How some of the most derided bands of all time are making a comeback

The fate of the pop musician – at least the pop musician below the top tier of stardom – has historically been to fall from fashion. At some point in their rise they will be of the moment, the spirit of the age, and then they won’t be. At best, they’ll have a slow but perfectly lucrative fade, as their fanbase dwindles to the zealots. At worst they’ll become a punch line, a raised eyebrow: ‘What were we thinking?’ Every hit, every sold-out show, is just another step closer to irrelevance.

It may be that the single greatest artistic effect of the Covid pandemic has been to change that. Over the past few years, since we were all locked indoors, groups long since consigned to what Smash Hits magazine called ‘the dumper’ have begun to re-emerge.