Muirsical Re-imaginings #2
In November 2009 freelance writer and entertainment journalist Bryan Reesman wrote a piece on his blog site entitled "Who Needs Famous Frontmen? It's All About The Music, Isn't it?" which came hot on the heels of (and clearly inspired by) the news that Steven Tyler was seemingly leaving Aerosmith.
Coincidentally (except I don't believe in coincidence), at almost exactly the same time I had started writing the sequel to my first Muirsical Re-imaginings article after hearing about the possibility that Queen (Brian May and Roger Taylor to be more accurate) may work with American Idol star Adam Lambert in the future.
Bryan's article is interesting, well worth a read, and hard to argue against the points he raises. He includes the general summation that "We should not begrudge a group that wishes to continue once a famous member, usually the frontman, departs. This is their livelihood. They deserve to make a living. And there are people who still want to hear the music, regardless of who sings it, as long as they’re good."
Absolutely. Abso-flippin-lutely. I touch on that in my original Re-imagining article.
However, there are two sides to every re-imagined story...
Queen even considering working with Adam Lambert (Paul Rodgers having stepped away from his role as featured vocalist) is no longer the sort of story that is met with surprise, disbelief, or taken with a pinch of salt, because this has been the way our re-imagined entertainment has been heading since the turn of the marketing over music century, and band/ brand/ tribute merging is damn near compulsory in any new Millennium reinvention.
And clearly the death of an original or key member isn't necessarily the end of the story - in fact it's getting dangerously close to becoming a prerequisite.
A friend of mine who keeps his finger on the musical pulse dropped me a line when the "Tyler leaving Aerosmith" story was announced and Joe Perry confirmed that they would audition singers (which was then nipped in the bud by the later "I'm staying" comment by Tyler).
But my friend's reason for sending me the information was actually because some of the throwaway banter by the FOX news guys running the story included a reference to Arnel Pineda "replacing" Steve Perry (my buddy knew this would put a cynical smile on my face).
That commentary proves Journey manager Irving Azoff has truly done his job and earned his percentage over the last two years. I'd imagine by now Camp JRNY have even found a way to remove Steve Augeri and Jeff Scott Soto (the singers between Perry and Pineda) from the National Database.
If Aerosmith did go on the vocal hunt, where would they look?
Tribute bands? X Factor? Pop Idol? YouTube? Myspace? Would they send musical scouts to unknown towns in relatively unknown Countries?
It's not impossible the group franchise can continue as a brand featuring all new members - Gene Simmons actually considered this for KISS' future.
Am I the only one of the old school who doesn't buy into 'The Emperor's New Clothes' and feels we have lost our musical way - and musical soul - as regards selling that soul for the rock 'n' roll dollar, and as regards musical progression and challenge?
We seem to be doomed to a future of stagnated classic (retro) rock where the bands can plug in replacements or tribute musicians at the drop of a hi-hat, perform primarily Greatest Hits shows, and purposely record new material in the style of their classic era, thereby creating a new musical label: Formulaic Rock.
Journey and KISS are just two examples of bands that later took the formulated recording route and pretty damned successfully too, as regards the 'legacy sound' and sales of the albums 'Revelation' in 2008 and 'Sonic Boom' in 2009 respectively.
We live in a re-imagined and disposable world and that world includes fast food, increased pace (but diminished responsibilities), political correctness, rich getting richer, obscene amounts of money in sports and entertainment, too many of those £'s and $'s still going to those that have failed us (Banks and the Banking Industry) and the re-emergence of (sometimes reinvented) classic or melodic AOR bands who seemingly had their day in the 1980s having, for the most part, floundered in the 1990s as new musical fashions came and went.
Journey, Styx, Kansas, Boston and Foreigner are just five of a very large number of American rock bands who either disbanded, suffered loss of key personnel, or saw diminishing returns throughout parts of the '90s.
Interestingly many such bands were actually born in the 1970s (including the previous examples) and many were also originally more rock orientated.
They became far more successful in the 1980s as they changed their tune (or sold out, depending on your musical perspective) to more melodic or balladeering melodies that the '80s seemed to adopt as its own (REO Speedwagon are the prime example of that sort of transition).
There are exceptions of course, on both sides of the pond - the global dominace of Queen was only halted by the tragedy of death, while acts such as Bon Jovi and the aforementioned Aerosmith have never really missed a beat over the last three and four decades respectively (other than the 'Smiths dip in fortunes when Joe Perry was out the band).
But fast forward some twenty-five years later to the current day and we find a new generation of fans picking up on the classic rock legacies via their parents record collections and classic rock radio stations.
Not only do they want to hear that music they want to be able to experience the live performances, having been too young - or not even born - first time around.
The dedicated die-hard fans are in those audiences too, of course, but suddenly
it's a viable proposition again for many of those once classic acts. Or at least more profitable than it was in the '90s when many such bands disbanded or disappeared under the rock radar.
They have been given the opportunity to reappear on that radar and are coming out the woodwork of those original wooden finish stereo units and turntables at a fair old rate of...knots (sorry).
I also find it interesting that as the original fans find their offspring picking up on the classic acts and classic back catalogues, the original artists are doing much the same thing...
The decision taken by Yes (detailed in my original re-imagining article) to replace Jon Anderson with tribute singer Benoit David wasn't the only personnel change.
They also recruited Oliver Wakeman to replace classic line-up member and famous keyboard twiddler Rick Wakemen - father of Oliver.
There are times when it makes sense to replace a member from 'within the family' and there are cases where it's not just a smart move but a sad necessity...
Scottish rockers Nazareth have recorded and performed consistently for over forty years and since 1999 have had Lee Agnew behind the kit, who replaced original drummer Darrell Sweet when he sadly and unexpectedly died that same year.
Lee was drum tech for Nazareth, but is also son of the band's bass player Pete Agnew.
The Led Zeppelin full show reunion at the Ahmet Ertegun benefit concert in 2007 featured the late and great John Bonham's son Jason on the sticks, and people tend to forget he also performed with them on their short-set appearance for the Atlantic Records 40th Anniversary concert in 1988.
Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band are seen as not just a solid group of musicians but almost a family, so it was hardly a surprise when the irreplaceable (in most fans and E Streeters eyes) Max Weinberg had to be replaced (due to other musical commitments) for some shows in 2009, it was by his 18 year old son, Jay.
There are times however where such familial replacement is down to the branding or in connection with those who have controlling rights to the name.
The Van Halen 2007/08 Reunion Tour with David Lee Roth featured Edward Van Halen's son Wolfgang on bass, and Mr Roth put it better and more humorously than I could: "three parts original and one part inevitable".
And thus bands become brands, with the best selling or household name brands available from the shelves of your local Wal-Mart store or affiliated supermarket chain - just add water, or flavour with your tribute singer of choice.
Bryan Reesman concluded his piece with "In terms of replacing iconic singers, the cliché business concept “what the market will bear” comes to mind - even if some people think the results are unbearable".
Absolutely. Abso-flippin-lutely. It really can "go on and on and on and on..."
Best of luck to them all... I'll be at a Limehouse Lizzy gig.
Ross Muir
November 2009
In November 2009 freelance writer and entertainment journalist Bryan Reesman wrote a piece on his blog site entitled "Who Needs Famous Frontmen? It's All About The Music, Isn't it?" which came hot on the heels of (and clearly inspired by) the news that Steven Tyler was seemingly leaving Aerosmith.
Coincidentally (except I don't believe in coincidence), at almost exactly the same time I had started writing the sequel to my first Muirsical Re-imaginings article after hearing about the possibility that Queen (Brian May and Roger Taylor to be more accurate) may work with American Idol star Adam Lambert in the future.
Bryan's article is interesting, well worth a read, and hard to argue against the points he raises. He includes the general summation that "We should not begrudge a group that wishes to continue once a famous member, usually the frontman, departs. This is their livelihood. They deserve to make a living. And there are people who still want to hear the music, regardless of who sings it, as long as they’re good."
Absolutely. Abso-flippin-lutely. I touch on that in my original Re-imagining article.
However, there are two sides to every re-imagined story...
Queen even considering working with Adam Lambert (Paul Rodgers having stepped away from his role as featured vocalist) is no longer the sort of story that is met with surprise, disbelief, or taken with a pinch of salt, because this has been the way our re-imagined entertainment has been heading since the turn of the marketing over music century, and band/ brand/ tribute merging is damn near compulsory in any new Millennium reinvention.
And clearly the death of an original or key member isn't necessarily the end of the story - in fact it's getting dangerously close to becoming a prerequisite.
A friend of mine who keeps his finger on the musical pulse dropped me a line when the "Tyler leaving Aerosmith" story was announced and Joe Perry confirmed that they would audition singers (which was then nipped in the bud by the later "I'm staying" comment by Tyler).
But my friend's reason for sending me the information was actually because some of the throwaway banter by the FOX news guys running the story included a reference to Arnel Pineda "replacing" Steve Perry (my buddy knew this would put a cynical smile on my face).
That commentary proves Journey manager Irving Azoff has truly done his job and earned his percentage over the last two years. I'd imagine by now Camp JRNY have even found a way to remove Steve Augeri and Jeff Scott Soto (the singers between Perry and Pineda) from the National Database.
If Aerosmith did go on the vocal hunt, where would they look?
Tribute bands? X Factor? Pop Idol? YouTube? Myspace? Would they send musical scouts to unknown towns in relatively unknown Countries?
It's not impossible the group franchise can continue as a brand featuring all new members - Gene Simmons actually considered this for KISS' future.
Am I the only one of the old school who doesn't buy into 'The Emperor's New Clothes' and feels we have lost our musical way - and musical soul - as regards selling that soul for the rock 'n' roll dollar, and as regards musical progression and challenge?
We seem to be doomed to a future of stagnated classic (retro) rock where the bands can plug in replacements or tribute musicians at the drop of a hi-hat, perform primarily Greatest Hits shows, and purposely record new material in the style of their classic era, thereby creating a new musical label: Formulaic Rock.
Journey and KISS are just two examples of bands that later took the formulated recording route and pretty damned successfully too, as regards the 'legacy sound' and sales of the albums 'Revelation' in 2008 and 'Sonic Boom' in 2009 respectively.
We live in a re-imagined and disposable world and that world includes fast food, increased pace (but diminished responsibilities), political correctness, rich getting richer, obscene amounts of money in sports and entertainment, too many of those £'s and $'s still going to those that have failed us (Banks and the Banking Industry) and the re-emergence of (sometimes reinvented) classic or melodic AOR bands who seemingly had their day in the 1980s having, for the most part, floundered in the 1990s as new musical fashions came and went.
Journey, Styx, Kansas, Boston and Foreigner are just five of a very large number of American rock bands who either disbanded, suffered loss of key personnel, or saw diminishing returns throughout parts of the '90s.
Interestingly many such bands were actually born in the 1970s (including the previous examples) and many were also originally more rock orientated.
They became far more successful in the 1980s as they changed their tune (or sold out, depending on your musical perspective) to more melodic or balladeering melodies that the '80s seemed to adopt as its own (REO Speedwagon are the prime example of that sort of transition).
There are exceptions of course, on both sides of the pond - the global dominace of Queen was only halted by the tragedy of death, while acts such as Bon Jovi and the aforementioned Aerosmith have never really missed a beat over the last three and four decades respectively (other than the 'Smiths dip in fortunes when Joe Perry was out the band).
But fast forward some twenty-five years later to the current day and we find a new generation of fans picking up on the classic rock legacies via their parents record collections and classic rock radio stations.
Not only do they want to hear that music they want to be able to experience the live performances, having been too young - or not even born - first time around.
The dedicated die-hard fans are in those audiences too, of course, but suddenly
it's a viable proposition again for many of those once classic acts. Or at least more profitable than it was in the '90s when many such bands disbanded or disappeared under the rock radar.
They have been given the opportunity to reappear on that radar and are coming out the woodwork of those original wooden finish stereo units and turntables at a fair old rate of...knots (sorry).
I also find it interesting that as the original fans find their offspring picking up on the classic acts and classic back catalogues, the original artists are doing much the same thing...
The decision taken by Yes (detailed in my original re-imagining article) to replace Jon Anderson with tribute singer Benoit David wasn't the only personnel change.
They also recruited Oliver Wakeman to replace classic line-up member and famous keyboard twiddler Rick Wakemen - father of Oliver.
There are times when it makes sense to replace a member from 'within the family' and there are cases where it's not just a smart move but a sad necessity...
Scottish rockers Nazareth have recorded and performed consistently for over forty years and since 1999 have had Lee Agnew behind the kit, who replaced original drummer Darrell Sweet when he sadly and unexpectedly died that same year.
Lee was drum tech for Nazareth, but is also son of the band's bass player Pete Agnew.
The Led Zeppelin full show reunion at the Ahmet Ertegun benefit concert in 2007 featured the late and great John Bonham's son Jason on the sticks, and people tend to forget he also performed with them on their short-set appearance for the Atlantic Records 40th Anniversary concert in 1988.
Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band are seen as not just a solid group of musicians but almost a family, so it was hardly a surprise when the irreplaceable (in most fans and E Streeters eyes) Max Weinberg had to be replaced (due to other musical commitments) for some shows in 2009, it was by his 18 year old son, Jay.
There are times however where such familial replacement is down to the branding or in connection with those who have controlling rights to the name.
The Van Halen 2007/08 Reunion Tour with David Lee Roth featured Edward Van Halen's son Wolfgang on bass, and Mr Roth put it better and more humorously than I could: "three parts original and one part inevitable".
And thus bands become brands, with the best selling or household name brands available from the shelves of your local Wal-Mart store or affiliated supermarket chain - just add water, or flavour with your tribute singer of choice.
Bryan Reesman concluded his piece with "In terms of replacing iconic singers, the cliché business concept “what the market will bear” comes to mind - even if some people think the results are unbearable".
Absolutely. Abso-flippin-lutely. It really can "go on and on and on and on..."
Best of luck to them all... I'll be at a Limehouse Lizzy gig.
Ross Muir
November 2009