A Tale of Two Rock Bands

During my recent downtime, I watched a bunch of documentaries. They covered a wide range of subjects, from the important role casting directors play in movies (unless you believe director Taylor Hackford, who thinks they’re overrated) to several about the histories of legendary rock bands.  

History of The Eagles was a little intimidating. At nearly four hours, it seemed quite over the top, even for a band I’ve enjoyed all my life. Still, I’d always heard Glenn Frey was a bit of a turd and Don Henley wasn’t the easiest guy to work with either, so I was intrigued.

It’s no wonder there were line-up changes in the band over the years. Glenn Frey is one of those dudes who appears to believe that acknowledging the contributions of others somehow diminishes his own success. It’s unfortunate. He treated, and continues to treat, people like guitarist Don Felder as second-class citizens. To this day, the band’s income is split unevenly with Frey and Henley getting bigger shares than everyone else.

Then there’s the history of Journey as told in the doc titled, Don’t Stop Believing, Everyman’s Journey. After vocalist Steve Perry quit the band, they hired Steve Augeri. Eight years later, Augeri’s voice was irreparably damaged and they had to find someone new. The film chronicles the discovery and addition of lead singer Arnel Pineda from the Philippines. Guitarist Neal Schon, an original Journey member, found Pineda on YouTube and was blown away by his vocals. Pineda has the timber and range of former singer Steve Perry, but could he come from a third world country and fit in with Journey? That was the question.

close-up of Arnel Pineda singing with Journey
Arnel Pineda in concert by Phey Palma via Flickr

It wasn’t a stunt. Pineda is with the band to this day. He’s a hero in his home country and to the band’s delight, has opened them up to a whole new audience. And unlike the Eagles, Journey splits its profits five equal ways among its members. Pineda gets what Schon gets when they go on tour.

I used to joke that there was a “Don Henley clause” in my wedding vows. “Should Don Henley become available and interested, these vows are no longer valid…” I had a huge crush on him, especially after he went solo. I dragged a friend to the Molson Ampitheatre to see him perform and made a fan out of her, too. He’s smart, talented and savvy and is raising two kids with a wife who has MS. Glenn Frey once made a comment that made me so mad, I vowed I’d never pay the outrageous ticket prices to see the Eagles live. When asked why concert tickets were several hundred dollars each Frey said, “we’re expensive to take on the road. We have to bring our wives and our kids and several buses and…” No Glenn. No you don’t. That’s what your huge profits are for. I decided then and there that I didn’t want to subsidize his idea of a family road trip. Now that I’ve seen how he treats some of his bandmates, the fist-fights and the screaming matches, I feel even more justified.

And then there’s Journey. All I knew about Neil Schon is that I’ve played air guitar to his solos and he has cowritten some of the most important songs in American rock history. The only other time I’ve seen him is when the tabloids feasted on his new wife’s split from her old husband so she could go on the road with Journey. In brief clips, he generally seemed like a jerk. Just goes to show how deceiving a one-dimensional view can be.

When Journey first flew Pineda to the US to see if he had what it took to join the band, Pineda was understandably nervous and reedy sounding. As a broadcaster, I know exactly what happened. His nerves caused his throat to tense up and he couldn’t catch deep breaths. He wasn’t able to use his full voice. The other guys paced around nervously day after day in the studio while Schon never wavered. He stuck with Pineda and boosted his confidence. Schon knew he could do it. He had heard it in the YouTube videos. He was steadfast. And by day three, Pineda was belting out the songs like a pro.

Schon’s decision to pay Pineda like a full band member and not a hired hand, speaks volumes about his integrity. Pineda went from being a homeless, drug addicted youth on the streets of Manila to a contented, grateful celebrity and family man with a beautiful home and family. You reap what you sow. It saddens me that people as talented as Timothy B. Schmidt and Joe Walsh are considered merely supplemental to the Eagles after all of these years. Glenn Frey has written and sung some incredible songs, but he and Henley aren’t all there is when it comes to the Eagles. People matter, and Frey has enough money to last several lifetimes. As a business model, I’d back Journey over the Eagles any day.

 

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