Are The Bands You Loved When You Were 16 Still Going?

Primal Scream are not only still going but have canabilised most of the other bands I liked at the time. They've snaffled members of My Bloody Valantine, Felt and the Stone Roses.

Sonic Youth have gotten much better after an early/mid 90's lull.

I was 16 in 1983, so the bands I loved at the time were probably U2 (still goin'), the Ramones (two of'em down already), Kiss (sadly, still goin', although they'd already passed their prime), Pink Floyd (now long gone, it seems), the Dead Boys (long...er...dead, even at the time), the Lords of the New Church (with Stiv's death later on, they imploded, but supposedly are back with a new gent out front), Motley Crue (I have no idea if they're still a going concern, actually), Iron Maiden (stil goin'), Queen (long done), the Sex Pistols (long gone at the time...but back now, I guess), the Clash (since lond gone), the Dead Kennedys (like the Pistols, dead...but back again), the Circle Jerks (over and done, I believe) and AC/DC (still goin' like the Energizer Bunny).

I still like most of those bands (although I can't imagine the last time I listened to the Lords of the New Church or the Circle Jerks), but probably without as much of the fervour that I might've demonstrated had you asked me in 1983.

stereolab. mercury rev. flaming lips.

stereolab. still love everything up to the awful dots'n'loops, but that record was bad. persevered with them for another couple of albums, then pretty much gave up

mercury rev. became the worlds worst aor band. deserters song was the worst album of the 90s. cant bear to even bother with all is dream, especially with that terrible cover art. like the 1st 3 album still

flaming lips. gradual decline after transmissions from the satellite heart, with good (providing needles for your balloons, zaireeka) and mediocre (clouds taste metallic). soft bulleting was really average, couldn't see the fuss. still like the great albums, not bothered about future things though...

That's too far back, and I've gone through too many taste changes to remember very clearly. Let's see. . . Have Siouxsie & the Banshees disbanded? Does King Crimson count (since they, he, IT, comes and goes?

Guns'n'Roses - does anybody even KNOW what they think about them any more? Not even the band does. Actually nobody in the band even knows IF they're in the band. Gee, they sure rewarded my adolescent devotion. Although they didn't tarnish themselves as bad as Van Halen did. Aerosmith are still going although I wish that there was a law that any public figure who's been through rehab must shut up about the experience, unless they hated it and go back on the smack. Jane's Addiction invented a travelling tatooed mudfest and one of them joined RHCP but I still love 'Ritual'. Faith No More are slowly receiving their due as the greatest band ever in the universe, who invented what American teenagers think of as 'music', and they're the ones who (used to) buy records so that's good enough for me. NWA and Slayer are also eminence grises, but Metallica are just comedy WWF villains. In fact, the only record I raved about at 16 and wouldn't even accept a free copy of now is Peter Gabriel's 'So'. What I saw in that, I can't possibly fathom, although maybe I thought "Wow, this is a sophisticated adult record-purchase choice!" at the time. Like, it really is unlistenable, tho his eaerlier stuff isn't nearly as bad. I actually like Big Black, Madonna and Billy Idol more than I did then.

Sadly, Menswear have long disbanded. Shed 7 however are, sadly, still going strong. they played my hometown recently to a vaguely bothered crowd of goths and hecklers shouting "at the link it's easy" between every song.

Hrrmmm, let me see.

Jesus and Mary Chain - gone, gone gone. But I still follow that lovely Bobby G's solo project...

Sonic Youth - see, *the* album when I was 16 was EVOL. See, I have more to complain about than that VV chick. Sigh.

Shop Assistants - gone, gone, gone. Spent the rest of my life looking for a band as cool, and never did. I wish my band sounded more like SA's, but we never will.

Mind you, there was an awful lot of hardcore punk crud that I'm really glad that I stopped liking and that the bands are no longer around. Just about the only punk band I can still listen to is The Clash, but these days I like the songs that aren't punk.

nearest i got to a band that i liked when i was 16 were the temperance seven or the pasadena roof orchestra. like the former still, not so keen on the latter (the shed seven of trad jazz?)

I still like Pulp. Just the fact that they kept going after the success they've had during that period. It looked for a while (when the guitarist left and Jarvis was in every party in London) that they would just disintegrate into the circus that Oasis became or that jarvis would become a Damon albarn type figure, doing rub soundtracks (most of 101 reyavik is a variation on "lola") and spending time on 'world music' projects (his way of spending 40 days in the desert i suppose).

sadlt a tribe called quest have gone, nice to see the individual solos doing ok tho, rage against the machine still about the town, primal scream - do old bands count - pistols are playing gigs again, but the who - well i cant see them going on for ever

Fatboy Slim hmmmm yes I think so.

Spiritualized, quite probably.

The Beastie Boys, possibly not.

a-ha. didn't take much to the new album though. Pet Shop Boys. STILL haven't heard the new album -- doubt I'll like it though. I'm glad they're both still going.

Teenage Fanclub still are, I think they are dreadfully boring now.

J Mascis is still around, though Dinosaur Jr are defunct, still the collest guitar player ever.

Poison, are better than ever.

Nirvana, we all know about them. Don't really listen to them now.

Alice in Chains, we all know about them. Terrible.

I'm having a real problem remembering being sixteen!

When I was 16, Madness were just starting the process of falling apart with Barso's leaving. Then two more members off to the Beehive, an added "The", and then nothing. And then back again, but I haven't paid attention. I guess I still feel that Keep Moving is really the last true Madness album.

To my knowledge, Clinic, Belle and Sebastian and The Delgados are still together. Woodbine, however, I'm not so sure about.

This thread did my head in a bit, btw. Reading a post on the JAMC and the Shop Assistants (and being able to relate) and then trying to get my head around how Alice in Chains could possibly have been around that early??? I think I made this mistake about three times, actually, of course closely followed by silent D'OH!s.

Brilliant thread -- but oh, my answers! I have next to none. When I was sixteen I had given up on top 40 and had yet to go through my classic rock phase, man. I think I was buying books more at the time. About the only bands who I can think of that I had albums by that I listened to regularly were the Beatles (clearly no longer going, no longer listen to at all), Duran Duran (allegedly reuniting, just listened to the greatest hits collection a couple of weeks back and their high points are still amazing) and dear ol' Tears for Fears (who knows where they are now, haven't listened to them in a dog's age).

Joey and Dee Dee RIP. Go4 and Clash too.

Nirvana? Nah.

We all know about Metallica.

Dream Theater are still going on like the professionals they are, whether I listen to them or not.

I believe Paradise Lost and The Tea Party are still around but their albums don't get released in the U.S.

It looks like XTC is still around too, though I haven't bought one of their albums since Lemons & Oranges. (Too lazy to confirm title.)

Tom's question helps me clarify for myself why I don't get too bummed out of a band I like breaks up or starts sucking -- the bands I liked when I was 16 were already old then.

I was a classic rock kid & being current meant nothing to me. I mean, yeah, the Who are still going, technically, but when I like them in the mid-80s (maybe my favorite band) they'd already done their farewell tour. Stones...still going, sure, but even in 1985 I didn't like anything after 1974. I also liked Run DMC, Smiths, REM, but never identified w/ any of these like I did w/ Quadrophenia.

So really, the biggest concern re the bands when I was 16 is that they're dying of old age -- forget breaking up or putting out bad records!

Some of them a still visibly still together for better and worse (Sonic Youth, R.E.M., Yo La Tengo, De La Soul), some of them are gone but dated enough to enjoy reminiscing over (KLF, Madchester bands, Lil Louis, Beat Happening, Eric B.), some of them are still around if you think about it (Public Enemy, Depeche Mode, Rakim). And then there's My Bloody Valentine.

the inkspots go on forever

The Inkspots! Now THERE'S a band, even if the intro to every single one of their songs is the same.

at 16, it was 1997 and i was schmindie. i would have had about 12 cds. mostly i just taped songs from the radio and spent hours with two tape decks making them into compilations. i designed special tape sleeves using ms publisher too, and i still have one called 'minna's majick compilation 1996' with a picture of a cactus on it. weezer, supergrass, oasis, tool, powderfinger, frente, sonic youth, beastie boys, bis, fun lovin' criminals, cake, ash, radiohead, a bit of chemical brothers and prodigy, and i luvvved portishead. they are all still going. i still like some of the old albums or maybe singles, but don't really get excited about the new stuff that's coming out. i'm actually dreading the new portishead a bit. and i feel like such a turncoat bandwagon jumper but i now really detest powderfinger and cake (i still think 'the distance' is a good song though).

I was 16 in 1993-1994, so:
Nirvana: Not still going. Like them okayish -- I still consider "Smells Like Teen Spirit" anthemic, though not in the "song that defines me and my generation" sort of way. And In Utero hasn't passed through my ears in ages.
Soundgarden: Also defunct. I'm fairly ambivalent about them now, though I don't recoil in embarrassment and shame when one of my friends puts on Superunknown at a party.
Pearl Jam: Still going. I like them a whole lot less now, though.
Green Day: They were one of my favorite bands for a while in Summer of '94, then I turned violently against them for a while. Now I think they're OK in small doses. "Brain Stew" is actually a pretty interesting little song, and they were great on "King of the Hill".
Beastie Boys: Still consider Ill Communication an unfairly maligned minor classic. Supposedly they're gonna record a new album when they're done building their new studio, and so long as it's more "Intergalactic" than "Alive" I'll be happy.
De La Soul: My favorite hip-hop act in high school though they've sort of fallen off since -- maybe the whole Prince Paul goofiness was what helped me really get into them; I loved their first two albums but mostly ignored Buhloone Mindstate since it was a bit less "out there". Their albums since then have been fun enough but have also been missing something, I think.
BDP/KRS-One: "Wow man, he sampled 'Smoke On the Water'! Whoa!" I listened to this instead of Public Enemy because I bought into the whole "PE are anti-semitic whitey haters and at least KRS-One speaks out against hating white folks on 'The Racist'". I don't consider him the end-all be-all of great MCs anymore but I still consider Return of the Boom-Bap a definite classic.
Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Hendrix, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, etc.: Of course none of these bands were even going when I was 16 (except for Pink Floyd, and I am ashamed to admit I bought into that Division Bell crap for a while). I'm not as huge into the Classic Rock Canon Of Doom as I was then but it did lay the groundwork for my appreciation of older music that I totally geek out to now (Stooges, Funkadelic, Modern Lovers).
Sonic Youth: VV be damned, I'm gettin' me some of that Murray Street action.

Kris Parker's recent antics are probably why I blocked out BDP.

This was in 1988:
Oingo Boingo - I think they're defunct, or at least on semi-permanent hiatus while Elfman attends to his soundtrack work
REM - still going, unfortunately
The Smiths - defunct, actually I guess they were defunct in 1988 too
Midnight Oil - still going

I don't consider him the end-all be-all of great MCs anymore but I still consider Return of the Boom-Bap a definite classic.

The beginning of "Higher Level" is fantastic, but it quickly deteriorates once he starts rapping.

""

Still going from 1975? God no.

Don Henly maintains a great solo career.

and don't forget Steely Dan!

Smokin Dave and the Premo Dopes split up while I was in college. I had the really amazing good luck to be back home in Knoxville over one Thanksgiving or other when they played their "last show" at their regular stomping grounds, a place that was called Ella Guru's several years earlier. The crowd was like a cross-section snapshot of everybody I'd known when I was 16. Everyone breathed this huge nostalgic cheer when they changed a line of one their songs to "tonight we're gonna turn this place back into Ella Guru's!" The drummer Dug Meech is in a jazz band now, the guitarist/front man Todd Steed has his own band, and I never knew what became of Smokin Dave, the terminally taciturn bass player and heart of the band. Some accounts have him working in the circus.

Xentrix the UK's version of Metallica, I really liked their albums "For Whose Advantage" and "Kin"...I very much doubt if they are still around.

Megadeth, they have enough good songs for a greatest hits album, recently split up.

Anthrax, I only ever owned "Persistence of Time", which I loved. Got the greatest hits a few years ago, I'm not mad about them, but "belly of the beast" and "in my world" are two of the greatest thrash metal songs.

Ride, I only had the "leave them all behind" and "twisterella" cassingles...great for listening to in the dark. I got "going blank again" a couple of years ago, and thought it was complete dross.

The Frank and Walters, I maintain that they are unfairly derided. Age 16 was the cusp between metal and "indie" (not British indie)...at 17 I bought a ton of sub pop albums and stuff like Pavement and Lotion.

"Are The Bands You Loved When You Were 16 Still Going? "

No. [*weeps for distant teenage years*]

Police. Dead
Talking Heads. Dead
Duran Duran. Wish they were Dead
Psychedelic Furs. So dead they've all been reincarnated at least twice.
Michael Jackson. Don't want to think about it, causes flashbacks.
Prince. See above.
Metallica. See above.

The Strokes! Hahaha still going hahahaha

But seriously...The Dismemberment Plan will become an embarrassment any day now, as I can't see them possibly topping their last two albums.

Human League - still going & still GRATE
Motorhead - still going, tho' no idea if current produckt is any good or not
Yes - have reformed, tho' none of their recent stuff really does it for me, with thee odd exception
Buzzcocks - also reformed, tho they've split up again I think? BUZZKUNST!!!!
there's probably some more, but I am tired.

That would be 1984. Lets see:

Sun Ra Arkestra- Sill going, Still great

Slayer-good live, records are pretty spotty

Metalica-Don't listen to anything after Garage Days Re-Revisited

The Smiths- Thankfuly no, don't want to hear them

Black Flag- Nope

REM- Break up please

Black Sabbath- No Ozzy-No good

I forgot the Arkestra! Still, at 16 I only really knew (though I may have heard more) about four tracks of theirs.

shit i still cant see what im typiong !!!

Iron Maiden, Kreator, Venom, Sodom, Destruction and Accept are in the "reunion tour" stages. Sepultura, Metallica and Slayer still exist but a shadow of their former selves and no longer even in the same genre.

All those new beat Belgians are no doubt still active, but don't ask me under which names...

Death - well, Chuck is dead. Bathory still exists, Hellhammer morphed into Celtic Frost and has been dead for more than a decade. Possessed disbanded in the 80s and the bassist went on to form Primus.

Frankie Knuckles is still active, isn't he? Todd Terry, Morales...Westbam is still around, so are Dr. Motte and Sven Vath.

Depeche Mode is still going strong. The Sisters are semi-disbanded.

Luckily, a lot of the bands I hated are gone too. The Smiths, Stock Aitken & Waterman, Guns 'n Roses, Queen, Warrant, Europe, Poison (the US band, not the German one), Motley Crue, Def Leppard, Kiss. Rod Steward and Elton John are still alive, sadly.

Let see. I was turned 16 in 1981. Those who are still going are...

Blue Oyster Cult: On tour forever!
Pink Floyd: in inconclusive stasis
The Pretenders: still going, but not nearly as relevant
U2: yup
New Order: check
Roxy Music: well, at least a tour
The Cure: why hasn't ANYONE mentioned them yet? Possibly more relevant now than back then
X: still playing the occasional show
Wire, XTC, Siouxsie: ditto

Stereolab, the High Llamas, Tindersticks, Mercury Rev: yes but don't care

The Cure: why hasn't ANYONE mentioned them yet? Possibly more relevant now than back then
Sorry. I would've mentioned them, but I didn't know about them until I was 18. Same with Siouxsie or Sisters of Mercy.

When I was 16 I liked Green Day, The Offspring and the Red Hot Chili Peppers, just like most people who were 16 in 1994. Nowadays, of course I wouldn't touch any of them with a ten foot bargepole covered in shit, and nor, I guess, would most other people at my age. But sitting on the train next to two 16 year olds this morning and from their conversation I gathered they were fans of all three bands.

Interesting to see how the Green Day fanbase has remained the same age while, say, the Super Furries fanbase has grown older with the band.

No, it's just that people AGE QUICKER listening to SFA

Somehow I feel this question would mean more to me (ie. affect me) if it was about the bands I liked when I was fourteen - I'm too close to sixteen, maybe. Anyway:

The Church - yep, though they were old by the time I got to them anyway. I still haven't bought their latest album but I'm sure I'd like it.
Sonic Youth - see above. I like what I've heard of "Murray Street' so far.
Underground Lovers - not sure. The main guy made a movie I know, but hopefully he's back to music again by now. Still like 'em heaps.
Talk Talk - Already defunct when I got to them. Mark Hollis may release something some time this decade, and if I recall the other guys (eg. O'Rang) were working with Graham Sutton of Bark Psychosis (yay!). As with BP, I could never stop loving Talk Talk.
Puressence - I thought they'd broken up, but according to DJ Martian there's a new album on the way. My enjoyment of their new stuff may be tainted by their tangential stylistic association with Travis, Coldplay et. al.
The Comsat Angels - As defunct as when I discovered them. Undying love etc.
Simple Minds - Still going, implausibly (and I bet no-one expected them to do a covers album). I love the exact same section of their backcatalogue now as I did then ('78-'83) and dislike the same section as well ('85 onwards).
Marillion - Under the power of Glenn McDonalds' enthusiasm, I really really liked them. Now, I feel uncomfortable when I listen to them, and even the less overblown later albums sound like they should be reworked massively by an intelligent producer (ie. me). Still limping onwards, but they've so totally given over to satiating their implacable fanbase that they may as well not exist for the purposes of the outside world.

also when i was 16 i discovered (albeit somewhat late) NWA, PE, Snoop, Dre, Da Onyx, Tha Dogg Pound, happy hardcore, Warning tapes packs... i am now a self confessed Neptunes fanatic... tho' my schmindie mates reckon i was never into hip hop and i'm just tail coating... fuck you!

Traffic - Done, thank god.
The Who - Uh, close to dead, no disrespect intended.
Neil Young - Probably ought to retire soon before he gets too embarrassing.
Lou Reed - Still worthwhile.

The Sex Pistols are still going, apparently. The Cure as well - Bloodflowers made some apologies for fans alienated by Smith's mostly- hideous 90s output.

Sebadoh-Still going I think. Kinda eased off on them a bit and it's hard to listen to a whole album of them now.

Sonic Youth-Still love them and "Murray Street" is fantastic

Blues Explosion-They have a new album out now. Not bothered though. Four Blues Explosion albums is more than enough.