Re: rock gods

["L. Bird" <pkeets@hotmail.com>]

>Sinatra, Elvis, Morrison, Jerry Lee and Muddy all did it before Roger. 
>Honorable mentions should also go to Iggy, Bowie, Janis, Jimi, James Brown, 
>Aretha, Tina...Led Zeppelin was Cream/Hendrix Experience + Daltrey.  That's 
>all.

Hmmm.  As Mark has pointed out, some of these folks aren't generally 
associated with the rock genre.  I guess I need to clarify what I'm thinking 
about.  There are a couple of levels of rock demigods.  I think if I asked 
for THE GODS OF ROCK AND ROLL that most folks here could agree on a list.  
Some musicians are hard to classify, so I'd expect a little argument, but 
not that much.  Who are they?

Definite pantheon (a.k.a. died before they got old):
John Lennon
Jimi Hendrix
Jim Morrison
Janis Joplin
Keith Moon? (died a little late for this group)
Elvis? (not quite rock?)

In unless they screw up really bad:
Pete Townshend
Roger Daltrey
John Entwistle (since that Bassist of the Millenniuum vote)
Jimmy Page
Robert Plant
Mick Jagger
Paul McCartney? (too pop?)
Eric Clapton? (too blues?)


Of course, there's also a second layer pantheon where lesser known deities 
would fit in, but I think this includes all the heavy hitters.  Anybody 
disagree?  Anybody I need to add?

These folks are well-known for the big rock genesis that took place in the 
sixties and early seventies, and they set the stage in various ways for what 
came after.  One of the notable trends was what John called the "cock 
rockers" that played hard rock aimed heavily at a male audience through the 
seventies and eighties.  This is the sub-genre of rock demi-gods that I 
think may have been built from Roger's on-stage persona.

As Pete has said, The Beatles were packaged for a female audience, but Kit 
Lambert found a way to market The Who to a male audience instead--so much so 
that they wondered where the women were.  The volume and syle of the music 
were one part of it, but interestingly, a bare-chested Cockney was the other 
part.  As Lew has pointed out, Daltrey became the idol of a generation of 
young men.


keets