Asia

The first supergroup of the '80s, Asia was composed of famous musicians whose earlier work in major rock groups virtually guaranteed their success. Carl Palmer had been a member of Emerson, Lake and Palmer; Steve Howe and Geoffrey Downes had both belonged to Yes, and Downes had worked with the Buggles; John Wetton had been bassist for King Crimson, U.K., Family, and Roxy Music. Greg Lake, who briefly replaced Wetton, was also an ELP alumnus. Despite widespread critical revulsion and a cool reception in its native U.K., the group was embraced by AOR radio programmers and fans of bombastic arena rock.

The group's quadruple-platinum debut LP, Asia, held the #1 spot for over two months in 1982 and launched two hits: “Heat of the Moment” (#4, 1982) and “Only Time Will Tell” (#17, 1982). Alpha (#6, 1983), with the #10 1983 hit “Don’t Cry,” was also certified platinum. At its commercial peak, Asia performed live from the Budokan Theatre in Tokyo, Japan, in a satellite telecast, Asia in Asia, that was seen by 20 million viewers. But Astra (#67, 1985) proved markedly less popular than its predecessors. Howe was replaced by ex-Krokus guitarist Mandy Meyer, and in 1986 Asia disbanded until 1990, when it re-formed with guitarist Pat Thrall (formerly of Automatic Man and the Pat Travers Band) in the spot originally held by Howe. By 1992 Howe was back in with Downes, Palmer, John Payne, and Al Pitrelli to record Aqua (Simon Phillips, Anthony Glynne, and Nigel Glockler also contributed).

When Downes and Payne regrouped with Pitrelli to record Asia’s 1994 album, Aria, both Howe and Palmer were gone again. By the time of the band’s 1996 album Arena, Downes and Payne were the only constant members, performing together on occasion as an acoustic duo. Between 1996 and 2000, Asia released numerous collections of demos, live performances, and hits packages on small labels. In early 2001, the band reemerged yet again with an album of new material, Aura, and an all-star cast of prog-rock musicians cranking out more of the same arena-style rock that had initially put Asia on the map.

from The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll (Simon & Schuster, 2001)