Seeing the Steve Perry re-surfacing video from last weekend made me long for the possibility of Journey and a Summer tour.  Journey is a band that has been playing with one hand tied behind their backs for years now, with an all-too-obvious omission of Perry.

There are a few more bands who, if they could just figure it out, could write their own check for a summer tour.  They wouldn't even have to speak to one another.  Just perform onstage and leave in separate limos, like the Eminence Front video from the Who. And if money isn't the catalyst, then why not just for the fun of it?  Cinderella was right, You don't know what you've got, til' it's gone.

I'm pretty sure if you asked the surviving members of The Clash 13 years ago how much time they thought they had to reunite and hit the cash highway, their response would be different than today.  Joe Strummer's sudden death in 2002 negated that possibility at a time when the band was beginning to look past their differences.

1. My biggest hope is that REO Speedwagon will one day bring Gary Richrath onstage at some County Fair gig they are playing, and the chemistry will result in a Summer tour.  Nobody talks with his guitar they way Gary does, after all.  He left the band in 1989, and in my opinion, took the songwriting with him.

2. Damn Yankees.  You can't count me as the biggest Ted Nugent fan, but together with Tommy Shaw and Jack Blades, and then unknown drummer Michael Cartellone--those boys made a great racket.  Coming of Age was a fun romp, and Don't Tread was a blast to see in concert, but Nugent's poking fun at Shaw's having to sing Styx's "Babe" seemed hollow after Damn Yankees' own ballad, High Enough made the band a household name. Still, who wouldn't rock to those boys under a Summer sky?

3. Pink Floyd.  What a bunch of self-absorbed a**holes.  Why start a band if the idea of being popular is so repugnant?  I'll never figure those dudes out.  And I guess I never will, since apparently having more millions that you could ever spend is the root of the problem.  But don't you think they would miss the process of creating together?  Gilmour and Waters together was always better than they could be alone.

4. The Dead Kennedys.  Man, what a shame/sham these guys perpetrated on their fans and Punk Rock as a whole.  I carried quite a torch for these guys and their music.  I stood in awe as I watched drummer D.H. Peligro keep up an insane pace for almost 2 hours at a show in Chicago.  The band has since sued each other over, and this is funny, MONEY.  But the result has been a watered-down version of the band sporadically touring, missing the explosive nature of the original four to make music that matters one more time.

5. R.E.M.  The greatest band who ever walked away rather than wring out the $ from their fans.  Now is the time, boys, to reign supreme at the greatest of the Summer reunion tours.

More From 97X