Real rock n roll heroes

I will never forget walking into a Harmony House (A local, large music store, which is missed terribly by the way) I was there often, maybe too often as anyone who has seen my CD collection will probably say, lol... It was the 90s and Pearl Jam had just announced a few weeks earlier that they had abandoned the video format and ticketmaster and I was looking around for something interesting I overhear the staff, who were actually pretty good most of the time talking about how Pearl Jam were sell outs. Sell outs? They had just shunned the two biggest promotion tools out there and these people think they are sell outs? Go figure.

But it got me thinking and looking over the years as to what a true sell out is. To me a sell out is any act that does something different just to make a quick buck, like a sudden change in music style or licensing their music in an odd way. I think the term started gaining steam in the late 60s when acts would shy away from politics and in the 70s with "corporate rock". I guess most of the 80s acts would be sell outs as musicians whored themselves out to MTV just to get airplay, but in the 90s it seemed to vanish.

To me the 90s really started in the late summer of 1987 when I first heard "Welcome To The Jungle". Appetite For Destruction and to a lesser extent Master Of Puppets a year earlier, started bringing a punk element back to music that was later exploited by grunge. The biggest names of these bands, like Nirvana and Pearl Jam weren't really sell outs and instead railed against the machine to an extent, of course the machine ate Kurt Cobain alive and Pearl Jam went farther away playing smaller venues and getting more experimental, but neither ever seemed to sell out.

This brings us to today.... Today we have commercials featuring John Mellencamp and The Stooges, two acts I wouldn't have expected to be going jingles. but then again, in an age where MTV no longer exists for music and most radio is preprogrammed, I guess you need to do anything to get heard, which brings me to my other issue and to where the real selling out is happening these days, American Idol and Glee.

I have never been and Idol fan and Glee just seems bad in every way... So I was very happy to hear that 3 acts who I have liked over the years came out against using their music in Glee. First it was the Kings Of Leon, a newer band who could use the exposure, yet they literally told Glee to fuck off, then there was Slash who said no to any GnR music being used... And the Glee producers lost it calling out both these acts in the press as if it was some honor to be asked. And now it's Dave Grohl nixing any Foo Fighters music, no word yet from the Glee camp, but I'm sure it's coming.

Kings Of Leon released a new CD a few months back and it did OK, and Slash's solo CD also did well. Soon we will see two highly anticipated releases from the Foo Fighters. It is nice to see that these acts don't feel they need to sell out to keep their fans excited and happy, maybe others will follow their examples and do the same.

Where are all the rock stars today?

I am currently reading Slash's autobiography and it got me thinking about why a band like Guns n Roses are so well known world wide while other bands who may be equally good are forgotten. Now I'm not talking about a band that never made it, I'm talking bands that had a hit or two but were never talked about as a great band.

I think it boils down to personality more then music. If you look back at Elvis vs. guys like Johnny Cash or Carl Perkins and it's Elvis who is the bigger star, why? Because had the most personality. Why the Beatles instead of the 100s of other British bands? Personality. Even bands like Led Zeppelin played the "mysterious" angle, it's all about a gimmick. We want rock stars, not rock bands. My favorite example is Van Halen, with David Lee Roth - rock stars, with Sammy Hagar - rock band. Both great bands, but which version is more beloved? On the other hand... Which one sold better?

It's funny how we all want our favorite band to "be all about the music" and anything else is a joke and once our favorites get big notoriety they are sell outs. Bands that concentrate on nothing but music get forgotten, maybe a sell out isn't so bad.

When I look at bands from my era,the 80s, like Night Ranger or Extreme or tons of other bands I notice that musically they are sound, but since they just played the music and never got into trouble, never said anything controversial they are forgotten or at best are known as one hit wonders. On the other hand you have a band like the Sex Pistols who had little talent, but will be remembered forever. Is it fair?

Of course most of us know the Guns story, 5 crazy guys from very different backgrounds get wild, get signed, almost never make it because the industry doesn't know what to do with them and then they blow up because they are seen as an interesting oddity and people had to look, luckily they had the songs.

It sounds crazy to recommend that a band trash a hotel room or start a riot, but if you want to be remembered for more then a blip on the musical map then maybe that's what you have to do. And that is why I believe music has gotten to where it is.... Who is a rock star today? The only person I can think of today that fits the bill is Eminem.

We need our rock stars and I don't see them. Even Eminem is burned out by being the only one. The music biz needs them to come out of hiding and they need them now.