Solid Noise: The Way We Were

Ok, first things first, I know that I've been MIA. The school year is back in swing here in San Francisco and I have young minds to corrupt. While drafting up tomorrow's lesson plan I got to listening to some of my favorite tunes and it occurred to me:

Every school year there are students who don't come back. Some of these kids go on to amass what amounts to a pre-tween cult following as their former classmates busy themselves speculating as to what really happened to them.

In the music world, this phenominon presents itself when bands who were really great simply stop making albums and disappear. We have to convince ourselves that they have left us dejected, musically unfulfilled and considerably less cool because they are off doing something very, very important. In my mind, these three bands are curing cancer, creating an AIDS vaccine and erasing the collective conscious of the Bush presidency. They are THAT good:

The New Radicals

The New Radicals were an American rock band active in the late 1990s, centered on frontman Gregg Alexander, who wrote and produced all of their songs and was the sole constant member.
Tired of touring and promotional interviews, Alexander disbanded the group in mid-1999 before the release of their second single.