Our Top Story: Journey is the latest band to find themselves embroiled in bitter legal battles, as the anonymous rhythm section of the band has tried to stage a coup. They convinced the board of the company set up to deal with Journey's business to put them in charge, thinking that would give them the rights to the band's name, which they could then leverage back to Neal Schon in exchange for guaranteed money for doing nothing. They were mistaken, as according to Schon, the Journey name is subject to a separate legal agreement that gives him and Jonathan Cain the sole and exclusive right to perform under the name.
This is merely another in a long line of bands that are going to court to fight over the money generated by a brand. As the money in music becomes even harder to earn, and a still growing majority of it comes from playing live, musicians will do everything they can to ensure they get as much of that money as possible. In this case, two members of Journey that practically no one gives a damn about thought some clever lawyering would net them income they didn't deserve, because bands are businesses. We saw something similar happen not long ago when Alexi Laiho lost control of the Children Of Bodom name, though the next steps in that case have yet to shake out.
Much of this comes back on us. The brand-name bands wouldn't be subject to as many of these kinds of challenges if we, the fans, held them accountable. For nearly any band that has undergone changes over the years, there's a huge section of the fan base that has no idea who is still in the band, so obviously they don't care who is standing on stage when they buy their ticket. Foreigner continues to sell tickets despite having none of them members who made the music they are playing. KISS is getting ready to try doing the same thing. If we were more knowledgeable, and we refused to see a Journey that featured two nobodies as the only real members, they would have had no perceived angle to undertake this shady business. They still deserve plenty of blame for trying to steal someone else's life's work, but we aren't without blame.
In Other News: Bob Rock said in a recent interview that the sound of Metallica's "And Justic For All" made no sense to him. While Rock gets plenty of (unfair) criticism for being the man who ruined Metallica, he is absolutely right about this. "Justice" sounds absolutely horrible, and has from the day it was released. If it was any other band but Metallica, we never would have put up with having to reflexively praise such a horrible recording. I feel the same way about "Kill Em All", but that's a separate issue.
What interests me about this story is the reminder that so many albums from bands that are big enough to know/do better are sorely lacking in many respects. "Justice" is but one example of that, even from Metallica. I mentioned "Kill Em All" already, which sounds like a rough demo more than a professional album, but they also put out "St Anger" and "Death Magnetic", which both sound utterly horrible on objective analysis. The fact that they continue to defend their mistakes, rather than admit them, is also infuriating.
It goes beyond them. Pantera is given credit for saving metal in the 90s, but Dimebag's guitar tone is one of the worst that has ever been put on a major-label record. I won't blame his use of solid-state amps over the more traditional tube varieties, but his buzzing mess of a tone was painful to listen to when you compared it to what was possible.
And as technology makes it easier, faster, and cheaper than ever to make a professional sounding record, the quality we are given is actually getting worse. Baroness is the biggest offender in recent memory, with their last two records so distorted they are unlistenable. If you want to know if an outlet you read/listen to is honest or not, see what they said about Baroness' "Purple" or "Gold & Grey". If they didn't mention that the records sound worse than demos from the days of 8-track tapes, they aren't shooting straight. There is no excuse for distorted recordings, and there is no excuse for not calling out bands when they deliver sub-standard products.
So did Bob Rock ruin Metallica? Given what they have done when left to their own devices, of course he didn't. Whatever you think of "Load" and "Reload", their success prevented us from having more "Lulu" like projects for a decade. That deserves our thanks.
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