Greatest Hits

The Queensrÿche story begins in 1981 with a tight-knit group of young friends playing covers in a bar band called The Mob. But vocalist Geoff Tate, guitarists Chris DeGarmo and Michael Wilton, bassist Eddie Jackson and drummer Scott Rockenfield were developing a more ambitious take on metal and transformed themselves into Queensrych (the last e came later); a demo of their own material made its way to England where it won rave reviews for its frighteningly intense blend of melody and muscle, and such was the worldwide response that the band decided to release the demo as an EP on their own 206 Records label. By the time some 60,000 records had been sold, the major labels were lining up with offers; a deal was duly concluded with EMI Records, which re-released the EP with the addition of one extra track.

Their first major tour – with Dio and Twisted Sister – won more accolades for the band, and in 1984 they spent several months in London recording their debut album with James Guthrie, chosen because of his work with Pink Floyd on "The Wall," and film soundtrack composer Michael Kamen, a man who has continued to figure in the band’s subsequent career. The Warning was an ambitious project from a young band with a lot to say, launching a world tour throughout which the band’s musical horizons continued to expand.

1986 saw the release of Rage For Order, where the band teamed with producer Neil Kernon to consolidate the musical ideas they had been developing over the preceding two years, and in many ways this album marks the starting point for the Queensrÿche we know today. But it was the groundbreaking 1988 release Operation: Mindcrime – produced by Peter Collins – which truly put Queensrÿche on the map, a concept album with a detailed storyline and full of memorable songs which went on to earn worldwide acclaim and secured a Grammy nomination for the band.

Sales of Operation: Mindcrime exceeded three million, but even greater success was to follow with Empire, again produced by Peter Collins, which was to rack up over four million sales. It was less thematic in nature but boasted several tunes with a new degree of accessibility which were to open up the band to an even larger following – "Silent Lucidity," "Jet City Woman," and "Another Rainy Night (Without You)" were all hit singles, and heralded a world tour which saw Queensrÿche drawing capacity crowds throughout North and South America, Europe and Japan. Live TV appearances on the American Music Awards and the MTV Video Music Awards shows evidenced the broad-based appeal of the band, which won the coveted MTV Viewers Choice Award against strong competition from artists who might have been thought to have a wider following than a sophisticated metal band from the rainy Northwest.

In the fall of 1991 Queensrÿche released Operation: Livecrime, a live video commemorating the enormously popular "Mindcrime" tour, which had translated the album concept into a theatrical performance which few who saw it will ever forget. The plaudits continued to flow but the whirlwind of activity was wearing the band down, and after two years of non-stop touring they withdrew to recuperate before their next album, although they were unable to turn down a prestigious invitation to play live at the 1992 Grammy Awards.

Queensrÿche returned in 1994 with Promised Land, produced by James Barton – who had engineered the band’s two previous records – in a cabin on a remote island in the Pacific Northwest, piecing together and overdubbing DAT tapes the band had created in the home studios they all now boasted. Clearly the world had been waiting for more from Queensrÿche and the album made its debut at #3 in the Billboard charts, to be followed by a trio of hit singles in the shape of "I Am I," "Bridge," and "Disconnected." In keeping with the band’s forward-looking nature the album was to be followed by one of the very first CD-ROM packages, Promised Land – An Interactive Adventure. The CD-ROM gave fans a look into the minds of the band members while exploring cause and effect in a number of different ecological and moral situations; Queensrÿche will always be first and foremost a rock band, but will continue to prod the intellect of its listeners, inviting them to think should they care to do so… but thinking no less of them if the music itself is all they care about.

Another world tour and another break led up to Hear In The Now Frontier, another Peter Collins-produced album which was released in 1997 to mass confusion. The songs were still there, but the production had been stripped down to basics, and nobody was quite sure what to make of a band which seemed to have abandoned its signature sound. Unfortunately there was little time for anyone to get to grips with the new release because within two months EMI Records had been closed down, and the touring schedule was brought to a premature close well short of the year-plus which Queensrÿche had intended to spend on the road promoting the album.