What do David Bowie, Cher, Jay-Z and your grandma have in common? (Hint: It’s not their groundbreaking dance moves.) No, the unifying principle among the aforementioned is that they all made noise announcing their respective retirements. Unlike Nana, however, the music icons on that list must’ve had their fingers crossed. Bowie, Hova, Cher and lots more artists have succeeded in psyching us out and simultaneously turned the “musical comeback” into a musical cliche.
Our theory as to why so many musicians stage a retirement? Well, at a certain point the encore gets a louder applause than the show. (”Applause” in this case is synonymous with “money.” Case in point: Cher sold 20 million copies of her highly anticipated comeback album Believe in 1998 — almost twice as many as her previous best-selling albums.)
Which isn’t to say there aren’t some artists — Johnny Cash for instance — who justifiably enter self-imposed retirement to battle addictions and illnesses before making unexpected returns to the stage. Right or wrong, we’d be lying if we said we weren’t stoked to see some of our faves return after a hiatus. Others not so much.
Let’s examine, shall we, the waffling musicians whose careers we’ve seen come and go and come again:
- Seventeen years ago today, David Bowie announced his “last world tour,” Sound and Vision. Did he envision that he’d go back on his word in ‘03? Most likely yes. Either way, we’re glad he did.
- Pink Floyd turned heads in 2005 when they kissed and made up after a decade of in-fighting to headline the London Live 8 concert. Seems they were willing to put aside their differences in the name of African hunger. For a night.
- Jay-Z made headlines when he “retired” four years ago with the release of The Black Album, but subsequent collabos with Linkin Park and Beyonce hinted that he wasn’t ready to hang it up. And then came Kingdom Come. Oh Hova, you trickster you!
- Celine Dion, who took a T-O from music in 1999, relapsed in 2002 with the sensibly-titled A New Day Has Come. Although we weren’t keen on Dion’s return, we don’t mind if her heart goes on and on. Just keep it confined to Caesar’s Palace, m’kay Cece?
Tell us what you think. Who’s encore do you really want (more)? And who do you hope will keep their freaking promises and stay retired?

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- Portions of Album Content Provided by All Music Guide © 2008 All Media Guide, LLC.