The keyboards legend Rick Wakeman expressed his disappointment that groups still use YES moniker following the death of the bass player and founder Chris Squire.
In a conversation with the Rolling Stone magazine explain: “I think when Chris passed away, the name should have been retired and put on a shelf. Steve can carry on playing Yes music same as we did. We were just as guilty calling it Yes Featuring ARW, which I objected to vehemently. There’s no reason we can’t go out and play the music, but I really feel that the name should have been retired. I think it was disrespectful to Chris. There were all sorts of stories going around that ‘Oh, Chris wanted it to continue.’ I know for a fact people that spoke to Chris and that isn’t true. I thought we should have been in long ago because there’s a few bands that have since come in very late and I think, personally, it’s too late, especially when an important member of the band has passed away. You look at Chris with Yes and Jonn Lord with Deep Purple and you think, ‘These guys deserved to be here. They deserved to receive that accolade, especially since many are founding members of those bands.’ That was the only slight disappointment, but I was thrilled that the band got in. The Hall of Fame was great and it was wonderful to see Alan [White] and Steve, but what would be achieved by everyone getting together and trying to do a reunion?” the keyboardist opined, adding that there was ‘more chance of Donald Trump getting divorced and marrying Hillary Clinton’ than a Yes reunion. When Chris died, he was the only founding member still left in the band. He’s the only guy that had been in every incarnation of Yes, through thick and thin. I felt with so many different band members in and out that when Chris passed away, the decent thing to do would be to say, ‘Okay, we’re putting the name Yes on the shelf. That’s it.’ The whole Yes thing is a mess since Chris died,” the keyboardist admitted. “It’s a total and utter mess for the fans and the people because nobody knows what the hell is going on. Nobody knows who is in what, who is doing what. It’s just one hilarious mess. It would make a great cartoon series.”
