Editing Asia (band) (section)

===1981–1985: "Heat of the Moment" and early success===
Asia's debut album ''[[Asia (Asia album)|Asia]]'', released in March 1982, gained considerable commercial success, spending nine weeks at number one on the United States album chart and selling over four million copies in the States alone. The album sold over 10 million worldwide and has never been out of print. The singles "[[Heat of the Moment (Asia song)|Heat of the Moment]]" and "[[Only Time Will Tell (song)|Only Time Will Tell]]" became [[Top 40]] hits, both boosted by popular [[MTV]] music videos. Both tracks went on to become stadium favourites at United States sporting events.{{citation needed|date=February 2018}} "[[Sole Survivor (Asia song)|Sole Survivor]]" also received heavy air play on rock stations across the United States, as did "Wildest Dreams" (another MTV video) and "Here Comes The Feeling". The band's best performing single, and perhaps their most recognised and popular hit song, "Heat of the Moment", spent six weeks at No. 1 on [[Billboard (magazine)|''Billboard'']]'s Album Rock Tracks chart and climbed to No. 4 on the Hot 100.

In the United States the band sold out every date on their debut tour, which began at [[Clarkson University]] in [[Potsdam, New York]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.originalasia.com/about/ |title=About |website=Originalasia.com |date=17 April 2014 |access-date=24 April 2014}}</ref> on 22 April 1982 and continued in theatres but quickly expanded into massive arenas because of high ticket demand. Asia would go on to receive a [[Grammy Award]] nomination as Best New Artist of 1982. MTV also played Asia videos on heavy rotation—as many as five times a day. Both ''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]'' and ''[[Cashbox (magazine)|Cash Box]]'' named Asia's debut the No. 1 album of the year. Asia's logo and cover art were created by illustrator [[Roger Dean (artist)|Roger Dean]] of Yes and Uriah Heep fame.

Asia's second album ''[[Alpha (Asia album)|Alpha]]'' (released in August 1983) and future Asia albums did not achieve the chart success of their debut release; however, ''Alpha''{{'}}s "Don't Cry" was a No. 1 Album Rock Track and Top 10 Pop hit in the summer of 1983, and the video received considerable attention on MTV, while "The Smile Has Left Your Eyes" was another Top 40 hit for the band. The video for "Smile" also scored heavy MTV play. However, ''Rolling Stone'' criticized ''Alpha'' as an "over-produced commercial album",<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/artists/165/albums/album/133986|title=Asia: Alpha – album review|date=15 September 1983|author=J.D. Considine|magazine=[[Rolling Stone]]|access-date=24 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090116002958/http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/asia/albums/album/133986|archive-date=16 January 2009|url-status=dead}}</ref> while others stated that Howe and Palmer were effectively reduced to session musicians. ''Alpha'' received indifferent reviews from various critics, while attaining platinum status and reaching No. 6 on the Billboard album chart.

In October 1983 Wetton left the group after the comparatively disappointing sales of ''Alpha''. The band says that Wetton quit; Wetton stated that he was fired by phone. There is no universally agreed version of what happened. Wetton later said that his alcohol dependency may have been a factor. Howe, in his 2021 autobiography ''All My Yesterdays'', says that tensions had been building gradually, as songs began to work out differently on stage than they had while recording the album, which had itself not gone smoothly. After a show in New York where some members of the band had, after giving an interview, taken the stage and given a subpar performance, Howe recalls that he, Downes and Palmer confronted Wetton about his increasing mistakes on stage.<ref name="Howe book">{{cite book|last=Howe|first=Steve|author-link=Steve Howe|title=All My Yesterdays|year=2021|publisher=Omnibus Press|pages=160–63|isbn=9781785581793}}</ref>

The next leg of their 1983 United States tour (which had begun in the summer but shut down suddenly on 10 September following a performance at [[Pine Knob Music Theatre|Pine Knob]] outside [[Detroit]], Michigan), scheduled for the autumn, was abruptly cancelled, reportedly because of low ticket sales. Howe says this was because Wetton's issues had worsened; the ensuing two-month break in the tour marked Wetton's departure from the band as a practical matter regardless of who had initiated it.<ref name="Howe book" />

In December 1983 ex-[[King Crimson]] and [[Emerson, Lake & Palmer|ELP]] lead singer and bassist [[Greg Lake]] replaced Wetton for a few concerts in Japan, including the highly publicised "Asia in Asia" concert at the [[Nippon Budokan]] Hall in Tokyo, Japan, on 6 December 1983, which was the first concert broadcast over satellite to MTV in the United States and was later made into a home video. Some songs were played in a lower key to suit Lake's voice. He sang some lyrics assisted with a teleprompter, as he had been asked to cover Wetton's parts on short notice as a favour to Carl Palmer; although he initially declined due to the short preparation time, eventually he accepted because Geffen Records "offered me so much money there was no way I could refuse it." In a 2011 interview, asked why he had not stayed a member of Asia, he stated, "I did a brief stint with them and didn't want to go in that corporate rock direction. I didn't believe in that sort of music, so I didn't continue."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.vintagerock.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1305:the-greg-lake-interview-2012&catid=3:interviews&Itemid=4|title=The Greg Lake Interview (2012)|website=Vintagerock.com|access-date=4 January 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.innerviews.org/inner/lake.html|title=Greg Lake - New perspectives|website=Innerviews.org|access-date=4 January 2018}}</ref> Howe says Lake ''was'' interested in remaining a member and recording with the band but Palmer was opposed.<ref name="Howe book" />

Following Lake's departure in early 1984, Wetton was asked to return (in Howe's account, Wetton approached the band via management<ref name="Howe book" />) after a three-month absence; he returned on the condition that Howe was ousted from the band. For a while, the group considered continuing as a three-piece without a permanent guitarist, inviting guest guitarists such as [[Jeff Beck]] and [[David Gilmour]] into the studio. Geffen Records suggested recruiting [[Krokus (band)|Krokus]] guitarist [[Mandy Meyer]], who got on well with the band and was offered a permanent position: his playing style was more inclined to straightforward hard rock, thus changing the sound of the band. Meanwhile, Howe went on to brief success with [[GTR (band)|GTR]] (another supergroup, this one formed with former [[Genesis (band)|Genesis]] guitarist [[Steve Hackett]] and produced by Geoff Downes).