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John Shearer/Invision for Full Picture/AP Images1 of 10
In rock 'n' roll, sometimes things just don't work out. And then sometimes bands become aware of how good they had it and try to get back together. And that may or may not work out either. For better or worse, these are the quickest band reunions in recent rock 'n' roll history.
Weezer (2005-08)
Did anybody hear about the Seattle man who offered Weezer $10 million in 2010 to break up for good? After 2005's not-so-successful Make Believe record, people thought they'd seen the last of the black framed alt rock pioneers since they hadn't put out an overtly successful record since 2001's Green Album, one of three cult albums after Pinkerton and the hit Blue Album.
But sure enough, the band reunited just a few years later in 2008, returning with songs about pork 'n beans and other highly inspiring stuff on their Red Album. As a fan of Weezer's earlier stuff, let it be said that good things can be hard to see if you pile enough garbage on top of them.
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Chris Polk/FilmMagic.com2 of 10
The Smashing Pumpkins (2000-05)
In 2000, hairless Chicago poet Billy Corgan announced the band's plan to split after the release of their independent record Machina II and its tour cycle. In 2001, the Chicago Metro's tightly packed quarters were blessed with 12 years of music crammed into a four-and-a-half hour set. In the same year, Corgan would go on to write a book of poetry titled Blinking with Fists and start up a new band, Zwan, which released just one album in 2003.
Immediately following a 2005 solo stint, which was deemed a spark to reuniting the band, The Smashing Pumpkins announced its return and offered up live shows and a new album, Zeitgeist, in 2007.
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Carlo Allegri/Invision/AP3 of 10
Fall Out Boy (2010-13)
Rolling Stone said it best when they remarked that maybe nobody would really care, since the band's fanbase had grown taste buds and moved on while the remnants of Fall Out Boy struggled solo to find anything. Following a three-year breakup, the band announced its return in 2013 along with its Save Rock and Roll album, an ironic title for the emo band that nobody knew left at all. If anything, silence was golden, if only briefly, in the Fall Out Boy world, but the band's new album featuring the likes of Elton John sparked big ticket sales and a strong return. Way to go.
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Wikimedia Commons4 of 10
The Black Crowes (2002-05, 2010-13)
Having been in the spotlight for 25 years, a wild child band like The Black Crowes is subject to hiatuses after enough drugs on the page and nights on the stage. After 12 years of success after their debut Shake Your Money Maker, the band dissolved in 2002 after their drummer left the Robinson brothers. In 2005, the band came back with a new drummer only to release a few more studio albums before breaking up again in 2010 after the release of their live album Croweology.
After a short solo presence from frontman Chris Robinson, the band reunited with a full U.S. tour in 2013. Fans get the feeling the band is done touring as the Robinson brothers grow a little older, but this old dog keeps coming home.
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AFP/Getty Images5 of 10
Nine Inch Nails (2009-13)
Nine Inch Nails might have been gone for a bit, but lead man Trent Reznor never went anywhere. After 2008's Ghosts I-IV instrumental record and touring through 2009, Reznor remarked that NIN would disappear for a while with their "last ever" live shows just before he took a quick Academy Award for his score on "The Social Network" and started up a How to Destroy Angels side project with his lady lover.
But early 2013 brought the Rez-man back to the live scene just before dropping a new record that summer, Hesitation Marks. If you ask us, this was the most unsuccessful breakup ever -- more like a hiatus.
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flickr via The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas6 of 10
Blink-182 (2005-09)
The punky perv trio might have exhausted its wit by the end of its self-titled cycle in 2005, but if their future pop punk side projects taught them anything, it's that they were much better musicians and way more foul as Blink-182. Following a brief hiccup in 2002 thanks to a Boxcar Racer side project, the band split after their self-titled album in 2005 due to growing apart. Immediately, the three went onto new projects, guitar Tom DeLonge with Angels & Airwaves, and the Mark Hoppus and Travis Barker in +44, a hilarious attempt at pop punk success.
Upon the 2008 plane tragedy that left Barker with a near-death experience and severe lower body burns, the band soon reunited after an impressive recovery in 2009, playing live shows again and soon following up with the album Neighborhoods in 2011. All three of the bandmates are spending the back of 2013 writing, recording and touring, and hopefully all tragedies are behind them.
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Wikimedia Commons7 of 10
Rage Against the Machine (2000-07)
After three of the best '90s rock albums, Rage frontman Zach de la Rocha announced the band's inability to function as a group in 2000. The band's fourth studio record, Renegades, was a cover album that put the final nail in the coffin. While their socio-political viewpoints and guitar distortion set a precedent in rock history, the band failed at one-man rock revolutions on their own.
In 2007, rumors started flying about a reunion and new record around the time axe-man Tom Morello and de le Rocha did an acoustic set together. That spark ignited a short-lived tour through 2008 with no record to follow. Since hearing a "maybe" on the status of a new record in 2012, the only other murmur is of a live reunion in August 2014.
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Wikimedia Commons8 of 10
Oasis (2009-14)
After the blissful state of brotherly love finally broke between raging Brits Liam and Noel Gallagher just after the band's 2008 Dig Out Your Soul release, the band separated in 2009 without evening finishing its tour. Elder brother Noel claims brother Liam swung a guitar at his head and Liam claims Noel just ran the show. Sounds like a good reason for a break.
In the following years, Oasis stayed together under the name Beady Eye with the addition of Robbie Williams' drummer and Kasabian's lead guitarist while Noel and his High Flying Birds solo project released one of the biggest UK albums of 2011. However, despite the family squabbles and guitar throwing, both Gallagher brothers are welcoming the idea of a 20th anniversary for their hit debut album Definitely Maybe in 2014, if not one of their most successful albums in 2015, but only if the money is right. Apparently there aren't enough zeroes in "rock 'n' roll."
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Wikimedia Commons9 of 10
Limp Bizkit (2005-09)
Nearly 20 years filling our heads with Fred Durst nonsense and weighty guitar riffs, Limp Bizkit is still kicking like a blind three-legged dog. Following the band's heavy debut and half its lyrics being censored on the radio, the band lost its key member, Wes Borland, and forced rock rapper turned reality sellout to keep the train moving full steam.
Unfortunately, the band's media friendly nationwide guitar audition "Put Your Guitar Where Your Mouth Is," an event most likely titled by the inarticulate Durst, lost the band its chops and people's interest. Borland would return for one album in 2004, only for the band to break in 2005 with no plans to reunite. But in 2009, they of course reunited under a Rainbows 'N Unicorns Tour with a record in 2011. They are currently set to tour 2013 with a new record set for 2014. Guess you can't shake all the shit-throwing monkeys out of the tree, can ya?
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Wikimedia Commons10 of 10Next: Rock Stars Age Just Like the Rest of Us
Silverchair
We'll give the last spot to the quickest reunion ever in a sense that Silverchair reunited for the shortest amount of time after a long break, never to be heard from again. After leading lad Daniel Johns went from lady-haired anorexic to beefcake mustache man, the band made an attempt to reunite for the first time in six years. They recorded arguably one of the best award-winning albums of 2007, Young Modern, and quickly toured behind it. Fans got excited by the return of such rare talent only to be heartbroken again by the band's inability to finish their follow-up, citing creative differences and its loss of fun. Although a nearly complete album hangs in the bounds, Johns says the band is most likely through, having started when they were 12 years old. But then again, as Justin Bieber might say, "Never say never."
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