"Immortals" is a Loaded Term
Some time ago, Rolling Stone selected its so-called "Immortals" and compiled a list.
It is a fundamental lesson in the history of rock & roll and its continuing power to inspire and transform. The Immortals is a tribute to those who created rock & roll, written by their peers and heirs, those who have learned from their innovations, struggles and legacies.
Funny thing is, the first set of "Immortals" is a music group in which half of the members are decidedly mortal. Pining for the fjords, as it were.
The gimmick, as noted above, is that more contemporary artists write about each Immortal. For example, Elvis Costello wrote about the first set of Immortals:
They were pretty much the first group to mess with the aural perspective of their recordings and have it be more than just a gimmick. Brilliant engineers at Abbey Road Studios like Geoff Emerick invented techniques that we now take for granted in response to the group's imagination. Before the Beatles, you had guys in lab coats doing recording experiments in the Fifties, but you didn't have rockers deliberately putting things out of balance, like a quiet vocal in front of a loud track on "Strawberry Fields Forever." You can't exaggerate the license that this gave to everyone from Motown to Jimi Hendrix.
Lindsey Buckingham wrote about Immortal Number Twelve, the Beach Boys:
When the Beach Boys started, Brian was taking European sensibilities and infusing them into a Chuck Berry format. Those harmonies were based on the Four Freshmen, with a little church element added to it. He put all that on top of Chuck Berry rock & roll, and the result sounded so fresh.
Dave Grohl wrote about Immortal Number Fourteen, Rolling Stone favorite (heh) Led Zeppelin:
Page doesn't just use his guitar as an instrument. For him, it's like some sort of emotional translator.
John Bonham played the drums like someone who didn't know what was going to happen next -- like he was teetering on the edge of a cliff....
But it wasn't until I was a teenager that I discovered the first two Zeppelin records, which were handed down to me from the real stoners. We had a lot of those in the suburbs of Virginia, and a lot of muscle cars and keggers and Zeppelin and acid and weed. Somehow they all went hand in hand....
Annika's favorite skankwoman wrote about Immortal Number Thirty Six:
I'm sorry, but I'd rather meet Madonna than the president of the United States....Madonna was the first female pop star to take control of every aspect of her career and to take responsibility for creating her image, no matter how much flak she might get. She's proved that she can do so many different things -- music and movies and being a parent, too.
Well, I misspoke above. The person who ended up writing about Little Richard (Immortal Number Eight) was...Little Richard:
A lot of people call me the architect of rock & roll. I don't call myself that, but I believe it's true. You've got to remember, I was already known back in 1951. I was recording for RCA-Victor -- if you were black, it was called Camden Records -- before Elvis. Then I recorded for Peacock in Houston. Then Specialty Records bought me from Peacock -- I think they paid $500 for me -- and my first Specialty record, in 1956, was a hit: "Tutti Frutti."...We started touring everywhere immediately....Back in that time, the racism was so heavy, you couldn't go in the hotels, so most times you slept in your car....I had a Cadillac. That's what the star rode in....
There's only a few of us left: myself, Bo Diddley, Chuck, Fats, Jerry Lee, the Everly Brothers. It's getting thin.
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