Why did Asia's popularity fall so quickly ?

To be fair - everyone was doing it (going "commercial") around that time - ZZ Top, Springsteen, "Yes", Aerosmith (a little later).

 

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I guess their efforts were rewarded...plenty. I wish I would record an album so "pathetic" that it becomes the best selling album of the year with a single that is regularly played on radio 34 years lates. I guess it's Asia who was having the last laugh.

 

I guess their efforts were rewarded...plenty. I wish I would record an album so "pathetic" that it becomes the best selling album of the year with a single that is regularly played on radio 34 years lates. I guess it's Asia who was having the last laugh.[/QUOTE]

TRUTH

 

I guess I don't listen to those stations. But the point is....these guys all seriously dumbed down their talent and ability to get some airplay. It worked. My Mom really liked it. Good for them.

 

You can belittle the album all you want but they did not just get "some airplay". Besides your mom ten million other people liked them enough to buy the album. It was by far the biggest success each of the four Asia members had in their career. I bet even today the album generates significant income for them.
You don't like the album, that's fine. I don't like Genesis' "Invisible Touch"album and I'm mystified why it was so successful but hey, they made millions of people happy and they achieved what they set out to do: selling ****loads of records. I respect them for that. It is no mean feat to create music which is THAT popular.

 

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Milli Vanilli sold 10 million records too. I don't like them either.

 

I recall the first Asia album when it came out. I was in high school, and it seemed like EVERYONE loved the album. The hype about it being a "supergroup" was not lost on me after all the "XYZ Band" post-Zeppelin nonsense, and for me, as a drummer, to hear Carl Palmer kill on double bass drums at the end of Sole Survivor was also very significant. The videos were on heavy MTV rotation and the singles were big. That single version of Only Time Will Tell with the verses switched up was puzzling......what was THAT about?......but I didn't hate watching the gymnast chick.

My take on it was that they collapsed under the weight of their own hype. In my circle of friends, it was as if they were going to take their place next to Zep and Yes and Floyd. That second album not being as good as the first was what did them in. Don't Cry could easily have been on the first LP, and was a meh song. I still feel that a band who is either too popular with either the public or critics too soon is going to fall to an inevitable backlash.

I actually liked "Go", sue me!


Dan

 

It just keeps getting deeper....I need hip boots.

 

As I have posted prior about other prog groups' follow ups and reincarnations in the 80s, they did it to themselves.

The first album, to me, is a masterpiece. The layering of the sounds is just great, building a weaving prog sound with momentum on a few tracks. Palmer's drumming is just forceful with Howe and Downes interweaving guitar with keyboards. Wetton's voice is really great along with his bass. Yes, it is a very slick production (Foreigner like) vs. older Yes, King Crimson, UK, etc. but it sounds good.

The second album was mixed and produced poorly and came across as a could have been album. It has a very compressed sound lacking the dynamics (music and sound) of the first and some more pop leanings. Not a terrible album, but compared to the first, not in the same league and doesn't have the same magic to grab the public to buy it. Sort of like Boston's later albums. Sound similar, but really flat execution and formula. I still like it, but it lacks the magic of Asia or a Yes album.

The third album was a total letdown. Astra was an album that took what was wrong with Alpha and made it most of the formula. Despite being DDD, it doesn't sound good either. Too much pop/hard rock anthem sound with overdriven rhythm guitars. it was a waste of Wetton's great voice & bass, Downes' keyboards, and Palmer's drumming. There was no display of musicianship that the first Asia album and their prior groups' album showed. it was boring.

This album unfortunately set the stage for some similar styled, produced and boring albums later from the same pool of talent, such as GTR (Hackett/Howe), Emerson, Lake & Powell (some OK stuff on it), 3 (Emerson, Robert Berry, & Palmer), Wetton/Manzanera. Some of these sound particularly compressed and shrill (GTR, 3, Wetton/Manzanera) both muscially and sound quality.

I think the difference with Invisible Touch is that it is a pretty good album. Just not a great Genesis album. They did some really great stuff from both Gabriel and Collins era. Asia didn't even do an Invisible Touch after the first one!

 

Sorry I seem to hit a nerve on one of your faves. Didn't know Asia had fanboys.

 

Not really, your trolling doesn't usually contain so much bs. It's kinda funny you put so much effort just to troll this thread.

 

Asia fanboy here.

 

Someone has a different opinion about one of your favorite little bands, so out comes the troll card? Figures. Is this an Asia appreciation thread? I'm pretty sure it isn't. You should check that.

 

Don't you ever tire of being wrong?

 

I don't think I was ever more disappointed in any album, at least until Little Creatures came out.

 

If I'm ever wrong...I'll let you know.

 

I LOL'd.

 

That certainly may have had something to do with their lack of sustainability. I would think that in a decade when Journey and Starship and Genesis were massively popular, they could have done much better for themselves, so I would probably pin the blame on the intra-band squabbling and membership changes.

 

This makes zero sense. "Safe and mainstream" music is usually what generates big hits. For example, Journey, Starship, Genesis.

 

This also makes zero sense, considering that they were an 80s band!

 

I'm more surprised to learn that there are apparently dueling Asias out there:

Original Asia | The Official Asia Web Site »

http://www.johnpayneasia.com/

 

Buffalo is my hometown, but we refer to ourselves as part of Western New York not upstate, as does Rochester. Those dates were probably Buffalo, Rochester and either Syracuse or Albany. So, it fits the profile. OP indicated that he had tickets to see them in Seattle at 18,000 seat arena in '83. Only 600 seats were sold! That concert and apparently the remainder of the tour were canceled.

Part of that was fallout from "Asia in Asia," part from the dropoff from 2md album and friction between Wetton and Howe was probably known somewhat. The poor showing on the tour, as mentioned in one of my earlier posts did not bode well for an act that had the top-selling album during the previous year. All these factors contributed to their downfall. That was a lot to recover from, and even though other bands may have suffered worse issues and continued, Asia's fate was sealed.

 

If it isn't a borough, it's upstate!

 

Sometimes it's a change in trends, sometimes it's a fall in quality of the songs. I'd say it's a bit of both here.

 

Y'all are acting as though jon9091 is the only one to ever rag Asia. My mom bought it too.