Let me paint a mental picture for you. Imagine a hard rock band with glam metal elements. Now, imagine that this band is made up of members of Van Halen, Santana, Journey, and The Yardbirds. Kind of crazy to imagine, right? Believe it or not, this rock supergroup was once a reality. Though, the band itself didn’t last very long at all.
Hagar Schon Aaronson Shrieve, also known as HSAS, was formed by some big players in rock and metal around 1983. Specifically, the rock supergroup was made up of singer Sammy Hagar (Van Halen, Montrose), guitarist Neal Schon (Santana, Journey), drummer Michael Shrieve (Santana), and bassist Kenny Aaronson (New York Dolls, The Yardbirds).
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As you can imagine, all that talent packed into a little hard rock group yielded some pretty incredible results. So, why is it that this killer rock supergroup only lasted a little over a year?
Why the Rock Supergroup Hagar Schon Aaronson Shrieve Didn’t Last Very Long
The rock supergroup HSAS recorded just one album in 1984, titled Through The Fire. It’s a live album that was famously recorded during a concert in San Francisco, California, at the Warfield Theater. The album is a solid piece of work and lacks significant overdubs.
HSAS’s only major single was a cover of a Procol Harum song called “A Whiter Shade Of Pale”, also released in 1984. That song peaked at No. 94 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. However, they did release the songs “Missing You” and “Top Of The Rock” as promotional singles. This supergroup toured very briefly around California that year. And then, by the end of 1984, they called it quits.
So, what happened? Why did the band break up after releasing their only album? It doesn’t seem like there was much in the way of band member drama contributing to this rock supergroup’s breakup. Rather, Schon needed to go back to Journey, and Hagar went on to join Van Halen. Those two rock icons continued to work together well after the end of HSAS, too. About 20 years after this supergroup came to an end, Schon and Hagar formed the Planet Us supergroup in the early 2000s.
Just as well, despite being a solid release, Through The Fire had lackluster reviews and negative-leaning critical reception. It was clear that each member was talented, but perhaps they just worked better with their own respective groups.
Photo by Chris Walter/WireImage
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