Expletives follow – you’ve been warned.
This Eddie Money article proves why I HATE Rolling Stone magazine:
Baby Hold On: Why Eddie Money Was the Patron Saint of Rock Uncool
Read it here: https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/eddie-money-appreciation-884179/
Fuck you Rolling Stone. Stop pushing your alternate reality on rock fans.
This is yet another article proliferating this idea that the cool bands that didn’t sell any records are “better.” Well, I’m tired of it. Rolling Stone: please go away.
Growing up, Rolling Stone was just one of many cool rock mags that I would read from time to time. There were lots of opinions on rock. Eddie Money was cool in many of them. Not in Rolling Stone. Now, all the other magazines have stopped printing. And, somehow what this one magazine has to say has become the “true history of rock.”
Rolling Stone has populated this flawed (and damaging) idea that the best mainstream rock came out in the Sixties. It’s perfectly okay to like the Beatles, Stones, Who, Kinks, etc, – bands that sold millions of records and filled stadiums, because the Baby Boomers at Stone grew up on them. It’s part of THEIR childhood.
But, when the Boomers’ ideals began crumbling in the Mid-Seventies, they began to latch onto “cool” bands in hopes of remaining relevant. So, artists who only sold handfuls of albums and played clubs (The Clash, Blondie, Ramones, Elvis Costello) were elevated to royalty. While artists (from my childhood) like Journey, Frampton, Heart, Styx and yes, Eddie Money, were labeled with this new moniker: “corporate rock.” And somehow fans of those artists, decades later, are supposed to feel like “also rans.”
Well, I’m not buying it. And you’re not making me feel guilty for liking these bands.
Fuck you Rolling Stone. Please stop printing nonsense.
Why does anyone care what one magazine on life support has to say?
Well, there’s the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, a special-edition from Rolling Stone which continues to be cited as scripture. I wrote about it here:
Yes, Frampton Comes Alive is not on that 500 albums list. Neither is any album by Foreigner or Styx or Eddie Money. But Bob Dylan has TEN albums in there, tied with the Beatles for most by any artist.
And, Rolling Stone has influenced the Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame. Eddie Money will never be in that hallowed ground. But, Joan Jett is – because she’s “cool.” Peter Frampton will never be in either, or Styx or Bad Company or Foreigner. It took Rush and Kiss years after they were eligible and fans finally wore the Hall down.
As someone who lives and breathes rock n’ roll – I am seriously tired of it.
I like Bob Dylan – but the hero worship of that dude by Rolling Stone is seriously flawed.
Don’t believe me? I attended the Concert for the Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame back in 1995. A stellar cast of artists played all day to honor the opening of this place. Everyone played around three songs. Except Dylan, who played for 30 minutes.
If Dylan is so great, why were 3/4 of the stadium in the toilet during his set?
Again – reject this stupid, flawed ideology that everything past 1975 that sold records is bad. This is not reality, and it’s not the history that we should be handing down to the next generation. I don’t mind The Clash, Blondie, etc. But, embrace the other bands equally. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with liking Eddie Money. May he rest in peace. –Tony Peters