Bands that change singers: for better or worse?

[Scott5114]

I couldn't help but notice almost all the "best concert" thread entries (including mine) were people seeing past-prime classic rock acts in the last 15 years. Says a lot about today's live performances.

[Moved my post to the appropriate thread.]

[Rothman]

I've heard Lady Gaga. That's not my type of music, as I lean to hard rock/heavy metal. Where's the new Aerosmith? The next BTO? Heck, I'd settle for decent pop metal like Night Ranger or Bon Jovi.

Not my fault that you're stuck in the Dark Ages.

[Takumi]

I've heard Lady Gaga. That's not my type of music, as I lean to hard rock/heavy metal. Where's the new Aerosmith? The next BTO? Heck, I'd settle for decent pop metal like Night Ranger or Bon Jovi.

Not on the radio, for various reasons, but they're out there. I know a band called Omni that sounds straight out of the late 70s.

[SectorZ]

I've heard Lady Gaga. That's not my type of music, as I lean to hard rock/heavy metal. Where's the new Aerosmith? The next BTO? Heck, I'd settle for decent pop metal like Night Ranger or Bon Jovi.

Not my fault that you're stuck in the Dark Ages.

What does listening to hard rock/heavy metal have to do with being in the dark ages?

[Rothman]

I've heard Lady Gaga. That's not my type of music, as I lean to hard rock/heavy metal. Where's the new Aerosmith? The next BTO? Heck, I'd settle for decent pop metal like Night Ranger or Bon Jovi.

Not my fault that you're stuck in the Dark Ages.

What does listening to hard rock/heavy metal have to do with being in the dark ages?

Living in the dead past.  And, the '70s were definitely the Dark Ages.

[kphoger]

Besides, I quite enjoy music from the dark ages.

[Rothman]

Besides, I quite enjoy music from the dark ages.

Heh.

Same here.  Heck, I like classic rock and heavy metal, too.  But, this idea that there haven't been any decent live acts since is just "Get Off My Lawn" obstinance from Boomers.

[kphoger]

Where's the new Aerosmith? The next BTO? Heck, I'd settle for decent pop metal like Night Ranger or Bon Jovi.

Not a fan of Pearl Jam?  Their most recent album was released twelve months ago.

[hbelkins]

Where's the new Aerosmith? The next BTO? Heck, I'd settle for decent pop metal like Night Ranger or Bon Jovi.

Not a fan of Pearl Jam?  Their most recent album was released twelve months ago.

Never really got into the grunge stuff. Nirvana was overrated. There are a few Pearl Jam, AIC, Soundgarden, etc. tunes I like, but I'm not a huge fan of the genre overall.

[SectorZ]

I've heard Lady Gaga. That's not my type of music, as I lean to hard rock/heavy metal. Where's the new Aerosmith? The next BTO? Heck, I'd settle for decent pop metal like Night Ranger or Bon Jovi.

Not my fault that you're stuck in the Dark Ages.

What does listening to hard rock/heavy metal have to do with being in the dark ages?

Living in the dead past.  And, the '70s were definitely the Dark Ages.

So brand new heavy metal is from the past? I am all confused. By that logic, Lady Gaga is stuck in the dark ages as well, since there was pop music in the 70's as well.

[Rothman]

I've heard Lady Gaga. That's not my type of music, as I lean to hard rock/heavy metal. Where's the new Aerosmith? The next BTO? Heck, I'd settle for decent pop metal like Night Ranger or Bon Jovi.

Not my fault that you're stuck in the Dark Ages.

What does listening to hard rock/heavy metal have to do with being in the dark ages?

Living in the dead past.  And, the '70s were definitely the Dark Ages.

So brand new heavy metal is from the past? I am all confused. By that logic, Lady Gaga is stuck in the dark ages as well, since there was pop music in the 70's as well.

You're actually agreeing with me, then.  Certainly, there are decent live heavy metal bands that don't date back 50 years.

[SectorZ]

I've heard Lady Gaga. That's not my type of music, as I lean to hard rock/heavy metal. Where's the new Aerosmith? The next BTO? Heck, I'd settle for decent pop metal like Night Ranger or Bon Jovi.

Not my fault that you're stuck in the Dark Ages.

What does listening to hard rock/heavy metal have to do with being in the dark ages?

Living in the dead past.  And, the '70s were definitely the Dark Ages.

So brand new heavy metal is from the past? I am all confused. By that logic, Lady Gaga is stuck in the dark ages as well, since there was pop music in the 70's as well.

You're actually agreeing with me, then.  Certainly, there are decent live heavy metal bands that don't date back 50 years.

Explain to me like I am five on how I am agreeing with you. Please.

[Rothman]

I've heard Lady Gaga. That's not my type of music, as I lean to hard rock/heavy metal. Where's the new Aerosmith? The next BTO? Heck, I'd settle for decent pop metal like Night Ranger or Bon Jovi.

Not my fault that you're stuck in the Dark Ages.

What does listening to hard rock/heavy metal have to do with being in the dark ages?

Living in the dead past.  And, the '70s were definitely the Dark Ages.

So brand new heavy metal is from the past? I am all confused. By that logic, Lady Gaga is stuck in the dark ages as well, since there was pop music in the 70's as well.

You're actually agreeing with me, then.  Certainly, there are decent live heavy metal bands that don't date back 50 years.

Explain to me like I am five on how I am agreeing with you. Please.

Well, it's the context of the conversation.  HB said there are currently no good live acts and that none but the older-than-dirt live acts were the only ones worth watching.  I was just pointing out Lady Gaga as a more modern live act whose performances have received a lot of acclaim -- just as an example.

Like you said, certainly there are more recent metal bands that are putting on great live acts, too.

High five!

[mgk920]

A new act with a 'Dark Ages' sound?

Greta Van Fleet.

Mike

[tchafe1978]

I bet no one thought Alice in Chains would go on after Layne Staley died, but I think they are doing pretty damn good with William Duvall. There's no comparison to Layne, of course, but Duvall does about as good as can be expected with the harmonies with Jerry Cantrell. And Cantrell proves he's still a great songwriter.

[hbelkins]

A new act with a 'Dark Ages' sound?

Greta Van Fleet.

Mike

I've heard them described as a cross between Rush and Led Zeppelin.

[GCrites]

^You know, I actually hear a lot of Kingdom Come in their sound. I guess that sound could also be called "Zeppelin -- on Time".

[hbelkins]

^You know, I actually hear a lot of Kingdom Come in their sound. I guess that sound could also be called "Zeppelin -- on Time".

That first Kingdom Come release was one of the first four CDs I bought when I bought a CD player. It, the new INXS release that was out at the time, the new AC/DC that was out then, and I've forgotten the fourth one.

[hobsini2]

What about the various iterations of 10,000 Maniacs?

Without ever having heard the band name before, I thought this was an online group of 10,000 people (or at least over 100) whose members obviously keep changing because people can easily join and leave without it affecting the band at all.

What!  How could you not have heard of them, when they're on hobsini2's playlist?   

These young kids these days don't know quality KP.

[hobsini2]

I'd forgotten Genesis. The style of music changed, but I always thought Peter Gabriel and Phil Collins weren't all that different vocally. It wasn't the drastic change that you got when Hagar replaced Roth in Van Halen.

Here's another one I forgot. Rush. 1970s Geddy Lee vs. 2000s Geddy Lee.  The way "2112" was tuned down as early as the "Different Stages" live set showed just how much his voice had changed. Somewhere on YouTube there's a clip of various live versions of "Tom Sawyer" that purports to demonstrate his vocal changes, but to me it's not that noticeable on that song.

I'm amazed at how little Paul Stanley's range has deteriorated. He doesn't sound a great deal different now than he did when Kiss was filling arenas.

where did the Spinal Tap drummer idea come from?  So many bands seem to have that rotating position they can't keep filled.

I think that "spontaneously combusting drummer" thing was just supposed to be a joke within the joke.

No Van Roth was not the same band as Van Hagar, but I personally liked em both. Too bad nobody gave Hagar a chance, being many were thinking he tried to take over ole Dave’s job and missed him.

I thought that in Bad Company, the replacement on Holy Water did a good job for being a replacement.

I actually preferred the Hagar era. Better songs lyrically and wider range musically because Hagar could play guitar too. Diamond Dave was a great front man with a voice but you never saw him pick up an instrument.

[hobsini2]

van roth was more fun, but i liked van hagar better ... like i thought his voice went better with vh's style.

*prepares to duck flying objects*

We are all forgetting about the true voice of VH...Gary Cherone 

Poor Gary.  I liked him in Extreme.

[hobsini2]

Those bands are older than dirt.

A few weeks ago I caught an unfamiliar AC/DC song ('Realize') on a local radio station and just now found out that it is a cut off of a *new* album set called 'PWR UP' that was released on 2020-11-13.  It sounds exactly like their stuff from the late 1970s and the 1980s.  Brian Johnson is now 73 years old and his voice and style have not changed at all.





Mike

Yeah I have downloaded their new album. Very much a throwback to the Razor's Edge/Back in Black era.  Give Shot in the Dark a spin. https://youtu.be/54LEywabkl4

[hobsini2]

HB, I think that, unfortunately for guys like us, we have become like our parents when they didn't get our music taste.
I pretty much stopped listening to terrestrial radio Rock stations when 97.9 The Loop (WLUP) in Chicago became a Christian station making it now 6 of them in the market about 5 years ago. Fortunately, a lot of the bands I grew up with and listened to well into the start of this century are still churning albums.

And while I do have some guilty pleasure music stored from artists like Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga, and Carrie Underwood, it's definitely not enough for me to say that THIS era (last 15 years) is a good era in music in general.

[hobsini2]

What about the various iterations of 10,000 Maniacs?

Without ever having heard the band name before, I thought this was an online group of 10,000 people (or at least over 100) whose members obviously keep changing because people can easily join and leave without it affecting the band at all.

Natalie Merchant was my least favorite member of the band.  Didn't care for her solo stuff at all.  Their early stuff was great but suffered without John Lombardo.

BLASPHEMY!

[hbelkins]

I'd forgotten Genesis. The style of music changed, but I always thought Peter Gabriel and Phil Collins weren't all that different vocally. It wasn't the drastic change that you got when Hagar replaced Roth in Van Halen.

Here's another one I forgot. Rush. 1970s Geddy Lee vs. 2000s Geddy Lee.  The way "2112" was tuned down as early as the "Different Stages" live set showed just how much his voice had changed. Somewhere on YouTube there's a clip of various live versions of "Tom Sawyer" that purports to demonstrate his vocal changes, but to me it's not that noticeable on that song.

I'm amazed at how little Paul Stanley's range has deteriorated. He doesn't sound a great deal different now than he did when Kiss was filling arenas.

where did the Spinal Tap drummer idea come from?  So many bands seem to have that rotating position they can't keep filled.

I think that "spontaneously combusting drummer" thing was just supposed to be a joke within the joke.

No Van Roth was not the same band as Van Hagar, but I personally liked em both. Too bad nobody gave Hagar a chance, being many were thinking he tried to take over ole Dave's job and missed him.

I thought that in Bad Company, the replacement on Holy Water did a good job for being a replacement.

I actually preferred the Hagar era. Better songs lyrically and wider range musically because Hagar could play guitar too. Diamond Dave was a great front man with a voice but you never saw him pick up an instrument.

Actually, he played acoustic guitar on stage when they played "Ice Cream Man." The one time I saw them, the guitar was emblazoned with the word "Davesicle."  I never saw Van Hagar live, but did Sammy ever play guitar on any of their songs on stage?