Rainy Days & People Always Get Me Down

Bet you never thought I'd make a Carpenters reference did ya? Speaking of the Carpenters...I still don't understand eating disorders...who doesn't like to eat? I'd have felt sorry for Karen Carpenter if her music hadn't offended me so much. Something very icky about a brother and sister singing love songs to each other. See also Osmond: Donnie and Marie.

I see the drummer of ABBA died. What did he realize he played with one of the crappiest musical acts ever and decide to take his life? I realize its been ruled accidental but I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if he realized he was in ABBA and took his own life.

The lead singer of Led Zeppelin drummer Jason Bonham's band "Bonham" (what an original name that was) died over the weekend. Guess he had pneumonia than acquired a staph infection which caused his organs to shut down. Sounds grizzly. The first Bonham record was passable early 90's generic rock. I don't recall their second release.

You know who I'm surprised isn't responsible for more sucides? Rush. They might just be the worst band of all time. How can anyone tolerate Geddy Lee's vocals? Too describe them as shrill would be a compliment. I find their playing to be void of emotion. I could care less if Neal Peart is a "professor of percussion." Their music is beyond awful. If hell has a soundtrack it sounds a lot like Rush.

Van Halen has rescheduled their cancelled Columbus appearance for the first week in May. If you buy an advance ticket for this you're as stupid as a Rush fan. With a 100 percent metaphysical certitude I believe Edward Van Halen will NEVER grace a stage again....unless he stumbles across one of the way to the bar.

The end of Van Halen of course will allow David Lee Roth to team with Paul Stanley to form the rock version of Siegfried and Roy. Those girls will have fun fighting with kitties in a cage...GROWL!

Did any man ever look better with a scarf on his head than Little Steven?

6 days till I see Springsteen next week.

Our humble little crap town will welcome Molly Hatchet to the annual Popcorn Festival this year. Prepare yourselves for 90 minutes of Flirtin' With Disaster. I don't know anyone who doesn't enjoy that song tho. Its right up there with Carl Douglas and Kung Fu Fighting as classics from the American songbook.

Rod Stewart and Bryan Adams are touring this summer. I'd pray for an airplane crash to wipe them out but they can't give records away much less sell them these days. I don't know of anyone in rock that ever betrayed his talent like Rod Stewart. Every Picture Tells a Story is one of my ten favorite albums of all time. His cover of The First Cut is the Deepest is tear inducing. But from Tonight's the Night on he was a pussy.

I think I like to say "Voivod" more than I like to hear Voivod.

The new Black Crowes record came in 5th on the Billboard charts its first week out. It amazes me just how few records are sold these days. I think within 3 years the pre-recorded cd will have gone the way of the vinyl record. Will be for serious collectors only.

I love Sirius Satellite Radio and the Buzzsaw channel in particular..however, there is no reason for them to EVER play April Wine. They suck nearly as bad as Rush.

Boston is going on tour this summer with Stryper vocalist Michael Sweet stepping in for Brad Delp. Delp would have signed on I'm sure but he's still dead. I just can't imagine Sweet singing Boston's classics. Tom Scholz always claimed to be "brains" behind the band but Delp was as close to a soul as the band had. I hate Boston nearly as much as I hate Journey. The other thing those bands have in common is without Brad Delp, and in Journey's case, Steve Perry...there's no point in seeing either band.

Bad Company is also making the same mistake. They are hitting the road this summer with Robert Hart who replaced Brian Howe who replaced Paul Rodgers. Whats the point? I didn't buy Bad Company with Howe so why would I buy 'em with Hart (who actually replaced Howe the first time in 1996). Bad Company is Paul Rodgers...of course he's busy trying to replace Freddie Mercury in Queen (and despite liking Paul's voice, no one could ever replace Mercury but maybe George Michael...no seriously).

I think my wife is right when she says its hard to go see a band when they've replaced their singer. Off the top of my head the only bands that I can think of that succeeded or improved when they changed singers are the following: Deep Purple, Rainbow, AC/DC (probably most successful swap of singers ever...tho I prefer Bon Scott),Van Halen (tho I hate the Hagar era, they did sell records...the Cherone era was an epic flop), Iron Maiden (Bruce Dickinson yes, Blaze Blazely not so much) and Genesis (Peter Gabriel to Phil Collins tho was like a completely different band). Does anyone remember the record Foreigner made in the early 90's without Lou Gramm? Or when Genesis tried to carry on without Phil Collins? What was the point of having Todd Rundgren attempt to replace Ben Orr AND Ric Ocasek in The Cars?

Thanks for stopping by today....I'm off to see if any bands are looking to replace their singers...so I can beat the snot out of them.