I don't think of rock as young person's music in the sense that only young people can make it: but watching this year's broadcast of the induction ceremony for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, I admit I thought a lot about Time, and the havoc it wreaks on rock musicians and music. At 70, Darlene Love gave a fantastic performance: Tom Waits, too, with Marc Ribot on guitar, slicing and dicing behind him. Yet Waits is a special case, isn't he: looking and sounding like a Weird Old Guy was the whole point from the beginning. A big part of Waits' initial appeal was that he reminded the rock audience of all that was weird about the pre-rock age, lest they forget or condescend.
Post-surgery, rock shouter Leon Russell (listen to the hair raising screams from Leon's 1972 3-record live recording) could barely muster the energy to sing a ballad: and some sadist made him sing "Delta Lady"! Luckily, we only got a (still too long) ten second clip of that... For me, the Alice Cooper performance was equally sad. The costumes looked great, the original band (sans the late Glen Buxton) was back, Dennis Dunaway looked and sounded perfect: but the Coop's voice was shot. Luckily-?-Rob Zombie was on hand to do an Alice imitation for a verse of "School's Out." And Neil Diamond demonstrated in a horribly treacly performance exactly why it took the H of F so long to induct him, although he was a rock/pop songwriter of the first rank.
Dear, how sad. Well, lucky for us, and thanks to YouTube, we can take refuge from the melancholy state of Rock present in mindless nostalgia. Here are two clips to help you do that: both of the Alice Cooper group from the early 70s. The hit singles from the band in the early 70s are a pitch-perfect amalgam of Beatles melody and Stones raunch. "Hello Hurray" expresses the exhilaration of rock performance, of the Rock Show, better than any song I know. As I've been known to loudly proclaim to strangers after a drink or two, I think Cooper in this era was hands-down one of the best rock singers ever. His voice could convey menace: but also humor. He was versatile, too, as you can hear:
As it turns out, Cooper didn't write this: it's by Rolf Kempf, a Canadian singer-songwriter, and the song was covered by Judy Collins (!) before Alice did it. It fits perfectly in the Alice canon, though. According to drummer Neil Smith, the aim was to mix "Alice Cooper and cabaret" --which makes it doubly appropriate for this blog!
And here's the Who-like "Elected." I always misheard the line, "kids need a savior, they don't need a fake," as "don't need a Faith": a line I thought was worthy of Pete Townshend. The song's great, anyway.
And here's the Who-like "Elected." I always misheard the line, "kids need a savior, they don't need a fake," as "don't need a Faith": a line I thought was worthy of Pete Townshend. The song's great, anyway.
He got us the vote, and he told us about school. I remember, Alice: and thanks.
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