Why do so many Yes fans seem to hate Asia?

[Gilly Goodness]

Gotta echo your opinion on AURA. Favourite ASIA album with some of the coolest Howe guitar. Ever recorded. Strong songwriting. Great playing. Listen without prejudice

[Soundwaveseeker]

Thanks. To those who dislike or are indifferent with Asia: I love 'em, but I won't say the band was without its faults either. By the 2006-2014 reunion, Wetton indeed was doing most of those backing vocals and there are spots where the lines between Asia and Icon/Wetton solo indeed blur a little. Don't want to hear too much vocals from Steve in Yes, but he stopped doing them for Asia which they needed to sound more 'full'. In Yes, well you had Chris or have Billy for that, but Asia needed his backing vocals a little more. And on albums like Phoenix and Gravitas, the drumming was a little 'wimpy' in places and kinda low in the mix, I must add. This is supposed to be Carl Palmer. That was definitely NOT the case with that first album or even Alpha, no matter if they were chasing after MTV or American radio hits or whatever. Those drums are there in spades, even if it's 4 or 5 minutes of it instead of 12. And I'm sure there is a lot of indifference to the John Payne era of Asia - but I kinda respected them in that era, they knew they were floundering in obscurity('Asia'? You mean they're still around? I thought they split up after 'Don't cry' I would hear). Yet they staggered forward, because the need to create music was apparently too great for them. 'Aura' from 2001 is a pretty good representation of that era - Steve Howe guests on 2 songs.

I'm sure the band's original line-up is a major factor in how people feel about Asia whether they like, love, hate or are indifferent to it. I wonder: if Asia had just come out with that first album featuring musicians Yes fans didn't know, they would probably be seen today as a pretty musical semi-prog/art rock kinda outfit like, say, Saga, with a lengthy discography and various line-ups and eras. Expectation can be a prison.

[luvyesmusic]

'Progitis' is something that strikes many fans of Yes and other similar bands, and symptoms include disdain for what may be considered 'pop' or 'commercial/sell-out' and toxic attitudes towards such music and bands that perform songs that may be shorter, simpler or accessible/hits. I went through a short spell of this, when things like Asia and 80's Genesis were considered 'pop crud' or 'not REAL music', but fortunately my taste buds healed, and my symptoms went away.

Seriously, I did not know Asia were made up of members from three bands I dug at first. When I saw the names attached, I gave it a more honest listen. Listening to the debut album at the beach was a good experience. True, Alpha was a little less involved but still had a large rock sound. Astra was the newest Asia album at the time I started giving them a listen, and was surprised that Voice Of America and Rock & Roll Dream didn't become big anthems. When Asia returned in the 90's with John Payne, I gave them a chance and remained on board when most fans bailed. Asia themselves have disowned this chapter in their career, but you can't really airbrush out a 15 year period with 8 studio albums, but that's another topic. Asia has become one of my top favorite bands and I still drag them to the beach. Orangey summer skies go with those Geoff Downes synth textures.

I can understand why some prog fans saw the line-up when the 1st album came out and expected something like UK or Yes with Carl Palmer on drums, thus felt deceived. Many viewed them as a band trying to fit in with the AOR/Journey/Styx/Boston kinda sound. To me, it sounds like a continuation of the electric Drama Yes sound, or at least the debut does. Even the Dean artwork: the shore on the cover of Drama - you follow that shoreline to the East and you'll probably come to that wider part of the water where that friggin' dragon is splashing around, playing with a giant silver pinball. Other than the first two or three radio hit, which are cool as well, you'll hear a pretty proggy album. Time Again sounds like ELP with special guest Steve Howe, Cutting It Fine is actually two songs, ending with a grand synth-classical composition, and Without You - possibly the best track on the album - is just grand. And emotional. Nothing Journey or Toto about that first album. It's engaging. You want to hear a former progressive band doing a bad pop album? Try Canadian band FM's 1987 album 'Tonight' which includes a lame-for-the-ages cover of Good Vibrations. Once you hear that, you'll direct your venom away from Asia in a heartbeat.

There's nothing to hate with Asia. They really should be taken seriously as a legacy band with a history of ups and downs, line-up changes, direction changes, and 15 studio albums filled with good playing, catchy songs and strong harmony vocals. Anyone who reads a rock magazine, you get the same narrative all the time about Asia. People are generally just told not to like Asia. They may not be for everyone, but they're solid to me. Some albums are better than others, but that's true with any band, including the ones we feel can do no wrong. But count me in for Team Asia.

Too good to be a great post, do I will say fantastic! Thanks for taking the time to write your thoughts. I am right there with you.

[PhaseDance]

The consensus in the responses is that there isn't really hate for Asia. It's indifference at worst, so the whole premise here is false.

Anyway, I have a real nostalgic soft spot for the debut album. Catchy rock pop, with some interesting instrumental interludes from everyone tucked away in the tracks. Not prog, but still worthwhile.

By Alpha, John was doing all the backing vocals himself so it didn't sound as "full". I like John's voice but using multiple backing voices beefs up the sound better and adds depth. Think about how rich it sounds to have McCartney+Lennon+Harrison harmonising backing vocals together as opposed to just one of them doing overdubbed harmonies. Also, Steve's guitar was getting increasingly buried in the mix, and the production sounded less aggressive than the first album. Possibly too many synths and not enough guitars? I don't know, but it sounded toothless. I like a few of the tracks (Eye to Eye, Midnight Sun), but it's a weaker collection than the debut.

By Astra, they lost Steve, so they lost me too for the most part.

I still like the first album, although I rarely think to play it.

[Ash Armstrong]

I think it was clear from the outset that they were steering towards commercial success in North America, filling arenas, getting radio airplay, etc. Those media and concert outlets existed in abundance across that continent, but not over here in the UK, where they all came from.
That perhaps they sought to emulate the success and musical stylisations of US generic soundalike arena bands like Styx, Boston, Journey, Kansas, Toto, and who knows how many other bands who named themselves after their city of origin, or named themselves trying to sound deep and mystical and too clever by half, is one reason why I never took to their music at all.
There's no 'hate' involved, however; disappointment, yes, indifference, certainly: a measure of despondency at knowing where these musicians had come from and previously achieved in the realm of sonic design and musical architecture, compared to what they seemingly preferred to pursue under the Asia banner? Absolutely.
Is that comparable to what happened with other former member of Yes in that decade? Undoubtedly.
Entirely a personal view of course, nothing more, and of no intrinsic consequence, but when music-makers I'd hitherto followed keenly, and whose music I'd enjoyed enormously, shift their craft to making music I don't care for in the slightest, I tend to stop listening. Life's too brief to squander it in those ways.

[Kevin W]

I enjoyed the first album, got the next two on vinyl but spent years not listening to them and generally following the majority view that the band was a waste of prog talent. Finally I matured and decided to listen to them again on the basis of only expecting what they set out to be from the start - a rock-pop band with a bit of progressive overtones and guess what? I enjoyed listening to their music again after years of ignoring it! Went on to collect all of the Payne-era albums which I enjoy as well. Just have to be in the right mood for them. If I want to listen to progressive stuff I can put Tales, CTTE or Relayer on. But if I am in the mood for something lighter, then some Asia sometimes fits the bill very well.

[Ash Armstrong]

Not 'hate', but indifference. As in, I just don't care.

[pianozach]

'Progitis' is something that strikes many fans of Yes and other similar bands, and symptoms include disdain for what may be considered 'pop' or 'commercial/sell-out' and toxic attitudes towards such music and bands that perform songs that may be shorter, simpler or accessible/hits. I went through a short spell of this, when things like Asia and 80's Genesis were considered 'pop crud' or 'not REAL music', but fortunately my taste buds healed, and my symptoms went away.

Seriously, I did not know Asia were made up of members from three bands I dug at first. When I saw the names attached, I gave it a more honest listen. Listening to the debut album at the beach was a good experience. True, Alpha was a little less involved but still had a large rock sound. Astra was the newest Asia album at the time I started giving them a listen, and was surprised that Voice Of America and Rock & Roll Dream didn't become big anthems. When Asia returned in the 90's with John Payne, I gave them a chance and remained on board when most fans bailed. Asia themselves have disowned this chapter in their career, but you can't really airbrush out a 15 year period with 8 studio albums, but that's another topic. Asia has become one of my top favorite bands and I still drag them to the beach. Orangey summer skies go with those Geoff Downes synth textures.

I can understand why some prog fans saw the line-up when the 1st album came out and expected something like UK or Yes with Carl Palmer on drums, thus felt deceived. Many viewed them as a band trying to fit in with the AOR/Journey/Styx/Boston kinda sound. To me, it sounds like a continuation of the electric Drama Yes sound, or at least the debut does. Even the Dean artwork: the shore on the cover of Drama - you follow that shoreline to the East and you'll probably come to that wider part of the water where that friggin' dragon is splashing around, playing with a giant silver pinball. Other than the first two or three radio hit, which are cool as well, you'll hear a pretty proggy album. Time Again sounds like ELP with special guest Steve Howe, Cutting It Fine is actually two songs, ending with a grand synth-classical composition, and Without You - possibly the best track on the album - is just grand. And emotional. Nothing Journey or Toto about that first album. It's engaging. You want to hear a former progressive band doing a bad pop album? Try Canadian band FM's 1987 album 'Tonight' which includes a lame-for-the-ages cover of Good Vibrations. Once you hear that, you'll direct your venom away from Asia in a heartbeat.

There's nothing to hate with Asia. They really should be taken seriously as a legacy band with a history of ups and downs, line-up changes, direction changes, and 15 studio albums filled with good playing, catchy songs and strong harmony vocals. Anyone who reads a rock magazine, you get the same narrative all the time about Asia. People are generally just told not to like Asia. They may not be for everyone, but they're solid to me. Some albums are better than others, but that's true with any band, including the ones we feel can do no wrong. But count me in for Team Asia.

Oh, yes, that Roger Dean album cover certainly sucked me in and raised my expectations as well. That was a very sly move on their part.

[PeterCologne]

I don't hate Asia, its really not my favourite music but I like it like I like sometimes some mainstream-rock for its well one can say artully entwined guitar-keyboard-bass-drum-ornamentation. My favourite thing in that section is Journey, Boston comes next.

Asia is kind of a more overblown but fancy Disney- or whatever Musical-version. Well you can get lost a little bit in the dense arrangements, that is something I like. And I also mean albums like Alpha, Astra, Phoenix and Omega.

[ragtime]

I like quite a lot bands that might be classed as pop (e.g. Aztec Camera, Spandau Ballet, OMD) and rock bands that are not categorised as 'prog' (e.g. Fleetwood Mac, Budgie, Free), and I like the first Asia album. I saw them at Wembley on that first tour. But the second album was disappointing and everything after that just sounds formulaic to me. I don't hate them but they don't excite me

[Mr. Holland]

I don't hate Asia either. But apart from a couple of tracks from the first album, their music just doesn't do much for me. I find it very bland, there's nothing that graps me by the throat. I also feel they're more a pop band than a rock band. Rock to me means guitars very much at the forefront and I find Asia to be a keyboards dominated band in general. So, they're not really prog, not really rock, but then again not really pop either and that perhaps is part of the problem for me, that they seem to be neither fish nor flesh.

[luna65]

I don't hate Asia, but I never really got into their music. All talented people, of course, but it just wasn't for me.

Why so much snobbery and vitriol against them?

I mean, I could say the same thing about YesWest. lol.

[Soundwaveseeker]

'Progitis' is something that strikes many fans of Yes and other similar bands, and symptoms include disdain for what may be considered 'pop' or 'commercial/sell-out' and toxic attitudes towards such music and bands that perform songs that may be shorter, simpler or accessible/hits. I went through a short spell of this, when things like Asia and 80's Genesis were considered 'pop crud' or 'not REAL music', but fortunately my taste buds healed, and my symptoms went away.

Seriously, I did not know Asia were made up of members from three bands I dug at first. When I saw the names attached, I gave it a more honest listen. Listening to the debut album at the beach was a good experience. True, Alpha was a little less involved but still had a large rock sound. Astra was the newest Asia album at the time I started giving them a listen, and was surprised that Voice Of America and Rock & Roll Dream didn't become big anthems. When Asia returned in the 90's with John Payne, I gave them a chance and remained on board when most fans bailed. Asia themselves have disowned this chapter in their career, but you can't really airbrush out a 15 year period with 8 studio albums, but that's another topic. Asia has become one of my top favorite bands and I still drag them to the beach. Orangey summer skies go with those Geoff Downes synth textures.

I can understand why some prog fans saw the line-up when the 1st album came out and expected something like UK or Yes with Carl Palmer on drums, thus felt deceived. Many viewed them as a band trying to fit in with the AOR/Journey/Styx/Boston kinda sound. To me, it sounds like a continuation of the electric Drama Yes sound, or at least the debut does. Even the Dean artwork: the shore on the cover of Drama - you follow that shoreline to the East and you'll probably come to that wider part of the water where that friggin' dragon is splashing around, playing with a giant silver pinball. Other than the first two or three radio hit, which are cool as well, you'll hear a pretty proggy album. Time Again sounds like ELP with special guest Steve Howe, Cutting It Fine is actually two songs, ending with a grand synth-classical composition, and Without You - possibly the best track on the album - is just grand. And emotional. Nothing Journey or Toto about that first album. It's engaging. You want to hear a former progressive band doing a bad pop album? Try Canadian band FM's 1987 album 'Tonight' which includes a lame-for-the-ages cover of Good Vibrations. Once you hear that, you'll direct your venom away from Asia in a heartbeat.

There's nothing to hate with Asia. They really should be taken seriously as a legacy band with a history of ups and downs, line-up changes, direction changes, and 15 studio albums filled with good playing, catchy songs and strong harmony vocals. Anyone who reads a rock magazine, you get the same narrative all the time about Asia. People are generally just told not to like Asia. They may not be for everyone, but they're solid to me. Some albums are better than others, but that's true with any band, including the ones we feel can do no wrong. But count me in for Team Asia.

[Gilly Goodness]

Lots of ASIA memories......first tour was the summer I graduated from HS, I in fact lost my virginity the night of the concert, after the show.

Here comes the Feeling!!!

[Roundabob]

I didn’t hate Asia, but they were very disappointing. I absolutely loved the music of UK, which was Wetton’s previous prog supergroup, and I expected Asia to produce something as good, or maybe better. They fell far short of that, but were quite simply trying to create something different in nature from their previous efforts. Not my cup of tea...