Posted on 10/19/2020 5:44:00 PM PDT by KevinB
Yeah yeah, this tired old line is getting a little stale. Did you write for Rolling Stone in 1981 perchance?
No doubt about it that Journey, Look into the Future, and Next had awesome moments. The instrumentals are gold: Topaz, Kohoutek, Nickel and Dime. But the pre-Perry lyrics were not that great, and both Gregg and Neal have said numerous times they were foundering by 77 and up for a change in direction. Look at Genesis too for Pete's sake...they spent the entire 70s writing long prog-rock opuses, and some point they just had to start doing something a little different.
Journey's lyrics improved immensely on Infinity. And Perry and Rolie's voices were just magic together. They still kept doing hard rockers, still kept doing blues, still kept their trademark space-rock sound. They added some infectious upbeat rockers to their repertoire (among my favorites).
But most of the ingredients were already there. Go back to the "Charge of the Light Brigade" demos they cut in 1973...look up a song "Angels in Heaven." Very sweet little instrumental and you can definitely hear some precursors of their post-1978 sound. They also used themes from "In My Lonely Feeling/Conversations" in the Dream, after Dream soundtrack.
The band wasn't *ruined* by Perry...changed yes, but not nearly as much as people think.
Well you sound like you may not even be remembering right. Gregg has *repeatedly* state in interviews that he was sick and tired of touring and wanted to start a family.
I don’t doubt that personality clashes with Steve may have played into that decision, but “forced out”? That is never how Gregg himself has described it.
As for Aynsley, he’s a better case for being forced out, but by Herbie Herbert, not Steve.
As I remember it, it was fed by all the rock magazines (like Rolling Stone) who could not STAND Journey, called them commercial sell-outs etc. Their fans were devoted to them. The music press was not.
I became a fan in the early to mid-1980s, and I couldn’t tell other guys that, because they were too cool with their Zeppelin and their Floyd and whatever the heck else they were listening to. I once tried to tell someone that Journey did hard rock numbers and he laughed at me.
Now that all that high school pretentious BS is over with, people can sit back and just listen to the music on its own with more of an open mind, and that’s when we can realize the talents of the people involved.
And some of the Steve Perry hate comes from people in the Bay area who got used to their sound from 74-77 and then couldn’t adapt to the new frontmen. Even Robert Fleischman, more of a traditional rocker voice, said he used to get flipped off on stage every night.
I would have never heard and appreciated their early stuff had I not started with Escape and Frontiers, then been blown away by Infinity through Departure.
Those were my ‘garage band’ dayz...I idolized those guys.
But then the greatest guitarist I’ve ever seen no one has heard of, Al Di Meola.
Those nights at the ‘Great American Music Hall’ were magic.
I am biased, about damn near everything...lol.
Van Halen pushed a lot of bands out of “hard rock” - Journey included. As the interview points out, Perry and Schon were amazed watching VH perform live each night. And there was lots of competition between bands, even if they were friends. But if you can’t really compete, you might want to try something else.
I think that’s one of the main reasons Journey evolved, into something they were actually even better at, the rock ballad. Much like VH had re-written what it was to be a hard rock band, Journey re-wrote what a power ballad was with songs like Still they Ride, Open Arms, and especially Faithfully. Faithfully was truly an iconic song, the year it came out. It was like a duet between man and instrument (piano and guitar) plus amazing lyrics. Gives me chills to this day. Yet, many still hate it, and the band.
To each their own, I’m perfectly content liking and learning about most all music. And VH and Journey were two of the best. But I agree with Perry it was best to keep them separate.
To each his own.
Journey’s “Escape” album is a great album start to finish. Even without “Don’t Stop Believin’” it’s a great album. “Open Arms” isn’t my favorite, though.
“Agreed. I dont get the Steve Perry hate”
The first couple Journey LPs back in 1975, pre Steve Perry, were Progressive style rock. So certainly their style changed to very melodic mainstream when Perry joined. I can see some early fans being pissed. But they still had Pink Floyd, ELP.....
Please add me ;’}
Done
You might get an argument on that.
bump
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