one small difference here, I think......actually it's kinda similar to your beloved Van Halen. For almost all indications, Journey was a case of what happened to VH in '84 where the lead singer goes south and the rest of the band is left floundering in the water. Van Halen managed to get things right with Sammy Hagar and the fans accepted it.

Was it a different VH? Of course Was it a successful VH? Very much so.......even to the point that some might consider that it was the "best" lineup as it brought in many more people that previously weren't VH fans.

Of course, everything died when nobody ever accepted Gary Cherone in VH when they tried singer auditions one more time. It was a bad marriage to begin with and people saw thru it.


on the Journey side of things though......

After some serious problems on the Frontiers tour and the Perry dictatorship of the ROR cd/tour in 1986, Steve Perry left the building, split, went away, said goodbye, etc.......and nothing was heard from him until a solo cd in 1994--well, with the exception of a 5 minute reunion with Journey for the Bill Graham Memorial COncert in 1991, after which point he left again.
In the meantime, you had the rest of the band left without a singer, so your mutual hiatus was called. The 1st Bad English cd was a pretty even 50/50 mix of John Waite and Journey.....and it worked pretty good selling a lot of copies and having a #1 hit single. BE's downfall came though on the followup where the band pretty much capsized halfway thru the "Backlash" cd and BE was no more by the time the cd hit the streets --> no singles, no tour, no nothing. Who's fault it was.....who knows but it was mostly a Cain/Schon vs. Waite situation where nothing really worked. Good idea, bad execution.
Then, add in your Perry solo attempt, which was patchy at best and a halfway-completed tour that was about 90% Journey songs and having major problems with Perry's voice (or lack thereof).......and the stage is set for a lot of $$$$$$ and a Journey reunion.
Good idea again, but troubles in paradise once more. CD is done and Perry dissappears again. Whatever reason you choose to believe, the facts stand that there was no tour, little to no promotion by the band and soon enough, Perry leaves the band--by what is generally seen to be of his own free will.
Add in a new vocalist, a small warmup tour, then a big arena tour......and surprisingly, the fans are happy as can be. Check your local Journey message board, read reviews of the tour and you'll see what I mean when I say most fans have accepted Steve Augeri without hesitation....something Gary Cherone never got.



Van Halen will very soon be reminding the world what
real rock n roll is once again.

I hope you are right. There is a good chance though that if the new Journey cd takes a foothold in the market, it can lay the groundwork for other bands like Van Halen to come back and make a killing. As far as a "real" hardrock band, prospects for VH are as high as anything else, so cross your fingers.

Kevin