ROCK & ROLL PANGAEA: As Rock Enters Its Twilight Years, The Most Iconic Bands Are Melding Together.

Classic rock bands have similarly lost members to retirement, personal differences, or, well, you know, permanent retirement. But because the brands are still strong, these bands have gone to extraordinary, sometimes deeply weird lengths to install new parts and keep on trucking.

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I refer to this phenomenon as “shrunkgroups,” a play on the term “supergroup,” which is applied to all-star bands that represent the cream of a particular era’s talent. With shrunkgroups, however, it’s not about thriving but rather surviving. These collectives represent the best of whatever’s left at a time when the demand for aging bands to tour far extends the supply of actual classic rock musicians. It’s like the difference between The A-Team and The Dirty Dozen.

Well worth a read, if you’re pondering why Fleetwood Mac just parted ways with Lindsey Buckingham (again) on the eve of a tour and replaced him with Tom Petty’s former guitarist Mike Campbell and Neil Finn of Crowded House, which had a monster hit in the MTV era with “Don’t Dream It’s Over.”