

Let's take it back to when me.

Simon Close (23:47)

And Ashlyn was out front scheming the B2K. The B2K, the quartet showed up at a Jhene Aiko concert at the beginning of this very month. This year. They didn't perform, but they got together. Here's hoping they can perform this. This is Back it up by btk. Next up, Destiny's Child. This song does not have the word back in the title, but it does have it in the lyrics. This is now that she's Gone from Destiny's Child. I pulled these clips really short. Next up, to end our boy band girl group hour. This is NSync.

Kusha Navadar (24:35)

Yes.

Simon Close (24:35)

What else than I want.

Kusha Navadar (24:37)

I want you back.

Singer (24:47)

Tell me what to do. Now. Cause I want you back.

Simon Close (24:57)

That's gonna be great for the tour. That's boy bands and girl group's lightning round of songs about being back.

Kusha Navadar (25:02)

Simon Close. You took it above and beyond because you found a conceit within this idea of bringing it back. My hat is off to you if I were wearing one. Metaphorically, listeners, we're talking about bands that you would love to see reunite. Give us a call, send us a text. We're at 212-433-9692. Let's go to Melo in Brooklyn. Hi, Melo. Welcome to the show.

Caller (25:26)

Hi.

Kusha Navadar (25:27)

Hi. What band would you like to see get back together?

Caller (25:31)

D12.

Kusha Navadar (25:33)

Nice. So have you seen D12 perform live before?

Caller (25:37)

No.

Kusha Navadar (25:38)

Okay, and so what do you like about D12 and if you could hear them, what would you want to hear? Is there a specific song you'd like to hear them play?

Caller (25:47)

Well, there's not really a specific. There's not really a specific song I would like to hear, but I, I, I think it, since Eminem just came out and just made a new album, that it would be cool to, like, kind of like get D12 back. Because the album was kind of like a big, like an important thing because it was his first album in, like, I think, two years or three years, but.

Kusha Navadar (26:19)

Yeah, that's awesome. Yeah, go ahead, Simon.

Simon Close (26:21)

No, I just. Yeah, I think that makes sense because Eminem, his latest album, sort of put this Lynn Shady character to rest. So he's got a new alias or new project that maybe he's got room for something new. So if D12 wants to come back, that sounds good to me and Mel.

Kusha Navadar (26:34)

I hope you get to see them at some point. Thanks for that shout out. Let's go to Linda in Montclair. Hey, Linda. Welcome to the show.

Caller (26:41)

Hey, how you doing?

Kusha Navadar (26:42)

Good, how are you?

Caller (26:43)

Thanks for taking my call. Sure. Great.

Kusha Navadar (26:46)

So who would you like to see? Get Back Together?

Caller (26:48)

I would love to see Genesis with Peter Gabriel.

Kusha Navadar (26:52)

Oh, yeah, that would be wonderful, wouldn't it? Thanks, Linda. We really appreciate that. Let's get a few more in there. Howard in Forest Hills. Hey, Howard. Welcome to the show.

Caller (27:01)

Yeah, I like to see Elvis Costello in Attractions.

Kusha Navadar (27:04)

Yeah, that's good.

Caller (27:06)

I was lucky enough to see him when he came to New York at the Bottom Line, just a great little club. And the song I would pick would be Pump It Up.

Simon Close (27:14)

Absolutely, absolutely.

Kusha Navadar (27:15)

Elvis Costello and the Attractions. Love that, Howard. Thank you so much. Let's go to Michael in Brooklyn. Hey, Michael. Welcome to the show.

Caller (27:21)

Hi. Hi. Thank you.

Caller (27:24)

I Would love to hear a group called Craftwork, but I'm an old timer, so maybe they're even gone.

Kusha Navadar (27:29)

Craftwork. That's interesting. Some of you familiar with Craft.

Simon Close (27:32)

I know Craftwork. I actually don't know if the members are alive or not.

Kusha Navadar (27:35)

Well, Michael, thank you so much for that Kraftwerk shout out to them. That's wonderful. Let's go to another category. On my script, Simon, it says, I see Bring that One Guy Back. What is that category?

Simon Close (27:45)

That's right. This is a category called Bring that One Guy Back, which is a category of bands that are technically still around, but not with the kind of quintessential lineup that people think of. So these are examples of bands where you want to bring that one guy back. Nice. And actually a couple of them have come up. So Linda, our caller, I think was her name, just mentioned Genesis with Peter Gabriel. So obviously Peter Gabriel was in Genesis on its founding, I think, and up until the mid-1970s. And then he left. And then Phil Collins kind of took over as the lead singer of the band. But in recent years, Phil Collins health has. He's been in poor health. And so the band played its official final show in March 2022. But Peter Gabriel's still kind of been around. He showed up at that show. He had said that it was very important for him to be at the final performance of Genisys. So that could have been the final performance of Genisys, or maybe a future show with Peter Gabriel could be the final performance of Genisys. So I like that idea. Another one that already came up from our caller, Jake was Journey with Steve Perry. And our colleague Rebecca Weiss also suggested that lineup. And I read Ultimate Classic Rock, said that he last performed a full length concert with Journey in 1987. There have been some rumors of Steve Perry joining the band again. And he seems to want to get back on stage. So, you know, who knows?

Kusha Navadar (29:03)

And, Simon, we're running low on time, so I want to go to a text that we've got which lines up with the last song that you actually picked that I see here. The text just has two words. Pink Floyd. You want to talk about that a little bit?

Simon Close (29:13)

Yeah. So. Right. So Pink Floyd did some kind of mini reunions in the aughts, but Roger Waters and David Gilmore don't seem to be interested at all in reuniting. Rolling Stone did a list of like, what are the odds of these bands getting back together? They gave them a 1% chance of reuniting.

Kusha Navadar (29:30)

Wow.

Simon Close (29:31)

But we did pull one song from them, which I think speaks to kind of the primary motivating factor for any of these bands to ever get back together. And I'll let the song speak for itself, I guess.

Singer (29:44)

Mommy get away. Done. Good job with the pain. You're okay.

Kusha Navadar (29:56)

Simon, I gotta say, you have done such a great job of bringing together all of these clips, of having funny jokes in there, of making listeners feel heard. Listeners, I want to say thank you so much for giving your suggestions about what, what bands you would love to see come back. And Simon, I want to thank you personally for everything that you've done to make the past six months on this show such a joy. Your preps are always so fantastic. Your thought partnership is excellent. We have so much fun together. I appreciate you. Thanks so much for coming on.

Simon Close (30:26)

Thank you. Kuja, you're making me blush. Thank you for sticking with the show these last few months and keeping us going. It's been really a pleasure to work with you.

Kusha Navadar (30:33)

Absolutely. Thank you, Simon Close.

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