DFA 1979 R.I.P. - A Good Thing or A Bad Thing?

Well, it's sort of old news by now, but Death From Above 1979, have decided to call it quits. This information has been greeted with the usual "that sucks" comment on many an elitist message board. But does it really? I mean, their debut CD, "You're A Woman, I'm a Machine" is one of the truly great Canadian albums of the last few years, and DFA1979 have worked along with BSS, Arcade Fire, The Dears and several others to make the current Canadian music scene the best is has EVER been. Still, I find it hard to mourn their loss. Why?

This is because I'm a firm believer in many of the old cliches, like "Quit while you're ahead" or "Leave 'em wanting more!" As I've mentioned before, there is nothing more annoying to me than watching a band get progressively more mediocre. Giving DFA1979 the benefit of the doubt, they likely would never get to that point. However, now they can go down in history as a band that put out one solid album that surely is destined to become a rock classic! And why mess with a classic!

For example, we all know that Rocky VI is possibly the dumbest idea ever. But the original Rocky is, and always will be a classic. Yet, many people forget that this is the case because the sequels were all so lame. Imagine if Stallone had only ever released that one movie. He would be lauded to this day as one of the great actors and directors of the 70's. It's almost hard to believe, isn't it? This trend is even more tragic in the world of rock 'n roll. There are way too many bands that should have stopped after one album. And there are many more bands that should have stopped after two. But it takes a brave artist to stop after one great album to pursue other projects. Now I understand that internal strife within the band was actually the reason for the break-up. But instead of looking at this as a tragedy for indie rock, we should look at it as a triumph and applaud all that this band was able to accomplish in such a short period of time.

Downloads:
Romantic Rights mp3
Blood On Our Hands mp3

DFA 1979 myspace
Purchase their CD's here.