Reading Bob Lefsetz hateful tirade on the passing of Dick Clark makes me wonder why the hell he continues to be the number one authority when it comes to rock and roll. Clark's passing from a heart attack at age 82 ends the connection between me and the sixties once and for all. To me it started with Where The Action Is, a show that came on once I got home from school. And got the see the antics of Paul Revere & The Raiders.
Lefsetz is bitter since Dick Clark made it to the top of the American Dream! To make money and be an influence. Certainly with American Bandstand on Saturdays we got to see many a act. Most notable was Sparks doing No More Mr Nice Guys to which Ron Mael went around swinging a bat and seeing the Earle Mankey ducking away. It was a fun show and I have yet to see it surface on You Tube. Of course during my high school years, Clark was more into the disco side of things. Later on Clark would be infamous for starting up the American Musical Awards, a 1975 showcase to which those who hosted it got awards regardless. Thus he unknowingly started the downward spiral of award shows and would figure into American Idol. But I recall Clark and Ed McMahon hosting The Bloopers show which took the concept of Kermit Schafer's people making mistakes on the radio and TV and transforming it into a hit series. Clark also figured into New Year's Rockin Eve and appeared on Futurerama's first episode.
http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/index.php/archives/2012/04/18/dick-clark/
Not everything Clark did was outstanding, that Atlantic album of Bloopers that he put out in 1986 paled in comparison to the original Kermit Schafer's MCA/Kapp albums of long ago and far away. Casey Kasem kicked his ass on the oldies radio circuit. American Top Forty was worth listening to. But life goes on and everybody gets old. And you can't take all the riches with you when you die, it's like cashing everything at the door to the great beyond.
In the end everybody dies.
RIP Dick Clark. An icon of the times of growing up for myself.
2 comments:
Hey Crabby: I've read a coupla things Bob Lefsetz wrote that you linked 2 in the past, & he seems like a real dummy.
Dick Clark was 82? He's been beatin' the reaper for years. & don't I hope I look as good at 82... (or now?)
The only serious knock I ever heard on Dick Clark was that he was way more about SELLING music than he was about rock&roll -- & he woulda agreed with that. & in the late '50s he was busy playing songs by teen-girl heartthrobs like Frankie Avalon & Tab Hunter & Paul Anka instead of Chuck Berry, Elvis, Little Richard or other "real" rock&rollers.... I thot he was an OK guy tho, & he made a great host.
There was also that payola thing in the early '60s, when Clark sold-off all his record-biz holdings 2 avoid conflict-of-interest -- ROLLING STONE basically said Alan Freed (The Father of Rock&Roll Radio) took the fall 4 Dick Clark. But whatever....
He had a helluva voice, & tho he was pretty show-bizzy, I thot BANDSTAND was OK 4 what it was, tho by the Disco Years I thot it was kinda pointless -- maybe I shoulda seen it in the '50s & '60s?
I can't remember WHERE THE ACTION IS. Did you ever see IT'S HAPPENING...?
Anyway, Dick did OK $$$-wise. & we should all grow 2 B so old & look so good....
American Bandstand pretty much played it safe which is why they had all the pop acts. I think Paul Revere and The Raiders was the more radical act and they were perfect on Where The Action Is, which was around 66 or 67, It's Happening sounds familar and may have watched that too. VH1 showed some of American Bandstand stuff for a time but the ones they showed were mostly of the disco era. When you see that now it shows how pointless it really was but for a time American Bandstand captured music at that place and time. Better shows were Midnight Special or Don Kirshner's Rock Concert.
Doubt if I'll ever get that old Tad but even at 82 he didn't look like death warmed over unlike Bob Lefsetz who hates anything rock after 1972 anyway.
Post a Comment