Ill-advised
Everyone knows about Lynyrd Skynyrd's Street Survivors (with the band pictured in flames just before the tragic plane crash) and many also know about the Who's Who Are You cover (with Keith Moon sitting in a chair bearing the words "not to be taken away" on the last album before death did in fact take him away). But these are curious ironies, not tasteless marketing. Both albums preceded the tragedies that make them ironic.
Here are a couple more examples of ironic albums, but these don't have the benefit of being prophetic, they're just uncouth.
Here are a couple more examples of ironic albums, but these don't have the benefit of being prophetic, they're just uncouth.
- Great White's Burning House of Love:
This is some Italian release or something, so I dunno how much Great White actually had to do with it. Even so, it did come out after their big fireworks show gone awry and the only way they could have been more tasteless would have been to call it Burning House of Love in Rhode Island. - Motley Crue's Music to Crash Your Car To:
This one is even more brazen. At least Great White's disaster was an accident (even if they should have known better). Vince Neil is just a pig who puts his own good times ahead of the well-being of others. Despite how appalled I am at drunk driving, I could forgive Vince if there was some indication that he'd learned something and was sorry. Instead, his bandmates join in his guilt by laughing about years later. Good ol' Vince killed one guy and seriously injured two others. Now he's capitalizing on it. It's so disgusting that I even have a hard time stomaching Too Fast for Love and Shout at the Devil anymore. Maybe I should look at the bright side. After 15 years of lousy music, at least they can still laugh at themselves. Or maybe they'd rather draw attention to the car wreck to divert it from the train wreck that their discography has become.
posted by bob_vinyl at 12:01 AM
3 Comments:
I agree with this one all the way. Vince Neil did only 30 days in jail and wrote a check for $2.5 million dollars for the fine. Less than six months later he was out with the Crue on the Theater of Pain tour and it was probably one of the biggest money making tours of 1985. He was also back to drinking and drugs. He recently did an interview where he said he was still haunted by Razzle's death and felt that he should have punished more than he was. I don't beleive a word of what he saying, I think it's just him trying to clear the air because the Crue are going out on tour again. If he was really sorry he would have sobered up for good instead of just sobering up for a big Crue tour. He ended Razzle's life which in turn and also ended the career of Hanoi Rocks who were just starting to take off on this side of the Atlantic. Meanwhile Vince has made all kinds of money, been in court for assault on several occasions and has done numerous performances drunk. The Crue's first two albums are great, but I now find it difficult to make myself listen to them without thinking about what Vince got away with.
This is a hell of a topic, Bob, and I feel crummy for laughing out loud upon first glance. I agree with all of this in principle, but I will say this much....fate being what it is sometimes, and depending on how sick your idea of an eye for eye is, but Vince Neil lost his little girl years ago. I forget what she died from, but I'm sure the remorse he feels over her death had to make Razzle's death cross his mind in some fashion. Though making light of Razzle is dishonorable, I'd say Vince has completely snapped from his daughter's death.
As for Jack Russell, since I interviewed him, I felt he was a pretty good guy, well-rehearsed, but genuinely saddened by Rhode Island and it's a shame that their legacy is for death. At least Once Bitten is still a listenable album.
"At least Once Bitten is still a listenable album."
Well, that's certainly up for debate.
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