by kgdjpubs » Wed Aug 26, 2009 2:39 am
I'd say it has to do with a combination of factors. The major one is that Journey was built more around vocals than the guitar, so Perry became the face of the band. Then, for better or worse, it was categorized as a pop band more than a rock band. The pop/ballad singles didn't have all that much guitar in them either, so unless you heard the full albums, you didn't really hear that much guitar. The last big thing is the majority of the guitar you did hear in the singles was tame and melodic, not full-on shredding. Take your average teenage hard rock fan, and a nicely-played melodic solo isn't going to have the same macho hero effect as your head-banging shredfest. You can get away with that in other genres (see blues, for example), but very rarely in pop/rock. For better or worse, aggressive lead guitar and Journey radio songs just never went together.
Doesn't have anything to do with talent, and personally, I'm more impressed with someone who can/will play what the song needs as opposed to using it as a springboard for guitar acrobatics (see Yngwie Malmsteen for the polar opposite). I don't think any of these factors alone would have cut him automatically, but it's more of a cumulative effect. If something like HSAS had gone big, the public opinion might be different, but at this point, it's VERY unlikely that you will get a song that would change popular opinion--and even less likely with Journey. We know he should be there, but it's based on the full body of work--and THAT, is what 99% of the people haven't heard.