When is a band not a band?
Last weekend, everyone went to see Queen in concert, and all reports said it was an amazing, spectacular show. That being said, is it really Queen? Freddie Mercury, the iconic original lead singer passed away years ago, and while Adam Lambert is a bona fife rock Star in his own right, he’s fronting a band playing the hits of Queen. Don’t get me wrong, I’m pissed that I didn’t go, but it’s an interesting question.
Every few years the Guess Who slides through town, and nobody in the band was in the band when they wrote and produced their hits. I interviewed Randy Bachman, the founder and asked him if it pisses him off that some guys are out touring as the Guess Who and he said, “he’ll yeah it does, but we screwed up and didn’t copyright the name, so we are screwed”. That’s a shame, because he and Burton Cummings, the original singer should be out there making money off their own songs, not those imposters.
This also goes for one of my favorite bands ever...Lynyrd Skynyrd. The only original remaining band member is guitarist Gary Rossington. Ronnie Van Zandt, Steve Gaines, Ed King, Billy Powell, Allen Collins, and Leon Wilkerson are all dead, yet Skynyrd is still out their touring! It’s a great show, but is it Skynyrd?
I mean, I still haven’t seen Journey since Steve Perry left the band, the You Tube kid, Arnel who replaced him is a great impersonator but is it Journey? Am I a purist? Maybe they shouldn’t charge $800 for a ticket if it’s not at least the original singer, or maybe I should just not worry about it. What do you think?