Thursday, June 05, 2008

Journey To The Bank

This is really old news by blogospheric standards, but does anyone know about Journey's new lead singer, Arnel Pineda?* Founding member and songwriter/guitarist Neal Schon found Pineda singing Journey songs on YouTube with his band in the Philippines, and then after meeting with him and playing a gig with him in Chile, announced the Steve Perry sound-alike as their new frontman. Check out Journey's performance on Ellen from last week:



And that, my friends, is how once-great pop bands of the 70's and 80's strike 21st Century gold.

Now, at my most lenient, I can understand why Journey would be ecstatic about getting a great singer again, a great singer who happens to sound exactly like Steve Perry. They can relive their glory days, play huge venues filled with excited paying guests, and generally feel like big boys again. Yes, and the money. If they'd hired a singer with his own distinctive voice they'd a crashed and burned - who gives a shit about Journey without SP?

Beyond all that, I have to wonder what it's like for Arnel Pineda, who would ne'er have achieved international fame without sounding exactly like SP. I'm famous 'cause I sound like Steve Perry will be running in his internal monologue for the rest of his life. But again, cha-ching. For his part, he seems to be taking it all with a grain of salt, judging by his press statements. I would love to see what Perry has to say about it, but haven't found anything. Though if anybody's interested, there's a great, long interview with Perry and a follow up interview with Neal Schon on GQ which is pretty in depth, as far as popculture reporting goes. Sadly no dish on Pineda by Perry, though. And while I won't buy their new album of 11 "classic" Journey tunes and 11 new tunes recorded with Pineda (really, who gives a shit?) I can't say that hearing the new formation of the band hasn't given me chills. Why would I blog about it otherwise?

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*Thanks to ch for the tip.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

A few days ago, I saw a YouTube vid of Arnel and the band singing and was a little freaked out by the whole experience. He's great. He made me feel like I was 13 again. But then I shivered and felt as though someone had just walked over my grave.

Anonymous said...

I don't see how having my internal monologue running: "I got rich and famous for sounding like Steve Perry" could be so much worse than: "I am reasonably comfortable and my friends think I am cool fetching soup for my boss at lunchtime."

Anonymous said...

Granted, as a former voice major I tend to be a singing snob, but I don't think AP sounds anywhere near as good as SP. Some of those gut-pleasing, held, belted-out notes fall flat -- literally. But I've always been amazed how mediocre vocal performances impress the masses. (I'm thinking specifically about the dreaded American Idol - blech!) I'm sure I'm missing the point here, but I just can't agree with the assessment of AP as a "great singer". P.S. The first 45 I ever won at a bar mitzvah limbo contest was "Open Arms".

Bree said...

Julie: did you really win more than one 45 at a bar mitzvah limo contest? If so, please list them! :)

Bree said...

I see your point, Mag - I guess "I'm rich because I sound like Steve Perry" is only a different form of alienation from the fruits of one's labor. Certainly, there is inherent dissatisfaction in becoming identified with our occupation, whether it's "totally glamorous" or "totally mundane."

Bree said...

Jul (again) - You're totally right. AP is not a "great" singer as in, oh, Billie Holliday-great or Nat King Cole-great. I mean "great" as in "the public is paying attention to us again-great." Now, whether the decision to hire someone who sounds (okay, not *exactly*) a hell of a lot like SP is dubious or not, that's the thing I'm trying to tease out. And being part of the problem of creating buzz by blogging about this is not escaping me, either. And, y'know, not working on my thesis 'cause I'm blogging about this is also not escaping me.

Thanks for participating! :)