The Old Switcheroo

Recently, I saw the “Seinfeld” episode “The Burning”, during which George and Jerry have a conversation about how Jerry’s girlfriend always says “it’s me” when she calls.  As I remember, it went something like this:

George:  I’ll tell you what.  Call her back and give HER the “it’s me”.  Pull the old switcheroo on her.

Jerry:  I think that’s “what’s good for the goose is good for the gander”.

George:  What the hell is a gander anyway?

Jerry:  It’s a goose that’s had the old switcheroo pulled on it.

Of course, we’ve all had the old switcheroo pulled on us, too.  In fact, it used to happen all the time back in the eighties.  Here are just a few examples:

Genesis:

Hands down, the most successful case of an established band pulling the old switcheroo is when lead vocalist Peter Gabriel left Genesis and was replaced by then-drummer Phil Collins.  Almost overnight, the band went from a cult-status progressive rock band to a hit-making juggernaut.  Their first post-Gabriel release, 1976’s “A Trick of the Tail”, became their first to make the U.S. Top 40 and its follow-up later that same year, “Wind & Wuthering”, did even better.  However, it was the third with Collins as lead vocalist, 1978’s “…and Then There Were Three”, that finally gave the band a platinum album AND a hit single.

Two years later, “Duke” would go double platinum and give the band a top 20 hit, “Misunderstanding”.  They would continue to gain more momentum (and sales) with 1981’s “Abacab” and 1983’s “Genesis”, the latter of which gave them their first U.S. Top 10 hit.

However, it would be their next album, 1986’s “Invisible Touch”, that would make the band mega-stars.  By then, Collins was already an MTV darling thanks to “No Jacket Required”, while Mike Rutherford was getting almost as much airplay with Mike & the Mechanics.  Of the eight tracks on “Invisible Touch”, five would reach the top five with a sixth becoming a video hit on MTV and a seventh winning a Grammy.  The title track would give them their lone U.S. #1.

As the nineties dawned, record buyers’ interest would shift from the slick pop/rock of the eighties toward grunge & alternative music.  However, someone forgot to tell Genesis, who appeared to be unaffected when they released their last album with Collins in 1991.  The band’s best-selling album, “We Can’t Dance” would make it into the top five while five of its singles would become Top 40 hits.  “I Can’t Dance” was the biggest, peaking at #7.

Ironically, the band would be far less successful when they would, again, replace their lead singer after Phil’s departure in 1996.

They would record one album with Ray Wilson on vocals before disbanding in 2000.

AC/DC:

After achieving international success with frontman Bon Scott, AC/DC would find their future very much in doubt after Bon’s death due to alcohol poisoning in 1980.   With a string of seven multi-platinum albums to their credit, they would contemplate disbanding before being urged by the Scott family to carry on.  After considering several singers, Malcolm & Angus Young finally settled on ex-Geordie frontman Brian Johnson.  Bon had mentioned his admiration for Johnson to the brothers years earlier.

With Johnson in the fold, the band would complete the album they had begun with Scott.  “Back in Black” was released in July, 1980 and would become (and still remains) the band’s best-selling album.

The follow-up, “For Those About to Rock”, also did well, selling more than 10 million copies and continuing a string of multi-platinum albums and memorable singles, their biggest coming in 1990.

"Moneytalks” would make it to #23 on the Hot 100, propelling “The Razor’s Edge” to #2 on the album chart.

Over the next 2-plus decades, the band has continued to sell out shows and record multi-platinum albums with Johnson.  Their most recent was 2014’s “Rock or Bust”.

Survivor:

When lead-vocalist Dave Bickler left Survivor in late-1983 due to vocal problems, the band was a two-hit wonder with their previous album, 1983’s “Caught in the Game”, having been a commercial disappointment.  However, he would be replaced by former Cobra frontman Jimi Jamison the following year and the result would be a string of hits that would span the next half decade.

The band’s first album with Jamison would be 1984’s “Vital Signs”.  The first single with Jimi on vocals cracked the top twenty.

The next two singles from the album, “High on You” and “The Search is Over”, would make it into the top ten.

A year later, the Jamison-led lineup would be asked to do something that the Bickler-led lineup had been asked to do a few years earlier – record a song for a Rocky movie.  “Eye of the Tiger” had been propelled to #1 thanks to its inclusion in Rocky III in 1982 and the sequel, Rocky IV, would include another Survivor mega-hit.

"Burning Heart” would make it all the way to #2 and remains the band’s second biggest hit.

Survivor’s second album with Jamison, 1986’s “When Seconds Count” would give them their final hit single, “Is This Love”.  They would record one more album with Jimi before disbanding in 1989.  Over the next few years, various incarnations of the band would tour & record - one even included both Jamison AND Bickler.  Sadly, Jimi Jamison died of an apparent heart attack at his home in Memphis on September 1, 2014 at the age of 63.

Van Halen:

Without a doubt, the most controversial replacement of a lead singer came in 1985 following David Lee Roth’s very public split with Van Halen.  After considering recording an album with various guest vocalists, the band would ultimately surprise everyone by naming Sammy Hagar as their new frontman.  A relatively successful artist in his own right, Hagar would give both him and the band their first #1 album.  “5150” was released in March, 1986 and would generate three top 40 singles, including the top five “Why Can’t This Be Love”.

All four of the band’s studio albums with Hagar would reach the top spot on Billboard’s album chart and they would rack up 6 more Top 40 hits before parting ways with him in 1996.  After a brief reunion with Roth, they would eventually name ex-Extreme frontman Gary Cherone as their third lead singer.

Unfortunately, the third time was not a charm.  Their lone album with Cherone, 1998’s “Van Halen III”, was a commercial & critical flop and he was fired soon after.  It would be a decade and a half before they would release another album of new material.  “A Different Kind of Truth” was released in 2012 and saw the band reuniting with Roth after a feud that had lasted almost three decades.

Following a successful tour supporting “A Different Kind of Truth”, Van Halen is currently rumored to be working on new material with Roth.

Jefferson Starship:

In 1978, singer Marty Balin left Jefferson Starship with the band hiring Mickey Thomas as his replacement.  The hits would be fewer and further between with Thomas on vocals, although he would give them one of their more memorable songs.

In 1984, Jefferson Starship would lose their final founding member, Paul Kantner, who would then take legal action against the remaining members over the use of the name.  The band would finally settle on shortening it to Starship and would go on to score 6 top 40 hits, 3 of which would make it all the way to #1, in the latter half of the eighties.

Though the band technically broke up soon after 1989’s “Love Among the Cannibals” (which was probably the best Starship album), Thomas has continued to tour under the Starship moniker and even released another album, “Loveless Fascination”, in 2013.

Chicago:

When Peter Cetera departed in 1985, Chicago would hire Jason Scheff (son of Elvis’ bass player Jerry Scheff) as his replacement.  Scheff would go on to sing lead on all four of the band’s singles from their next album, 1986's "Chicago 18", including the #3 “Will You Still Love Me?” and an excellent reinterpretation of “25 or 6 to 4”.

While keyboardist Bill Champlin would take over much of the lead singing duties on their next album, Jason would sing lead on the top 5 “What Kind of Man Would I Be?”.

Thirty years later, Scheff remains the bassist and co-lead vocalist of the band.

Animotion:

After releasing two albums and scoring two hit singles in 1985, including the top 10 “Obsession”, Animotion found themselves in need of TWO lead vocalists when both Astrid Plane and Bill Wadhams departed in 1988.  Cynthia Rhodes (Penny Johnson in “Dirty Dancing” and Richard Marx’s wife) and Paul Engemann (former Device member alongside Holly Knight, who co-wrote “Obsession”) were chosen as their replacements.  The Rhodes/Engemann lineup would record one album, 1989’s “Animotion”.

Though “Room to Move” would crack the top ten, the album did not sell well and the band broke up soon after.

Toto:

Toto enjoyed their biggest success with 1982’s “Toto IV”.  However, just as the band was concluding their tour and preparing to begin work on the follow-up, lead singer Bobby Kimball was arrested on drug charges.  The charges were dismissed by May of 1983, but he was subsequently fired from the band.  His replacement was former Le Roux frontman Fergie Frederiksen.  The band would record and release “Isolation” with Fergie in 1984.

While Frederiksen would sing lead on half the album, the one hit single was sung by keyboardist David Paich.  Fergie was released by the band in 1985 at the close of the “Isolation” tour with the band citing difficulty working with him in the studio as a reason.

Toto would hold auditions for a new lead vocalist, ultimately choosing Joseph Williams, son of composer John Williams.  Their first album with Joe was 1986’s “Fahrenheit”.  The album was more successful than “Isolation”, but its two hit singles were sung by guitarist Steve Lukather.  Williams would enjoy HIS first hit single with “Pamela” from 1988’s “The Seventh One”.

Although “The Seventh One” was their most successful album since “Toto IV”, the band fired Williams after the end of the tour due to his own drug problems.  They were set to reunite with Kimball, but the record label pressured them to instead hire South African singer Jean-Michel Byron.  He would sing on the four new tracks from their 1990 compilation album “Past to Present 1977-1990”.

The songs Toto recorded with Byron were more dance-oriented than their past hits, which could have given them a second wind on the nineties charts had they continued along that path.  Unfortunately, the band was unhappy with his flamboyant stage presence and had relegated him to backing vocalist by the close of their 1990 world tour.

Lukather would take over the bulk of the lead singing duties on 1992’s “Kingdom of Desire” and 1995’s “Tambu”, but Kimball would return for a trio of albums beginning with 1999’s “Mindfields” (the best of their post-eighties albums).  He would again depart after 2006’s “Falling in Between” making way for the return of Joseph Williams on 2015’s “Toto XIV”.  The band is currently on tour with Williams.

Journey:

After Steve Perry’s 1996 hiking accident delayed the band’s tour prompting them to cut ties with him, Journey found themselves without a frontman.  They would hire former Tall Stories singer Steve Augeri to replace Perry.  The Augeri-led lineup would release “Arrival” in 2001.  That album would give them their final top 40 hit, “All the Way”.

Augeri would also sing on 2005’s “Generations” before being let go due to vocal problems.

The band would find their next lead vocalist singing Journey songs on YouTube.  Arnel Pineda would sing on 2008’s “Revelation” and 2011’s “Eclipse”.

Pineda continues to tour and record with Journey.

INXS:

After Michael Hutchence’s death in 1997, INXS would not perform publicly for almost a year before playing shows with a number of lead vocalists including Terence Trent D’Arby, Russell Hitchcock and Jon Stevens.  Stevens was actually named an official member in 2002, but would only record one song with the band before departing to pursue a solo career.

In 2004, the band announced that they would search for a new frontman through a reality show called Rock Star.  After a season-long American Idol-esque competition, they named Canadian J.D. Fortune as their singer.  The band’s lone album with Fortune, 2005’s “Switch” (or, as I like to call it, “Switcheroo”), received positive reviews while “Pretty Vegas” would become their final U.S. Top 40 hit.

Amid rumors of Fortune’s drug problems and friction between him and the band, they would tour through 2011 but would not release any more new material.  In 2012, the band announced their retirement.