Say It Aint So Joe!

Remember that line from the movie Eight Men Out? The young kid looks up at “Shoeless” Joe Jackson with tears in his eyes as word of him being involved in the fixing of the World Series. Fade to the present and the part of the tearful young kid will now be played by yours truly.

Say It Aint So Joe!

Mine doesn’t have anything to do with baseball, or the World Series, or gamblers fixing games (no that was last week in Vegas when I swore the dice were fixed against me playing craps!). No mine has to do with the band Aerosmith and the rumor being floated out there that Billy Idol is going to replace Stephen Tyler.

Say It Aint So Joe!

Billy Idol in Aerosmith?

Say It Aint’ So Joe!

Look I like Billy Idol or at least I liked Billy Idol in the 80’s and especially when he parodies himself in bad Adam Sandler movies now but as the vocals of Aerosmith.

Sorry No Joe!

Why do bands feel it necessary to continue on wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy past their expiration date. I mean do you drink milk wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy past the expiration date?

What do I mean?

Look I don’t have a problem if a band continues with their core playing their music for what seems like forever (IE: The Rolling Stones) or if a band reinvents themselves with a new singer or a new sound. Take for example (for us older folks) Fleetwood Mac. In the late 60’s and early 70’s Fleetwood Mac was a ballsy blues rock band with Peter Green leading the way but members left over time and Mick Fleetwood and John McVie took another direction with the band and added Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham creating a totally different band with a totally different sound and created a more successful band. A newer example is Van Halen when they replaced David Lee Roth with Sammy Hagar. A new band with a new sound and they produced successful albums. Other bands have done it also. Genesis, Black Sabbath, and Deep Purple are other examples of bands that changed singers and recreated the band and it worked for the most part.

Why were these examples okay but I hate the idea of Billy Idol leading Aerosmith? I’ll tell you why, its not like they are going to reinvent Aerosmith at this late stage of the game and create a dynamic catalog of “New Aerosmith” albums. No they are going the way of Queen when they rehashed some of the greatest music created in the seventies with Paul Rogers pretending to be Freddie Mercury.

Simply it didn’t work. When I see Paul Rogers on stage I don’t want to hear him do a poor imitation of Freddie. I want to him hear belt out the songs of Free and Bad Company. See I like Paul Rogers and I like his voice but not this way. Now don’t get me started on the rumors of Adam Lambert might be taking up the Freddie torch with Queen, that will be a story here all its own!

Back in 2005 I got to go to see both David Gilmour and Roger Waters on their tours. Both did Pink Floyd songs as well as their solo works. You know what even though I thought Roger was a better concert and he definitely seemed to be having more fun playing the tunes, David is the voice of Pink Floyd and the songs when played by him resonated more to me.

You can’t replace a voice like that, period. The more iconic the band, the worse it is.

Look this isn't just a rant against Aerosmith doing this. Seriously do the other members of Aerosmith, Queen, Journey, ELO, etc need the money? Do they need the women? Do they need their ego’s stroked that bad? Okay maybe all three but do we want to hear it, not me.

These bands go from being Rock Hall legends to bad “tribute” bands. Now don’t get me wrong, I like good tribute bands at times (Fab Faux, Wish You Were Here for example) but I don’t want to see Joe Perry leading one.

The only thing I can say is….Say It Aint So Joe!

Nuff Said, least till next time

Peace Out

Bear