Enigma869 wrote:Jeremey wrote:Enigma869 wrote:I'm not sure I agree with your premise, Jeremey, that age has much to do with this. I think the Rolling Stones and Aerosmith (and for the record, I'm not a huge fan of either band) have proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that bands can continue having enormous commercial success, regardless of what year the calendar is reading!
I must disagree as I don't believe Rolling Stones nor Aerosmith would have much luck getting a top 40 commercial hit. Journey continues to have commercial success as a touring act, even 2 singers away from their most popular lineup. But you're not going to hear a new Stones or Aerosmith song being played on the radio next to the latest Nickleback or Evanescence song. But as I mentioned, there's many definitions of commercial success in the music business these days. Having a top 40 radio airplay success as defined in the original post isn't going to come to Journey at this point in the game, nor any of their contemporaries (which RS nor Aerosmith really weren't their contemporaries, actually)...
Jeremey...
I was really only making the point that the guys in Journey aren't much more than 5 years younger than the guys in Aerosmith or the Stones (for the record, I realize that Deen and Jeff are quite a bit younger).
I was really making the point that a band's age couldn't be less relevant when it comes to cd sales. The reality is that The Rolling Stones had the second highest selling cd in 2005 with "A Bigger Bang", and these guys are older than dirt! The only CD that outsold it in the entire year of 2005 was Kanye West's "Late Registration". I also know that Aerosmith's 2004 release of "Honkin' on Bobo" charted as high as number 5 on the US pop charts. That is one release for each band in the past two years that has had pretty impressive "commercial success" in the US. I define commercial success as the ability to sell CD's, as that is something tangible that isn't subjective!
I just don't think Journey not selling cd's has a thing to do with the year on any of their birth certificates. I think it has a lot more to do with an industry who is caught up in Steve Perry and Journey being one in the same. I certainly hope that the next new release is much better received by the music industry and the buying public. I just don't see Journey receiving mainstream radio play and even coming close to the US top 40 charts with anything they release, sans Perry. I would be ecstatic to see myself proven wrong with this theory. As always, time will tell, once Journey puts something new out there for us to listen to.
John from Boston
Yeah, I didn't really mean the age of the band members themselves, etc...More the era that the band came out. Looking at it from that perspective, I just meant their contemporaries, as in the bands from that era such as Survivor, Journey, Asia, Starship, Styx, REO Speedwagon, etc etc - Not the age of the players, but the era of the band itself, and the likelihood that those contemporaries would have a hit on commercial radio.
My how things have changed with the frontman. 
