Queensyrche are one of those bands for me. My resentment of Geoff Tate has grown so much in recent years that I can't stand listening to him, and am extremely reluctant now to even listen to records like Mindcrime and Empire. Is that fair to them, or the "real" QR? Maybe not. All I know is that thanks to the last couple of QR records, I'm unable to take the sound of his voice seriously.
Agree with the band choice, post-2003.
I am, and remain an unabashed diehard fan of the ORIGINAL LINEUP of Queensryche. That is the EP-HITNF, and all the songs on Tribe that Degarmo PLAYED ON (he didn't necessarily have to have a co-write, I'm just talking about his sound mixed in with the rest of the guys.
That said, I also support Q2k and the non-Degarmo Tribe songs. After that, Tate took command, and the last three studio records -- Mindcrime II, American Soldier and now Dedicated to Chaos -- have been creatively controlled through Geoff Tate, and they have all suffered greatly for it.
Those three records are essentially Tate solo albums. Tate guided the direction, employed outside songwriters to write the majority of all those albums, and dictated the style and creative aspect of everything. And while from a solo artist perspective, I respect Tate for following his inner muse, doing it within the boundaries of "Queensryche" was dead wrong, as this last vomit-inducing pop babble Dedicated to Chaos shows.
This "band" totally blew it. They blew it after Tribe. What they SHOULD have done was sat down, laid all their cards out on the table -- personal, musical, future goals, etc., and found out of they could achieve some sort of common ground between the four remaining original members. if not, they should have disbanded. If so, they should have focused on that common ground and worked at it.
Instead, they let the singer's wife manage the band in a short-term cash grab way with no look toward the long term except the Tates' private retirement fund, and let Geoff be "Queensryche." STUPID! STUPID STUPID. The band didn't even realize the limitations of their own chemistry. Chris was the guy that understood where Ed, Scott and Whip were coming from, and where Geoff was coming from, and had the ability and power within the band to forget a cohesive sound and make everyone get where the other was coming from. the was the glue.
They didn't allow anyone else to come in and have that power and they should have. They should have found a permanent replacement for chris (kelly gray was to be that, but they got rid of him because of the really bad fan reaction), but instead, they just let Geoff take control, and make it a tate family affair. It's sickening.
Unlike PC, however, I can listen to the original lineup songs, including hearing Geoff's voice and still be an uber fan over it. It's probably because I've known how this was going for so long, I was able to let my disgust with how things ARE blow over enough so it now doesn't affect my love of what things once were. In fact, I appreciate Degarmo much more than I ever did, and the sound he and Wilton combined to make. It was really something special.
But my lord, yeah, Queensryche absolutely shit the bed in recent times. I enjoyed their 2009 release American Soldier, but again, with no one in the band writing songs, it's a solo record with musical performances from Queensryche, and I sorta view it as such.
Topic: Bands that blew it (Read 12250 times)
