Parting Is Such Sweet Sorrow

Has anyone else noticed that the cool thing to do now is leave the band you're in? I'm serious. It seems like the last few weeks have been nothing but bands losing members and/or breaking up. What's the deal?

Let's recap. Just this week The Matches decided to call it quits, and Panic At The Disco lost two of their members to a "side-project." And in the last month or so bands like A Day To Remember, My American Heart, Four Letter Lie and Vanna have also downsized.

Honestly, it's starting to get a little upsetting. I know I'm one to jump to conclusions so what the hell, why not? Could this be the end of our scene? Are we forever doomed to have the label "Alternative Music" mean Jeffree Star and other such transvestite rock? Please Lord, say it ain't so.

I guess it's just hard to swallow. When you read that a band like The Matches have decided to throw in the towel after eight eccentric years of rock, it can bring you down.

It seems that the music scene has become so saturated and diverse that it's starting to lose what made it great; hardworking, honest bands that make music for the sake of music. Instead we're left with "scene" kids mixing rap and rock beats in their mother's basement and making an instant career out of it. Sounds like an easy way out to me.

But on the other hand, there comes a time in everyone's life when they've got to move on and do something different. Musicians are the same way. They want families and houses, too. You can't live in a dressing room your whole life. A lesson Bruce Springstein should have learned a long time ago.

Sigh. I suppose we could do the easy thing and just blame this on Blink-182 getting back together. That kind of threw off the balance of the universe. I mean, it's going to take about 6,000 bands breaking up to equal the effect that Blink had when they broke up, right?

Or, maybe we can just be flat-out honest with ourselves and realize that the bands we like have members that are getting old. And yes, in turn that means we ourselves are getting old, so soon enough we're going to have to move out of our parent's house and pay rent on our own. 'Cause let's face it, being 30 and sneaking out of the house to see your girlfriend at the show is lame, and best left to high schoolers who actually have girlfriends.

So... white, non-smoking male, interested in alternative rock and growing up, looking for a roommate for a two bedroom apartment in the Boston area. Any takers?