REO Speedwagon "What the Hell happened to them? They were so good?"

That's right I said REO Speedwagon was good. Trouble is you don't hear that stuff anymore. You hear the whinny balled crap that Kevin pumps out like sugar coated turds.
It was just the other day. I swear to god people it was just the other day
I was in my car with my daughter 19, a hard core rocker, old school. She knows all the members of the Doors not just Jim, She gets what makes Stevie Ray Vaughn same yet different then Jimi. She likes Who songs that aren't on CSI episodes. And 9 times out of 10 she can identify Bon Scott over Brian Johnson. So yes boys and girls Jess ROCKS.
Any way it was jut the other day
we were driving when 157 Riverside Avenue came on my ipod The one from "You Get What You Play For" from the 70's. She was jamming and asked "Who is this?" I said REO Speedwagon. had she been drinking she'd have done a spit take.
She said "What!? Who!?"
I said REO Speedwagon, before they sucked. She said "no way" After the song I went and found "Riding the Storm Out, same album.
Again she was floored. "What eh hell happened to them? They used to be so good?"
I started thinking how many bands at? Not just "one hit wonders" whose names we soon forget, but established bands who ar eat then achieve commercial success and suddenly they , well jump the shark. I guess teh musical version could be they "Shoot the Terry"
I get shoot the Terry from Terry Kath, (original guitarist and founding member of the rock band Chicago. He died in 1978 at the age of 31 from an unintentional self-inflicted gunshot wound.)
It was about that time Peter Cetera moved to the forfront and things were never the same. (Yes he was around for X and XII, but when he died Chicago really dropped off)
With Rush, it was commercial success. Yes they were talented but their best work was pre American radio play. This is also an example where synthesizers killed a bands gut and soul. The last great Rush album with balls? All the Worlds a Stage. A Farewell to Kings was notable but it seemed to signal the decline. so between radio exposure and the synth not good.
not that synthesizers are bad, my god Genesis (up until Steve Hackett left) Yes, Emerson Lake and Palmer, Head East, Gentle Giant. I caould list a hundred bands who used synthesizers with great success usually from teh begining..I can name many more who jump..er shot when they added it.
Remeber the first Queen albums? Up until "World News"? the next album? The Game is reportedly the first Queen album in which a synth appears. A spot on the cover says something like "This album inculdes the first appearance of a Synthesizer (an Oberheim OBX) on a Queen album" que funeral march
I don't think the irony of Van Halen's song "Jump" as being their first use of the synth with the rocket skis firmly attached...
Seminal moments of jumpage, or shootage seem to blend for some bands. Personnel changes coupled with broader commercial success. Let's dissect the sucksess of Genesis. First change, Peter gabriel leaves and Phil Collins moves to the front. Trick of the tail still comes across with that ethereal Genesis sound, as does Wind and Wuthering. Some changes in themes but that sound still holds a decent shift. Then teh album "Then There Were Three..." ok but not the best, first radio hit, Follow You Follow me. a nice ditty but not classic Genesis..what changed? The loss of the heart of the Genesis sound.. guitarist Steve Hackett. but the public likes it and the band reaches amazing critical sucksess with their blandest musical tripe.
Now is it that the general public lacks musical taste? Well in America? I say yes, yes we do. Go to 1960-1979 ( abit beyond) look at the to 10 artist and albums. Names that ar erich with history soul and balls. Clapton, Stones, Dylan, ELP, Beatles Elvis. Doors.
Starting in 1980 till now? Tiffany?! TIFFANY!? What The Fuck!? Debbie Gibson? Liwek Bill Hicks said is there that much babysitter money being passed around?
New Kids, Boys to Men..crap crap crap..today so much worse. Mindless empty shit from the likes of Miley Cyrus (her dads forrey into music was shit what should we expect from his spawn?) lady Fucking Ga Ga? Rhiannon? Konye West? JUSTINE BEEBER!?
I can't believe Clapton hasn't shot himself yet.

So ye steh general public is too blame they have no hunger for meaning or depth or heart, they want pablum and they get it. and music suffers as do we all.