a look at the current lineups of several classic rock bands

They didn't mention Steppenwolf.... That band came to a town I lived in many years ago.... I was going to go since it was at a medium sized night club and a good view was possible anywhere in the joint.

Something came up and I was unable to attend. A buddy who did go told me later that the band was horrible. Nothing sounded like the records we all knew. Only one of the folks on stage were part of the original band. I think there were lawsuits filed by other original members who also wanted to book as "Steppenwolf".

Not fully rock, but I've been told Blood Sweat & Tears is still active with some overlap of performers and material.

Not to mention Tower of Power!

I saw Earth, Wind and Fire on Saturday night. Their first gig in Hong Kong in 45 years of touring. 3 original founding members. A great gig but not a huge audience. Hopefully next time, they'll be more attending. A great evening had by most and some tip top playing

Back to Oakland. Oh, yeah.

Love TOP but they have a ton of new members too. There was a show a few years ago, their 45th anniversary reunion or something featuring everybody who was ever in the band. That was about how many were on stage too. A slight exaggeration, it was maybe 15-20.

Are we feeling like our parents yet? Remember them talking about how the big bands were the end of an era, the last of "real music" etc, etc? How Elvis, the Beatles, Santana and everybody else was pure crap? Lamenting when those guys started dying off?

Funny how everything eventually comes full circle. Another 10 years and all these groups will either be gone or in nursing homes. At least I'm having fun right now. My jazz gigs have been drying up for the last few years but I'm in a couple of classic rock and blues bands doing screaming B3 and rockin piano stuff.

An example of changing crowds I did the Catalina Yacht Club in Avalon on July 4th. They did want the usual jazz dinner set so I did it with the sax player but while we were doing the last song the Commodore came over to the bandleader who was sitting right behind me (who can't spell the word jazz) and said literally "You're going to be loud right? We want you to blow the doors off." Opening song? Gimme Some Lovin. And the last song of the night? Innagaddavida. In the middle was Joe Cocker, Santana, the Stones etc. When's the last time anybody heard that in a yacht club? I've almost forgotten how to play Green Dolphin Street and instead I'm digging up Iron Butterfly and the Doors.

I was totally burned out on that stuff in the 80's but now it's kinda fun.

Bob

One band who never toured under their original name after they broke up..... The Beatles.


One band who had about 4 or 5 versions of it, all touring under the original name in spite of lawsuits.... The Platters.

One time flying out of Detroit about 7 or 8 years ago, waiting at our gate to board my coworker and I were noticing how sharply dressed these older and younger guys were that were also waiting at the same gate. Finally I got up the nerve to ask the older gentleman sitting next to me who the group was. I had already been making small talk with him and the much younger guitar player who had a sweet gig bag for his electric guitar, and he kindly told me: We're the Spinners. I'm pretty sure the gentleman I was speaking with was Henry Fambrough, but I can't be certain. It didn't seem right to ask for an autograph. A couple of the surviving original members have passed away according to Wikipedia. They've gone through many lineups over the decades.

This is an awesome article, I'm blown away by how good the new Journey guy is... And they found him on YouTube! Must be an absolute dream come true for him. Thanks for sharing!

I'll bet. I heard the story that when they called him up and told them who they were, he hung up on the boys in the band because he thought one of his buddies was pulling a prank on him. They called back and he hung up again. They called back again and yelled "Don't hang up!!"... and he didn't. Next thing he knew he was in the US in a rehearsal hall with the band getting ready to hit the road on tour.

Talk about your "Cinderella moment".... huh?

How could Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers be left out? BTW, if you ever want to see the quintessential Rock documentary watch "Running Down A Dream."

FYI and PSA for those of you with a library card to a library that participates in the FREEGAL service:

A whole bunch of the music from these bands is available for completely free and legal DRM-free download of 5 songs a week.

If you don't feel like downloading, there's another service that your library might participate in called Hoopla which will allow you to digitally check out albums 10 of them a month for a week a time each.

I listened to some recent Asia a few weeks ago, and their sound has aged and progressed very well. Downes still has great pipes.

What is available on both services seems to shift around, but it's more than you can listen to continuously. I was a Freegal junkie, but lately Hoopla has been reigning supreme. So much back catalog stuff I can't get my hands on, that I don't necessarily feel like owning, I can stream as an album (my preference).

-Scott

The only "Famous" band that I've ever seen that still had all original members was Dr Hook back in the 80s.
I saw The Hollies last year (2 original members) and The Beach Boys a few years ago with Mike Love as the only original (perhaps you can consider Bruce Johnston as "almost" an original)

I saw the Glen Miller Orchestra last year... very disappointed - no original members.

Ha! There's a lesson in there about always picking up the phone or something. I would've just kept on hanging up forever and ever and ever and ever...

Well, I guess that since Glenn was never found after disappearing back in, what was it, 1944?, there is always the possibility that he could show up to lead the band. Of course, he would be 112 years old.

Journey-Arnel does a GREAT job! He ads A LOT of energy to them live as well. If you get a chance, check out some of his videos prior to the band. There are many of him live, and that guy can sing almost anything!

I had a fun discussion with someone when right after Arnel joined the band...

He said "I really like the original Journey line up!"

I simply asked, "Really? Before Steve Perry was in the band?"

He didn't know that SP wasn't an original member.

Then again, neither was Johnathan Cain.

Even Steve Smith, I want to say, was their 3rd drummer. Get this, Prairie Prince was their first drummer!

It's funny when you look at how many of those band members have teamed up in other bands together.

Interesting stuff.

Some of them are no longer classic rock bands but instead tributes of their former selves.

Examples: IMHO Blood, Sweat & Tears without David Clayton Thomas is not BST -- Beach Boys without Brian and Carl Wilson are not The Beach Boys -- Queen without Freddie Mercury -- Chicago without Terry Kath and so on.

No thank you.

It would be like Led Zeppelin without Page and Plant.

Interesting point. I was just listening to clip from the Queen concert in HK and, whilst I could see that everyone was having a lot of fun with a great light show etc, but to me, Adam Lambert sounds nothing like Freddie Mercury. I'm sure he's great, but I don't regret giving it a miss as it no longer had any meaning for me.

I don't see anything particularly wrong with bands that keep going on and on after the founding members have left the stage. I don't think they should continue with the same exact name though. But I do understand their desire to keep the name and the credibility it gives them.

Queen II - New BS&T - ???????

Notes

The name is just another asset that can be bought and sold and the owner can do whatever they want with it. It's like the Asian conglomerate that bought the name Bell and Howell and began selling electric razors using tons of infomercials.

If someone buys the BS&T name and forms a band to record Himylayan yak herder chants, they can. You never know, that could be a huge untapped market...

It's only the loyal heirs that have kept something like that from happening already.

A point was raised on another forum concerning tribute bands. The New York Phil is just another tribute band. A Mozart opera, an evening with Tchaikovsky, Queen at the park, party with Journey.

Bob

I respectfully disagree. The NY Phil isn't a tribute band, but a cover band, covering compositions by 'classical' composers.

Here is how I see the difference.

In an orchestra, you expect the members to change, and in reality, the conductor is the musician playing the orchestra as an ensemble. When the conductor changes, there is a big name change. Following Leonard Bernstein and the NYP was Pierre Boulez and the NYP, Zubin Metha and the NYP, Kurt Masur, Lorin Maazel, and now Alan Gilbert.

The follower of symphonic music knows the conductor, and how he/she interprets the music. Ormandy tended to "compress" the dynamics making him good for Classical era like Mozart but not Romantic music like Tchaikovsky (IMO).

You get to know conductors and how they interpret the music and you listen to them for what you think they excel at. The orchestra members don't matter that much, because they follow the conductor's directions for expression.

So if Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band got a new "conductor" (lead singer) named John Smith and called it John Smith and the E Street Band it would be like Alan Gilbert and the NY Phil.

And yes, the name of a band is an asset. I know first hand that at times the record companies had 4 or 5 groups touring the country with the same name as the group that had the hit recording. Many of the groups had no members of the original recording.

They wouldn't do this with Led Zeppelin or The Beatles because the public knew the personnel by name and face. But for especially vocal groups with a no-name singer in front, the general public doesn't know the difference.

I worked opposite a gentleman who worked in one of the road groups named "The Platters". He was definitely not Tony Williams the original lead singer, and he was also younger than any of the original members. There were four "Platters" groups going around the country at one time. My friend is a great singer and entertainer, was hired to do the job and did it well.

When Jay Traynor left Jay And The Americans he was replaced by David Black (IMHO a better singer). But the group was Jay And The Americans, not Dave And The Americans. So Dave changed is name from Dave Black to Jay Black.

So when Maurice White died, is Earth Wind and Fire still EWF? It's your call.

Insights and incites by Notes

That is a reason why Motörhead doesn't play Rock 'n' Roll anymore. After the passing of Lemmy Kilmister the other band members said that without Lemmy they aren't Motörhead.

And they made that conscious decision to disband. EW&F had no reason to disband. They had been playing with replacement players for quite some time before Maurice died. In my mind, they aren't the SAME EW&F, but they hadn't been for a long time. They play the same EW&F songs though, and that's what I go to see in bands, the songs. As long as the replacement players are good, I am fine with the bands continuing. However, I draw the line when a member was the complete face of a band, like Steve Perry and Journey. I will never go see Journey again, as they are now, IMHO, a tribute band to themselves. And I don't do tribute bands at any level.

My band, hardly on the level of those already mentioned, is named "Matt Finley & Rio JAZZ". Each half of the name has some recognition. I'm getting close to the point where I'll turn it over, and then it can be "New Person & Rio JAZZ" if they want.

I think once the influential voice or voices leave the group, they become something else.

The new entity could be something better or worse, depending on each person's opinion.

I guess when the become a tribute band of their former self is going to be different for different people.

Notes

That's a very strong observation Notes. For ME, just me, it is when the singer goes, as the singer is usually the face of the band. Like, how many people go to see John Oates in concert vs how many go see Daryl Hall?

For side players, I look at it like this. I always liked Neil Schon. Fine, fine guitar player. BUT... those ripping solos he played.... follow my logic here.... if Neil is "great", then doesn't logic say that every guitar player who copies those solos note for note in bands that copy Journey tunes is also great? Granted, Schon played them first, but I know guys here in the Cleveland area who can play that solo in Don't Stop Believin' EXACTLY. Thus, if Schon was great, so is the guy copying him. However, Steve Perry singing it, that is another story. This guy from whatever country he came from and that guy before him that looked just like Steve Perry may sing the same lyrics and melody, but they are not Steve Perry, and given that Steve Perry was the face of Journey, Journey ended when Steve Perry left. The correct thing to do, though marketing would not allow it, would be to bill them as "Neil Schon, Steve Smith, and Ross Valory, former members of Journey, with some guy you never heard of singing". In the case of MANY of the Nostalgia Bands, as the OP stated, almost nobody is left, or the remaining members were footnote players. I mean, unless it's Weather Report, who cares who played bass? I saw Styx and Kansas a few years ago, and they were as close as health allowed to the original lineups. Or course Kerry Livgren can't pay anymore, and I guess Rob Steinhart chose not to tour, but Kansas had the rest of the major players. And Styx had the key 2 guys (Young and Shaw) with Larry Gowan replacing DeYoung, but with John Panozzo passed on and Chuck in ill health, that's as close as they can get. Those 2 bands I will give "use the original name" pass because in both cases they were upgrades.

But yeah, Notes, you are right on it. However YOU remember a band will decide when they jumped the shark.

Yes lead vocalist, or lead instrumental voice.

If Jimmy Page left Zep would they still be Zep?

Not for me.

However the Yardbirds recycled a few great guitarists and I didn't mind.

Jay And The Americans replaced Jay with a guy named Dave who changed his name to Jay and I thought they got even better with Dave/Jay.

So even for me, there is no hard set rule.