Posted on 06/07/2002 9:27:06 PM PDT by My Favorite Headache
I am posting this thread if anyone cares to add to it. I am a fan of so many different styles of music and the last 24 hours has claimed the lives of 2 men who took part in 2 totally different rock bands during 2 totally different periods of popularity.
The death's of Layne Staley from Alice In Chains was a waste. A total waste of incredible talent, gone forever due to an addiction to heroin. Dee Dee Ramone from the famous punk band The Ramones died of the very same thing a little more than a day ago. Robbin Crosby one of 2 guitarists in the 80s hard rock act RATT died from a long battle with AIDS, attributed from use of a dirty heroin needle.
Robbin was really a great guy. I saw RATT live with him and he was a great performer. He was also responsible for some of the best licks i.e. Round and Round, Wanted Man,Lay It Down, You're In Love,Back For More, Dance, Dance, Dance,Way Cool Jr., What's It Gonna Be? and much more. Hit after hit from Ratt.
He also dated everyone from Heather Locklear (who didn't?), Tawney Kitaen, and various models and actresses. He had such great talent but it all went to hell by way of the needle. A personality to light up a room. Yes a ton of people in here probably have never heard of him and will just call him another heroin junkie rock star who got what he deserved. But Robbin never denied that.
When he was on Geraldo's show about 7 yrs ago...his hands were swollen, he could not even play the guitar anymore and he had been diagnosed with HIV at the time.But he accepted it and also accepted CHRIST. He knew he played russian roulette and lost.
I am not going to gush over this anymore. I just came home from a 12 hour shift at work to have the news sent to me about his passing. I just wanted to recognize his life in some way because his music was something that was just downright...good.
Robbin is up with Christ now and his long and painful battle with AIDS is over.
R.I.P to the both of them.
As one matures, vitriolic speeches directed at, of all things, others' tastes in music not only seem like a waste, but a sign of true emotional and mental retardation. How old are you? Take that number, and half it.
Dr. Bungle detects a wounded soul wrestling with an old trauma. Ever catch the guy in the Iron Maiden jacket doing your sister? Or were you betrayed one too many times - ogling some long-haired passerby from behind, only to get closer and recoil upon noticing a man? How dare they! Those fa*s!
In any case, you're in dire need of a recalibration. I'll have to remember this when you emote with the same passion on another subject. I'll know not to consider it seriously.
Oh and by the way, while you're busy pretending you're Lynyrd Skynyrd (a dubious admission that will get you a good solid reaming in many circles) these fellows at least wrote their own g***amn music, and made a living from it. If anyone's fingers are serving a redundant purpose here on planet earth ...
I never said I pretend to be anyone, you jumping-to-conclusions windbag. We pay tribute to Lynyrd Skynyrd by playing their musicno by dressing up like them, or affect their mannerisms, or any of that nonsense. Hell, we don't even have a piano player. We love Skynyrd's music, and we do a pretty good job with a handful of their songs. And we have a great time doing it. But hey, I am absolutely sure this isn't the first time one of your arrogant assumptions turned out to be wrong. It probably happens to you with such frequency that you no longer notice it, much the same way a farmer gets used to the smell of cows**t.
these fellows at least wrote their own g***amn music, and made a living from it.
Duke Ellington wrote and played his own music too. If your position is that his music should have died with him, never to be played again, go ahead and take that position. I happen to believe that with a certain music--and Skynyrd definitely fits the mold--the live performance of the music brings out its true nature. It is also a great learning experience for the musicians. I gained a lot of insight into the style of Lynyrd Skynyrd by playing songs like "On The Hunt" and "Searchin."
If anyone's fingers are serving a redundant purpose here on planet earth ...
It's the other pompous asses spouting psuedo-scientific gas on Free Republic. You've got it covered.
No, you didn't understand it. But hey, it's my fault. I was imprecise. What I meant to say was this: The photo of the dead guy from RATT shows the guitarist all puffed up like a showgirl. It's the kind of picture girls had in their lockers when I was in high school. The boys who liked metal were more likely to have a picture of, say, Steve Harris (Dr. Bungle in an earlier post was unable to distinguish between Iron Maiden and RATT. There is a difference.)or Ozzy Osbournse. To post a teen-beat style rock pose of a forgotten guitar player doesn't make one homosexual, of course. I was using the term "gay" as a coarse descriptor for a grown man posting a girly shot of a lame guitarplayer. It would be like posting a picture of whats-his-name-Joe Elliot?, from Def Leppard, in his sleeveless shirt, all sweaty, emoting for the girls. It would seem, find me a better word and I'll use it, gay.
Kinda like the drummers in "Spinal Tap."
Thank you for saying that! I've been telling my husband and my kids that for years now..same as you, ever since Jerry Garcia...same words as you used.."they'll be back"... I go to see everyone that I like even if I have to go alone. I take opportunity to hear good music, eat good food, and have some good clean fun whenever I can now, because there's no guarantee on how long any of us will be around.
They have a new album out now and they cover Aerosmith, Lynnard Skynnard and other southern and classic rock bands. There is also an original song. A local radio station interviewed them last week. The singer is hilarious.
After the movie I asked them if they liked the movie and they said it was pretty funny...pretty accurate.
Anyway, that's my Rob Halford story.
If you are going to make up a story, at least have the courtesy to get the right singer matched up with the right band. Its a dead giveaway when you don't. ;)
Rush:
My older brother was a big Rush fan. Around the same time I took up guitar, he took up bass. I had a better ear than he did, so I used to learn the bass parts and teach them to him so we could play Rush songs in our garage band. I was more of a blues/roots rock kind of guy at the time. Skynyrd, Allmans, Clapton, Doobies, Bad Co. That sort of thing.
But Rush was real benchmark stuff as a musician, so it was like bragging rights if you could play all of 2112 (we could) or Freewill or Limelight. I saw Rush live on the Signals tour, and I still think "Exit..Stage Left" is a real fine album. I like Hemispheres a lot, and Permanent Waves. And Moving Pictures. It's downhill after that. I like the songwriting on Farewell to Kings, but the live versions are better.
Van Halen:
When I first heard Eruption, I had no explanation for it. I had to hang out at Sam Ash music store til I found someone doing the hammer on pull off. People had done hammer ons, and pull offs, but no one had put it together like Eddie did. Their first few albums were hard, raw, bluesy rock and roll. The technique of the guitar cannot be denied. The bass parts are rudimentary, but the solo sections usually feature some interesting meters. David Lee Roth was, of course, a clown. But he knew he was a clown, and he was good at it. I used to lift weights in my room with "Women and Children First" cranked. I was pretty much through with them by the time Diver Down came out, but I will say 1984 had a couple of good cuts. "House of Pain" was a neat little song. But I never encorporated any of their style into my own style. I went in a totally different direction. The Hee Haw influence on me was too strong.
But hey, I thought ZZ Top Eliminator was a cool album at the time, and I still like some Bad Company songs. I am not "above" commercial rock music, which is teen-oriented. I was a teen once. I still remember. Heck, Skynyrd fits that mold too.
As for the "traumas" Mr. Bungle mentioned, as a musician, I found the popularity of RATT, and Motley Crue, and probably most of all Quiet Riot not only traumatic, but deeply disappointing. That was definitely bad news for a kid growing up in the 80s who treated his copy of Eat a Peach like it was the Rosetta stone. I just couldn't understand it. But I know. That's just my opinion. Other folks might think "Stella Blue" by the Grateful Dead is boring as watching paint dry, but I love it. To each his own, I know. But RATT? It's still hard for me to take, even all these years later.
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