Now I want to hear Steve Perry sing “Sexy Eiffel Towers.”
Not sure if this one counts since they changed the name by a few letters, but Creedence Clearwater Revival’s rhythm section (drummer Cosmo Clifford and bassist Stu Cook) hired a John Fogerty sound-alike and have been touring as “Creedence Clearwater Revisited” for many years. Don’t be fooled.
About a month ago, Renaissance keyboard player John Tout died.
They immediately replaced him with Steve Perry.
We’re just letting this go?? 
One of the oldest groups in existence is the Sons of the Pioneers. All of the original members have been dead for years.
I think The Folksmen are still all the originals. They toured as the opening act for Spinal Tap. And large portions of the audience didn’t get it.
This is what I came in to mention. And not only that, they’re dishonestly being advertised as the famous Grammy winning band, Creedence Clearwater Revisited.
Rod Evans famously pulled that stunt in 1980 with a “Deep Purple” comprised of himself and a bunch of no-names, assembled by a very dodgy management team: he got personally sued, hit with a massive bill for damages, and has never been heard of since. Nobody’s ever been able to track him down.
It isn’t the Pumpkins without a minimum of Jimmy Chamberlain and James Iha.
First I’d heard of the Yes situation. Very sad. My feeling has always been that if you have either Anderson & Squire, or Anderson & Howe, or Squire & Howe, you have Yes. So now’s the time to bring back Anderson.
The Grindcore band Napalm Death has been touring for about twenty years without any original members. In fact, they’d lost all original members by the second side of their debut album “Scum”. Both sides had the same drummer, though. But he’s gone now. As is everyone who performed on that album.
I’d love to see him back with them, though it’s now been almost 7 years since the band first decided to tour without Anderson (when he was ill in 2008). Since then, they’ve recorded two albums with other singers, and it doesn’t seem like the bad blood is about to go away.
I’ve learned to never say never when it comes to Yes’s line-up, but given the ages of the guys now, I’m not sure that it looks good.
They came to town last year, or the year before. They were playing all of Fragile and Closer to the Edge. “Sweet!” thought I, and bought tickets. We left after three songs. I couldn’t take it with the new singer. (Also, at the start they played this little intro film that was supposed to get you amped up about seeing Yes, like it was an arena show or something. What it did for me was make me realize I had paid to watch a bunch of guys desperately cling to the past.) I have wasted over $100 on a lot of things in my life, but this is one I’m still ouchy over.
That’s sort of nitpicking though, since Barney Greenway/Mick Harris/etc. are definitely regarded as the “classic” lineup.
In 2013, when Geoff Tate was fired from Queensrÿche, both camps went to court fighting over use of the name. A preliminary injunction allowed BOTH sides to use the name, which meant that for a short while, there were TWO bands named “Queensrÿche” who were releasing albums and touring. Eventually, it was Jackson/Rockenfeld/Wilton who were given rights to the name, while Geoff Tate was given the sole right to perform Operation: Mindcrime and Operation: Mindcrime II in their entirety.
Jethro Tull pretty much became Ian Anderson’s solo band in 1980 when he fired everyone except Martin Barre. In fact, the change came about because the album “A” was meant to be his solo effort, but the record label insisted on releasing it as Jethro Tull.
I had no idea Burton Cummings was still touring. He had one of my favorite voices from that era. Looks like he’s not coming any closer to here on his current tour than Bethlehem, PA, unfortunately.
So Paul could tour with three other guys as The Beatles? Could Ringo also do that, and at the same time?
I’m pretty sure that it’s more complicated than that. I think these things are usually determined by contracts or lawsuits rather than a law.
Agreed; the Beatles name is, IIRC, co-owned and managed by Paul and Ringo, along with Yoko and Olivia. Individual members are undoubtedly precluded from doing anything unilaterally. Anything like “touring as the Beatles” would have to be agreed on by all four of them, or there would be lawsuits galore.
Similarly, the Yes band name is owned by Squire, Anderson, Wakeman, and Howe (and, I think, Alan White). When the rest of the band elected to go on without Anderson in 2008, I know that Anderson wasn’t happy about it, but I don’t know how much legal recourse he had (or if legal action was threatened). They may have a different contractural set-up.
There do, in fact, appear to be laws on the books in some states requiring a group to have at least one original member in order to advertise themselves as that band, as opposed to a tribute band. The general term for them is “Truth in Music” laws. Jon Bauman (you know, “Bowzer” from Sha Na Na) has been very involved in lobbying for such laws.
Here is a page touting their success in getting these laws passed in 33 states, which are listed.
Some caveats. This page does not appear to have been updated for some time. There is reference to a Federal version of the law, “to be introduced” in 2009. To the best of my knowledge, that Federal did not pass, if it was in fact ever introduced. Who knows if more states have passed similar laws, if the state laws already passed have been repealed or expired, and how diligently the laws were enforced.
The most amusing part of that page, in retrospect, is the bit at the top which celebrates Governor Blagojevich signing the Illinois bill into law.
Okay. I wasn’t thinking about truth in advertising laws, but that makes sense. At the very least, they need one original member to use the name, but often there are also contractual requirements on top of that.
I don’t think it’s just bad blood. Even if they wanted him back, Anderson’s respiratory problems have left him unable and/or unwilling to commit to the kind of touring schedule that a band like Yes needs to keep its head above water.
That may well be. Anderson’s Wikipedia page shows him recording and performing regularly over the past few years, but those tours seem to be a fairly limited number of dates, and are likely shorter / less intensive than recent Yes tours. Plus, there are several notes in there about delayed / cancelled dates due to Anderson’s health.