I don't agree - that it's "no different." If you were to say that SoA's music is bad because of a douchey keyboard player, then yeah - that's kind of an issue. If you were to simply not be interested in investing in it (not making a judgment on how good it is), I'd say that's normal. It's also normal not to care at all, or something in between. But the Mike thing, I don't know. I get that you don't find following them as interesting because they're not Mike, but to be less interested in their music because of it...? Presumably you already liked their music in the first place. We're all different so I'm sure there's the possibility of someone genuinely just not liking the songs on the last 4 albums (or the reverse, genuinely only liking the MM material), but I think that would be really really rare.
Well, that's me, at least to a degree, and it's not unusual for me. I'm a HUGE Michael Schenker fan. BUT, if it's not Gary Barden or Graham Bonnet singing, I'm out. Literally do not own one MSG record that doesn't have either of those two guys singing. Deep Purple; the Tommy Bolin years do not exist for me (though, oddly, I do really like the Steve Morse years). Dio; I have all the Viv Campbell records and the Craig Goldie records. Couldn't care less about Gus G or Tracy G or whoever is playing (though I will likely give the Doug Aldritch album a go at some point; waiting for the two-CD remasters to be released). Allman Brothers; if it doesn't have Duane or Warren Haynes on it, I'm out. Fleetwood Mac; with few exceptions (adequately covered on the four CD box I have) if it doesn't have Buckingham/Nicks, I'm out. No Scorpions after Herman Ze German left (though that doesn't really have to do with his drumming, it's more a vibe thing).
It's not that I don't like Mangini; but Portnoy is on my drumming Mt. Rushmore (Bonham, Peart, Collins, Portnoy). I've written this before: I love how Mike makes 27/14 sound like 4/4, and for me, I don't know if it's the playing or the sound, or what, but the drumming on the last four records just seems so... jarring. There are songs I like, and the albums are very good, they just don't trigger like some of the MP records.
Um, I'm not at all up on any of that, but I've heard enough comments to at least ask - isn't Sharon somehow part of leaving that stuff out?
Well, yeah; I was referring to the stuff about Sharon controlling who Ozzy talks to in media (Ed Trunk always whines about this), demanding that Ozzy get a cut of the Sabbath name (Iommi owned it, but had to rename the Dio band "Heaven And Hell" after the lawsuit; I'm grossly generalizing here), and her part in the Bill Ward thing. All that is behind the scenes and between Oz, Tony, Geezer, Bill, Ronnie, et al. Not my business. But if it's really about the music, don't fuck around with the music, regardless of who is playing it. When I'm working on my car, or cooking, or driving for work, and I have music on, the lawsuits do not matter, even a little bit. Nor do ambiguous (or not; not looking to re-start something here) tweets. It's about the notes and words and rhythms.
Of course you're not - even if you *didn't* like the Jordan stuff. I'm just saying they're doing stuff, and if you're not on social media, you may not realize it or might easily overlook it. Another thing they're doing is having fan club activity where fans get together before the show and I've recently read that sometimes band members drop-in, which is super cool, and sometimes people win meet and greet passes or merch, which is also really cool. I think they're really making an effort.
See, that to me would be really cool. I like that kind of stuff. "Touches" I call them.
Cool beans. Next time they tour, we're seeing a show.
I told you; it's GOING to happen. Just a matter of when.