Queensrÿche

[Dantalion Rides Again]

Who likes this band besides me?

I'm kind of a loyalist, I figure. I've been following this band since I saw them open for Metallica in 1989. I was on the fence about whether I liked them, my high school buddies were all in but I was struggling to appreciate the vocals (!!). The concert that night (both bands were crazy great) sealed the deal and I've been disappointed IIIIII meaaaann a fan ever since.

For my money the 80s is where it's at; spoiler alert for non fans (their early stuff is the best stuff, shocker)

But it's like Metallica or Phish, where the whole definition of the product changes drastically after the crucial stretch of those four untouchable proggy records, and the brillance turns to a sort of ordinary blandness.

Current day QR is pretty fascinating, in that Geoff Tate is still putting out material (which IMO is superior to what he was doing in his last several years with the band), and so is the band proper, so it's been a pretty prolific era for both camps.

I wish I enjoyed the new singer more than I do, but I do enjoy it for what it is. I struggle with the songwriting, just not doing it for me most of the time.

Also: Nikki did it!

[luna65]

So what do you think of The Warning? It seems like loyal fandom is kind of split on that one.

[Dantalion Rides Again]

Love The Warning. Untouchable & proggy, zero complaints. I can't picture the QR fan that doesn't love it, but I'll take your word for it. Sometimes I think it's their best album but that's only when I've managed to forget just how good O:M really is.

It's Empire that I find divides fans a little more ... I personally think half of that album is a huge step down quality wise from everything before it, but other people cite it as their favorite. To me it's their Hoist or Black Album, where they just did everything way more ordinary-like.

Edit to add: really helped me to read the lyrics along w/The Warning, very hard to discern them without reading them. Also, some serious goose bumps moments all over this album. Some of the vocal peaks can melt hearts and heal souls an shit.

[True]

I think I'd purchased OM and Empire at the time - I enjoyed them a lot but I kind of lost track of them, other than reading all of the articles about the split.

[Frumious B]

I like most of their stuff from the debut EP up through Promised Land, but I especially love Rage For Order.

[Homemade Parachute]

Like a lot of people, I picked up the EP after hearing that first track on the radio, and drew that logo/typeface in more than a few high school notebooks, probably alongside Dokken’s. Hey, it was the 80s in Winnipeg, what else were you gonna do after skiing to the curling rink? I know I had The Warning, too, and can almost remember some of it, after, uh, all these years…

[Soundwaveseeker]

I could say I'm a casual listener of Queensryche. Mindcrime, Empire and Rage For Order are ones I would gravitate to when in the mood for Queensryche. Decent group, I generally like them but have never plunged in full force. From what I remember of them, the later Geoff Tate albums like Hear In The Now Frontier/Q2K and Dedicated To Chaos didn't go too far up my alley. Those were a bit dire, and all of my metal-leaning buddies dismiss them. The recent stuff I hear is supposed to be better and closer to the 'ryche sound.

Operation Mindcrime is still their pinnacle, earlier stuff is cool. I probably should give them a deeper listen when I'm in the mood for things on the heavier end of the spectrum. The same for Fates Warning.

[luvyesmusic]

Obviously heard Queen of the Ryche from their e.p. . They were on MTV, and the few metal stations. Their logo with the umlauts, was a bit catchy and a good idea. Honestly, most Americans had never seen umlauts before. Living in Austria at 6, 7, and 8, nothing new to me. It was more slightly weird to me that they were from Washington state. Who else hailed from Washington state, or got any airplay? I was also a little curios to the cultures and ethnic background of the guys, because while I knew about the east coast, South West, California, different countries around the world, Washington state was unknown to me, and their music scene. Let’s face it, they were a different type of rock band. Huge fan of Rob Halford, but Geoff Tate was a bit operatic, and I found later, performance art with his multi-octaves.

Operation Mindcrime is okay, but The Warning is something really special and different. It’s special and different from anything, let alone being a Queensryche album.

I took my sheltered, religious best friend to see them on their first East coast tour in Washington, D.C.. We lived ten minutes from Washington, D.C. if you drove a buck twenty to get there. Usually 20-30 minutes. He had been too scared to go to Washington dc and his family had never taken him there before. Being a good friend, I thought I would mess with him even more by taking him to a sex shop that was just up the street . We went past the chained off area, where some man was in the process of buying a dildo, that he apparently planned on attaching to some life-size sex doll, or so we both heard. My buddy immediately ran out of the establishment.

I spent a lot of time at my friend’s house. The very first time I went over there, his crazy, country, religious Baptist mother was burning his brother’s Outlaws concert shirt, as it had a skull and snake on it. We spent a lot of time with her watching Christian, and evangelist shyster and singing shows. We also watched a lot of Elvis. So I knew it was not going to be good for my sheltered, religious, mother dominated friend to hear and see Geoff state sound like the voice of Satan, with his five octave range. I know. I was so bad.

I was really impressed. The sang The Warning album, and the e.p.. Some time later, I started working with Scott the drummer’s cousin, and hanging out with him s bit. Came in the store one day on my own time and watched and heard him break a shoplifter’s arm when you were allowed to do such things back then.

Anyhow, the ep, and the first two albums were really it for me. I was more into Priest, Maiden, Def Leppard, any metal bands I could see, and YES. There was only so much time and money.
Was really happy to see them open up for somebody years later which was Geoff’s final tour with the band. Still a thrill to see and hear Queen of the Ryche preformed after all those years, even though, pretty simple. Not a fan of the new singer. But all the infighting, and legal issues , is the norm when folks fall out of favor, or spend the money for better legal, or any number of other things. They just recently brought back another replacement guitarist. The guy that just retired from the band, had a bit of s strange look on stage with a cowboy hat, but I guess not has bad as Geoff prior to leaving, at a broadcast radio interview with two of the guys in leather, and Geoff in flip flops. No metal guy wears flip flops other than at home, the beach, or to shower at the gym. Nobody wants to see a native born American in flip flops in the states, period. May have pushed those guys over the edge back then ;-) Now it seems young guys will wear anything on their feet that most of us older guys wouldn’t be caught dead in. But there is surprisingly far too many men who own, and wear a pair of Crocks, or allow their sons to wear them. What is wrong with those people? ;-)

[Dantalion Rides Again]

Appreciate the post! Not so much the bone breaking condoning, or the Mindcrime is OK, or even the footwear fetish, but you take the good w/ the bad! Hey, it's a long post about QR that goes heavy on the early days, I'm clicking 'like'.

[Dantalion Rides Again]

I could say I'm a casual listener of Queensryche. Mindcrime, Empire and Rage For Order are ones I would gravitate to when in the mood for Queensryche. Decent group, I generally like them but have never plunged in full force. From what I remember of them, the later Geoff Tate albums like Hear In The Now Frontier/Q2K and Dedicated To Chaos didn't go too far up my alley. Those were a bit dire, and all of my metal-leaning buddies dismiss them. The recent stuff I hear is supposed to be better and closer to the 'ryche sound.

Operation Mindcrime is still their pinnacle, earlier stuff is cool. I probably should give them a deeper listen when I'm in the mood for things on the heavier end of the spectrum. The same for Fates Warning.

As much as I'm a complete-ist w/ this band, I do not recommend haha. Stick w/ the 80s, but hit it hard.

[Dantalion Rides Again]

So what do you think of The Warning? It seems like loyal fandom is kind of split on that one.

What about you then? Do you dig The Warning? How about Empire? I kind of thought you'd have more to say!

[luna65]

Sorry, just getting back to this now! Yes, I love The Warning too, though I'm kind of biased because my friend produced it. But I totally agree with your assessment of Empire, like, swinging for the fences of general rock fandom, so to speak.

[Ash Armstrong]

Not my kind of thing, but I thought this episode of the Daily Doug might be of interest to yous.