Legacy Protection, Why?

I don't understand why the band and others all of the sudden care about "protecting their legacy". Why??
The band's history is just that, and it cannot be changed. With the advent of digital technology, the legacy is already protected and preserved for anyone in the future to enjoy so what exactly needs protecting?
If they are worried about the old Perry days being forgotten the ONLY way to really fix that is to get Perry back in the band. Otherwise, the more time that goes by the more his part in the band will be diluted and forgotten.
Sammy Hagar PROVES that you don't have to be perfect on the back catalog stuff to succeed. He sucks on the DLR stuff but was successful because he never tried to be DLR, he remained true to himself. Van Halen succeeded in the DLR transition because they immediatly came out with stellar new material and kept it coming for years to the point where they could play there own dirty dozen.
Journey's transition away from the Perry days has not been so successful because they never had direction. Arrival was a pretty good CD, especially when you consider that they had to re-invent themselves with it, but the songs were not of the same caliber or better than what Perry's prior contributions had to offer. Playing Arrival's songs live didn't work because the nature of the CD was that it had to grow on you to like it as opposed to Van Halen's 5150 album which most people could hear for the 1st time and love it. I think Arrival and to a lesser degree the other newer material sufferred from the band trying to sound like something Perry might have written instead of embracing a new Journey sound with Steve Augeri.
When they hired JSS, it looked like they learned from some of there mistakes and was prepared to forge on with a new sound. The JSS and Schon piece "Believe in Me" is a perfect example of the kind of sound a new Journey would have:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=MOAW6Q75FNw
This one song was miles better than anything Journey has done since the Perry days so imagine what JSS could have done with Journey. They had the potential to make a killer album that could have reinvented themselves and used the power of the internet to get it out to the world. They should have stuck with JSS, made a new album then continue to make new material to put the past behind them to the extent that they can sound like today in concert without the fear of not sounding like the past. This is what Van Halen did, and that is why I beleive they pulled it off.
I think relying on their "dirty dozen" is simply an excuse for not being able to come up with quality new material. When they played "Open Arms" for the 1st time live with Perry, do you think they had a required dirty dozen back then? Of course not, but the crowd went wild for "Open Arms". Why? Because the song is a killer tune. If the songs are great, it doesn't matter if they play the old ones or the new ones. Sure, they will always need to play "Faithfully" and "Don't Stop Believen', but the real key to the future success of this band is finding someone they can work with that can help them create killer new tunes. JSS was the right guy and who knows what the REAL deal on his demise was, maybe they all got in a fight, who knows but whoever the new guy is, it had better be somebody who can spark the creative core of the band so they can create the kind of killer high quality tunes the fans are wanting to hear.
Another good example of how killer new material can win over the fans is with "Tears for Fears", if you have never heard there most recent album you should pick it up, it is called "Everybody Love a Happy Ending". My wife and eye saw them in concert a few years back when they were on tour in support of this CD and I have to tell you, the show was incredible and the crowd went wild. No, they didn't play 1 or 2 songs from the CD followed by all of there greatest hits, they actually played the ENTIRE cd beginning to end and it was awesume because the songs are killer. And they still played there BEST hits too which was like icing on the cake. We loved the show so much, we ended up seeing them live two more times on the tour. It's this kind of risk Live that Journey needs to take on the future if they want to be taken seriously again, whether they do it with Perry, Augeri, JSS or anyone else. Otherwise they will be continued to be held hostage by their past.
The band's history is just that, and it cannot be changed. With the advent of digital technology, the legacy is already protected and preserved for anyone in the future to enjoy so what exactly needs protecting?
If they are worried about the old Perry days being forgotten the ONLY way to really fix that is to get Perry back in the band. Otherwise, the more time that goes by the more his part in the band will be diluted and forgotten.
Sammy Hagar PROVES that you don't have to be perfect on the back catalog stuff to succeed. He sucks on the DLR stuff but was successful because he never tried to be DLR, he remained true to himself. Van Halen succeeded in the DLR transition because they immediatly came out with stellar new material and kept it coming for years to the point where they could play there own dirty dozen.
Journey's transition away from the Perry days has not been so successful because they never had direction. Arrival was a pretty good CD, especially when you consider that they had to re-invent themselves with it, but the songs were not of the same caliber or better than what Perry's prior contributions had to offer. Playing Arrival's songs live didn't work because the nature of the CD was that it had to grow on you to like it as opposed to Van Halen's 5150 album which most people could hear for the 1st time and love it. I think Arrival and to a lesser degree the other newer material sufferred from the band trying to sound like something Perry might have written instead of embracing a new Journey sound with Steve Augeri.
When they hired JSS, it looked like they learned from some of there mistakes and was prepared to forge on with a new sound. The JSS and Schon piece "Believe in Me" is a perfect example of the kind of sound a new Journey would have:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=MOAW6Q75FNw
This one song was miles better than anything Journey has done since the Perry days so imagine what JSS could have done with Journey. They had the potential to make a killer album that could have reinvented themselves and used the power of the internet to get it out to the world. They should have stuck with JSS, made a new album then continue to make new material to put the past behind them to the extent that they can sound like today in concert without the fear of not sounding like the past. This is what Van Halen did, and that is why I beleive they pulled it off.
I think relying on their "dirty dozen" is simply an excuse for not being able to come up with quality new material. When they played "Open Arms" for the 1st time live with Perry, do you think they had a required dirty dozen back then? Of course not, but the crowd went wild for "Open Arms". Why? Because the song is a killer tune. If the songs are great, it doesn't matter if they play the old ones or the new ones. Sure, they will always need to play "Faithfully" and "Don't Stop Believen', but the real key to the future success of this band is finding someone they can work with that can help them create killer new tunes. JSS was the right guy and who knows what the REAL deal on his demise was, maybe they all got in a fight, who knows but whoever the new guy is, it had better be somebody who can spark the creative core of the band so they can create the kind of killer high quality tunes the fans are wanting to hear.
Another good example of how killer new material can win over the fans is with "Tears for Fears", if you have never heard there most recent album you should pick it up, it is called "Everybody Love a Happy Ending". My wife and eye saw them in concert a few years back when they were on tour in support of this CD and I have to tell you, the show was incredible and the crowd went wild. No, they didn't play 1 or 2 songs from the CD followed by all of there greatest hits, they actually played the ENTIRE cd beginning to end and it was awesume because the songs are killer. And they still played there BEST hits too which was like icing on the cake. We loved the show so much, we ended up seeing them live two more times on the tour. It's this kind of risk Live that Journey needs to take on the future if they want to be taken seriously again, whether they do it with Perry, Augeri, JSS or anyone else. Otherwise they will be continued to be held hostage by their past.