As you may or may not know, the venerable jam band, road juggernaut and all-around goofball virtuosos known as Phish will be celebrating its official 30th anniversary this year.  

The band started modestly at a Vermont college in 1983 and built its reputation through endless touring, self-determinism and a desire to elevate the improvisational nature of rock performance bequeathed to them by older bands like the Dead, Traffic, Zappa, and so on.  Their fanatical fan-base has only grown over time even as they age along with the band. (All the members are on the cusp of turning 50.)

So, what other bands have celebrated their diamond anniversaries recently, or soon will...? Any others with 30 continuous* years in action...?  

[P.S.  I'm very aware that the current Phish lineup has existed for all but 2 of those years, but that is it's own milestone, IMO.]

[*How to count hiatuses?  In general, I think less than 5 years is a break, not a break-up. Your mileage may vary.]

 

Here are a few standouts:

Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds (recent forum topic)

Megadeth

Red Hot Chili Peppers 

NOFX 

The Flaming Lips 

The Tragically Hip 

Metallica ('81)

Pet Shop Boys ('82)

Queensryche ('81)

Primus ('84)

 

Last year the Pogues celebrted thier 30th year with a mini Europan tour.

Donnie Iris and the Cruisers have been recording since 1980.

Most people would identify Donnie Iris as a "one hit wonder" , on the assumption that 'Ah , Leah' is the only song that ever got noticed by anyone, so therefore the only meaningful music he ever was involved in.

Those people would be wrong as Donnie Iris wrote the hit song from his former group the Jaggerz....'The Rapper'...a hit song still played on some oldies stations today. Also the follow up album to Back On The Streets ( the LP that included 'Ah, Leah') called King Cool is a terrific LP that yielded no signicant chart success, but is IMO a superior effort.

Donnie and the Cruisers stiil play and record, not many of us are aware of it though , this type music has been replaced years ago by Grunge, Rap, Hip Hop , teeny- bopper pop and various other types of music that makes more money for agents, record companies , etc.

It's too bad, a few really interesting artists got introduced to us in the early 80s, Power Pop ( I like so much of that style),,,but it got pushed aside rather quickly. The Poper Pop era was very short-lived.

You know you're old when a band (or bands) that you view as a "new band" is 30 years old or closing in on 30 years old.

LOL

30 plus years list.....

Joan Jett & The Blackhearts

Heart

Pat Benatar

The Go-Go's

Hall & Oats

AC/DC

The B-52's

The Police

The Cars

Prince

Duran Duran

John Cougar

 

Don't mean to nit-pick, Roger, but many of those bands are no longer together or have taken several hiatuses.

I'll add R.E.M.

 

In response to RogerTaylor's comment:

Sorry to be so linear, but ...

The Police didn't even make it to a 10th anniversary.

AC/DC is into their 40th anniversary.

Maybe I'm the one that's confused, but according to the OP, this thread is about bands that have lasted 30 consecutive (or reasonably close) years.   

Maybe solo artists also count ... but it's much easier to "stay together" when you are alone, isn't it?    :)

Someone get the red PEN out and correct Roger's exam.  The score may not be one of his highest.   hahahaha.

PS.  Roger: there was an article in the news last week re: the pen Abraham Lincoln used to sign the Emancipation Proclamation; it is in an exhibition at the Mass Historical Society with some other fascinating artifacts.  :)

 

This is a lot more difficult than it might seem.    So many bands from that era have gone on a hiatus that lasted more than 5-years.  Or they have disbanded and never lasted 30 years.  

Dinosaur Jr. (1984) (they had a long-ish hiatus, admittedly).

Metallica (not a fan, but they are a fit)

 

It's funny how often someone posts something having obviously not looked at the original post for more than a millisecond.  Chalk it up to our miniscule spans of attention due to information overload, I guess... :-)

Hiatus - Shmiatis....they still exist in some flavor. Was one of the requiremts an album per year?

It's all good  ;)

Depeche Mode 1980- New album Delta Machine out this week.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snILjFUkk_A

This is meant to be kind of nebulous as well as salutory, because it is more rare than some might realize...much less with the same lineup.

And while it's true some bands may even take 4-5 years between albums (or more...looking at you, MBV...!), there is usually a defining point of a band's breakup vs. a temporary break from each other.  A divorce rather than separation, as it were.

And this is also an adjunct to how we define our classic rockers, nostalgia acts, heritage bands, or what have you...with the point that it's often the music that matters most.  Personally, I know that the crowd of the last Phish show I saw skewed quite young...much younger than the band members themselves.

It's also occurred to me that our own forum here skews older...but not so old as to entirely miss a band that's been around for 30 years.

 

In response to yogafriend's comment:

Yah! but did you see that 3D pen? Now THAT'S a pen!!!!!      ;)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r05gjLfDX2E

 

Only $79.00 too!

In response to yogafriend's comment:

I hate it when you go "linear", going forward could you try to be obtuse?

Thank you in advance for your cooperation!

30 year mark:

I am only going to include bands that have at least 3 remaining original members and who have all scored serious success at some point in their careers and are considered influential:

Def Leppard

Motley Crue

Aerosmith (40 years)

Anthrax

Cheap Trick

Slayer

Ratt

 

 

Golden Earring

Kiss

U2 

ZZ Top

Rush

If the topic is the 30-year mark (or thereabouts), add the Red Hot Chili Peppers and U2. If we're  going 30+ years, that opens the door pretty wide for old geezers like the Stones, the Who, Kiss, Rush, and, of course, Spinal Tap.

 

In response to jesseyeric's comment:

Nice list.  Cheap Trick hits the 40-year mark this year.  

Turns out Ratt was started in 1976 (!)...one year before Leppard....

 

Ratt has been going all this time?

In response to Hfxsoxnut's comment:

Who knew?

This thread is related to the thread about nostalgia bands.

I mean , is Ratt a nostalgia band?....KISS ?...Motley Crue?

The Smithereens

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwQAW6f9VLk

Ratt is finishing production on their newest album and Juan Crocier has rejoined them. Ratt has released new material this decade, a lot without S. Pearcy. Bands to take breaks. Motley Crue has also released new material in the last 5 years. I just think that with the ability that so many musicians now have to do side projects, some older bands only get together every 5 years or so.

 

Def Leppard is one band on the list who tries to put new music out there at least every three years.

 

I didn't list Motorhead but I guess you can include them although only Lemmey remains from the original band.

In response to jesseyeric's comment:

Didn't the lead singer of Ratt die already? suicide?

In response to RogerTaylor's comment:

Stephen Pearcy - no. Robin Crosby who played 2nd lead guitar died a number of years ago due to an AIDS related condition. The pitfalls of using dirty needles.

Sade. Yes this a group, named after the lead singer. They were formed in 1983. They are light years from prolific, but they ain't dead yet.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TYv2PhG89A