I Remember Now who Queensryche is. They were one of those bands with The Mission of Spreading The Disease of prog rock. I believe they felt they was some kind of Revolution Calling. Maybe the bands will Speak to each other again, but I wouldn't expect them to be Breaking The Silence anytime soon. So in memory of Queensryche I'll hold an Electric Requiem in My Empty Room by listening to Operation: Mindcrime.

Will this be in next month's issue of Metal Edge?

SpikeStrip: but you gotta admit "far behind" rocked.

"Far Behind" rocks, but that wasn't Queensryche, that was Candlebox.

True story: Guy I hang out with sometimes at a bar here in Reno is the father of Geoff Tate's wife lol. I know, CSB.

What Queensryche rocks is "Silent Lucidity", an awesome song.

Sorry, rest of the band. There's no Queensryche without him. See also, Dokken, Queen, Judas Priest....

Bout damn time.....See ya Ego Tate

Not shocked by this. Tate ranks up there, for me, as one of the greatest voices ever but I always figured he was a crank.

Some new talent may do QR some good. Last time I saw them, Geoff's voice was weakening significantly...

I listened to previews of their last album, and aside from Geoff's voice, I found it quite boring. The 'American Soldier' album was a good concept, but not that great in execution.

The 'Take Cover' album of coversongs is pretty good, though I had to let it grow on me a bit.

DisplacedTexan: Not shocked by this. Tate ranks up there, for me, as one of the greatest voices ever but I always figured he was a crank.

Some new talent may do QR some good. Last time I saw them, Geoff's voice was weakening significantly...

And the band should rename themselves and not try to be Queensryche without him, kinda like Gilmour's trying to keep going as Pink Floyd without Waters (different order of magnitude, to be sure).

When asked for comment, Tate responded:

"In fiscal year 2010 to 2011, Queensrÿche management spent a combined total of 250000 dollars on amps. Lead singer expenditures ranked last in absolute dollars and accounted for only 6% of band spending. By way of comparison, the management spent 25 thousand more on hair extensions and 43 times more on pleather pants and drum sticks than on vocalist wages."

Somehow, they've limped along for the last 20 years, survived the departure of their best songwriter, muddled through eight largely uninspired post Empire albums. Now, they're losing one of the finest vocalists in the history of rock music (and the only thing besides nostalgia that kept me interested in the band).

I think they'll last two albums before fading away completely.

Tate's replacement is a generic high pitched power metal vocalist (see Helloween, Angra, Blind Guardian etc.

/I guess it's fiting since Tate's one of the primary influences of that style.

Id enjoy Queensrÿche songs better if it wasnt Queensrÿche singing them. Seriously, watch "I Dont Believe In Love". How can you screw up a vid about brainwashing, being falsely accused, and hot hooker nuns? By spinkicks and the worst ponytail in history, thats how.

The Live show they did of Mindcrime blew "the Wall" off the stage.

I was at the Madison show....that was one of the three they recorded the video of the show at...they also recorded at Milwaukee and LaCrosse. Best live show I've ever been to.

Metallica in the early 90s was damn good too, but not as good as Queensryche. They never should have let DeGarmo walk...he was the real talent that held the bunch together and did the lions share of the good writing.

MmmmBacon: Talondel: I Remember Now who Queensryche is. They were one of those bands with The Mission of Spreading The Disease of prog rock. I believe they felt they was some kind of Revolution Calling. Maybe the bands will Speak to each other again, but I wouldn't expect them to be Breaking The Silence anytime soon. So in memory of Queensryche I'll hold an Electric Requiem in My Empty Room by listening to Operation: Mindcrime.

Well played.

I have seen a couple of QR shows, and enjoyed the first one - while they were on the "Building Empires" tour, and they played Operation: Mindcrime in its entirety - a great deal. Most recently, I saw them at Rocklahoma (on TV, but still Live), and the show was okay, but rather uninspired. To be honest, Tate just didn't seem to want to be there, and it was Wilton and Rockenfeld who did the after-show interview backstage. You could tell there was a problem with the band, which is unfortunate, since I've been a fan from the first time I saw the video for "Queen of the Reich" on MTV back in '82.

I hope the guys all do well in their future pursuits, and salute them on 30 (mostly) great years of music. That said, they were still stupid to let Chris DeGarmo walk away, he was the best songwriter of the bunch.

CSB-
I bought the ep cassette of 'Queen of the Reich' at a Disc Records store in 1983 for $15 after seeing the video. I liked is because the cassette had the same 4 songs on both sides and it was on an endless loop in my first car. I had to mow two lawns to afford that one but it was worth it. I'm sure it would sound cheesy now, damn I loved that tape!

/Off my lawn, please... and clean up after your dog!

mhd: When asked for comment, Tate responded:

"In fiscal year 2010 to 2011, Queensrÿche management spent a combined total of 250000 dollars on amps. Lead singer expenditures ranked last in absolute dollars and accounted for only 6% of band spending. By way of comparison, the management spent 25 thousand more on hair extensions and 43 times more on pleather pants and drum sticks than on vocalist wages."

Ha.

hubiestubert: farkingismybusiness: It was the first year I came home with the wife to be, so 1990. It was just a sad show. They were just trying too damn hard to relate to an audience that just wasn't their crowd.

The next year we caught Anthrax and Public Enemy at The Orpheum, and that was an odd show. Primus got added onto the lineup to open, and we rolled out, and they opened with a cover of Thieves and my roomie and the rest of the fellas all leaped up cheering...and realized we were the only people in the entire theater who knew what the Hells Les was playing. One side of the theater had the metal kids, the other the rap kids. None of them were terribly excited about the opening, but WE had a great time. Up until the Young Black Teenagers showed up, and literally Chuck D came out and had security roust them off the stage. Anthrax played their asses off, PE tore it up. Finished off the show, and wound up in a fern bar off Harvard Square, and got some looks from the doormen, but we had some drinks and made the suit guys a wee bit nervous...

OHMIGOD THAT WAS A GREAT FARKING TOUR_{(Young Black Teenagers excluded... when I saw them they opened with a 15 min set)}! Infact, it was my first! I was all of ,14? 15? And afterwards cashed out my meager passbook savings account and bought a bass guitar.

mekkab: OHMIGOD THAT WAS A GREAT FARKING TOUR

Word.

Saw it at Hara Arena. Great venue, great show.

WOW! I thought that after 1995, I would never have to hear about Queensryche again. Apparently, I was wrong.

/DNRTFA

Saw Queensryche several times back in the heyday (late 80s, early 90s) when I was a fanboi. As much as I loved the concerts, to this day I'm still unsure if some/all of the vocals weren't lip-synched. It was too precise and perfect. But, man, could Tate belt the vocals.

Haven't listend to them since "Hear in the Now Frontier"

Been a fan since they started but the last time I saw them live was about 10 years ago. They really should have hung it up then. It's just not the same anymore and the writing has really fallen off.

I saw them on Empire and saw them for the Promised Land tour. That was also quite a good show. Watching them play Mindcrime all the way through was a huge treat.

You watch, no matter how good Todd proves to be, fans will biatch and whine about how Queensryche isn't what they used to be

Cloudchaser Sakonige the Red Wolf: fans will biatch and whine about how Queensryche isn't what they used to be

So - no change at all?

I'm not surprised. Guess they got tired of Tates shiat. I remember the whole big to do when Mindcrime 2 came out. Christ was that such a farking let down. I stopped paying attention to anything new that they did and gave up. Didn't help that the lead single was "I'm an American". The post 9-11 "'Murika 'Murika 'Murika" bullshiat was annoying. Didn't help that Tate went on crying and biatching about piracy this and that. You lose points, and money, from me when you start biatching about piracy.

The Muthaship: Sorry, rest of the band. There's no Queensryche without him. See also, Dokken, Queen, Judas Priest....

It started going downhill when Chris took the lyric writing talent with him (Q2K was abysmal).

I've seen them a couple of times, most recently about 4 years ago in a small, Atlanta venue; they still rocked.

Albums I enjoy:
Rage for Order
Operation: Mindcrime
Empire
Promised Land
Hear in the Now Frontier

This kinda makes me sad, if only because I had always secretly hoped that somehow, somewhere in secret, they might have been working on their next really great album, perhaps a last gasp, trend-breaking release that would make for the ultimate swan song, like R.E.M.'s "Automatic For The People" (the album they should have quit at,) and yet nothing... just @ 17 years of suck. It's always sad when a powerful, young, energetic group slowly dies on the vine as their creativity dries up or hits the brick wall; it's that whole problem of incredible artists who put out their best work when they're young, and then have to rest on their laurels for the rest of their miserable farking lives because they were a brilliant light bulb that burned out fast, like Metallica, R.E.M., Smashing Pumpkins (anyone sample Mr. Corgan's latest steaming pile?), et cetera; so many talented artists that now can only disappoint, because they got used up too soon.

Snapper Carr: muddled through eight largely uninspired post Empire albums

No way... I had only heard of one, that "Hear in the Now Frontier" crap, and that was it, I was done. Eight, really? Geez, what a sad end, not unlike the afore-mentioned R.E.M., et alia.

SoxSweepAgain: "Far Behind" rocks, but that wasn't Queensryche, that was Candlebox.

I think your sarcasm detector gave a false reading on that one. Just sayin'.

xaks: They never should have let DeGarmo walk...he was the real talent that held the bunch together and did the lions share of the good writing.

All good things, man. So many great groups that were just awesome together, but suck when parted; Simon & Garfunkel, Genesis without Peter Gabriel, Paul McCartney without John Lenon, I'm sure a list longer than a roll of toilet paper could easily be written about what happens when creative minds part. Sometimes, there's just something about those less-than-productive members tempering the most creative member, and tweaking their output, that makes the rest of the group greater than the sum of its parts. Sure, Don Henley was great as a solo artist, but the Eagles music I play twice as often as "End of the Innocence". Stevie Nicks and Lindsay Buckingham are okay solo, but were better as a duet or band (yes, I have *two* copies of the Buckingham/Nicks LP.)
It's just one of those things.

My Queensrÿche stories:
Once, almost a quarter of a century ago, I had a co-worker who was obsessed with the band before they really hit big, right when "Mindcrime" was released. All he ever did was rant and rave about them, and he loaned me a tape; I didn't get it, and I didn't warm up to them at first. At that same time, they had a small tour and came to town, and were doing the usual PR tour stuff like signing albums & CDs at the local Turtle's Records & Tapes store, and he went and got all his shiat signed. I drove by and saw them outside, thought "meh", and kept going. My bad.

Four years later, I had a close friend come up to me at work and brag about how he had somehow managed to score four front-row tickets to see them live in Atlanta at the height of their popularity; he wanted me to leave right then and there on the spot, and just go. God knows I wanted to, I really did, but as much as I hated that shiatty, dead-end job, I needed it, and in a down economy in a small Southern town, I couldn't afford to be unemployed, so I declined, much to my chagrin. He had an awesome time, had the pictures to prove it, and rubbed my nose in that fact every chance he got. He still does. I must admit, walking away from that job for a once in a lifetime opportunity would have been awesome, but it put me through college and made my life what it is now, and if I had lost that shiat job over a single concert, things might have turned out quite badly. Sometimes the price of irresponsibility is hard to calculate; I met my wonderful wife in college, and don't know how things would be if I had let that job go, and my profit sharing plan that paid for college with it.... I'd just assume not know. I'd hate to have turned out to be some kind of single loser who spent all his time bragging about that one highlight of my life, front-row seats at a concert full of has-beens.

FriarReb98: Changing your lead singer after 20+ years into your existence with him or her will never work. Even if you get the best imitation of him ever (i.e., Arnel Pineda), fans will still spend half their time wishing the first guy was back.

Sincerely,
Reality.

*Ahem*! AC/DC. Fleetwood Mac x3. Genesis (for a little while anyway). Rage Against the Machine. Queen (JUST KIDDING!!) God help me, but even Van Haagar.

Bands can most definitely survive a new lead singer; the real question is, can the band come up with a new sound and direction to match? Van Halen without Diamond Dave was a very different band, but also very successful for quite a while... it can be done, but it has to be done right. Yes, the fans will biatch and moan and whine and complain, and sure, the new stuff won't sound like the old stuff-- and most of the time, that's exactly what the band needed! Fresh start, fresh direction. God only knows, if U2 hadn't been as good at changing their sound every album, they should have ditched Bono years ago, but fortunately they were flexible enough to where that wasn't required. Other bands sadly weren't as good at adapting, and some just should have hung it up when it was clearly over (Lynrd Skynnrd? really??), but still, it can be done.

So is this Crimson Glory singer the same guy ("Midnight") from their early releases not hiding behind a pseudonym anymore? Or is he a replacement, too?

Get Miljenko Matijevic

Slow To Return: So is this Crimson Glory singer the same guy ("Midnight") from their early releases not hiding behind a pseudonym anymore? Or is he a replacement, too?

Whoops ... looks like it's not Midnight!

xaks: The Live show they did of Mindcrime blew "the Wall" off the stage.

I was at the Madison show....that was one of the three they recorded the video of the show at...they also recorded at Milwaukee and LaCrosse. Best live show I've ever been to.

Metallica in the early 90s was damn good too, but not as good as Queensryche. They never should have let DeGarmo walk...he was the real talent that held the bunch together and did the lions share of the good writing.

I saw Livecrime too, and it was damn fine.

Queensryche was in town a couple months ago, and I interviewed Geoff Tate for my radio show. He seemed like kind of a douche, which I thought was uncharacteristic. I guess he hated the rest of the band by that point, and was having a bad day. They put on a good show, though.

/csb

HumanSnatcher: I remember the whole big to do when Mindcrime 2 came out. Christ was that such a farking let down.

Yeah. So much potential awesome with the idea, but it fell flat. The only song on that album that did anything for me on that album was the duet with Dio...but Dio made almost anything more awesome.

And behold, a sudden daydream of Tate walking into a Dream Theater rehearsal, throwing LaBrie out a 2nd story window, turning to the band and saying "Look. I'm your new vocalist. The rest of you will stop writing to impress other musicians, and actually start writing for the benefit of the music itself. Now, lets do something worthwhile, something neither of us have done in well over a decade"

And I grinned.

SilentStrider: That sucks.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go back to listening to Clockwork Angels some more.

I haven't stopeed listening to it for like the past week. Somehow they've managed to find the energy and intensity they played with when they were starting out (which is a remarkable thing considering how long they've been around). Combining that youthful enthusiasm with their amazing ability and the confidence that comes from 40 years and 20 albums (not to mention constant touring) as a band and I don't think they've ever sounded this good.

Queensryche (just to keep it on topic), on the other hand, are younger, have a lot less mileage on them but I can't see them ever finding the creative spark or the drive to even come close to what they did on those first 4 albums (let alone Mindcrime - that's a once in a lifetime album for a band - if they're lucky)

thespindrifter: This kinda makes me sad, if only because I had always secretly hoped that somehow, somewhere in secret, they might have been working on their next really great album, perhaps a last gasp, trend-breaking release that would make for the ultimate swan song, like R.E.M.'s "Automatic For The People" (the album they should have quit at,) and yet nothing... just @ 17 years of suck. It's always sad when a powerful, young, energetic group slowly dies on the vine as their creativity dries up or hits the brick wall; it's that whole problem of incredible artists who put out their best work when they're young, and then have to rest on their laurels for the rest of their miserable farking lives because they were a brilliant light bulb that burned out fast, like Metallica, R.E.M., Smashing Pumpkins (anyone sample Mr. Corgan's latest steaming pile?), et cetera; so many talented artists that now can only disappoint, because they got used up too soon.

I think you just read my mind. Queensrÿche was really great, up to and including Empire, and it seemed like they had a bright future. Then everything just went to hell, and they've never been able to really make it work again.

thespindrifter: He had an awesome time, had the pictures to prove it, and rubbed my nose in that fact every chance he got. He still does. I must admit, walking away from that job for a once in a lifetime opportunity would have been awesome, but it put me through college and made my life what it is now, and if I had lost that shiat job over a single concert, things might have turned out quite badly. Sometimes the price of irresponsibility is hard to calculate; I met my wonderful wife in college, and don't know how things would be if I had let that job go, and my profit sharing plan that paid for college with it.... I'd just assume not know. I'd hate to have turned out to be some kind of single loser who spent all his time bragging about that one highlight of my life, front-row seats at a concert full of has-beens.

I slept out (yes, really) for tickets to the 1992 Lollapalooza lineup, then wound up selling the tickets off as I'd have most certainly been canned from my job for going.

In retrospect, it would have been great to go to, and the job sucked anyhow :( But you're right, it is interesting to go back and think about potentially pivotal moments... if I had gone, where would I have wound up?

Well, telling the crowd they suck last month probably didn't help things.

Link

kab: And behold, a sudden daydream of Tate walking into a Dream Theater rehearsal, throwing LaBrie out a 2nd story window, turning to the band and saying "Look. I'm your new vocalist. The rest of you will stop writing to impress other musicians, and actually start writing for the benefit of the music itself. Now, lets do something worthwhile, something neither of us have done in well over a decade"

And I grinned.

Now that Portnoy is gone, maybe...

mhd: Cloudchaser Sakonige the Red Wolf: fans will biatch and whine about how Queensryche isn't what they used to be

So - no change at all?

verbaltoxin: Cloudchaser Sakonige the Red Wolf: You watch, no matter how good Todd proves to be, fans will biatch and whine about how Queensryche isn't what they used to be

Queensryche sucked after Empire, and that record came out in 1990 or 1991.

That's another thing that I don't like. If a band stays the same and never changes, fans complain about them being stale and unoriginal. And if they do change, fans complain about that too.

hbk72777: Well, telling the crowd they suck last month probably didn't help things.

Link

meh, no malice in his message. He was trying to motivate the crowd, which did seem somewhat subdued. Probably not the best approach, but not worth too much butthurt.

/mmm...time to play The Mission

Tate's voice has been on the decline for a long time. The band lost a few notches when DeGarmo quit. It wasn't Tate's voice that drew me to the band, it was Degarmo's awesome guitar work. Youtube has a few QR covers with Tate appearing where he can't nail the notes anymore.

Cloudchaser Sakonige the Red Wolf: That's another thing that I don't like. If a band stays the same and never changes, fans complain about them being stale and unoriginal.

Generally true, not so much in the metal genre...

Snapper Carr: SilentStrider: That sucks.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go back to listening to Clockwork Angels some more.

I haven't stopeed listening to it for like the past week. Somehow they've managed to find the energy and intensity they played with when they were starting out (which is a remarkable thing considering how long they've been around). Combining that youthful enthusiasm with their amazing ability and the confidence that comes from 40 years and 20 albums (not to mention constant touring) as a band and I don't think they've ever sounded this good.


I'm obviously very much in the minority on this one, but I haven't even been able to get through it twice. To me, it's the same couple of songs they've repeated ad nauseum since Counterparts, without much to distinguish them from each other. It's yet another in a long line of "the best they've done since Moving Pictures," and as much a disappointment as all the others--perhaps even more so, because I was more in tune with the concept and the idea of a concept album than I've been with Rush in at least a decade. They've been my favorite band since Hemispheres, and I can't see myself buying another album from them, sad to say; the last several have been utterly generic.

\and can we get the old, shrieky Geddy back?
\\the new version is boring as hell
\\\sorry to be "that" guy

GypsyJoker: \and can we get the old, shrieky Geddy back?

Human anatomy does not WORK that way!


/Saw a bunch of concert videos for Rush-hashana on VH1... it's interesting to see how a once-shrieky vocalist deals with the reality of growing old.

Oh goddammitall. Now I'll never hear the end of it from Mr. C, who is a huge Styx/Dennis DeYoung fan.

I gotta agree with a lot of you here, it's not been the same since at least Empire, although I'll concede Promised Land too was alright (and is the true OM2). All downhill from there with the exception of Take Cover. The band, and Tate especially, just never recovered from DeGarmo's departure and well, it really shows.

I got to meet the band in '94 and '97 and all of them were very cool.

Guys, end it gracefully while you still can. Go do the side projects and solo stuff and put the good name of Queensryche to rest with some dignity.

styckx: hubiestubert:

Ministry on the other hand, later that summer, was a far better experience.

Because Uncle Al farking rules and

Well, yeah. Ministry around 1991 or so were at their peak; just enough recognition to get into big rooms but still with something to prove.

I still have a signed set list from the "Filth Pig" tour floating around here.

But anyway, you ever see a band and know, without any bit of doubt, that they're at the top of their game and everything after this is just going to be a decline? It may be slow, it may be fast, it may be graceful or inelegant but you know that this is it?

Yeah, that would have been me at the "Building Empires" tour. Summer of '91 just after I graduated. First concert I think I drove myself to as well.

/Mindcrime II was an abomination to even think about, let alone actually record

What's a Queensryche? I can't recall ever hearing one of their songs. Didn't they get played on the radio? Come to think of it there seem to be a lot of metal-type bands I never heard on FM. Why? Is there a shortage of pimply white 15 year olds?

But then these guys are 50 anyway; being a rock performer when you're over 40 is undignified. And the Rolling Stones should have retired or been put to sleep right after "Emotional Rescue."

The One True TheDavid: ; being a rock performer when you're over 40 is undignified.

notsureifserious.jpg

No love for The Warning?

Sound-wise not a lot of bottom end, but it's the only one of theirs I still enjoy. Before they started taking themselves too seriously.

WhyteRaven74: The One True TheDavid: ; being a rock performer when you're over 40 is undignified.

notsureifserious.jpg

I think he's just being retarded and in need of some attention. He's probably a big fan of Justin Bieber.

The One True TheDavid: But then these guys are 50 anyway; being a rock performer when you're over 40 is undignified. And the Rolling Stones should have retired or been put to sleep right after "Emotional Rescue."



/had to

CSB time:

I saw Iron Maiden in 2000 when Halford and Queensryche opened for them. I remember Maiden and Halford being awesome. I don't remember a single thing about Queensryche.

/my amnesia was not chemically induced

Saw Queensryche a couple of times, once as opener for Ozzy in '86 and in '07 with Alice Cooper and Heaven And Hell. First one was unmemorable but not bad either. Second time, they did a cover version of "Welcome To The Machine" which had Tate playing a saxophone(!) but something was wrong with the mic for it and it let out this horrible, awful, 300db electronic feedback screech which pretty much destroyed the hearing of anyone close to it. Luckily I was out in the concourse waiting for the lights to come up so I could find my seat in time for Cooper.

hbk72777: Well, telling the crowd they suck last month probably didn't help things.

Link

That's awesome. He's blaming the crowd for not caring about the has-beens that got booked on a Sunday night.

thespindrifter: FriarReb98: Changing your lead singer after 20+ years into your existence with him or her will never work. Even if you get the best imitation of him ever (i.e., Arnel Pineda), fans will still spend half their time wishing the first guy was back.

Sincerely,
Reality.

*Ahem*! AC/DC. Fleetwood Mac x3. Genesis (for a little while anyway). Rage Against the Machine. Queen (JUST KIDDING!!) God help me, but even Van Haagar.

Bands can most definitely survive a new lead singer; the real question is, can the band come up with a new sound and direction to match? Van Halen without Diamond Dave was a very different band, but also very successful for quite a while... it can be done, but it has to be done right. Yes, the fans will biatch and moan and whine and complain, and sure, the new stuff won't sound like the old stuff-- and most of the time, that's exactly what the band needed! Fresh start, fresh direction. God only knows, if U2 hadn't been as good at changing their sound every album, they should have ditched Bono years ago, but fortunately they were flexible enough to where that wasn't required. Other bands sadly weren't as good at adapting, and some just should have hung it up when it was clearly over (Lynrd Skynnrd? really??), but still, it can be done.

All the other bands you mentioned, I got, but who did RATM replace Zach de la Rocha with after 20 years?

farkingismybusiness: hubiestubert: When I was in college, Suicidal Tendencies was opening for Queensryche. Got free tickets to go with the girl, and one of her ridiculously hot friends, and rolled down to Hartford for the show.

It was a disappointment, nearly all the way around. Well, to be fair, I was there with two very hot gals, and we had a great time pre-show, and then Suicidal Tendencies opened. It was...underwhelming. Retreaded, then a very lame attempt to inject some hip hop into the mix with their old stuff, and it was just sad. We felt bad, and then Queensryche got to their set.

I have never been so bored at a show. Vanessa actually fell asleep, and we left early, hit Abdow's in Westfield on the way back, and had a far better time than the rest of the evening. Lesson learned. My lasting impression of Queensryche was watching Vanessa snoring in the middle of the show.

Ministry on the other hand, later that summer, was a far better experience.

What year did you see Sui? I saw them around 98 and thought they put on a great show.

/never got into Queensryche.

Saw Suicidal Tendencies in '83? I think it was? Several concussions and taking every drug I could get my hands on rendered that whole time period into kind of a smear. Not as bad as my friend, though. He kept a flyer from every show he went to. He's got a stack of 400 flyers or so, and can remember anything from, at most, a dozen. Anyway, they were meh. Blew their guitar amp. Smoke rolling off the power transformer. No backup, guess they couldn't afford. ST did their entire set, anyway. They could have performed "Institutionalized" and just bagged it. That was a great song, about an event similar to one which had happened to half the people I knew, at some point. Everything else Suicidal Tendencies did suggested an appetite for paint chips. Queensryche? Fark 'em. They clearly jumped the shark years ago, and I never liked them enough to buy a ticket to begin with.

Queensryche has been a vague shadow of what they used to be for a very long time now, and I always thought Tate was the reason. He always portrayed himself as "too good" for hard rock/heavy metal. I used to be a huge QR fan, but have pretty much stopped caring over the last several albums. However, Todd LaTorre is a monster of a singer. He can hit all the notes Tate is too old for. Maybe this will work out...

hbk72777: Well, telling the crowd they suck last month probably didn't help things.

Link

Oh Jesus....I hadn't seen what Tate looked like in years. Looks like he's about to take leadership of The Brotherhood of Nod.

The Muthaship: Dokken

You're talking about George and not Don correct? Because otherwise you're completely wrong.

Saw them during the Empire tour. Almost walked out on the show for this exact reason. Right before we walked, Tate changed the musical phrasing on one line of the song - I was amazed. He/They were that damn good - pitch perfect and instrument perfect. One of my top ten shows.

-Dave

EdenLiesObscured: Saw Queensryche several times back in the heyday (late 80s, early 90s) when I was a fanboi. As much as I loved the concerts, to this day I'm still unsure if some/all of the vocals weren't lip-synched. It was too precise and perfect. But, man, could Tate belt the vocals.

Haven't listend to them since "Hear in the Now Frontier"

Weidbrewer: hbk72777: Well, telling the crowd they suck last month probably didn't help things.

Link

Oh Jesus....I hadn't seen what Tate looked like in years. Looks like he's about to take leadership of The Brotherhood of Nod.

I LOL'd, and I don't even know what the Brotherhood of Nod is.

/he is creepy as hell looking these days...

stupiddream:
I bought the ep cassette of 'Queen of the Reich' at a Disc Records store

The EP was titled Queensryche (with the umlaut over the Y).

/pedant

forgotmydamnusername:

Saw Suicidal Tendencies in '83? I think it was? Several concussions and taking every drug I could get my hands on rendered that whole time period into kind of a smear. Not as bad as my friend, though. He kept a flyer from every show he went to. He's got a stack of 400 flyers or so, and can remember anything from, at most, a dozen. Anyway, they were meh. Blew their guitar amp. Smoke rolling off the power transformer. No backup, guess they couldn't afford. ST did their entire set, anyway. They could have performed "Institutionalized" and just bagged it. That was a great song, about an event similar to one which had happened to half the people I knew, at some point. Everything else Suicidal Tendencies did suggested an appetite for paint chips.

Weaksauce. ST has put out some lame shiat, and I don't blame anyone for not being down with funk-metal, but the whole first album is a straight up hardcore classic.

/I.. wanna be... a fascist pig!

The One True TheDavid: bands I never heard on FM

Rule #6 of trolling is to not make yourself look bad in the process.

Anyway, I've seen QR probably 7 or 8 times, and have a bunch of stories, but am too lazy to tell them, so I'll just say this...:

Silent Lucidity is dumb.

But Rage For Order is one of the best hard rock albums ever.

Dee Snarl: forgotmydamnusername:

Saw Suicidal Tendencies in '83? I think it was? Several concussions and taking every drug I could get my hands on rendered that whole time period into kind of a smear. Not as bad as my friend, though. He kept a flyer from every show he went to. He's got a stack of 400 flyers or so, and can remember anything from, at most, a dozen. Anyway, they were meh. Blew their guitar amp. Smoke rolling off the power transformer. No backup, guess they couldn't afford. ST did their entire set, anyway. They could have performed "Institutionalized" and just bagged it. That was a great song, about an event similar to one which had happened to half the people I knew, at some point. Everything else Suicidal Tendencies did suggested an appetite for paint chips.

Weaksauce. ST has put out some lame shiat, and I don't blame anyone for not being down with funk-metal, but the whole first album is a straight up hardcore classic.

/I.. wanna be... a fascist pig!

Bleh. To each their own, I guess. The Circle Jerks had a better first album. MDC had a better first album. The Dead Kennedys, Etc., Etc. Suicidal Tendencies is right there with then Misfits and Fang, in my book, filed under "stupidity so glaring it ruined it for me even back then".

MmmmBacon: I have seen a couple of QR shows, and enjoyed the first one - while they were on the "Building Empires" tour, and they played Operation: Mindcrime in its entirety - a great deal.

That is the show I saw. It was great. A movie with good music.

xaks: The Live show they did of Mindcrime blew "the Wall" off the stage.

I was at the Madison show....that was one of the three they recorded the video of the show at...they also recorded at Milwaukee and LaCrosse. Best live show I've ever been to.

Metallica in the early 90s was damn good too, but not as good as Queensryche. They never should have let DeGarmo walk...he was the real talent that held the bunch together and did the lions share of the good writing.

Heh, I didn't see you. :)

forgotmydamnusername:

Bleh. To each their own, I guess. The Circle Jerks had a better first album. MDC had a better first album. The Dead Kennedys, Etc., Etc. Suicidal Tendencies is right there with then Misfits and Fang, in my book, filed under "stupidity so glaring it ruined it for me even back then".

Fair enough. True, it didn't have the cred of the stuff you cite, and had a little "commercial"/novelty about it. I see you're not the tourist I was hoping to pick on, so as you say, to each their own. Don't see how anyone can dog the Misfits, though, even if Danzig is such a douchebag as to make Tate look like... Dave Grohl....

Portnoy did it.

CSB:

My wife teaches kids' music classes in a little building in the town where I live. Queensryche (up to pretty recently) used to rehearse in the same building from time to time.

Wife shushed them for being too loud during one of her classes last year. They were genuinely apologetic.

/CSB

And with this stroke of genius, the remaining members of the band have achieved maximal obscurity.

I got their first EP and a guitar signed by Geoff and Chris at a Hear In The Now release party. Chris was great. Geoff was a dick - after he signed the record, he said "oooh, a red guitar!" in the most sarcastic tone I've ever heard.

Dee Snarl: forgotmydamnusername:

Bleh. To each their own, I guess. The Circle Jerks had a better first album. MDC had a better first album. The Dead Kennedys, Etc., Etc. Suicidal Tendencies is right there with then Misfits and Fang, in my book, filed under "stupidity so glaring it ruined it for me even back then".

Fair enough. True, it didn't have the cred of the stuff you cite, and had a little "commercial"/novelty about it. I see you're not the tourist I was hoping to pick on, so as you say, to each their own. Don't see how anyone can dog the Misfits, though, even if Danzig is such a douchebag as to make Tate look like... Dave Grohl....

I have a theory about the Misfits. They wanted to be KISS, but they could never figure out the right cocks to suck, so they never had the budget for the really cool stage outfits.

The Amazing Rando!: I got their first EP and a guitar signed by Geoff and Chris at a Hear In The Now release party. Chris was great. Geoff was a dick - after he signed the record, he said "oooh, a red guitar!" in the most sarcastic tone I've ever heard.

In your shoes, I probably would have laughed at that. Who gives a fark what that guy thinks, anyway? If he refuses to sign it or keeps talking shiat, that's another thing...

Really surprised at the hate for Promised Land here. It's my 2nd fav album of theirs tied with Rage. Favorite being Mindcrime. Empire is overrated for me. Promised land is different, mellow and came at a time for the band when they were at their personal low. Too much booze and drugs did them in for a while.

Barnacles!: I'm surprised it took this long for the band to get sick of Geoff Tate. I was first in line for a CD signing at a record store when they were in Minneapolis after their Operation Mindcrime was just released (they were opening for Metallica). Chris DeGarmo couldn't have been friendlier, and was really chatty and cool. I get everyone's signature, and everyone was cool, except for Tate. He didn't say anything to me, and didn't even make eye contact with me. What a f*cking douchebag.

Good riddance Tate, you twatwaffle.

CSB:

My wife is friends with the wife of one of the guys in the band. I've met them a couple of times when they've come through our neck of the woods. I personally have never had a problem with Tate; however, there is one guy who was/is (not clarifying that on purpose) a total jackoff.

Suffice it to say... the band has had issues with Tate since the late '90's. It's been a four on one show for years and years.

I think La Torre is going to be just fine. He seems like a good fit. I also expect this divorce to get messier than it already is- and it's already ugly.

These guys are still around?

Geoff Tate never heard the..WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! =D

I saw Qr back in 84-85 when they opened for KISS, and there were more people there for them, than for KISS..

..and then twice for the Operation:Mindcrime tour (89-90) with and without Metallica..

..and then in 2000 w/ Halford and Iron Maiden (Tate did seem to throw some sort of tantrum on stage for that one)..

..and then lastly in 2007 (?) when they opened for Dio's Black Sabbath (Heaven and Hell) & Alice Cooper..meh, it just wasn't the same without DeGarmo.

La Torre can hit the notes that Tate hasn't been able to hit in 20 years.

Judge for yourself here

Go straight to 2:10, and listen to the snippet from "Eyes of a Stranger". I think his version is BETTER.

Face it, he can belt this shiat out better than Tate can. He has a wider range than Tate ever did.

The fact that they only played their old stuff during those Rising West shows is promising, hopefully they'll move back in that direction.

QR died when Chris DeGarmo left. Vastly underrated guitar player and writer.

/Primus sucks

This whole thing gives me a sad... although I realize that it's been pear-shaped for DECADES for this band. DeGarmo walking away took the life out of the band, no doubt about it.
QR were a genre-redefining band that, had they been managed better, could have been long-lasting legends. But alas, just like with many other great bands, something as simple as human interaction winds up screwing it all up.

It cannot be overstated how important Rage for Order was/is. That album was SO far ahead of its time. I am actually shocked that it sold at all, it was so out there. What made it sell though was, of course, DEGARMO'S SONGWRITING. Again, him walking away took the heart out of the band.

For a while, these guys had no equal live. Saw them twice in '88-'89 (with Metallica on the Justice tour and one without) and... forget it. They were EN FUEGO. Saw them again on the Q2K tour at the Beacon Theatre in NYC and... let's put it this way- I was eager for the show to end so my buddy and I could head to the Village to drink at the Peculiar Pub.

Drop the QR name guys. Rename it and move on...

mojangles: I saw Qr back in 84-85 when they opened for KISS, and there were more people there for them, than for KISS..

If you saw them in Seattle, there's an outside chance that is not complete bullsh*t. Way outside.

The Muthaship: mojangles: I saw Qr back in 84-85 when they opened for KISS, and there were more people there for them, than for KISS..

If you saw them in Seattle, there's an outside chance that is not complete bullsh*t. Way outside.

..nooo, this was in San Diego at the (formerly known as) Jack Murphy Stadium. Qr were on tour for THE WARNING lp..(KISS were touring for ANIMALIZE)..

In other music news, I heard that Kamlot found a replacement singer yesterday. Dunno what he sounds like yet, but they said the next album comes out in September.

Alphax: In other music news, I heard that Kamlot found a replacement singer yesterday. Dunno what he sounds like yet, but they said the next album comes out in September.

Tommy Karevik has been the lead vocalist for Seventh Wonder's last 3 albums. I like his voice and work with Seventh Wonder a lot, but I'm not entirely sold on him being a good match for Kamelot. They're very different bands. I guess we'll see.