Queensryche  is an American heavy metal band. It formed in 1982 in Bellevue, Washington out of the local band the Mob. The band has released 15 studio albums, one EP, several DVDs, and continues to tour and record. The original lineup consisted of guitarists Michael Wilton and Chris DeGarmo, drummer Scott Rockenfield, bassist Eddie Jackson, and lead vocalist Geoff Tate.
In 1988, Queensryche released Operation: Mindcrime, a narrative concept album that proved a massive critical and commercial success. The album's story revolved around a junkie named Nikki, who is brainwashed into performing assassinations for an underground movement. Nikki is torn over his misplaced loyalty to the cause and his love for Mary, a reformed hooker-turned-nun (vocals by Pamela Moore), who gets in the way. The band's progressive metal style was fully developed on this album. The band toured through much of 1988 and 1989 with several bands, including Def Leppard, Guns N' Roses and Metallica. The album gained critical acclaim and achieved gold status. The release of Empire (1990) brought Queensryche to the height of their commercial popularity. It peaked at No. 7 and sold more than three million copies in the United States, more than their previous four releases combined (it was also certified silver in the UK). The power ballad "Silent Lucidity", which featured an orchestra, became the band's first Top 10 single. The arrangements on Empire were more straightforward than the band's previous efforts. The subsequent "Building Empires" tour was the first full-fledged tour to feature Queensryche as a headlining act (the band had previously headlined a tour in Japan in support of Operation: Mindcrime, and had headlined a handful of club and theater shows in the U.S. between 1984 and 1988, and the UK in 1988). The group used its headlining status to perform Operation: Mindcrime in its entirety, as well as songs from Empire. The tour lasted 18 months, longer than any tour the band had undertaken before or has since. The tour also added a black page to the band's history, when during a show in a sports hall in Ichtegem, Belgium on November 20, 1990, a scuffle in the audience resulted in an American fan getting fatally stabbed in the chest. Tour manager Howard Ungerleider immediately stopped the show as the band was only playing the seventh song on the set list, "Roads to Madness". A live album, recorded May 10-12, 1991, was released later that year as Operation: Livecrime. The tour also included an MTV Unplugged appearance at Warner Hollywood Studios in Los Angeles on April 27, 1992.
What is mindcrime?
In 1988, Queensryche released Operation: Mindcrime, a narrative concept album that proved a massive critical and commercial success. a narrative concept album that proved a massive critical and commercial success. Mindcrime, a narrative concept album that proved a massive critical and commercial success. Operation: Mindcrime, a narrative concept album that proved a massive critical and commercial success. In 1988, Queensryche released Operation: Mindcrime, a narrative concept album that proved a massive critical and commercial success.
In 1988, Queensryche released Operation: Mindcrime, a narrative concept album that proved a massive critical and commercial success.