MR

So I don't think I've heard the story-

WHY did Perry fire Herbie? Herbert's leadership 'MADE' Journey, but does anyone know why Perry wouldn't continue unless he was fired? Was it just that Herbie kept working them so hard, which roughed up Steve's voice, or was it something else?

Like the BTM said, I just think he wanted the same guy that brought Eagles back to such a tremendous success.

Yeah, I think he saw what Azoff did for the Eagles and wanted that for Journey. Probably felt Azoff gave Journey the best chance at a huge comeback, and maybe Azoff could've been more open to what Perry wanted for the band in terms of direction than what Herbert was wanting. Obviously, there's been some bad blood between Perry and Herbie.

Azoff seems a weird choice. Granted, he did what he did for The Eagles, but geez, Herbie gave Journey such HUGE success and was such a major part of the band. Maybe Steve was worried he'd be to 'Neal-centric'? Kinda like why The Beatles didn't want McCartney's in-laws handling their stuff (they shoulda listened to Paul as he came out better than all of them). I guess I can see that reasoning, but it still seems weird after how successful they were under Herbert's guidance.

I think where Herbie gave the band was on the road.
Here is a band in 1980 with 1, yes 1 top 20 hit.
But because of FM radio and touring to death the sold out arenas.

It was pretty gutsy of him to headline on the infinity tour.

I remember an interview saying PErry desperately didnt want to do third leg for the Escape tour.
But caved.

Its amazing when you go to Wikipedia Journey tours how many dates they did and how PErry sounded great til the end of ROR.

scarab wrote:Like the BTM said, I just think he wanted the same guy that brought Eagles back to such a tremendous success.

Remember that a lot of what was said and reported in BTM was the result of Perry spin. I think it had less to do with Azoff/Eagles and more to do with Herbie touring the band to death. Listen to all the interviews SP is giving now. Every time he's asked if he's going to tour for Traces, he discusses his neurosis (his word) about his instrument/voice. Herbie was apparently quite insensitive to that back in the day. And the warning he issued to the band during the Trial by Fire days ("I'm telling you he's never going to go on tour") is indicative of the friction they had over this issue.

scarab wrote:I think where Herbie gave the band was on the road.
Here is a band in 1980 with 1, yes 1 top 20 hit.
But because of FM radio and touring to death the sold out arenas.

It was pretty gutsy of him to headline on the infinity tour.

I remember an interview saying PErry desperately didnt want to do third leg for the Escape tour.
But caved.

Its amazing when you go to Wikipedia Journey tours how many dates they did and how PErry sounded great til the end of ROR.

And I think as well, we need to realize the era of music. The 1980's were a great time for bands like Journey. FM radio played them all the time. During the mid 90's, we went through the quick grunge scene which all but killed off AOR, and then "new rock" in the vein of bands like Matchbox Twenty or Everclear being played to death on radio. For any 70's/80's bands to have success during that time period, it would have to be something special. Azoff was able to guide the Eagles, successfully, during an era of music where melodic music wasn't popular anymore. I guess my question is, who else was Herbie managing during the 90's that were being played on the radio and hitting it big?

Herbie did have a #1 hit with Mr. Big in 1992...

Cain touches on this in his book I think. When I get to that chapter, I'll let you know.

The_Noble_Cause wrote:Cain touches on this in his book I think. When I get to that chapter, I'll let you know.

Page 231. Not really explained. Cain says it was an ultimatum from Perry and they couldn't say no.

Really liked Cain's book. Wonder if Perry read it? Lora???? Lol