I decided to stop spamming the Eddie Van Halen thread with Arnel obsession and dedicate a thread to Journey, after all, it's about time.
There is already a thread which is vaguely about Journey, but it was mostly just a joke, albeit totally fucking hilarious: I WANNA BE THERE IN MY SETTEE
Now I'll copy/paste all our discussion about Journey so far:
There is already a thread which is vaguely about Journey, but it was mostly just a joke, albeit totally fucking hilarious: I WANNA BE THERE IN MY SETTEE
Now I'll copy/paste all our discussion about Journey so far:
(10-12-2020, 12:19 PM)Dev Wrote: They're not gonna shut down the franchise just because Eddie died.
Look at Journey. They're a diversified corporation. When Steve Perry left, they found a sound-alike singer and kept on rolling.
(10-12-2020, 01:10 PM)Mister Obvious Wrote: I meeean, that Steve Perry sound-alike guy was remarkable though...
Not saying they couldn't potentially find somebody who fits the sound to fill in for Eddie Van Halen but...
It would definitely have to be a global search like it was for Journey.
(10-12-2020, 02:17 PM)Dev Wrote: Yeah, Arnel is an awesome singer. Unfortunately he's content to mimic Perry rather than develop his own style.
Journey's original singer, Gregg Rolie, sounded nothing like Perry. They had had only modest commercial success before Rolie left the band, so they weren't really compelled to find someone who could cover his material.
The Steve Perry era was by far Journey's most lucrative period. They became a huge money-making enterprise, and apparently didn't want to break out of the formula that had made them a huge success. Hence, Arnel Pineda.
If Van Halen is merely looking for an Eddie imitator, it won't be that hard to find one. Two generations of guitarists grew up learning to play all of Eddie's licks. I hope they don't go that route though. They need to get someone who can play Eddie's songs, but who can also innovate and help the band's sound evolve.
(10-12-2020, 02:27 PM)Mister Obvious Wrote: Dude honestly...
Arnel is so awesome at being the clone of Steve's voice...
That's the whole entire point.
He doesn't HAVE to be unique or "himself"...
With a gift like that, his purpose in life (creatively, and at least by a large margin) is to parrot Steve in a way that is pretty unbelievable/remarkable/outstanding.
I am not sure which is more unlikely to be so perfectly copied...
A voice, or a guitarist's personal style.
I think the voice may be a lot more rare.
You take Jimi Hendrix for example...
Nobody can convincingly parrot him whatsoever.
(10-12-2020, 02:47 PM)Dev Wrote: I can't imagine being an artist and not wanting to create my own style.
I think Arnel will have to at some point. The generation that grew up on the Perry era sound won't be around forever, and future generations wont give two shits about it. Journey underwent a drastic transformation when Perry replaced Rolie, and they'll have to do so again to stay relevant for another 40 years.
It's a lot easier to copy a guitarist than to copy a singer of Steve Perry's caliber.
So yeah, I have to give Arnel mad props for even accomplishing that.
(10-12-2020, 03:49 PM)Mister Obvious Wrote:
You know what I really think though...
I think this is just Arnel's voice and it's that simple.
He really ain't even parroting Steve...
He may mimic a few specific traits for impact and wow factor, but I think this is just his voice man.
(10-12-2020, 03:54 PM)Mister Obvious Wrote:
I usually think old bands getting their members replaced is lame as shit and sucks...
But in this case, it's truly a fucking marvel, ROFL.
I wonder how Steve felt about it.
He probably felt pretty blessed.
It's really kind of magical.
(10-12-2020, 04:31 PM)Dev Wrote: It's hard to say whether Arnel would've sounded like Steve Perry if he had grown up idolizing some band other than Journey.
I'm not knocking Arnel's talent at all. I think he would've done well if he had joined some other band.
I idolized Steve Perry myself at one time. Journey was my favorite band through high school. Over the years though, I've become disenchanted with them for the same reason I'm down on the corporate music industry as a whole. They've turned into this self-perpetuating corporate juggernaut that just wants to keep milking the same material and formula forever.
I don't see anything wrong with old bands getting new members. Artists get tired of playing with each other, or have irreconcilable creative differences that require them to either split up or replace members. Or, in the case of Steve Perry, a member develops health issues that keep him from continuing to work regularly.
Neal Schon is the only member of Journey who's been with the band since the beginning. Aside from Schon, it has become a completely different band several times. Except with Arnel it stayed pretty much the same band as with Perry. Why don't they split up and go their separate ways? It seems like they just want to keep milking the same cash cow at this point.
By all accounts, Steve loves Arnel. He says Arnel is Journey's lead singer, not him, and dismisses any talk about him rejoining the band and replacing Arnel.
(10-12-2020, 04:48 PM)Mister Obvious Wrote: You can tell the band loves Arnel too. At this point he's been the most longstanding lead singer.
There are a couple things he does that they don't 100% like, but they'd never say anything to him about it... they love the guy.
(10-12-2020, 05:13 PM)Dev Wrote: Which makes it puzzling that he wasn't inducted into the hall of fame with the rest of the band.
(10-12-2020, 05:31 PM)Mister Obvious Wrote: Yeah I heard about that. The band felt like he got slighted for it. They need to put him in along with Steve Perry... it shouldn't be just one of them.
(10-14-2020, 03:38 PM)Mister Obvious Wrote:
1:54 seriously, look how much they love this guy.
LOL I just think he's so fucking amazing.
I feel like I can hear a little bit of an accent...
Which is kiiind of adorable.
3:36 I mean...
I don't think people really give this the credit it deserves as a damn near supernatural phenomenon, ROFL.
I'm serious.
Like, imagine being the band and how trippy it must be to them.
Like life is a fucking dream or something.
It'd probably be unadvised and pretty unprofessional for them to actually discuss it... but you KNOW they're thinking it.
God, he's sooooo sweet.
Why did I go down this rabbit hole.
This is just pointless for me.
I love it.
Jesus man, I just don't even know.
I don't even know.
I feel like...
Agh, honestly I feel like Arnel has imploded the universe and we're just now realizing it.
Quote:Ultimately the band hired another YouTube find, Filipino singer Arnel Pineda of the cover band The Zoo.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journey_(band)
Fascinating.
Honestly, Arnel's heart is just pure enough that he got to live his ultimate dream, in the flesh.
Facts.
Guaranteed.
Man I gotta be 100% real with you...
That 2016 performance up there??
Pft.
First of all...
Journey is the one band that I can truly say I am so glad went on after a core, iconic member left.
And secondly?
This is no diss to Steve. Not at all.
But if I had to choose between getting in a time machine and going to a Journey concert in their Steve Perry led heyday, or going to this 2016 performance?
I'd be going to that 2016 performance.
Arnel is otherwordly, god status.
Steve is too. But Arnel's energy is my jam.
Comments Wrote:For any bonafide Steve Perry/Journey fan, "Lights" is the true Acid Test. Like it, or not...Arnel passes the test. Lovely voice!
Arnel is 53, which I just can't even believe...
The purity of his energy just makes him seem so young.
But it's for this reason that I stick to my opinion that there's no need for him to ever establish his own style.
Great/powerful singers like that who give it their heart and soul for ~30 years are lucky if they can even do it anymore once they get to that age.
With a damn near godly talent like Arnel's, there is absolutely nothing left to prove.
And I'll go to a spiritual level with it too...
Arnel was obviously deeply inspired by Steve Perry.
There is some kind of karma here...
Arnel got to hitch a ride on the trail that Steve blazed with Journey.
Because of Steve, Arnel benefited. He didn't know he was gonna benefit someday...
Arnel didn't know he'd end up the lead singer of Journey at the age of 41.
So spiritually, karmically, I guess Steve (the higher self or whatever you wanna call it, because we're definitely not talking about their human avatars) owed Arnel one.
He either owed him one, or Steve agreed to it out of the kindness of his heart (soul).
But since Arnel embodies something so intimate and something that should be so unique...
I think it's safe to say that Steve was doing more than a solid for Arnel.
It was Arnel's destiny to benefit from Steve's vibration and legacy.
Maybe Arnel doesn't even know who he is apart from Steve's influence, which probably started pretty early in his life. What, the early 80s or so?
Long time.
I feel that Arnel's story is deeply inspiring.
Almost like a testament to living your life auditioning for the role you want every day...
You can bet Arnel sang those songs in the shower decades before he sang them on stage. Think about how powerful THAT is.
You gotta be fucking kidding me dude, I cannot even fucking believe this.
This shit is supernatural.
Period.
I'm just going back and listening to all my fave Journey songs with Arnel.
I just...
It's...
Overwhelming, y'all.
If he does Still They Ride, I'm gonna fucking dieeeeeee.
Seriously, "Who's Crying Now" goes to show that Arnel IS singing his own style.
It just happens to...
Sound exactly like Steve Perry only IMO, I like Arnel even more.
I. Like. Arnel. Even. More.
2:32 keyboardist Jonathan Cain loves him too... just listen to those notes.
I'm just...
So impressed.
So there really aren't very many uploads of Arnel singing "Still They Ride"... they're all like camera in the audience uploads.
But I found this guy (E5C4P3), whose thing is apparently singing this specific song, LMAO!
Same deal with these guys though, it's all camera in the audience uploads.
I guess it's sort of a typical coverband type deal, so they do Journey.
He's still no match for Arnel, but on this song, he might just win.
I get the impression there are SOME Journey songs Arnel is not totally wild about singing.
I don't blame him.
Singing any Journey song is an astronomically tall order.
Deen Castronovo is singing this version...
I've seen a lot of people saying they prefer his version even above Steve's.
I prefer the original...
But I do think Deen performs it live best of all.
Journey is fucking legendary man.
One of the most legendary groups in history.
