From Elvis Presley to Dave Grohl: The Gods Of Rock Explored [Episode 345]

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Up next. There are rock stars, and then there are
rock Gods. A brand new book out now called Rock
Gods Icons of Rock Music. Over twenty artists including duos
who make the book. Is your favorite rocker on the list?
Find out We're totally bummed rock and roll.

Speaker 2 (00:18):
I mean gotta leave you. You're reading Little Hands says
it's time to rock and roll.

Speaker 3 (00:22):
Rock band Rode up a totally booked.

Speaker 1 (00:29):
Welcome back to book don rock the podcast for those
about to read and rock. My name is Eric sanat
Our guest is Kathy McCabe, author of the new book
Rock Gods Icons of Rock Music. Kathy, thank you so
much for being here.

Speaker 2 (00:41):
My absolute pleasure. Eric.

Speaker 1 (00:44):
So there are seventeen individual artists and five duos covered
in the book. So let's start with what defines a
rock god? What makes them stand out among their peers.

Speaker 4 (00:54):
I think it's you know, I mean, you could quote
stats until the cows come high, but I think we
can all agree that there's that X factor. There's that
charisma and you know, sexuality that goes hand in hand

(01:16):
with a voice and a performance, and you know musical skills.
A lot of the rock gods, you know, play themselves
they're not just you know, the thing is at the
front of the band or solo artists. So I think
it's that semi quantifiable mix of all all the magic

(01:42):
that you kind of see come to bear with these people.

Speaker 1 (01:45):
And you say most rock gods seem to be fueled
by the experiences of a troubled childhood. But then on
the other end, that leads them down a path to
self destruction, right, I mean that that seems to be
the case with at least some of the names on
this list.

Speaker 4 (01:58):
It is interesting, so fascinating, eating sort of microcosm I
guess of where society is at, and to a certain degree,
society kind of expected this behavior. So there was a
bit of a bit of you know, fulfilling the prophecy
a lot of the time. But yeah, I do think

(02:21):
that when you look, a lot of them, particularly out
of Britain, were brought up by their grandparents, you know,
particularly in the fifties and sixties, when divorce started becoming,
you know, something that was accepted in society. You had
all these fractured families and grandparents would step into the
breach much as they do now, I would suggest, so

(02:44):
a lot of them were fueled. I think Keith Richards
in particular, was fueled by his grandfather's love of music.
And his grandfather was very much, you know, the cheerleader
of his talent early in the peace and made him
work for it too, which I thought was really kind
of beautiful hop and you know, sort of hiding the
guitar up on the top shelf as sort of, you know,

(03:09):
the thing that he could aspire to grab down and
play one day.

Speaker 1 (03:13):
Yeah, And it's also a lot of times they're just
looking to bust out of this life that they're living
where they kind of feel like they are restricted.

Speaker 4 (03:20):
Yeah. I think with Bruce Springsteen that was very much
the case. I mean, he had such a fractious relationship
with his father, who you know, was suffering depression and
obviously incredibly unhappy with his life, but also battling you know,
mental illness, which again you know, wasn't exactly on the

(03:40):
mainstream radar in terms of something that could be treated,
something that could be addressed, And as Springsteen has said
in his book and also you know in Springsteen on Broadway,
that was something that came and we've seen most recently
in the film, it's something that he has battled with

(04:04):
his whole life, but with the benefit of you know,
those around him, or just knowing that that you know,
depression is an illness that can be treated. He seems
to have come out of it certainly less scathed than
a lot of the rock gods that we've seen.

Speaker 1 (04:27):
Elvis Presley leads off the book and he really set
the template for those who followed right up until today.
Talent looks some controversy doesn't hurt, right, it only makes
them more popular. And you say, quote, Elvis Presley was
the first rock god, he may still be the best.
Why do you feel that way.

Speaker 4 (04:45):
I think it's you have to view it through the
prism of the times and just how seismic his arrival,
you know, into what music was then. You know, you
had then you had sort of the nascent, you know,
black seeing the Chitlin Circle where he had little Richard,

(05:06):
James Brown.

Speaker 2 (05:07):
Everybody, well, James Brown sort of came a little bit.

Speaker 1 (05:10):
Later, but.

Speaker 2 (05:12):
There wasn't Everything else was kind of crooners.

Speaker 4 (05:14):
You know, it was Frank Sinatra or Pat Boon or
you know, Dean Martin and these guys. So for this
young guy, like he was so young when he started.
I think he was nineteen when he stuck his head
in at Sun Studios, so to have this full package
of the looks and just the natural way he moved,

(05:35):
which of course caused huge amounts of controversy, to the
extent that police, you know, were monitoring his movements. Courtesy
of a Florida judge. He said, you know, he had
to stand still and he would wag wag his finger
vigorously as a way to kind of, you know, combat
the rather conservative attempt to to shackle him. But the

(06:03):
songs as well of that time, the way that they
would driven in terms of the R and B rhythms
and just the unique melodies that he was sort of
taking his voice into areas that people hadn't heard before,
but underpin with those R and B melodies, R and

(06:25):
B rhythms, it just it was incendiary.

Speaker 2 (06:29):
It was clearly something that nobody had ever heard.

Speaker 1 (06:32):
Chapters on James Brown, Johnny Cash follow and then we
get into the classic rock era. Chapter four on John Lennon,
who was an Elvis fan like so many, and you write, quote,
John Lennon revolutionized popular music. He may not have invented
the art form, but the English singer, songwriter, poet and
artists forged its Boldest Frontiers talk about what made John

(06:54):
Lennon a rock god and how he differs from somebody
like Elvis in terms of being outspoken on social and
political issues.

Speaker 4 (07:01):
I think the fact that John Lennon was British born
had a lot to do with that. There's that kind
of innate sort of kicking against authoritarianism. There's you know,
growing up in that post war era where you know,
everyone was struggling for survival again, broken home. You know,

(07:26):
his mother was killed so tragically in you know, hit
by a car when she was walking back home after
visiting him. But the thing, like if Elvis was the
microcosm of what was happening in America with rock and roll,
I think John Lennon and obviously with Paul McCartney, John

(07:47):
Harrison and later Ringo were the sort of lightning bolt
moment in the UK. And it's it's interesting because Elvis
didn't tour the world, He never set foot out of America,
whereas the Beatles, you know, got out of the UK

(08:08):
as quickly as possible, first to Germany where Hamburg, where
they fine honed both their performance, their musicianship writing just constantly,
absolutely constantly. And this is the other thing about Lenin too,
is he was both of all band members were so prolific.

(08:30):
I mean, you think about those schedules of those early
tours in the US and the UK and then through Europe.
I mean, you know, and it's still something that you know,
songwriters battle with now is when do you come out
that time to write that next hit? But they were
just on it, just perfecting that three minute pop song

(08:55):
that was just catchy. Is how the lyrics felt like
they just you know, had been plucked from everybody's brain
because we could all resonate and relate to what they
were singing about. Notwithstanding later on in the career with
Sergeant Peppers and Yellow Submarines and.

Speaker 2 (09:13):
Things like that.

Speaker 4 (09:15):
But he had the magic formula that you know, can
only come from I think a combination of innate.

Speaker 2 (09:30):
Songwriting gift.

Speaker 4 (09:33):
But the ten thousand hours, you know, they just wrote
and wrote and wrote and wrote, and as we've seen
in the amazing Peter Jackson films and everything else, you know,
the creative process could be just in that millisecond of
strumming a guitar and voila a song arrived.

Speaker 1 (09:54):
Yeah, and then we see how rapidly they advanced from
that point on, like revolver moving forward, you see.

Speaker 4 (10:00):
And do you think about like they were putting out,
you know, particularly in those first few years they were
putting out you know, one, two, three.

Speaker 1 (10:09):
Albums crazy yeah, and touring.

Speaker 2 (10:12):
And touring as well.

Speaker 4 (10:13):
And you think about now, like you know, the joke
about Chinese democracy, you know with Kinson Roses that we
waited you.

Speaker 2 (10:20):
Know, how many decades was over that thirteen years? Was
it something like that?

Speaker 1 (10:26):
There was something like that. It was I think what
a spaghetti incident was like nineteen ninety four or five,
And then we got that album finally and I don't
know what was it two thousand and boy, would have
to look it up. It was a long time.

Speaker 4 (10:39):
I thought, I've just got a blank A long time.

Speaker 2 (10:42):
Waited so long for it.

Speaker 4 (10:45):
But that's the interesting thing about this period because Bowie
was exactly the same. I mean, he was putting out
two three records a year, certainly in the sort of
from late sixties through to the late seventies.

Speaker 1 (11:04):
Spaghetti incident in nineteen ninety three, Chinese democracy two.

Speaker 2 (11:06):
Thousand and fifteen years.

Speaker 1 (11:11):
I mentioned up top that there are five duos covered
in the book. The first of the five would be
Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. Now this is interesting. Had
you thought about picking one over the other and what
led to deciding to go with a partnership scenario, specifically
here with Jagger Richards.

Speaker 2 (11:27):
Because that partnership is the Rolling Stones.

Speaker 4 (11:31):
I mean, if they'd not met on that train station,
you know, having gone to primary school, Lost Tuch, there
were neighbors lost Tich mixed heading to the London School
of Economics, Keith is heading to Art school, and they
just happened to meet on this train station at that

(11:52):
that minute, you know, and Keith's holding the records under
his arm, which you know got or was it Meck
Sorry now I'm completely confusing.

Speaker 1 (12:04):
The Blues records.

Speaker 4 (12:04):
Yeah, it was Meck had the Blues records and Keith
was was fascinated by the fact that he had these
these particular records. The other thing that really made me
want to keep them together as a partnership is because
it's one of the most fascinating dynamics in terms of

(12:25):
a partnership in contemporary rock history. I mean, there's such
different people and we've come to see caricatures of their character,
you know, sort of evolve over the decades.

Speaker 2 (12:39):
It was, you know, Mick was the serious businessman.

Speaker 4 (12:44):
He bristles about that kind of simplistic caricature of him.

Speaker 2 (12:50):
Keith was, you know, the rock and roll outlaw.

Speaker 4 (12:53):
He descended far more into two addiction than Meg ever did,
and battled you know, Heroin for years, you know, got
arrested all over the place on several occasions, and finally
you know, got his act together. But the fractiousness of

(13:14):
their partnership, the fact.

Speaker 2 (13:15):
That you know, once Mix started going.

Speaker 4 (13:18):
Solo and Keith found that such to be such an affront,
even though we gave him free reign to be in
charge of the Rolling Stones for the first time, is
kind of you know, the leader. Because Mick was off
doing theirs, he felt it was a real betrayal of
the band.

Speaker 2 (13:36):
He was furious about it.

Speaker 4 (13:39):
So that kind of dynamic of how they fight like brothers.
But also, you know, particularly now, I think even though
we've just heard, you know, they've kind of put their
twenty twenty six plans on hold and hope black hell
that that's just because they're tired and not for any
other reason. But the fact that they've sort of come

(14:02):
full circle now to kind of recognizing how important that
brotherly bond was.

Speaker 2 (14:09):
It's kind of beautiful to me.

Speaker 4 (14:12):
Even though I love all the one liners.

Speaker 1 (14:19):
There have been many. Yeah, I saw the I saw
the story that you you just mentioned Keith Richards. I
guess he's the one who's saying I can't go out
on a full tour anymore. I don't think. Wow, Keith
is finally he's showing a moment that he's actually human. Yeah,
it's been you know, it's been an amazing run of

(14:42):
album tours, you know, massive tours, and you wonder how
he's been able to do it. But yeah, I'm with you.
I hope everything is. Hopefully it's just just as simple
as that. And they just got to slow down the
touring schedule.

Speaker 4 (14:54):
We'll see, yeah, which is a bummer for us because
I was pretty hopeful that Australia is going to be
back on the route for next year.

Speaker 5 (15:03):
But I.

Speaker 1 (15:06):
Thought Hackney Diamonds was great. Wasn't surprised such.

Speaker 6 (15:12):
A brilliant album, and I think it was brilliant and
I think everybody fell madly in.

Speaker 4 (15:18):
Love with that record because it distilled the essence of
what the Stones have always been like, the actual you know,
combination of sounds and their influences, and you could hear
them in the studio on that record.

Speaker 2 (15:36):
You can hear them.

Speaker 4 (15:37):
Being loose and tie and kind of you know, beating
the pieces of the puzzle together in each of those songs. Really,
for that reason, you know, people just were like, yes,
you know, this is to be making that kind of
music in the twenty twenties is astonishing.

Speaker 1 (16:00):
I mean, you miss Charlie. I mean, I know Charlie's
on two tracks, but still they're able to. They got
Keith's drummer, his solo drummer, Steve Jordan Sorry, yeah, I
had expensive one as in my head then instead of
rolling Steve John Yeah, but there does there is something

(16:21):
too that that fire and ice that opposites the chemistry
there creates something magical with these duos. Daltrey in Townshend,
different people planting Jimmy Page, you'd say different. Yeah, now,
Malcolm and Angus Young that's an exception to the rule,

(16:41):
but excellent slash. I mean, all those are in the book,
with the exception of the Young brothers. It seems as
if all great rock and roll. Partnerships are made of
two people who just have a great chemistry. Yet they
can't really hang out as friends, you know. I mean
even Daltrey says that him in Townshend, they're not really friends.
They never really hung out.

Speaker 2 (17:01):
Well, I'm trying to think of another endeavor.

Speaker 4 (17:07):
Besides music where these people are literally living together, notwithstanding
not being on tour for now we're talking sixty years,
Like who does that? Who can consistently not you know,

(17:27):
want to kill somebody that you've been annoyed by for
sixty years because you're going to know every single little
trigger that you know is going to drive you insane.
So it speaks to the power of music really that
these people keep.

Speaker 2 (17:47):
Kept on coming back together.

Speaker 4 (17:49):
They knew the alchemy of them as a unit was
greater than you know, somebody sing up somebody's cup of
tea or.

Speaker 2 (18:03):
You yeah, throwing a guitar at somebody's head.

Speaker 1 (18:07):
Right, And it took Mick Jagger to go solo and
do okay. He had lukewarm results as a solo artist,
although he's got some moments. I'm a fan of some
of his stuff, but Keith did I love his solo work,
but neither on their own could do what the Stones
could do, and they realized that. So they needed to
kind of go their separate ways to understand that. And

(18:27):
I think all of these these duos have that understanding.
The look, you gotta gotta figure out a way to coexist.

Speaker 2 (18:35):
Yeah, I mean we've just had Oasis, you know.

Speaker 1 (18:38):
Yeah, I was thinking of them.

Speaker 4 (18:40):
Yeah, do the tur and sort of wind it up
down this end of the at the the planet. And
it was interesting, I'm made of mine who who encountered
their management had said that the managers were astonished that that,

(19:00):
you know, Liam and Nold Gallagher were getting on famously
on this tour.

Speaker 2 (19:05):
The band was really hitting their stride on this tour.

Speaker 4 (19:08):
And then it had remarked that they even had breakfast
that morning together without anyone organizing.

Speaker 1 (19:14):
Wow, how about that.

Speaker 4 (19:20):
But I'd love to have seen that contract because I
reckon the Lion's share of the payoff from that reunion
tour would have been you know, conditional on them a
finishing and be you know, behaving themselves, because I guess
sometimes management and the team around need to you know,

(19:42):
play the adult in the room to keep the the
juvenile delinquents from reverting to their natural condition.

Speaker 1 (19:53):
Yeah, do whatever it takes to keep that train on
the tracks. Man, don't let this rail.

Speaker 4 (20:00):
It'll be interesting to see what they do next, whether
whether you know, they just keep touring or.

Speaker 2 (20:07):
Decide to do Yeah.

Speaker 1 (20:09):
We'll see. I mean, it is interesting though they all
of a sudden they are back again as among the biggest,
the biggest earning tours in rock and roll. Now we
have rock guards who are front men, and then we
have rock guards who are guitarists. And we got Eric
Clapton and Jimmy Hendricks in the book.

Speaker 4 (20:26):
In the same way that perhaps you know, the songwriter
artists like like Lennon Cocabaine, you know, could completely you know,
take could could take rock into a completely different direction.

Speaker 2 (20:45):
The Hendrix and Clapton.

Speaker 4 (20:49):
Focused on not so much I don't think what a
song was, as what the guitar could do, and then
that led them to a song or an album could be.

Speaker 2 (21:04):
And you know, you think the electric.

Speaker 4 (21:06):
Guitar was such a new instrument then so the limitless
possibilities of what it could do. They were the first
to unlock those. Yeah, I mean, you know, we all
carry on now saying you know, yeah, I've heard that
reff before, I've heard that song before, I've heard that
that could progression before they were doing it for the

(21:29):
first time. And to summons those riffs, you know, like
you just think about it as being, you know, this
this instrument with strings and either wood or you know,
metal and plastic, and to just create these vibrations, these

(21:51):
sonic vibrations that physically, you know, there was a physical
effect to them. You viscerally felt what they they were playing.
That was some kind of wizardry, I think, and I
think both of them in that regarded probably more rock
wizards than they are rock gods. I mean, I think

(22:14):
Hendrix was definitely a rock god because of his performance,
because of the way he challenged the status quo, because
of have he's innate talent, but also how hard he
worked at it. I just think there was something otherworldly
about him, particularly when you know, look back.

Speaker 2 (22:36):
And do your.

Speaker 4 (22:38):
YouTube dive and check out some of those amazing performances
at montro or at Woodstock, you know, any of the
legendary moments that were luckily captured.

Speaker 2 (22:52):
Forever unfilm.

Speaker 1 (22:56):
The book Down Rock Podcast is part of the Boneless
podcasting network. If you're a fan of classic rock and
classic film like I am. Go to Boneless dot lovable
dot app to find over twenty great shows there. That's
Boneless dot lovable dot app. Or just go to booked
on rock dot com. Click on the logo, It'll take
you right to the Boneless podcasting network. It is what

(23:17):
you want to be listen with confidence. Hendricks is the
kind of guy like Jim Morrison, Kirk Cobain who are
in this book. It almost seems as if they were
never even here in real flesh and blood. It's their
mythical figures because they died so young. That's the other thing.

(23:38):
How much to that is there? And when you think
about a rock god, those who have passed away young.

Speaker 4 (23:46):
Particularly with Hendrix, and I think the same was true
of bon Scott. You know what would ac DC have
been like if bon Scott had lived. But both of
them dying in very similar circumstances in England after you know,
binge drinking and you know, ending up just dying so tragically,

(24:11):
and you kind of think, you know, all of those
things could have been prevented, right, all of those things.
There could have been a sliding door moment where you
know they've been with people and been.

Speaker 2 (24:24):
Taken to hospital whatever else.

Speaker 4 (24:26):
So there's that thing too where you can't help but
kind of freeze them in your mind in this kind
of peter Pan stage of of prime. You know, they
were at literally at their prime when they died. And
so when someone's you know, sort of frozen in that moment,

(24:49):
not only do you intellectually start hypothesizing about you know,
and we do it with Lenin all the time. You know,
what would they be like? Now, what would they have done?
You know, how with their career have moved. But there's
also something kind of mystical I think about the fact

(25:11):
that they're trapped in that moment and in time, you
know that they lived fast, they produced amazing life changing,
you know, culture shifting work, and yet they proved to
be so fallibly human that you kind of you kind

(25:34):
of want them a little bit up there because but
for the grace of God go all of us, I think.

Speaker 1 (25:39):
And you never saw them grow old, You never had
to see them on stage and people start saying, ah,
you know, it just doesn't have it anymore his voices
and what it was, or he's not moving around as
much as he was. Yeah, they're frozen in time as
a young twenty seven year old or bond scout was
thirty three. But just guys who were before their time.
But one exception would be David Bowie. Where here's a guy.

(26:01):
You know, he did leave a fairly long life, but
he managed to he, like you point on the book,
he managed to have surprises up his sleep right up
until the end. I mean literally right up until the end. Right.

Speaker 4 (26:12):
Devin Bowie's was, without a doubt, my favorite chapter. I
fell madly, madly in love with him again. I think,
probably like yourself, his death rocked me to the core
and the outpouring of because I think his death, particularly
that year was just such twenty sixteen was just just

(26:34):
a hellish year for us to lose so many amazing,
amazing artists. You know, it was Bowie, Prince, George Martin died,
George Michael died, Lenny.

Speaker 2 (26:45):
Cohen was that here.

Speaker 4 (26:47):
It was just it was one after the other, and
his was the first. And to see the global shrines
and coming together of thousands and thousands of people was astonishing.

Speaker 2 (27:00):
We've never seen anything like this before.

Speaker 4 (27:03):
But I think when you look at his life and
the you know, tentacles that he put out into the
world across you know, from sixty nine until twenty sixteen.

Speaker 2 (27:18):
Were just they you know, they hit every pocket of
the planet.

Speaker 4 (27:24):
I mean, you know, there's no way that you could
go into a karaoke place in Tokyo or you know,
Vietnam or Thailand and not have Heroes or changes or
Fame or any of those songs on there. So he
kind of loomed large to me as as the pinnacle

(27:47):
of the rock god as somebody who has had such
who had such a formidable presence in pop culture in
but huge shape the Zeicheist.

Speaker 2 (28:00):
Every time he kind of put.

Speaker 4 (28:02):
Out an album, I mean, he took it somewhere that
was unexpected. And you look at his influence now, I
would hazard I guess if we did a Google trendsearch,
you know, we would find that there's probably more musicians
on the planet right now who cite David Bowie as
an influence than any other rock god on the planet.

Speaker 2 (28:23):
One of the interesting things that I discovered about Bowie, and.

Speaker 4 (28:26):
I think you know a lot of people have come
to find out about him since his passing, was just
how damn funny he was. Like, you know, the emails
that he would send people. Brian has shared a lot
of them. Dave Grohl had a famous one where he
was working on I think he played Foo Fighters and
Dave Grole both played at Bowie's fiftieth big concert at

(28:50):
Madison Square Garden. I think that was about ninety seven maybe,
And yeah, it was ninety seven. And he then followed
up sort of several years later, wanting him to sing
on this song that he was working on for a
Marvel movie. So sent off an email, thinking you know,
nothing would come of it. Bowie replies and says, yeah,

(29:13):
I like the instrumental, but that kind of film, that
kind of song not really my deal. So thanks, but
no thanks. Crol writes bad going on my god, David
Bowie is emailing me like.

Speaker 2 (29:28):
Thank you don't want to take up too much of
your time. Take care. Bowie sends back, well, now that
that settled off, rolls. GROLs, just like David Bowie told.

Speaker 1 (29:43):
Me that that's awesome.

Speaker 5 (29:48):
It's and that all you know, all these people came
out with his He would email fans who really somehow yeah, he.

Speaker 4 (29:58):
Would invite them into the Student in New York if
there was somebody milling around, and he you know, like
the cut of their jib up into the studio for
an hour or so watching the man at work.

Speaker 2 (30:10):
Iman God, I wish I'd be one of those fans, right, Yeah,
could you imagine it?

Speaker 1 (30:17):
Yeah? And that last album is fantastic.

Speaker 2 (30:20):
Yeah, blecksaw and just but so heartbreaking.

Speaker 4 (30:23):
Yeah, you know, view through the prism of him knowing
you know he was about to die.

Speaker 1 (30:29):
Hey, guys, we'll get back to the show, but first
I want to tell you about an exclusive deal for
Booked on Rock. Listeners get fifteen percent off any purchase
at old glory dot com over three hundred thousand officially
licensed items covering music, sports, entertainment, and pop culture. Merchandise
featuring legendary music artists like Bob Marley, The Beatles, Grateful Dead,
Pink Floyd led Zeppelin, and many many more. Go to

(30:52):
old glory dot com make sure to use the promo
code booked on Rock. Also find a link in this
episode show notes, or just go to booked On and
click on my deals. Kathy McCabe is the author of
the new book Rock Gods. Icons of Rock Music. Freddie
Mercury his story may be the most interesting of them all.
A rock god while he was alive, but you could

(31:13):
say he became even bigger as a rock god after
his death. While he was alive, you say that it
was Freddy's pursuit of pleasure and desired a shock that
guaranteed his indelible place in music history. Talk about why
you include Freddy in the book. I'm assuming that was
not a difficult decisions to make, right.

Speaker 4 (31:30):
I love Freddie Mercury, another one who you know, frozen
in time, died at forty five and so tragically.

Speaker 2 (31:40):
From HIV aids.

Speaker 4 (31:43):
I think I don't think there's ever been anyone like
Freddy in terms of how well I mean, Bowie actually
kind of did steer the rock shift ship into sort
of the queer cult to you know, playing the cab
card things like that, being very theatric being very you know,

(32:06):
almost Broadway to a certain degree. But that voice, I mean,
I don't know if you've ever, you know, gone down
the rabbit hole of finding those kind of you know,
isolated vocals of Freddy.

Speaker 2 (32:20):
Yes, it's astonishing.

Speaker 4 (32:23):
It's just so pure and the way that he made
it look effortless, He made it sound effortless while you
look like he was making great effort in his performance
I always found incredibly captivating. Like he he wanted to

(32:46):
connect with the audience. It wasn't so much that he
was doing it, you know, playing these amazing kind of
mozart you know, classical piano, you know, piece.

Speaker 2 (33:01):
He wasn't doing it for himself.

Speaker 4 (33:03):
He was doing it as a conduit to you know,
unite people. And that seemed to underpin a lot of
who Freddie was. I mean, you know, he was incredibly
indulgent and I wouldn't say selfish, because the people around
him said he was incredibly generous and you know, big

(33:28):
open arms to humanity and to those that he loved.
But the fact that he you know, I just have
in my head on a constant loop that performance at
Live Age where Queen, you know, just that that moment
in time affirmed their legacy, and I think, you know,

(33:51):
set it up for the fact that we've still got
the best of Queen Volumes one to probably seventeen.

Speaker 2 (33:57):
Or whatever it is out there. They're still on the chart.

Speaker 1 (34:01):
I often wonder what could have been if they for
whatever reason, say they just didn't show up to Live Aid,
whatever our history would have changed.

Speaker 4 (34:10):
Yeah, because they've gone off the boil a bit on
the charts at that stage, sure, and so kind of
being invited to do that. You know, twenty minute slot
was a big deal and they filled every second of
it with just this power and just aura that that.

Speaker 2 (34:36):
You know, still gives me goosebumps every time I look
at it.

Speaker 4 (34:40):
Absolutely, without a doubt, one of the greatest show men
that ever walked the planet.

Speaker 1 (34:45):
I love that Malcolm is in there with Angus Young
because Malcolm, a lot of people don't know unless you're
a really hardcore ACDC fan. He is so important to
the ACDC sound, which I'm assuming is that why you
wanted to put the brothers to together rather than just Angus,
because maybe most would just go with Angus because he's
the guy. You see, he's the you know, he's the

(35:07):
face of the band.

Speaker 2 (35:08):
There's no a DC without Mark. They never never could
have been.

Speaker 4 (35:13):
I mean, he was the one who was noodling away
on the guitar in the bedroom while you know, the
fans of their brother George were screaming on the front
yard in western Sydney, a couple of suburbs away from
where I am now, and Angus was just trying to
be as good as him. But the interesting thing was

(35:36):
they deviated in their paths of how they wanted to
play and how they wanted to construct music. And that
was Malcolm went rhythm and Angus went late and that
I guess that kind of happened naturally. Is as brothers
would you know, sitting in a bedroom jamming, Well, you're
not going to want to play exactly the same thing together.

(35:57):
You're going to want to sort of play off each
other and inspire and push each other.

Speaker 2 (36:05):
But Malcolm was He was the captain of that band.

Speaker 4 (36:11):
The General, the Little General, I think was one of
the nicknames that he had. People came and went in
that band because Malcolm wanted them to go. You know,
he had absolutely no qualms about changing the lineup when
he felt that there had been a clash of personality,

(36:31):
or somebody wasn't lifting their weight, or were going through
some tough times themselves with drugs and alcohol. I mean,
he famously took himself off for about eight to ten months,
you know, when the drinking got the better of him
and started affecting his playing. And that was the first
time Stevie Young, their nephew, joined the band, who now

(36:54):
you know, is permanently there as Malcolm's replacement.

Speaker 1 (36:58):
That was in eighty six and then eighty six on
the Blow Up Your Video tour.

Speaker 2 (37:04):
Yeah, and and.

Speaker 4 (37:07):
You know it's like, obviously the two of them stopped
to have a conversation after Bond's death, you know, do
we carry on?

Speaker 2 (37:16):
Do we fold the band?

Speaker 4 (37:19):
And it was bon Scott's family who insisted that he
would have wanted them to continue, So you know, they
did their secret auditions found Brian Johnson, and the rest
is history. I saw them a couple of weeks ago
here and despite the fact that there's been you know,
the usual social media pylon about, you know, perhaps they're

(37:41):
not at their best anymore. I took a friend who'd
never seen them before, and he was just completely wild.

Speaker 2 (37:50):
I saw nine year.

Speaker 4 (37:51):
Old goals with their you know, their little flashing horns
and their mouths just dropped watching this complete explosion of
you know, guitars, drums and bass and Johnson doing the
best you can with the.

Speaker 2 (38:09):
Voice that he's got at his age seventy eight.

Speaker 4 (38:13):
I think, and I just don't understand why you would
begrudge then doing what they're doing when they're able to
do it.

Speaker 1 (38:26):
I'm with you, and TA can do it as long
as they want. If nobody's forcing the fans to go,
you don't have to buy a ticket.

Speaker 4 (38:32):
Well, and it's not the fans who are who are
leading this, you know, time to hang it up, call,
it's people who haven't even been to the gig who
are watching you know, the dodgy concept footage that we
all take on our on our phones.

Speaker 2 (38:49):
I mean, it just seems if you're there, the electricity
of it is. You know, you can't argue that that
is worth the price of admission.

Speaker 1 (38:59):
Yeah, that's the times we're in now. Everybody's putting up
footage on lyons certainly not not even close to the
same thing. Like I said, it's an experience when you're there.
That's great to hear. The younger generation is still loving
ac DC. What's not to love, right, I mean that
the songs are just they hook you in and they
never let you go.

Speaker 4 (39:20):
That's the thing about rock music too, I think, you know,
and it was notwithstanding you know, the artists that we've lost,
there is this you know, inexplicable refreshing of the generations
with rock music that I think happens far more with

(39:41):
this genre than it does with pop or even hip hop.
It seems almost to be a rite of passage that
you know, particularly for young Australians that you know, guys
turn thirty and the testosterone kicks in and they they're
raising their parents.

Speaker 1 (40:00):
Records that's awesome.

Speaker 4 (40:02):
Or in excess or min all or colleges or whichever.
And then you know led Zeppelin, Black Zabbath, whoever from overseas.

Speaker 2 (40:11):
And they become real students of the music.

Speaker 4 (40:15):
They like to dive down the rabbit hole and find,
you know, more music, find you know, interesting information. There
were students of it, and I don't I don't see
that happening as much with pop music. Maybe Michael Jackson,
but not to the same degree that it does with

(40:37):
all of the rock acts.

Speaker 1 (40:38):
You're right, interesting to see what happens regarding Michael the
movies coming out on I'm Michael, So we'll see what
that does for for his his body work, because I
mean there's a guy who was just what he could do.
Is I mean we had in the eighties, Prince, Michael Jackson, Madonna.
I mean, there's so many huge stars within Houston. You know,

(41:04):
it's amazing how many people the greatest artist performers of
all time in that decade.

Speaker 2 (41:12):
Yeah, and you sort of see it.

Speaker 4 (41:14):
I guess around you know, anniversaries and things like that,
you'll see, you know, a spike that will happen in
in you know streaming or on the charts where a
bit of back catalog or go back. But you look
at ac DC, I mean they held their music off
streaming services until twenty fifteen. They only went on iTunes

(41:38):
in twenty twelve, so they held out. Now they've got
three songs that are over two billion, Thunderstruke, Highway to Hell,
Back in Black, I think you shook me all not
On's one point five billion.

Speaker 1 (41:52):
Yeah, it's got to be up there.

Speaker 4 (41:54):
So you know, there's not there's there's what the Weekend
at Sharon Tyler, Swift, Adele, a bunch of others who
you know, Drake and Kendrake whould have three billion, two
billion multiple tracks.

Speaker 2 (42:12):
But I can't think of another rock out that's got that.

Speaker 4 (42:16):
Many tracks that have hit that that Spotify ceiling of
over two billion.

Speaker 1 (42:21):
And there everywhere sport you go to sporting events, you
hear Thunderstruck and Back in Black.

Speaker 4 (42:27):
And Thunderstruck would have to be the most played sports
Highlights package song of all time.

Speaker 1 (42:36):
Yeah, so many people.

Speaker 2 (42:37):
I would put money on that.

Speaker 1 (42:39):
Yeah, so many people know it right away as soon
as you hear it. Hey, guys, thanks so much for
checking out the Book down Rock podcast. If you've just
found the podcast, welcome. If you've been listening, thank you
so much for your support, and make sure you tell
a friend, a family member, share on social media and
let people know about Booked on Rock, And if you

(43:00):
do like the podcast, make sure you subscribe give a
five star review. Wherever you listen to the Booked on
Rock podcast, We're on Amazon, Apple, iHeart, Spotify, Spreaker, tune In,
and on YouTube music. You can check out the full
episodes on video, along with video highlights from episodes on
the Booked on Rock YouTube channel. Find it at Booked
on Rock. Thanks again for listening. Now back to the show.

(43:23):
We talked about Springsteen earlier. Just one thing to add
that I find fascinating with him. He's a rock god,
yet at the same time he's known as the everyman,
which he may be the only person in this book
that you could say that, right. I mean, he could
relate to the audience like he's the kind of guy
you could almost see in the audience as among the fans.
Yet he is a rock god in the sense whey

(43:44):
when he's on stage, he really can lift everybody up.
You just elevate too. It's almost like a religious experience
when you're at his concert, you know, you.

Speaker 4 (43:54):
Go into the Boss church. Definitely, it's telling that he
still lives in New Jersey, don't you think. I think
that's the key to it. He you know, he probably
I'm sure he did live in la for.

Speaker 1 (44:10):
A bit late eighties, early nineties and said, yeah, you
know what this seem for me, I'm going back home.
Because they're Jersey. People treat them like a normal person
for the most part. I mean rarely people come up
and treat him like a rock god. Most people just like, hey, Bruce,
what's up.

Speaker 4 (44:24):
You know, he got up at the Stone Pony the
other night, I think one night last week. But I
think that says a lot because I think I think
that's what gave him his his you know, Reison Detra
in terms of what he wanted to write about, because
those characters.

Speaker 2 (44:45):
I mean, I don't know the history of New Jersey intimately, but.

Speaker 4 (44:50):
I imagine that there were a lot of tough times
in terms of you know, changing industries and employees and
and you know, just sort of families struggling to survive
on suburban in suburban America. And so his micro cosm,

(45:14):
you know, what he was seeing around him was a
microcosm of that.

Speaker 2 (45:19):
But he also tapped into.

Speaker 4 (45:20):
That that you know, grapes of wrath, that that sort
of same over that that you know, elevated the life
of the everyman, of the suburban guy, of the guy

(45:41):
just trying to put food on the table for his family,
and he made it a noble existence, which I thought,
you know, that was one of the.

Speaker 2 (45:51):
Strongest pools of his music to everyone.

Speaker 4 (45:55):
When everyone's singing it out, you know, one of his shows,
they're seeing out their story too.

Speaker 2 (46:03):
But it's remarkable that.

Speaker 4 (46:04):
He's been able to do that consistently now for fifty years.

Speaker 2 (46:07):
It's extraordinary.

Speaker 1 (46:08):
Yeah, there's a book that came out recently a woman
who went to several of Bruce's shows in Australia lifted
her out of a depression. And she wasn't even a
fan all that much. It was just that her daughter
happened to have tickets and she said, yeah, I guess
I'll go, and it changed your life.

Speaker 4 (46:27):
I have to say, like I, you know, in my teens,
absolutely loved Born in the USA album.

Speaker 2 (46:35):
Thought that that was extraordinary.

Speaker 4 (46:36):
I mean, obviously that arrived as MTV was starting to
change everything in terms of pop culture and the immediacy
of it and putting these stars into our lound rooms.
But I i'd gone to see him would have been

(46:59):
around that time.

Speaker 2 (47:00):
So it would have been eighty four when.

Speaker 4 (47:04):
He played Australia and that was one of those marathon
shows and it was fantastic, but I kind of then
missed him. He didn't really come here as regularly, but
when he started coming back full on, which would have
been around two thousand and I want to say thirteen. Yeah,

(47:27):
probably would have been around then. And I went up
to Brisbane for the kickoff of the tour, and I
sat next to a bunch of die hard Springsteen fans
and I was like, I'm not going to know every
song he's going to play this three hour plus think,
can you guys help me out? Their enthusiasm and there,

(47:50):
you know, just expert knowledge and everything else just made
everything so heightened and just you know, you just felt
like you'd just been adopted into some kind of Bruce Springsteen,
you know, world family, and I had to live tweet
that gig because, you know, because it was so significant

(48:12):
that he hadn't been in Australia for someone. And suddenly,
like in the middle of the show, I'm trying to,
you know, write the review in my head, live tweet
what songs he's playing, and double checking with a guy
sitting next to me, and suddenly it's like Hi from Amsterdam,
Hi from New York, High from LA High, from London,
High from Germany, and just people all over the world

(48:35):
like we're aware of this gig, and we're kind of
monitoring this gig in real time via social media.

Speaker 3 (48:41):
It was.

Speaker 4 (48:42):
It blew my mind how connected that community was. I
never experienced anything like it. And the fact, you know,
in the middle of it is this guy in tight
blue jeans and a vest and a shirt, you know,
and dabbing himself with a sponge every ten minutes. Absolutely,

(49:06):
you know, running a marathon up there with a band
that you know has got to be the best, you know,
sidekick band in the history of rock and roll.

Speaker 2 (49:17):
You kind of just go, where have you been all
my life? Bruce?

Speaker 4 (49:22):
Luckily, Luckily, he's come back a couple of times since
that because he realized, you know, Australia was really underdone
for him, and that tour was so huge and so
successful that he was like, Okay, these are my people.
Let's let's let's go down there when the sun shining
and you guys are in the depths of winter.

Speaker 1 (49:42):
Right, similar as Bonno with that type of experience in cancer.
You go to a You two show and it's Barno
that really has that. He has that charisma and he
has that ability to to have the the audience in
the palm of his hands, and he, you write, straddles
the spheres of music, palota and philanthropy on a mission
to convince everyone's songs can change the world.

Speaker 4 (50:05):
He's kind of evangelical to a certain degree, which I
think has got him a little offside with his bandmates
at times when I imagine they probably were frustrated about what
was You two versus what was Bono? What is the activist?

(50:29):
And he's caught a lot of grief for that. But
then when you look at the achievements of Red and
the One Organization, I mean they have actually, you know,
made huge differences to in the realms of poverty, in
the realms of education, disease radic eradication in Africa in particular.

(50:53):
I think, you know, some of their programs that they've
done on malaria is and alongside the Gates found out
on polio as pretty much eradicated the disease from the planet.
But that man came along in a time when I think,

(51:14):
you know, you had pop and it was all escapist
and bright and neon courtesy of MTV over here, and
then you had this gretty, sort of urgent, very militaristic
drums and you know, a very different sonic palette for

(51:39):
the guitar from the edge, and then this loudmouth front
man who dared you to stand there not doing or
saying or thinking anything. I think the way that Bono
challenged the audience.

Speaker 2 (51:56):
Got you to you know, to the top, but then
became the very source of.

Speaker 4 (52:03):
The backlash against them, which you know, we've seen what
we call the tall Poppy syndrome in Austray. We've seen
that you know, fell many a great rock star because
people just started thinking that they were, you know, bigger
than their boots, as they say down here.

Speaker 2 (52:20):
But the way he.

Speaker 3 (52:22):
Sings the desire for more, for better, for hope to
mean something.

Speaker 2 (52:34):
I think all those things underpin great rock music.

Speaker 1 (52:37):
Prince. Rock gods can be mysterious, none more than Prince.
That's part of what makes him a rock god.

Speaker 4 (52:44):
Do you think, Yeah, I remember he was down here.
I think it was around It wasn't Diamonds and Pearls.
It might have been the tour after that, and there
was an after party and people were like, told, when
he comes into the room, you're not allowed to look
at him. And I was like, you can't look at

(53:10):
no eye contact. So of course, you know, me being
a brat, there's Prince. And then you know, went and
stood at the edge of the dance he was dancing
and watched him.

Speaker 5 (53:24):
No one.

Speaker 4 (53:24):
Yeah, a very big security man did try and stand
in front of me.

Speaker 2 (53:29):
At one stage, but I kept on doing this business
to get around him.

Speaker 4 (53:35):
One of the highlights of my career as a music
journalist was just before he was coming here for a
piano and the microphone to the last tour of his life.
On the friday, a friend of mine who was the
publicist for the promoter, rings me out and says, you
have five minutes to send five questions for Prince. Now

(53:58):
he didn't do interviews. He very, very rarely did interviews.
And I'm like, this is a man I could ask
a hundred questions of and you're giving me five minutes
to come up with five. And she's like, you've now
got foreign four minutes that you've got to hurry out.

Speaker 2 (54:17):
Oh my god.

Speaker 4 (54:18):
And it's like she said, we've got to get to
get them over to him. He wants to do them now.
So I bashed out my five questions and he mailed
back and he had the two's and the bees and
the US and every I was felt ey because that's
when he was doing that particular project, and it was.

Speaker 2 (54:39):
It was absolutely one of the highlights of my career.

Speaker 4 (54:43):
You know. The next morning, I'm sitting at brunch and
I get a text going email in your inbox and
I'm just reading it, shaking going.

Speaker 2 (54:50):
Prince wrote these words, I know, and it was it
was beautiful.

Speaker 6 (54:56):
You know.

Speaker 4 (54:56):
He was talking about why the show was a love
letter to his father, who he had again had a
fractious relationship with because his father was a very you know,
famous jazz musician and was very exacting, and you know,
it wasn't exactly the most encouraging dad of a kid

(55:19):
who you know, wanted to be like him, who wanted.

Speaker 2 (55:22):
To be a star. But his like Bowie, his ability
to reinvent, to challenge and to also take on.

Speaker 4 (55:37):
The industry and the way it was changing, deserves to
be absolutely applauded. I mean, it's quite interesting that they
were two opposites of the Internet coin because Bowie saw
the power of the Internet before anybody else. Introduced those
Bowie bonds in the late nineteen nineties, he said how

(55:58):
it was going to change not only just popular culture,
but all culture, whereas Prince really didn't like the fact
that music. You know, in twenty ten, he didn't want
his music to be on streaming because he said.

Speaker 2 (56:13):
You know, I don't want to give it away for free.
It's valuable, it has value, we should treat it as such.
So it's interesting how.

Speaker 4 (56:20):
They came at the Internet from very polar polar views.

Speaker 1 (56:26):
I remember Prince when he was touring, he was selling
his new albums as a package deal when you bought
the ticket to a show, So he was trying different
things to try to get people to listen to his
new music, not just buy it.

Speaker 4 (56:40):
That was with musicology, and he also he was also
a bit of a bit of a cheeky businessman too,
because well, the labels were all trying to push him to,
you know, get with the internet program and you know,
make the music available for downloads and then later streaming.

Speaker 2 (57:03):
Hey did a deal. Can't remember which paper it was.

Speaker 4 (57:09):
I think it might have been the Daily Mirror in
the UK, where you know the old you used to
get the CDs stuck onto the front page as part
of the package deal.

Speaker 2 (57:19):
And so you know, he went he went back instead
of going to the future.

Speaker 4 (57:25):
He was like, well, I'm going to stick this in
newspapers and make sure it gets into every household.

Speaker 1 (57:32):
Find the bookdown Rock website at bookdown rock dot com.
There you can find all the back episodes of the show,
the latest episode in video and audio, links to all
of the platforms where you can listen to the podcast,
plus all the social media platforms were on Blue Sky, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok,
and x. Also check out the book down Rock blog.
Find your local independent bookstore, find out all the latest

(57:55):
hot rock book releases, and before you go, check out
the book don Rock online store. Pick up some booked
on rock merch. It's all at booked on rock dot
Com Michael Hutchinson in Excess. So glad you have Michael
Hutchins in this book because he seems to be forgotten,
at least here in the States. He's he's not talked
about that much, and it's and it's a disappointment because

(58:17):
he was so charismatic and what a voice in the presence.
Talk about what led you to including him in the book.

Speaker 2 (58:25):
I'm Australian.

Speaker 1 (58:27):
I yes, I sensed the connection there. So what is
it in Australia? Is he talked about still a lot?
Because here in the States, it's like, don't you guys
remember being in Excess? I mean they were huge here
in the States in the eighties and into the nineties.

Speaker 2 (58:42):
Yeah, I mean Kick in eighty seven.

Speaker 4 (58:45):
You know well, I mean listen like thieves that kind
of set this stage with what you need but Kick,
we need you tonight and then Devil Inside.

Speaker 2 (58:55):
I mean, no other band in the world was doing.

Speaker 4 (59:00):
What they were doing in terms of, you know, marrying
rock with.

Speaker 2 (59:04):
Funk in that way.

Speaker 4 (59:08):
But again, that that sinewy kind of you know, sexuality
that he had on stage was like you watch the Wembley,
the famous Live at Wembley concert, and he's just.

Speaker 2 (59:25):
Absolutely in his powers there.

Speaker 4 (59:28):
I mean, he was also I guess a victim of
coming up in an era where.

Speaker 2 (59:37):
Being a rock god also made you with celebrity.

Speaker 4 (59:41):
And you know, he was chased by Paparatzi, you know
obviously when when in that ill fated relationship between him
and Paulie Yates, you know, he couldn't poke with that.
That was that was and before that, you know, Helene
and Chris and and and you know who was part

(01:00:04):
of that kind of celebrity cult of the supermodel and
the rock star. There was a lot of that happening
in the nineties as well. But he was Michael was
one of those people that was very unrockstar. When you
were in his presence, he was very engaged in humans.

(01:00:26):
He wanted to know everything about you in five minutes,
and then he would find the one thing that you
shared in common and you would talk about that for hours,
and then the next time you saw him, you know,
him and I bonded over our dads and the influence
of our dads and our lives and had some beautiful

(01:00:46):
conversations along those those kind of lines.

Speaker 2 (01:00:49):
But he was he was fun in that rock god way.

Speaker 4 (01:00:53):
He was naughty, he liked to push the limits and
I think you know that obviously was was was his
undoing in the end. But it's interesting that they haven't
that in excess, hasn't.

Speaker 2 (01:01:10):
Sort of I mean in Australia, they aren't.

Speaker 4 (01:01:13):
Talked about a lot because there was a lot of
activity to kind of reclaim the legacy because they did
that sort of foray into to you know that rock
Star reality.

Speaker 1 (01:01:24):
Show television show.

Speaker 4 (01:01:26):
Yeah, yeah, which was done by Mark Burnett, the same
guy who does a Survivor and you know, found the
front Man and that kind of worked as an experiment.
But you know, they'd already gone through a few different
iterations with different singers, John Stevens down here, Terence, Trent Darby,

(01:01:48):
even stage.

Speaker 2 (01:01:50):
Yeah, so they have.

Speaker 4 (01:01:53):
Kind of been in the zeitgeist here because there was
a mini series, there's been a couple of documentaries, so
they've kind of had a presence in Australia, but yeah,
that hasn't really translated overseas. Be interesting to see how
you could do that, how you could kind of resurrect

(01:02:14):
their legacy because certainly, you know, the X album was
even bigger than Kick in the UK. I mean Suicide
Blonde and those songs were enormous. But I mean, Kick
was such a monster record, and that was the record
that Atlantic rejected. They wanted to pay the band and
their manager, Chris Murphy a million dollars not to release it.

Speaker 1 (01:02:37):
I didn't know that. Yeah, why they didn't like the songs, said.

Speaker 4 (01:02:42):
Didn't like the songs, didn't hear ahead, absolutely dismissed it,
totally dismissed it. So Murphy fought with them and what
he did he finally got them to release it.

Speaker 2 (01:02:53):
And what he.

Speaker 4 (01:02:54):
Cleverly did was he did his own indie promo radio
campaign focused on college radio and got them into colleges
and that's what made it all blow up in the States.

Speaker 1 (01:03:07):
That's shocking to hear because those songs are so infectious.
I mean I would I can't even imagine why you
would even think there's no hit there. But yeah, they
proved them wrong.

Speaker 4 (01:03:18):
Obviously that was a guy at Deco who didn't sign
the Beatles, so you.

Speaker 1 (01:03:23):
Know right there, that's the famous story. Of course, Well
there's a Tom Petty with full moon fever. MCA was like, no,
I don't hear anything here, really, okay, And then I
think they got some new people in at MCA, and
then they, I think the success of the Traveling Wilbury's
album said Okay, let's let's uh capitalizing, let's let's go

(01:03:45):
with this full moon fever thing, and it became the
biggest album of his career. You know, Axel and Slash
in the book, Anthony Keatis of the Red Hot Chili
Peppers in there, Kirk Cobain Dave Broll was the final four.
Keatus represents rock and roll contradiction. Can you expand on.

Speaker 4 (01:04:02):
That peace love among means in terms of an aesthetic?
And yet you know, for a lot of years there
it was likely that he wasn't gonna live. I mean,
his battles with addiction were horrendous. I mean, you know,
he was introduced to drugs when he was twelve, when

(01:04:25):
he went to live with his father in LA. There's
something fascinating to me about kids in that He's such
a polarizing figure. People either love or hate him. They're
not ambivalent about him at all, and that's kind of

(01:04:45):
that is a rock god to a large degree. I mean,
you know, well, you and I can agree on loving
x amount of people.

Speaker 2 (01:04:55):
Like Jim Morrison.

Speaker 4 (01:04:56):
I'm not a fan, you know, and writing the chapter
on Jim Morrison, maybe less of a fan.

Speaker 2 (01:05:02):
Because I felt.

Speaker 4 (01:05:06):
I felt the indulgent the talent didn't write the check
for the indulgence they're you know, I think there was
a lack of balance whereas kids, and particularly in Australia,
I'm not sure if it's the same in the US.
The Red Chili Peppers have always had such a huge

(01:05:28):
following here and their music's been omnipresent from the chants
on the airwaves. I mean you literally cannot walk into
a shopping center without hearing a Red Chili Peppers song.
So to that end, you know, there is absolutely an
argument to be made that they are a great rock band,

(01:05:49):
and Ketus is a great rock front man. I mean certainly,
you know, in terms of performance, he's captivating, you know,
his unique the wordplay is astonishing, sort of taking rap
into to the rock realm as as the band did.

Speaker 2 (01:06:13):
But yeah, he is a contradiction because he seems to.

Speaker 4 (01:06:19):
You know, a life philosophy sometimes didn't match up to
perhaps the actions of the way he treated his bandmates
or how he abdicated his responsibilities as the front man.

Speaker 2 (01:06:32):
So you know, that's a story.

Speaker 1 (01:06:34):
You see a lot, but the Red Hat Chili Pepper's definitely,
I would say as big here in the States from nineties,
from early nineties with Blood Sugar, Sex Magic, right up
into the early two thousands, there were just heavyweight. They're
just one of the heavyweight rockers. You know, any time
they put out on an album, you're going to hear
so many singles from the album. It was just given.

(01:06:57):
You know, it's as bad the album that they put
out that had It's a danger mouse that produced it,
I believe. Yeah, fantastic. One last question I have for
you was Dave Grohl because I thought that was interesting.
Kirk Cole beans in there, not surprised by that, but yeah,
you say, here's here's an example that lightning strikes twice.

Speaker 2 (01:07:21):
I mean, there's very few people in the rock god
realm who have had phenomenal success twice. I mean, you know,
it just doesn't really happen. So for that reason, and
it's also.

Speaker 4 (01:07:41):
He's another one of those who was definitely born to
do it, you know, whether it was play drums, guitar,
seeing whatever, he was born to do music. And there's
something fascinating to me about charting the cause of someone
who as a young boy, goes, that's the thing I

(01:08:03):
want to do and makes it real. You know, after
Kurt's death, it would be absolutely acceptable to crawl into
a hole and you know contemplate, you know, next move
someone arouse and he just like ac DC and he
probably did take a leaf out of their book with
that went straight into the next scene. There's something to

(01:08:26):
be said about somebody whose vision is clear, like there's
never any doubt that he's the leader of that band
and what they do next is at his instigation. So
the fact again that he's also continued the ban after
the loss of you know, Taylor Hawkins, that would have
been such a tough call, such tough call because you

(01:08:50):
know best mates and you know the drama brotherhood and
everything else. But he has a vision for the band
and I think he feels compelled to to continue with it.

Speaker 1 (01:09:02):
Eddie names that were on the bubble that you're kind
of like, maybe I'm a huge Van Halen fan, So
that's why I'm curious. Was davidly Roth almost on the
list was Eddie.

Speaker 4 (01:09:11):
That was a hard one because who do you choose
and they weren't and they weren't really a partnership. So
if you know, if I was to do rock, guitar
guards Eddie would definitely be on there.

Speaker 2 (01:09:24):
I mean, I really wrestled with McCartney whether to make Lenin.

Speaker 1 (01:09:27):
And Lennon and McCartney.

Speaker 4 (01:09:30):
And I adore Paul McCartney, but I think in terms
of what I think about rock, I think Lennon and
I think pop to a certain degree about McCartney.

Speaker 1 (01:09:42):
Interesting point that was, that was.

Speaker 2 (01:09:45):
One that I did wrestle a lot with.

Speaker 4 (01:09:48):
There were a bunch of Australians, but you know, we
wanted we wanted the book to be obviously not two Australians,
so it could find its way to hands in other
parts of the world. But like something like Jimmy Barnes
from Cold Chisel would have been absolutely in their Midnight Oil.

(01:10:10):
Peter Garrett would have been absolutely in there, probably with
probably with Rob Hurst.

Speaker 1 (01:10:17):
Wasn't Jimmy Barnes in the running for ac DC's singing
singer spot when Barnscott.

Speaker 6 (01:10:25):
No, he was in the running for another band and
it's just gone straight out of my head and they
asked him. They asked him just as he was starting
a solo career and he decided. No, God, I've forgotten
who the band. It was an American man.

Speaker 1 (01:10:41):
It was huh okay, yeah, Jimmy Barnes. Oh my god,
he was. He was revealed. He revealed he was asked
to join Van hill And in the mid nineteen eighties
after David Lee Roth left, but he declined the offer
to focus on his solo career. He also reported the
decline and an offer to join Deep Purple. Mm hm, wow,

(01:11:07):
all right there you go. Okay, wow, this is great. Yeah, no,
I don't think so. Rock gods icons of rock music
out now right. You can find wherever books are sold.
Look forward at your nearest bookstore. If you want to
find your nearest independent bookstore, go to booked on rock
dot com and see if you can get a copy there.
And where can people find you online?

Speaker 4 (01:11:28):
Kathy on Instagram as McKay grater and TikTok is.

Speaker 1 (01:11:34):
Okay, So I'm gonna follow you there. I'm gonna seek
you out and follow you and I'll put the links
in the show notes so people can reach out to
you if you'd like. Thank you so much Kathy again
for doing this, and we hope we'll have you back
on again in the future with some more books like
this man. This was a fun reading.

Speaker 2 (01:11:49):
Well thanks Eric. Absolutely enjoyed our chat. That's it, it's
in the books.

All Episodes

Episode Transcript

Popular Podcasts

Stuff You Should Know

Dateline NBC

The Burden

.css-15opob5{left:0;position:absolute;top:0.8rem;} All Episodes

.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}From Elvis Presley to Dave Grohl: The Gods Of Rock Explored [Episode 345]

Episode Transcript

Popular Podcasts

.css-r6mb8g{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:1;overflow:hidden;}Stuff You Should Know

Dateline NBC

The Burden

All Episodes

From Elvis Presley to Dave Grohl: The Gods Of Rock Explored [Episode 345]

Stuff You Should Know