This site causes me to get three types of email. Sometimes I get friendly email from people who are sending me a link to some news about Queen, or maybe recommending a band. Other times I get hate mail from people who can barely control their white-hot rage over something I said about, say, Morbid Angel.
And then there is the email from Queensrÿche fans.
I think it is safe to say that every single Queensrÿche fan in the entire world hates me.
But the thing is, the Queensrÿche fans don't send hate mail. (Well, that one guy did.) Most mail from Queensrÿche fans is well thought out and well written. That is one thing I always enjoyed about the Queensrÿche mail, even though it was usually, "I strongly disagree with you because..." blah, blah, long-winded defense of Queensrÿche. It was neither hate mail nor fan mail. It was Queensrÿche fan with blood boiling over something I said mail. And I didn't care because it was usually just mildly irritating. But I have finally reached my Queensrÿche expiration date.
I am done with Queensrÿche once and for all. I have said all that I care to say about Queensrÿche. Sure, I will still wear the shirts I got on the Empire tour, and yes, I will still love the EP, The Warning, Rage For Order, and Operation: Mindcrime. But I will never again fight about how I hate Empire or how I loathed Promised Land. What about the fact that I never even bothered to hear a single note of Hear In The Now Frontier or Q2K? It's public record, I am done talking about it. I don't care anymore.
And I will certainly never again strike up a friendship based solely on a mutual love of Queensrÿche. (Yeah, I know. That was just a conversation starter if you look at the long term. But short term, I was running around telling people, "I made friends with someone who likes Queensrÿche!") Next time I am talking to someone and it comes out that they are a Queensrÿche fan, I am going to shriek, run away, and not look back. I no longer care to discuss them.
I almost cared a couple of months ago, when I got the exciting news that Chris DeGarmo was back with the group. But I was mostly interested in crediting my site for the reunion. Then a few weeks ago, both Aaaahj and CEB told me, "Oh, DeGarmo isn't back with Queensrÿche after all." And I thought, okay. I figured I should post something about it, because I needed to make the correction. But I didn't care, so I let it go. (Plus, I didn't think anyone cared about that news item other than me, and I didn't care all that much.) And then yesterday I received mail from a Queensrÿche fan:
I wish to point your attention to something.
You reported that Chris DeGarmo has "rejoined" Queensryche. I have seen on the Queensryche.com site (the same one you pointed everyone to) that it has not officially been released that he has REJOINED the band, but is simply working on ONE album with them. He also is not joining the European leg of their tour, as he has other commitments. This is all on the site, if you wish to go see it. As well, in the April news on the site, Scott Rockenfield (the drummer) states that he "hopes to continue to work with Chris".. which doesn't sound like a REJOINING.
I suggest that before you release info as fact, that you refer to the same pages that you're referring others to, and get the real information to report. Doing otherwise undermines your credibility.
This gave me the bored Bart Simpson face, but here is what I think of the email anyway:
1. I don't care.
1a. If I just ignore this, I will get more email like this, and I don't care to have that happen.
2. I know good and well who Scott Rockenfield is, pointing out that he is the drummer was wholly unnecessary.
3. I never provided a link to the band's site, so that doesn't count as a referral. And I did say that apparently Chris DeGarmo was back with Queensrÿche. I said I hadn't been to the site to check it out, and I never did bother to go.
4. I think I released that information as hearsay, not fact.
Following my hate mail procedure, I sent this straight to CEB, who added these points:
5. When did you ever say that you had credibility?
(Well, I do like to get my facts correct but I have never claimed to be an up-to-date news source by any stretch.)
6. I think that you posted that LONG before April, if I remember. Ask the person sending you the email to REJOIN the button on their pants and zip up. Then have them please quit wanking off to Queensrÿche. You can always throw the Geoff Tate solo album in their face to win the argument. There is no defense against that.
(It was posted on March 3rd. CEB remembered correctly. He rules. And I thought it was especially stylish of him to throw in the bonus shot at the Geoff Tate solo record.)
I spent my teenage years defending Queensrÿche because they were underrated and wonderful. And then they started to release terrible albums, and I could no longer defend them. Don't be telling me that they changed direction and I should grow with the band. If growing means starting to suck, then I pass. My teenage love of Queensrÿche was just about killed by the events that made up Geoff Tate Week, but I was still clinging to the leather trenchcoat coattails of Rage For Order, hanging on as best I could to my fond memories of Queensrÿche. But I give up. Of course I will still post my Queensrÿche hate mail, but if I never have another conversation about Queensrÿche, that's fine by me.