I was with the wife at Walmart earlier and when
we were looking through the bargain cd bin, I found Queensryche- Empire. Their
2nd best album the first is obviously Operation: Mindcrime. This got
me thinking about some older articles I recently read about Queensryche. A
while ago I had heard there was some issues amongst the band members, but had
no idea it was as bad as it got. The first article I read was from the June 23,
2013 Seattle Times- Court ruling creates two Queensrÿches. The article
basically states that Geoff Tate had tried to prevent him or the original
members be allowed to perform as Queensryche until the legal issues between the
two parties was settled. However the judge ruled that both parties were allowed
to perform as Queensryche until the case was settled. Out of the couple of
articles and everything else I read on this subject, this mess all arose
because of the greed and general douchebaggery of Geoff Tate. Of all the crap
he did, at one point he even was in discussions to try to make an animated
version of Operation: Mindcrime; which he just happened to forget to mention
this to the rest of the band!
In the end they settled out of court with the
remaining original members Eddie Jackson, Scott Rockenfield and Michael Wilton
having bought out Tate’s share of Queensryche, however in the deal Geoff Tate
is the only one who is allowed to perform Operation: Mindcrime" and
"Operation: Mindcrime II in their entirety, while Jackson, Rockenfield,
and Wilton can perform all songs from Queensryche’s entire catalog.
If you read about the history of this situation
you will see that not only did greed fuel Tate, but also hypocrisy! The
following is a quote from Tate in the Seattle Times article “In Queensrÿche, we created something very
special and unique,” singer Geoff Tate says of the band he joined in the early
’80s. “And that time has gone by and it’s time to move on to a difference phase
in life … and not look back. I’ve ripped the rearview mirror off.”
So I admit that I am not the smartest man alive,
but if you say “And that time has gone by and it’s time to move on to a
difference phase in life … and not look back". But you are allowed to
be the only one to perform your former bands greatest album and it's
follow up in its entirety, and then you name your new band after that album; how exactly
is that moving on to a new phase of in life... and not looking back?
