Thanks Analog! I think that based on what I'm starting to now understand, I used to pull chest weight a lot and therefore would need to strain for certain notes. Nowadays I can effortlessly sing many of those same notes without even warming up because I'm leaving that chest "weight" behind. Not drinking alcohol any more certainly helps too I'm sure. (Well, the occasional light beer here and there but never when I'm singing any more.)
What would be helpful to many of us is for someone to post a video of themselves singing a phrase or two of any popular rock song and demonstrate it in a pulling chest, falsetto and then head voice. It would help us hear and see the differences in tone.
To me, when I hear a singer like Steve Perry it sounds like he has one seamless voice that doesn't lose that smoky tone when he sings higher. He also seems to sing many songs in that awkward "throat notes" range right around the chest/head passagio. It's one thing to learn to bridge into head voice from chest but how on earth do some singers sing right in that one in between head and chest range?