Still A Journey Fan?

[Crazie Scarab]

The dust hasn't even settled yet from the last couple years and I find myself still wondering just WHY I even still care. I know I will always be a fan of Journey. However, I find it quite difficult to move forward with these guys, especially knowing that they are only in it for as much money as they can make now.

Funny.. It used to be about the music. Now, it seems it's only about the Hamiltons.. Perhaps that's all it was ever about?

[nikki]

I guess I prefer to live in the past and enjoy what once was great. I'll never stop loving the music, but they'll get no more of my money as far as concerts or CD purchases are concerned. I'll save that for JSS.

[ScarabGator]

Absolutely still a JOURNEY fan and cannot wait for a new CD and tour in 2008!!!

[mistiejourney]

I guess I prefer to live in the past and enjoy what once was great. I'll never stop loving the music, but they'll get no more of my money as far as concerts or CD purchases are concerned. I'll save that for JSS.

That pretty much sums it up for me. The "Journey" is a memory now - lots of good ones, but all in the past. I really don't care what they do or who they do it with (or to) anymore.

JSS was the dealbreaker for me.

[stevew2]

Not anymore,they blew it .Three strikes and you re out

[Rick]

Absolutely still a JOURNEY fan and cannot wait for a new CD and tour in 2008!!!

There'll be a tour. No CD though.

[ScarabGator]

Absolutely still a JOURNEY fan and cannot wait for a new CD and tour in 2008!!!

There'll be a tour. No CD though.

I dont know...for some reason I believe there will. May turn out to be the best one since Frontiers as well!

[conversationpc]

I am a fan of the band up until the point at which stuff started to happen this year. I still love the old stuff and the memories but I am not caring much for the current band right now at all.

[strangegrey]

No way, I'm done. I have been for a while. I'm just not the type of sap that walks away after someone fucks me. I really think Journey needs to feel some pain for ruining what was something so dear to my heart.


When I listen to music and try to get something meaningful from it, it's not even this genre anymore. Today's MRfest is a perfect example. Harem Scarm pulls out for a legit reason and there's at least 20-30 bands that could have done the right thing and stepped up...

....no one did.

That speaks volumes on this genre....and to a certain extent...how healthy it is.


Complete motherfucking assholes like Neal Schon, Jon Cain, Tommy Shaw, Eddie Van Halen, etc, etc have ruined this genre completely...I don't even have the heart to forgive them anymore.

Before I walk away for good....I will let them know in one way or another how they fucked it up beyond repair.

[bluejeangirl76]

Not of the current Journey, no. They ruined it.
They took what used to be a great band and turned it into a very pathetic tribute act.

Now I fully understand exactly why Perry told them to leave it alone.
No doubt he saw it coming and if that's the case, boy was he right.

Not to mention they way they fucked over all their singers. The JSS routine was just one bad move too far. Dumping a guy that had his own style, his own voice, for a god damned sound alike so they keep riding those million dollar tux tails, and not even having the stones to tell the guy face to face - to tell him AT ALL, except through a press release, that they were dumping him. SAD. PATHETIC. And WRONG.

[PROPERRY]

Well for me, I'll just keep on loving the Journey music that I fell for years ago, and that of course is the Journey with Steve Perry!!! Nothing could ever make me stop loving the GREAT music of that particular era!!!

As for carrying around "hate" and "anger" in my heart towards Neal & Jon, I'm not into that at all! That's just too much negative energy spent on something I can't personally do anything about anyway. I 'd rather spend my time in a positive way listening to all that wonderful music of the Perry/Journey years that has provided me lots of joy, than to waste it away on all this hostility directed at Neal & Jon.

[styxman]

[ohsherrie]

I want nothing whatsoever to do with anything Frig and Fro may do in the name of Journey. I said that 10 yrs ago and meant it until Jeff came along. He was such an invigorating breath of fresh air for them and me.

I was willing to give Jeremey a chance because he has the talent, I'm a fan of his, and he deserves it, but other than that, Jeff was their last chance with me.

[Just Sara]

I am a fan of the band up until the point at which stuff started to happen this year. I still love the old stuff and the memories but I am not caring much for the current band right now at all.

Amen to that, Dave.

I still enjoy listening to my cds from pre-Perry through Generations. I will still roll down the windows and crank up the volume when a Journey song is played on the radio. I will certainly not be erasing my "All Things Journey" playlist from my ipod. I will still scream my head off when Neal Schon makes a surprise appearance at a Steve Miller concert. And I will definitely still slap my credit card down to see Journey live.

So yes, I think I am still a Journey Fan.

That being said, I am a JSS fan. Journey introduced me to him and when he left he took 65% (maybe more) of my devotion with him.

When Jeff performs in the bay area I'll be there. When his new album comes out I will be all over it. The same for any future albums he may release.

When/if Journey's new album comes out... we'll see. It'll have to be REALLY good one.

[bluejeangirl76]

I said that 10 yrs ago and meant it until Jeff came along. He was such an invigorating breath of fresh air for them and me.

Wasn't he though? And it's not quite as much that he was let go - I can't say I'm surprised at that, given the band and their history with singers, but it's more of HOW it went down. Give him the gold ring and then just snatch it back a few months later without so much as a word to him about it. This has nothing to do really, with Neal or Jon or the band - I'd hold the same opinion if this were we talking about another band, but jesus christ, I can't find it in me anywhere to respect anything about it after this situation.

I was divided on them dumping Perry - yeah maybe it was shitty, but I used to be able to see it from both points of view (based on the "story" that was given publically by both sides -- they wanted to tour, or whatever, and they felt like they were being held back... I guess I get that... okay, well yeah, it still sucked, but whatever... there was probably more than meets the public eye anyway.

But then they dropped Augeri like a hot potato, and then did the same thing to JSS without even a word.
So what very little empathy I MIGHT have had looking at it from their side in 1998 no longer exists.
A band that doesn't care very much about it's fans and certainly doesn't even care about it's members... no, fuck that. I'll stick to playing Infinity... Evolution... whatever. I don't need to see them live, wouldn't (at this point) pay for that, and I don't really care if they do another record. It's NOT going to be any good, it's going to be a freakin' tribute band trying to imitate something that's was already done 25 years ago. If I want that Journey 25 years ago, I'll just play Frontiers.

Okay, I've ranted enough. *puts soapbox away*

[ohsherrie]

I said that 10 yrs ago and meant it until Jeff came along. He was such an invigorating breath of fresh air for them and me.

Wasn't he though? And it's not quite as much that he was let go - I can't say I'm surprised at that, given the band and their history with singers, but it's more of HOW it went down. Give him the gold ring and then just snatch it back a few months later without so much as a word to him about it. This has nothing to do really, with Neal or Jon or the band - I'd hold the same opinion if this were we talking about another band, but jesus christ, I can't find it in me anywhere to respect anything about it after this situation.

I was divided on them dumping Perry - yeah maybe it was shitty, but I used to be able to see it from both points of view (based on the "story" that was given publically by both sides -- they wanted to tour, or whatever, and they felt like they were being held back... I guess I get that... okay, well yeah, it still sucked, but whatever... there was probably more than meets the public eye anyway.

But then they dropped Augeri like a hot potato, and then did the same thing to JSS without even a word.
So what very little empathy I MIGHT have had looking at it from their side in 1998 no longer exists.
A band that doesn't care very much about it's fans and certainly doesn't even care about it's members... no, fuck that. I'll stick to playing Infinity... Evolution... whatever. I don't need to see them live, wouldn't (at this point) pay for that, and I don't really care if they do another record. It's NOT going to be any good, it's going to be a freakin' tribute band trying to imitate something that's was already done 25 years ago. If I want that Journey 25 years ago, I'll just play Frontiers.

Okay, I've ranted enough. *puts soapbox away*

But when you rant you make a lot of sense. You just described the way so many of us feel right now.

Anyone who still says that all the problems were because of Perry's ego and/or idiosyncrasies has to be as delusional about Schon as any Perry loon ever was over Perry.

[xflajrnylvr]

No New Cd

Dirty Dozen tour

Im finished with my money going to them

Go Gators !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[StoneCold]

You inspired me to start my own.

Of course its always been about the money.

I'm sure they love music or else they wouldn't have been doing what they're doing but to think they weren't motivated by money during the early years isn't realistic.

Why did they take Perry in unless they wanted to be successful?

They could've let the label drop them and just played the nightclub scene. But they didn't. $$$

[stevew2]

I havent popped in a journey Cd for 6 weeks.I cant bring myself to do it.

[NCscarab]

I guess this is the question that every Journey fan has to ponder over at this point in time.
I want to be a fan...I really do...but the boys in the band sure do make it hard to continue to support them.

I remained a fan through the long hiatus between the abysmal "Raised On Radio" and the so-so "Trial By Fire".
I remained a fan after Steve Perry left the band, in fact, I applauded that move at the time because I thought Journey had turned into the Steve Perry solo project and no longer sounded like Journey the band.

I remained a fan through the Steve Augeri years even though I thought the song writing chemistry was never there and the music suffered because of it.I kept hope that the chemistry would grow or that outside songwriters could bring back that classic Journey sound to the music.

I remained a fan and actually jumped for joy when it was announced that JSS was the new lead singer for the band. To me this was everything I had hoped for.The band got an awesome perfomer,songwriter, and musician all rolled up into one. I was delerious with joy thinking about the new music and how it was going to sound !!!

I saw the band twice with JSS and all I can say is that I was blown away.I loved the way he brought new energy and a different delivery to the songs while still capturing that classic feel.Yeah...I was impressed.

And then....well...here we are.
No JSS
No singer at all at this point
No website
No announcements for future plans of any kind

I think the future of the band ended with the announcement that JSS was no longer with the band.
This showed me that the band clearly has no interest in moving forward but instead want to live off past glories and try to preserve their "legacy".

Well, I think they got one thing right...all that remains is a legacy.

[mistiejourney]

I said that 10 yrs ago and meant it until Jeff came along. He was such an invigorating breath of fresh air for them and me.

Wasn't he though? And it's not quite as much that he was let go - I can't say I'm surprised at that, given the band and their history with singers, but it's more of HOW it went down. Give him the gold ring and then just snatch it back a few months later without so much as a word to him about it. This has nothing to do really, with Neal or Jon or the band - I'd hold the same opinion if this were we talking about another band, but jesus christ, I can't find it in me anywhere to respect anything about it after this situation.

I was divided on them dumping Perry - yeah maybe it was shitty, but I used to be able to see it from both points of view (based on the "story" that was given publically by both sides -- they wanted to tour, or whatever, and they felt like they were being held back... I guess I get that... okay, well yeah, it still sucked, but whatever... there was probably more than meets the public eye anyway.

But then they dropped Augeri like a hot potato, and then did the same thing to JSS without even a word.
So what very little empathy I MIGHT have had looking at it from their side in 1998 no longer exists.
A band that doesn't care very much about it's fans and certainly doesn't even care about it's members... no, fuck that. I'll stick to playing Infinity... Evolution... whatever. I don't need to see them live, wouldn't (at this point) pay for that, and I don't really care if they do another record. It's NOT going to be any good, it's going to be a freakin' tribute band trying to imitate something that's was already done 25 years ago. If I want that Journey 25 years ago, I'll just play Frontiers.

Okay, I've ranted enough. *puts soapbox away*

Can I hire you to do my ranting? Every word you have written could have been written by me! I'll just say, "ditto!"

[Clasicrockldy]

Here is my answer to the title of this thread...................... NO!

[Journey69]

I guess this is the question that every Journey fan has to ponder over at this point in time.
I want to be a fan...I really do...but the boys in the band sure do make it hard to continue to support them.

I remained a fan through the long hiatus between the abysmal "Raised On Radio" and the so-so "Trial By Fire".
I remained a fan after Steve Perry left the band, in fact, I applauded that move at the time because I thought Journey had turned into the Steve Perry solo project and no longer sounded like Journey the band.

I remained a fan through the Steve Augeri years even though I thought the song writing chemistry was never there and the music suffered because of it.I kept hope that the chemistry would grow or that outside songwriters could bring back that classic Journey sound to the music.

I remained a fan and actually jumped for joy when it was announced that JSS was the new lead singer for the band. To me this was everything I had hoped for.The band got an awesome perfomer,songwriter, and musician all rolled up into one. I was delerious with joy thinking about the new music and how it was going to sound !!!


I saw the band twice with JSS and all I can say is that I was blown away.I loved the way he brought new energy and a different delivery to the songs while still capturing that classic feel.Yeah...I was impressed.

And then....well...here we are.
No JSS
No singer at all at this point
No website
No announcements for future plans of any kind

I think the future of the band ended with the announcement that JSS was no longer with the band.
This showed me that the band clearly has no interest in moving forward but instead want to live off past glories and try to preserve their "legacy".

Well, I think they got one thing right...all that remains is a legacy.

I agree with most of it..No one knows what happened with JSS,no one..There might be a reason they can't make public out of respect for someone..Don't even say out of respect for JSS..Seriously ,common sense says something happened we don't know about..I doubt it was jealousy.If that's the case,why didn't they broom Perry? ROR was ok,TBF was ok..It was turning into the SP solo band..All they ever did was ballads..Those used to be the after thought.After Open Arms and Faithfully,SP went nuts on ballads..Arrival is a great album,the true follow up to frontiers IMO..All the Augeri haters will say it sucked,just because Perry wasn't on it..Those songs were well written and for those saying the production value sucked,what the hell are you talking about! Frontiers was 10X worse..Listen to Escape then Frontier..Escape was way better..JSS would have been fine..Listen to Coming Home on the Soul Sirkus album..Periled Devide was awesome too..Also,if they are just going to grab a guy and go tour,I will have no interest either..If I want to hear the same songs over again,I'll listen to them with Perry..If they make a new album with a new singer,I will buy it and go to the concert!!

[conversationpc]

No one knows what happened with JSS,no one.

That's part of the problem. Not even JSS fully knows the reason he was unceremoniously dumped without so much as a phone call from anyone in the band.

[Journey69]

No one knows what happened with JSS,no one.

That's part of the problem. Not even JSS fully knows the reason he was unceremoniously dumped without so much as a phone call from anyone in the band.

My stance is: I want to hear Journey's side of the story..I doubt they just dumped a guy they were friends with for no reason..He might have done something,that might not even be a big deal to most people ,but made someone in Journey flip..I doubt it was jealousy..Like I said,I would love to hear both sides..I had a friend who I knew since I was like 8 yrs old..The guy lived with me for like 7 yrs..I took him in when he had no one..I treated him as a friend,never pulled any crap on him..A couple of his dates hit on me and I told them to get lost..He didn't know that,because he didn't need to,I handled it. I wasn't out to hurt anyone..This same guy,has hit on everyone of my girl friends or tried to f' it up..Pretty jealous guy..We are no longer friends..I caught him red handed one time and denied it..Real class there..

[xflajrnylvr]

This was posted over in JSS forum here on MR from a review from one of his solo shows

Well, depending on whom you talk to, he didn’t get along with Jonathan Cain, said the wrong thing to the wrong people about the drummer Dean Castronovo, didn’t mesh with the band’s other songwriters or wanted too much money to front the band. Journey’s loss is certainly our gain,

[StoneCold]

ROR was ok,TBF was ok..It was turning into the SP solo band..All they ever did was ballads..Those used to be the after thought.After Open Arms and Faithfully,SP went nuts on ballads..

So true.

Perry's power let him control what went onto ROR & TBF, hence it became ballad heavy.

Wonder if they have some rockers in the vault somewhere that didn't make the cut? Stuff that Perry won't let them release?

[journeyrock]

ROR was ok,TBF was ok..It was turning into the SP solo band..All they ever did was ballads..Those used to be the after thought.After Open Arms and Faithfully,SP went nuts on ballads..

So true.

Perry's power let him control what went onto ROR & TBF, hence it became ballad heavy.

Wonder if they have some rockers in the vault somewhere that didn't make the cut? Stuff that Perry won't let them release?

That is a very interesting question.....and it wouldn't surprise me at all.