Today's post is from our friend HIM. The Guns n' Roses reunion show review will post tomorrow.
None of us (save Ace!) know where the bodies are buried. We don’t know the dirt, even if we take stabs at figuring out the skinny.
So let me be clear: I hate the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. I think it represents the nadir of expectations. It is a craven and shameless corporate glad-fest, populated by self-important denizens who can only feign credibility after years of spitting out corporate rock platitudes that they now choke on.
But still, I am a poseur. I watched all of the videos. And I wanted to not like what happened because I loathe where it happened. I couldn’t do that. Ulrich did Deep Purple a service. Purple showed up (Blackmore-less) and proved why they still count. Steve Miller, again, reminded people why he deserves to be worshiped, not only in playing but in targeting the RaRHoF for its flaccid hold on what it suggests it stands for. Chicago played, if Cetera-less, and made a reasonable claim for their value. N.W.A. managed to poke the bear that is Simmons while still reminding people that they belong, if not in the RaRHoF, then in the pantheon of bands who made music feel dangerous and alive.
Cheap Trick did one better. They played nice. And that isn’t very rocking. But it counts in a façade. Their speeches were the epitome of grace and humility:
And their performance was a rousing show of what the RaRHoF so casually monetizes. In a world of Sabbaths without Ward, Roses without Stradlin (not to mention Whites without Russell and Ryches without Tate), Cheap Trick put it all aside and did what needed to be done . . . with Carlos doing what the fans who care wanted all along:
Even Kid Rock’s introduction suggests that his calculated swagger is, at heart, a tribute to bands that rocked his world when he was but a youth:
The RaRHoF is, at best, a museum that deserves a visit. The RaRHoF is, at worst, a horrid example of why the music we love doesn’t garner the support it so clearly deserves. But to see Cheap Trick accepting their awards so graciously, and then seeing them playing so wonderfully, reminds me of an important truth: music that counts is made for the fans even if it is made by artists. Cheap Trick are both: fans and artists. Long live music.
