Seattle's Queensryche started out in the early 80s, playing what was considered somewhat original sounding, cutting edge, aggressive heavy metal. But they rapidly morphed into something more progressive and ecclectic. This peaked with their classic concept album "Operation: Mindcrime," revered for it's unique combination of cinematic drama and hard edged, melodic heavy metal.
Although "Operation: Mindcrime" was only modestly successful compared to larger acts of the day, Queensryche's follow-up "Empire" would see them shoot up to the top of pop charts. Interestingly, the band then chose to play "Operation: Mindcrime" in it's entirety to their newfound audience, as if they hadn't already toured for it!
"They come up and they say “you know Revolution Calling…is that happening in America right now?..are you planning a subversive revolution against the government? Do you want us to be assassins for you?” …and we just say aye! We’re just writing about cars and women and stuff! I mean we got nothing against right wing conservative fascists that run the United States!..the story of Mindcrime is a fictional story. It’s not an extreme version of reality." - Chris DeGarmo
[Left: Chris DeGarmo Right: Geoff Tate]
Though Geoff Tate seemed the unwitting spokesperson for Queensryche initially, it is easy to see why Chris DeGarmo seemed to quickly fall into that role. He was good looking, articulate, quick, funny, intelligent, confident, yet surprisingly disarming in his demeanor. Because of this, one tends to just knod along in agreement with him, giving him the benefit of the doubt when he is vague or ambiguis. We LIKE him. We TRUST him.
But if we examine DeGarmo's quote above, he really doesn't do a very good job at debunking the decidedly serious fan perspective he presents. Beneath his initial sarcasm is the obvious truth that they do write music about REAL topics, and it does reflect their feelings about "right wing conservative fascists" running the country. To me, this seems to support the idea that the album is a "call to arms" of sorts, but let's step back for a moment...
WHAT IS A "QUEENSRYCHE?"
Queensryche is not a real word, it was presumably invented by the band. Not sure what to call themselves, they decided to take the title of Chris DeGarmo's song "Queen of the Reich" and abbreviate it into QUEENSRYCHE.
Queen: "the wife or widow of a king...a female monarch."
Reich: "realm : empire : kingdom"
Empire: "a major political unit having a territory of great extent or a number of territories or peoples under a single sovereign authority."
- Merriam Webster
"The monarchy of Canada is Canada's form of government embodied by the Canadian sovereign and head of state. It is at the core of Canada's constitutional federal structure and Westminster-style parliamentary democracy. The monarchy is the foundation of the executive (Queen-in-Council), legislative (Queen-in-Parliament), and judicial (Queen-on-the-Bench) branches of both federal and provincial jurisdictions. The Queen of Canada has been Elizabeth II since 6 February 1952." - wiki
I thought Queen Elizabeth II was the QUEEN OF ENGLAND? Well, yes she is. But when we look at the word REICH, it seems that Queen Elizabeth's "realm" or "Empire" actually extends to Canada, which is just North of Seattle, Washington. So when we speak of a "QUEEN'S REICH," we are referring to the territories under her juristiction in some form, which may extend beyond the borders of the native country in which that Queen physically resides. So if we say we are "building empires," I suppose that means we are expanding the Queen's Reich beyond it's current borders...
There are no Queens in the United States, as we live in a constitutional republic. So why were these young American rockers promoting "the Queen's Empire" through music, in a territory where that influence was actually forced out during the American Revolution? Maybe they just thought it sounded like a cool, unique name for a heavy metal band.
Freddy Mercury wore a British royal crown replica many times on stage during his band QUEEN's performances. Queen was originally signed to British label EMI, the same label that signed Queensryche in 1983 for their 7-album deal.
Think about this within the context of say, "Game of Thrones." If you are the Queen of an Empire and your people are fawning and worshipping at the feet of some foreign rock and roller from ANOTHER COUNTRY - one which defeated YOUR armies and forcefully claimed its' independence from your Kingdom - well you better do something about that! Because you want your subjects screaming for YOUR OWN home grown rockers, representing YOUR OWN Empire and YOUR OWN interests! In fact, you want THE WORLD screaming for YOUR OWN home grown rock and roll representatives, don't you? Think: The British Invasion...
"The British Invasion was a cultural phenomenon of the mid-1960s, when rock and pop music acts from the United Kingdom and other aspects of British culture became popular in the United States and significant to the rising "counterculture" on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. Pop and rock groups such as the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Zombies, the Kinks, Small Faces, the Dave Clark Five, Herman's Hermits, the Hollies, the Animals, Gerry and the Pacemakers, the Searchers, the Yardbirds, the Who, and Them, as well as solo singers like Dusty Springfield, Cilla Black, Petula Clark, Tom Jones, and Donovan, were at the forefront of the "invasion"" - Wiki
The original Queensryche EP has yellow lettering with a purple outline. Yellow is close to GOLD, an element signifying royalty. Purple is a royal color as well. [think of PRINCE and his PURPLE REIGN]
"Crown Royal [Whiskey] was introduced in 1939 by Samuel Bronfman, president of Seagram, as a tribute to the 1939 royal tour of Canada by King George VI and his wife, Queen Elizabeth, the first of a reigning monarch to Canada." - wiki
Note the yellow/gold and Royal Color purple. A 750ml bottle of Crown Royal typically comes packaged in a Royal Purple sack with yellow/gold string/embroidery.
The iconic "QR" shield on the back of Queensryche's e.p. has swords and a crown...a real expression of heraldry - in the tradition of European Royalty. Are these just some young rockers who watched "Excalibur" one too many times, or is there some type of larger influence here?
Just under the logo is the peregrine falcon motif, which would later morph into the Tri-Ryche symbol. The peregrine falcon is the fastest bird, as well as the fastest animal on the planet. Bird wing motifs are very common in heraldic emblems.
In the video for "Queen of the Reich," a futuristic Queen is attempting to enslave the world using a computer and some sort of crystal technology. At the end of the video, Geoff Tate tears off the face mask from the then captured Queen's eyes, and a blinding light flashes before them. The words: "To be continued." appear across the screen. I'm sure many fans noticed that there was never a sequel to this story. Or was there?
Queensryche's debut full-length "The Warning" features a being with lights shooting out of it's eyes on the cover of what looks like a Tarot card. Is this some sort of cheap knod to where the "Queen of the Ryche" video left off? Note what looks like the planet earth in the background, where a giant storm seems to have formed. Note also the peregrine/tri-ryche symbol on the corners of the card...
For the Warning, EMI flew Queensryche to London to record with producer James Guthrie. Although Guthrie didn't seem to have much experience recording heavy metal, he had already produced "The Wall" by Pink Floyd - making him one of the "big time" rock producers of the day. I suppose EMI was just LOADED with money, because flying the band over to London to work with a producer who could charge top dollar in what would probably be top of the line facilities - well one can only assume EMI was expecting a return on this investment.
DeGarmo: ...We came over to London to record with James because we thought he would be valuable to work with, and he wanted to use London studios. We'd allowed two months to complete the record, but things kept on developing with the result that we over-ran by a month, and that was working 12-14 hours at a stretch with very few days off. It was really exhausting, and when it came to mixing the results I think we were all so drained that we failed to really capture what we'd done. We needed to be fresh for the mix, and we weren't...the label really cares, and wanted very much to get it right, so that's why I'm down here now in LA. It's really working out well and everyone's very pleased with what we've got. We're getting really excited about the album again!" - Kerrang #77
"It's great that the label is prepared to give a new band the time - and the opportunity - to get the record exactly right," Geoff added later. "They could easily have insisted on releasing just what we had, but the support we've had from them has been excellent. We're very fortunate that they trust us and believe in us." - Kerrang! #77
This Kerrang article came out obviously before the Warning album had been released. Clearly there were problems with the initial mix in London, which seems odd considering the high end producer and facilities involved. Kerrang's job here seems to be to provide a bit of damage control, and help reassure Queensryche fans that a proper product is on the way. But the information in the article is contradicted pretty directly in other places...
"The album's original track sequence and sound mix that the band had approved, was changed by mix engineer Val Garay under orders from EMI-America, against the wishes of the band...The band first learned of this in August 1984, while on tour in Japan." - Blabbermouth, Anybodylistening.net
Ok, so according to Kerrang!, DeGarmo was in LA re-mixing the album WITH native Californian Val Garay [then of Kim Carnes fame] and the band was real "pleased" with it all. Yet, other reports claimed EMI made the decision to remix the album AGAINST the wishes of the band! Here's what Geoff Tate said years later about this, according to Blabbermouth...
"The only time I ever experienced [a record label restricting creative freedom] was during the recording of Queensrÿche's first album, The Warning. We went $300,000 over budget and the label took the record out of our hands and gave it to someone else to mix. ... The guy that mixed the album had no clue what Queensrÿche was. He never listened to hard rock music and didn't take input from anyone in the band. He just mixed it according to how he thought it should sound. No-one in the band could listen to that record. We all hated it."
Think about the money this all cost! Flying the band to London, paying for lodging/food. Paying the producer, studio, engineers. Going $300,000 OVER budget! [which was a lot more money in 1984 than it is today] Then refusing to accept the original mix, and spending additional money to pay another person to remix it, who's claim to fame was working with Kim Carnes! Kim Carnes was known for the hit "Betty Davis Eyes." [NOT Metal or even hard rock!] Regardless of how much money EMI had floating around, I can't see them dumping so much cash into the band without expecting a return on the level of Pink Floyd or Kim Carnes. What they ended up with was basically an abstract cult metal classic that only a handful of people in the world would truly appreciate. This might explain the band's drastic shift in sound and image for the next album, which they so admirably explain away with the term "no limits."
It seems the ultimate goals of the band and the label were not very clear or necesarilly in alignment. Yet Kerrang! was out there making sure the opposite perception was given. The band even seemed to play into the "misinformation" to a degree at times. Perhaps as we continue to look at the big picture here, it will all start to make more sense. [no promises though!]
Notice what appears to be a stylized crown on the back of these tarot cards - a similar crown motif is found embedded in Queen's early logo for their debut album...
[Queensryche concert program, presumably handed out to fans during the 1985 Warning tour. We can see that the fully formed Tri-Ryche symbol was already being used, exactly as it would appear on the cover of their following album, "Rage for Order"]
"The spelling "Queensreich" was modified to prevent association of the band with Nazism; "ryche" is a Middle English cognate to "Reich" which, like the German word, can mean "realm", "kingdom" or "empire". The name "Queensrÿche" is written with a metal umlaut over the letter 'y'." - wiki
This business of Queensryche changing the spelling of the word "reich" to avoid association with Nazism is very strange when we consider their unambiguisely named "Tri-Ryche" symbol, as well as the Tri-Ryche corporation the band would form.
"Queensrÿche's logo, the so-called Tri-Ryche (written without an umlaut on the 'y'), also stems from the band's early years...The Tri-Ryche is prominently featured on most of Queensrÿche's album covers."
The word "Tri" is latin for 3. So Tri-Ryche really means 3 Ryche or Third Reich! If they didn't want to be associated with Nazism, it seems rather strange they were not concerned that this "Tri-Ryche" name might raise a few eyebrows. I guess they were right not to worry, because it never even occured to me till I started researching this blog!
Geoff Tate was born in Stuttgart, which was then part of West Germany, to American parents. I'm not saying Tate is a Nazi, I just thought I'd throw that in there with all of this German stuff...perhaps he had a pre-occupation with German topics due to being born there?
Apparently the Tri-Ryche symbol gets credited to both Wes "Grizz" Griswold [R.I.P.] and Scott Rockenfield's brother Todd - both of whom I couldn't really find much of anything about.
At some point Queensryche formed a corporation called "Tri-Ryche," after the symbol of the same name. All 5 members would have equal shares, as I understand it from the Tate vs Wilton/Jackson/Rockenfield court documents. When DeGarmo quit, that left 4 core members. A big beef in the court documents had to do with Tate allegedly forfeiting his share when he behaved in a manner leading to his being voted out of the corporation by the 3 other members. Interestingly, this reduced the corporation down to a true "Tri-Ryche" [or 3 member "empire"] Again, I have to wonder if anyone involved with this court case pondered this "3rd Reich" association...
"Oxford University Press; Abridged edition (May 29, 1986)" - Amazon
"Rage for Order is the second studio album by the American progressive metal band Queensrÿche, released on June 27, 1986." - wiki
I don't want to spend too much time getting into "Rage for Order," but it is interesting to note that the British publisher Oxford Press put out a book called "A Rage for Order" EXACTLY 30 days before the album "Rage for Order" was released on the British EMI label [through subsidiary EMI America].
If you look closely at the Tri-Ryche symbol on the album cover, the base of it looks as though it could be centered at Great Britain. What could this mean?
Similarities to the Batman symbol aside, my guess is that the Tri-Ryche insignia is at least partially inspired by the fleur-de-lis, found on the British crown.
"The fleur-de-lis, also spelled fleur-de-lys (plural fleurs-de-lis or fleurs-de-lys), is a lily (in French, fleur and lis mean 'flower' and 'lily' respectively) that is used as a decorative design or symbol...The fleur-de-lis has been used in the heraldry of numerous European nations, but is particularly associated with France, notably during its monarchical period."
Queensryche's major commercially successful album "Empire" prominently embedded the name of their record label EMI within the title "Empire." Is this EMI asserting it's ownership and responsibilty for the finished product? Who really runs Queensryche? Are the band members just the "frontmen" for a larger social control operation?
EMI AND KERRANG!
Q: You have actually toured with Kiss…played with Maiden, Dio…but before that you were really on the local circuit, weren’t you?
Geoff tate: Actually no. We’d never played live before. I think the first show we played was 4000 people or something…
How did an obscure underground Heavy Metal band from what was, at the time, an obscure part of the country for heavy rock music, manage to bypass the "club circuit" completely, land huge gigs, and then obtain a major record deal so fast? Don't get me wrong, I am GLAD they did, as I am a fan! But it does seem odd.
Most bands that were "making it" at the time were from LA. Ratt, Quiet Riot, Dokken, Motley Crue, Van Halen...These bands were singing about sex, drugs, and rock and roll. Fun. Partying. Even the devil. Queensryche was singing about abstract science fiction fantasy and mystical ladies in black. They didn't scream "radio hit coming soon!" Build a local following? Meh! Why waste time on that when you can jump straight to arenas?
"The group recorded the four songs...For an entire year, they brought their demo to various labels and were rejected by all of them...Kim Harris [manager] sent the demo tape and a band photo to a friend who wrote for Kerrang! magazine, resulting in a glowing review...After the EP garnered international praise, receiving much airplay and selling an unusual number of copies for a small independent release, Tate agreed to leave Myth and become Queensrÿche's permanent lead singer." - wiki
England's Kerrang! is one of the most influencial heavy metal magazines in the world. Although the band's raw talent surely didn't hurt, it seems it was the British magazine's praise of Queensryche's humble ep that was probably most responsible for their initial boost in popularity, leading to larger gigs and a major record deal with a notably British major record label, EMI. They then recorded their first full length, The Warning, in London, England. You know that old cliche about the band you never heard of being "big in Japan?" Well it seems Queensryche was "big in England" initially. At least in the minds of a few influential entities within Queen Elizabeth's Empire.
[note 2 bands with the word QUEEN in the name, listed on the front cover of Kerrang! #77!]
The album "Operation: Mindcrime" begins in a hospital, where a woman with an American accent is paging Doctors over a loudspeaker. We then hear a Nurse with a British accent entering a room, where the TV is broadcasting a news story by a man with an American accent, reporting on a man being held in a hospital - who is obviously Nikki. So we are in America, but a British Nurse is checking in on Nikki to give him a shot. She calls him a "bastard" under her breath, so she is obviously not looking to "fix him up" in a good way! Why is the nurse British? I don't know, but so is Dr X, who is played by British actor Anthony Valentine. [more on this later] Geoff Tate also seems to use a slight British accent on spoken sections of the album.
"Selling skin, selling god, the numbers look the same on their credit cards..."
In the song "Spreading the Disease," Tate rhymes GOD with CARDS. That doesn't work if you have a Northwest American accent! Americans typically pronounce the R in CARDS. Even if you go to the East Coast or deep into the ghetto - you might get a long "A" out of cAAAds. But you don't really get to CODS unless you are British. The numbers look the same on their credit CODS...
"We all met, strangely and mysteriously in a fish and chips restaurant….and we were all there one night." - Geoff Tate, 1984
I came across a book called "The Intern," published originally in 1965. The author? Dr X. Apparently, this was a pen name [pseudonym] for a guy named Alan Nourse, who is a fairly well known science fiction writer. In fact, he wrote a book called "The Bladerunner" in 1974. Although the story is not related to the film of the same name, the name itself was directly lifted.
"In 1960, Alan E. Nourse, who was an intern at Virginia Mason, wrote The Intern; it was published by Harper & Row in 1965, under the pseudonym "Doctor X"" - wiki
So what is the signifficance of this book, "the Intern" by Dr X? It is basically comprised of non-fiction, diary entries written by Alan Nourse while he was an intern at a hospital in.........Seattle! I read the book, and I couldn't find any relavant information to this topic, other than the connections already mentioned. Perhaps Geoff Tate or someone else came across it during the writing of O.M.?
"I worked in a hospital. I was…all the supplies that come in, I was sort of in charge of a store room. Stocking all of these things…keeping track of them, unloading deliveries…" - Chris DeGarmo
Perhaps DeGarmo's early experiences working in a hospital influenced the subject matter on O.M.? Here is what Geoff Tate said about how the idea for DR X came about...
"I guess it started out to be based on a group of people we met when we were in Montreal who were sort of involved with overthrowing their government…and ousting all the English speaking people and bringing in sort of a French controlled new government…quite an interesting night drinking with these people and hearing their viewpoints…that was sort of the inspiration for DR X…"
The character of Dr X is played by Anthony Valentine, a British actor. If the idea of the character was influenced by some French Canadians who hate speaking English, why was the character presented as one who's native tongue is English? And given that the story presumably takes place in America, what would a British guy be doing trying to radicalize and recruit despondent American youth for a revolution and to overthrow the American government?
"...a metal band best known for a concept album (“Operation: Mindcrime”) about a “Manchurian Candidate"-style brainwashed assassin." - LA Times, 1991
"The story is centered around the title of the album, which is called Operation mind crime. And what that is is the codename for this plan that one of the characters has. Dr x is trying to carry out this revolutionary plan…it’s based in contemporary America, is where the story’s based, and he…sort of manipulated these 2 other characters to carry out his violent form of creating change and um, operation mind crime is the name of his plan so he brainwa - - sort of capitalizes on the character’s weaknesses like they happen to have drug problems and religious - they [are] very dependent on religion, so he manipulates both of these angles to make them carry out his plan…we also just tried to write the best songs that we could and surround this story with very emotional, atmospheric music…" - Chris DeGarmo, 1988
"They've split from their management company and have been taken on by the heavyweights of management, Peter Mensch and Cliff Burnstein - the two of them being responsible for the likes of Def Leppard, Metallica, Tesla, Dokken..." - Metal Hammer
When Queensryche began their tour with Metallica on September 11th 1988, I don't think I was the only person confused by the pairing. Metallica was still considered pretty extreme, with regard to their sound and brutality. A Thrash/Speed Metal Band. There was no happy "Enter Sandman" type songs yet! Whereas Queensryche was closer to progressive, hard rock, and/or glam at that point. Metallica's 1988 album "And Justice for All" was, arguably, their most dark and brutal - both lyrically and sonically.
"Justice is lost, justice is raped, justice is gone...pulling your strings, justice is done. Seeking no truth, winning is all, find it so grim so true so real..." - And Justice for All
"I used to trust the media to tell me the truth, tell us the truth. But now I see the payoffs everywhere I look. Who do you trust when everyone's a crook?" - Revolution Calling
Although very different sonically, the 2 bands seemed to compliment each other quite well in their social commentary. Both seemed to view America in specific, as a very dark, corrupt place. Us younger fans of darker, heavier music tended to agree I suppose. Especially those of us who perhaps did not have the best upbringings or did not fit in so well with society. We were probably the most likely "target audience" of this music, if there was such a thing!
But the question is, were the bands reflecting our views or were our views reflecting theirs? Were their views REALLY theirs at all, or those of their financiers? Were we all just responding naturally to the dark realities of the world, or were the dark forces manifesting themselves at our concerts - striving to drive us towards darker and darker extremities, and to our ultimate demise? Could some potential world power have it's eye on destroying America and the constitutional freedom we enjoy through entertainment by creating a culture of cynicism so consumed with reactionary emotion, that we became less rational and discerning of our world? A MOB of loose cannons, reacting to the latest controversy of the day. A mass of RAGE in need of ORDER.
Are these mass shooters the "Nikkis" of today? Are these radical groups intimidating people and causing destruction in the streets the "Dr X cults" of today? Are these satanic, overly sexualized, racially militant, illuminati symbol decorated "artists" of today the new Mindcrime Operations? There's a revolution calling, alright. But maybe the change we need is one back to some sense of normalcy, rather than total misguided upheaval...
Geoff Tate: If you really look into what’s on TV nowadays there’s a lot of really…sort of bizarre images, I guess you could say, that come across…and it’s hard not to think that someone’s not thinking of mind control or some sort of…programming
Chris DeGarmo: So we try to avoid all of those techniques when recording our albums! [laughs] No subliminal messages on our records!
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SOURCES:
Wikipedia
AnybodyListening.net
LA Times "Queensryche's "Empire" Strikes Back" 5.91
http://www.users.totalise.co.uk/~bigoleg/queensryche/om/features/metal_hammer.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3O7DwpOleEU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49VnGJ6WuTI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1TsL9JglR4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymnIGK-w61Y
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGYCl-crYEI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hH1_aDwnbPQ
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