Editing Kansas (band) (section)

===1980–1984: creative tensions===
Kansas bandmembers began to drift apart in the early 1980s. During the tour supporting ''Monolith'', Livgren became a [[Born again (Christianity)|born-again Christian]], and this was reflected in his lyrics on the next three albums, beginning with ''[[Audio-Visions]]'' (September 1980). "[[Hold On (Kansas song)|Hold On]]", a Top 40 single from that album, displayed his new-found faith. Hope soon converted to Christianity as well. This would be the final album with the original lineup (until they briefly reunited in 1999–2000), and also the last Kansas studio album to be certified gold by the RIAA.

Due to creative differences over the lyrical direction of the next album, Walsh left in October 1981 to form a new band, [[Streets (band)|Streets]]. In early 1982 Walsh was replaced by vocalist/keyboardist/guitarist [[John Elefante]],<ref name="The Great Rock Discography" /> who—unknown to Livgren and Hope at the time—was also a Christian.<ref>{{cite web|last=Brown|first=Bruce|title=Elefante Interview|url=http://www.progrock.org/elefante/interview2.html|publisher=progrock.org|access-date=March 12, 2012}}</ref> He was chosen from over 200 applicants, such as [[Sammy Hagar]], [[Doug Pinnick]], [[Ted Neeley]] (who played the title character in the movie ''[[Jesus Christ Superstar (film)|Jesus Christ Superstar]]''), [[Warren Ham]] (ex-[[Bloodrock]], who would join the band on the road in 1982 adding sax, flute, harmonica,  back-up vocals and extra keyboards) and [[Michael Gleason (musician)|Michael Gleason]] (who would supply keyboards and back-up vocals on the group's 1983 tour).{{citation needed|date=March 2024}}

The first Kansas album with Elefante, ''[[Vinyl Confessions]]'', was released in June 1982. The record renewed interest in the group and generated the band's first Top 20 hit in several years, "[[Play the Game Tonight]]", which hit number 4 on Billboard's newly deployed Mainstream Rock chart. The album's mostly Christianity-based lyrics attracted a new audience and garnered radio airplay on the then fledgling [[Contemporary Christian Music]] format. The album featured backing vocals from [[Queen (band)|Queen]] drummer [[Roger Taylor (Queen drummer)|Roger Taylor]], who was recording in the studio next door. Still, sales of the album fell short of gold status.

''[[Drastic Measures]]'' followed in July 1983. For various reasons, Livgren contributed only three songs to the album; the rest were penned by John Elefante and his brother Dino. With violinist Steinhardt leaving the group before the recording sessions, the result was a more mainstream pop-rock album. Though the album charted lower than any Kansas album since ''Masque'', peaking at number 41, its single "[[Fight Fire With Fire (Kansas song)|Fight Fire with Fire]]" fared better. It did not crack the Top 40 on the [[Billboard Hot 100|''Billboard'' Hot 100]], but reached No.&nbsp;3 on the ''Billboard'' Mainstream Rock chart. It was the highest chart position of any Kansas release on any chart, though this particular chart did not exist prior to 1981. For their 1983 tour for ''Drastic Measures'', Kansas was joined on stage by the aforementioned Michael Gleason and Terry Brock (who covered the absent Steinhardt's harmony vocals).

During the band's time with Elefante as lead vocalist, Livgren became increasingly uncomfortable with Kansas representing his Christian worldview. After a final New Year's Eve performance on December 31, 1983, Livgren and Hope left to form [[AD (band)|AD]] with [[Warren Ham]] and [[Michael Gleason (musician)|Michael Gleason]]. They were joined by drummer Dennis Holt.

Elefante, Ehart and Williams sought to continue as Kansas and recorded one more song, "Perfect Lover", which appeared on the retrospective ''[[The Best of Kansas]]'' (August 1984), which has sold over four million units in the U.S. alone. The song would eventually be removed in favor of other songs on the remastered release of the compilation. The group disbanded after its release, which thus became the final Kansas recording with Elefante. Since leaving the band, Elefante has become a popular [[Contemporary Christian music]] artist and has not performed with the group since.

In March 1984, Ehart, Williams and Elefante were part of a [[United Service Organizations]] (USO) tour of US military bases that had been put together by Ehart, called 1st Airborne Rock and Roll Division, that also included [[Patrick Simmons]] ([[Doobie Brothers]]), Leon Medica ([[LeRoux (band)|LeRoux]]), [[David Jenkins (musician)|David Jenkins]], [[Cory Lerios]] and John Pierce (from [[Pablo Cruise]]) and [[Robin Zander]], [[Rick Nielsen]] and [[Bun E. Carlos]] (from [[Cheap Trick]]). The supergroup began four days of rehearsals in [[Hawaii]] on March 10 before beginning a 17-day tour playing for the [[United States Seventh Fleet]] in the [[Indian Ocean]] and land-based troops in [[Korea]], [[Okinawa Prefecture|Okinawa]], [[Diego Garcia]] and the [[Philippines]]. This was followed by a second USO tour in March 1985 that included Ehart, Williams and Steve Walsh.