Bands of the living dead

I was rather amused to read this MSN article, which talks about bands "long thought to have disbanded" who "soldier on...long after even loyal fans believed them to no longer be in existence."

There certainly are countless bands like this still out there; my brother recently went to see shows by some kind of Thin Lizzy lineup and by some kind of Kansas lineup. The MSN article doesn't go that far in depth on the subject; among the bands they use as examples are Cheap Trick, Def Leppard, and the Who(!). But, anyway, I did think the article was worth reading, and the first two paragraphs sum up the trend well:

http://entertainment.msn.com/music/features/bandsofthelivingdead

Imagine if you found out that new episodes of "Laverne & Shirley" were still being made. Perhaps not with the entire original cast and certainly with the remaining cast members looking kind of old and out of breath. But still, the show was technically on the air somehow, somewhere, being watched by someone. Or imagine if you learned that Ernest Hemingway was still pumping out the occasional novel, it's just that barely anyone was reading them. You'd probably think to yourself, "That's odd, I could have sworn that show was canceled and that author died a really long time ago."

Sounds like a weird dream. It's also rock 'n' roll reality, as bands long thought to be disbanded soldier on, releasing albums and riding the tour jet (and later, tour bus) long after even loyal fans believed them to no longer be in existence.