Michael Ochs Archive
By Eduardo Rivadavia for Ultimate Classic Rock | May 7, 2016
On May 7, 1998, Journey lost singer Steve Perry for a second time. At least the first time, in the ’80s, Perry’s exit had been voluntary, the result of recent solo success and growing indifference toward the band.
And left to their own devices at the time, Perry’s former bandmates, Neal Schon and Jonathan Cain formed Bad English with singer John Waite. (Perry had fired Journey’s founding bassist, Ross Valory, and longtime drummer Steve Smith before the group recorded 1986’s Raised on Radio.)
But a decade mostly spent away from the bright arena spotlights paved the way for Journey’s triumphant mid-’90s reunion, which produced a Top 20 album, 1996’s Trial by Fire, which swam against the current of the era’s reigning alt-rock. Three charting singles, a Grammy nomination and imminent plans for a successful comeback tour made it seem just like the good old days.
Unfortunately, those touring plans were derailed when Perry suffered a hiking accident and refused to undergo the hip surgery necessary to get him back onstage. This opened the door to renewed ill will and undoubtedly dredged up memories of the singer’s late-’80s power grab for Journey’s fate.
But instead of bending to Perry’s whims this time, the other members of Journey banked on their fan base’s renewed support and unquenchable hunger for tour dates by recruiting a Perry sound- and look-alike, Steve Augeri, in order to get on with business.
In the end, the band’s decision appeared to have been vindicated by a successful decade-plus of touring and recording with Augeri and, later, Arnel Pineda. And Perry, for his part, has maintained a relatively low profile, seemingly satisfied belting out “Don’t Stop Believin’” from the bleachers of his hometown San Francisco Giants’ baseball stadium.
Read More: When Steve Perry Left Journey for a Second Time | http://ultimateclassicrock.com/steve-perry-leaves-journey-again/?trackback=tsmclip
Eduardo Rivadavia (aka Ed Rivadavia) was born in São Paulo, Brazil, and by his late teens had already toured the world (and elsewhere), learning four languages on three continents. Having also accepted the holy gospel of rock & roll as his lord and savior, Eduardo became infatuated with the New Wave of British Heavy Metal and all things heavy, crude, and obnoxious while living in Milan, Italy, during the mid-1980s. At this time, he also made his journalistic debut as sole writer, editor, publisher, and, some would claim, reader of his high school’s heavy metal fanzine, earning the scorn of jocks and nerds alike, but uniting the small hardcore music-loving contingent into a frenzied mob that spent countless hours exchanging tapes, talking shop, and getting beat up at concerts. Upon returning home to Brazil, Eduardo resumed a semi-normal existence, sporadically contributing music articles to local papers and magazines while earning his business degree. Finally, after years of obsessive musical fandom and at peace with his distinct lack of musical talent, Eduardo decided the time had come to infiltrate the music industry by the fire escape. He quit his boring corporate job, relocated to America, earned his master’s degree while suffering the iniquities of interning for free (anything for rock & roll!), and eventually began working for various record labels, accumulating mountains of records and (seemingly) useless rock trivia in the process. This eventually led him back to writing, and he has regularly contributed articles to multiple websites since 1999, working with many different rock genres but specializing, as always, in his personal hobby: hard rock and heavy metal. To quote from the insightful ‘This Is Spinal Tap’: “People should be jealous of me…I’m jealous of me….” Eduardo currently resides in Austin, TX, with his wife, two daughters, and far more records, CDs and MP3s than he’ll ever have time to listen to.
Eduardo Rivadaviahttp://ultimateclassicrock.com/author/edrivadaviayahoo-com/ – Ultimate Classic Rock