This was the second year that VH1 did a Rock Honors special, and of course I watched it. It's not really an awards show, though. Mostly you have performances, interspersed with celebrity appearances and video clips of the honorees and their histories.
This year's honored bands/artists were ZZ Top, Heart, Genesis and Ozzy Osbourne. Here are my random thoughts about the show. Remember, I'm doing this almost 24 hours removed from watching it.
- ZZ Top is just awesome. Sure, they had the flashy 80s videos and sex-obsessed lyrical concepts, but beneath all that is a damn good Texas blues-rock band. Billy Gibbons is as fine a slide guitar player as you'll ever find. They don't really move much on stage, but they can rock without needing to. They played "Give Me All Your Loving," "La Grange" (One of the greatest blues riffs of all time) and "Tush." Dusty Hill did some great vocals on that last song. Oddly enough, I can't remember hearing about a new ZZ Top album in the last, oh, twenty years at least. Are they still recording?
- Next up was Heart, payed tribute to by Alice In Chains with Gretchen Wilson singing. Gretchen seemed to stretch her singing ability, but still managed to pull off a remarkable rendition of "Barracuda." Did VH1 purposely get singers who sound like the singers in the bands they paid tribute to? Because Chad Kroeger of Nickelback did a pretty good job singing "Sharp Dressed Man," and Gretchen Wilson sounds quite a lot like Ann Wilson while singing "Barracuda."
- No such vocal-stretching problems for Ann Wilson when Heart performed. Her voice sounds almost as good as when Heart first became popular! Of course, no middle-aged person will sound like they did when they were in their twenties, but Ann can still belt out a tune and make you believe. "Crazy On You" is one of my favorite Heart songs, and that's one of the songs they performed.
- After Heart, we move on to Genesis. Meh. I've never heard Genesis' stuff from the Peter Gabriel days, and I don't care what you say - Phil Collins does not rock. The only time he's ever rocked was when he made "In The Air Tonight." They were introduced by Robin Williams, who was not quite over-the-top but pretty close. I watched the video clip segment out of pure curiosity, and skipped the tribute song by Keane as well as the actual Genesis performance. Oh, they've reunited the 80s lineup, whoop-de-do. Call me when you get Peter Gabriel back in the band.
- Could there be a greater contrast of singers than Phil Collins and Ozzy Osbourne? I think not. Ozzy is rock royalty, and I'm glad he's being recognized for it. Queens of the Stone Age did "Paranoid" and did an OK job. Then Ozzy just ripped the roof off the sucker with a little help from his friend Zakk Wylde. Ozzy sure knows how to pick a guitar player! I don't know the first song he performed, but it was most excellent. He ended the show with "Crazy Train," a song which I've heard far too many times. Maybe Ozzy should have ended with "Paranoid" and let Queens of the Stone Age handle "Crazy Train."
- Who should be honored next year? I'm thinking Cream for sure. Maybe Led Zeppelin too. Cream could actually perform, too. I'm blanking on other potential names right now. Maybe David Bowie? Lynyrd Skynyrd? Aerosmith?
- How cool is it that they give the honorees huge rings as a gift? That sure beats yet another trophy to put in your mansion.
2 comments:
No, Phil doesn't rock, but but he's done some really timeless music and he's a great performer. He did an album in the 90s I think it was called Dance Into The Light...it got panned, but it was really an awesome record, because it was so different from his usual stuff. Plus I actually like his version of True Colors better than Cyndi Lauper's.
PS...I love your new header :)
Thanks! I took that picture myself, and I think it's really beautiful.
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