May 172012
The Guided By Voices of baseball?
Confusing title? It’s based on a comment by Townsman sourbob in a recent thread that Guided By Voices is the “Dave Kingman of rock.”
As another example of how this works, Townsman alexmagic put it this way:
Pete Best: The Wally Pipp of Rock? Though I guess at this point, it might be that Wally Pipp is the Pete Best of Baseball.
Here’s another example I thought of:
Alvin Lee and Ten Years After in Woodstock: The Don Larsen World Series perfect game of rock.
My apologies in advance to sports-rock haters and those of you who know little about baseball.
Albert Pujols current year is like the Rolling Stones in 1975 or so.
[Standing ovation.]
John Lennon is the Mickey Mantle of rock? Multi-talented, seminal, popular figure in great groups, (perhaps Yogi Berra would be Ringo on those teams, Whitey Ford would be Paul, and George would be Roger Maris). He had great years but by his early 30s he had partied too hard and retired a shell of his former greatness. Second acts were truncated after promising by liver problems and a random nutter fan.
David Bowie is the Nolan Ryan of rock: more outstanding single-game performances and power pitching feats than any pitcher in history, yet still had difficulty closing out big games and maintaining a winning percentage barely above .500.
Eric Clapton and Ron Wood are the Mike Kekich and Fritz Peterson of rock for scoring Patti Boyd Harrison.
That’s exactly the sort of insider weirdo baseball-rock geek wisdom this post seeks!
Dock Ellis is the Roky Erickson of baseball?
Is Jerry Lee Lewis the Ty Cobb of Rock & Roll?
Rick Allen of Def Leppard is Tommy John, coming back to a successful career after a debilitating injury is remedied by science.
aloha
LD
Amy Winehouse is the Daryl Strawberry of rock. Her supreme talents were overshadowed by her off the field antics and drug use.
Keith Richards writing and recording the “Satisfaction” riff while in an alcohol coma in a hotel room might be the Dock Ellis LSD no-hitter of rock.
With her limited amount of releases maybe she’s more like a “Super” Joe Charboneau. Didn’t drugs do in his career shortly after a Rookie of the Year campaign?
Axl Rose is the Roger Clemens of rock. You set records in the 90’s throwing with power. And it’s over, you’ve disgraced yourself and your profession. Give it up.
Both were members of arguably All-Time Greatest Groups, both married models and then divorced, both were deemed reclusive by the public, both had an air of grace, calm, and cool detachment, both were artisans at their crafts…George Harrison is the Joe DiMaggio of rock.
aloha
LD
Would that make George saving all those songs to load up All Things Must Pass Harrison’s 56-game hitting streak?
This would, in turn, make Ken Keltner of the Indians (who ended the streak by making two big outs playing third base) the Apple Jam of baseball.
I think that Elvis Presley was the Babe Ruth of Rock & Roll . Also, I think that Chuck Berry was the Willie Mays of Rock & Roll.
Also, although Jerry Lee Lews as the Ty Cobb of Rock & Roll is good, I was thinking about Johnny Ramone myself. I could see him going into a crowd to beat the crap out of someone.
Finally, how about Jonathan Richman as the Mark Fydrich of Rock & Roll. I could see Jonathan talking to the ball.
How about Prince as the Shoeless Joe Jackson of Rock? Incredible talent, versatile/skilled at multiple positions. Prince’s feud with Warner Bros./name change era could be his Black Sox scandal/banning from baseball. And while Prince is obviously quite literate, I’d imagine Shoeless Joe would appreciate his use of 2 for to/too/two, U for you, 4 for for and eye drawings for “I”.
So yeah, I’ll throw it out there: Prince is the Assless Pants Jackson of rock.
The Keltner reference solidified RaoulG’s already fine suggestion. Perfect!
Richman and Fydrich make a fine analogy! I kind of like your Ty Cobb/Johnny Ramone one as well, although I’d like it better if the Ramones, in my opinion, hit near .367.
Who’s the Bill Buckner of rock? I am considering the bassist from Big Star, who wrote and sang “India,” the one song all Big Star fans think sucks on their debut album. However, Big Star never played on a stage worthy of that heartache. What rocker committed the most gut-wrenching gaffe to end a dream season?
My Ding-a-Ling is Mays playing for the 1973 Mets.
And the crowd is going wild!
She’s not rock, but maybe Sinead O’Connor is the Bill Buckner. Ripping up that picture of the pope on SNL kind of defines her career, and not in a good way.
That’s a good call. Had she been able to recover from that episode we would have looked at it as her Roberto Alomar-spitting-in-the-eye-of-an-umpire moment, which only seemed to have permanently tarnished her legacy.
Or is Alan Freed the Shoeless Joe of rock?
Maybe Freed/payola is the Pete Rose managing/betting on baseball of rock?
Otis Redding is the Roberto Clemente of rock?
How about Bill Veeck and Phil Spector? Controversial innovators, the Wall of Sound as one of the great “gimmicks” of rock production and the legendary, possibly not true stories of Spector pulling a gun on the Ramones and Veeck telling 3’7″ Eddie Gaedel that he’d be aiming a rifle at him to shoot him if Gaedel tried to swing at bat.
That may work.
I had that same thought mockcarr.
I’d argue it was Jerry Lee Lewis marrying his cousin.
Sadly, John Glascock of late 70s Jethro Tull does not seem to be the John “Pebbly Jack” Glasscock of rock.
Eddie Van Halen as the Lou Brock of rock. Very speedy playing and had many hits, but vastly overrated because his lack of defensive skill, in his case of actual “music”, and overall their onstage/onbase percentages were mediocre, yet still made it to the hall of fame mostly on one flashy skill. I don’t know that Brock ever married a bad TV actress, but I suppose Bob Gibson attracted most of the media spotlight for those 60s clubs like Diamond Dave did for VFH.
I like that. Now who’s the Marge Schott of rock ‘n roll?
Was Johnny Hallyday the Saduhara Oh of rock?
Well played, sir.
The Nuge.
I wanted to call Nugent the John Rocker (no pun intended) but didn’t want to get into any politics. But now that ya mention it…
aloha
LD
Sid Barrett the Bill Lee of rock?
Dude, you’re freaking me out. I just logged in to add this one, only, of course, spelling Syd’s name correctly.
Most potent from the mid-60s to the mid-70s, powerful, independent spirits, great hair, volatile, suddenly gone of their own accord…Sly Stone is the Dick Allen of rock
http://www.northtonorth.com/images/baseball.jpg
aloha
LD
Yes!
How about James Brown v. The Stones in The TAMI Show being the 1975 World Series Game 6 of Rock & Roll?
Spending my formative years watching Billy Buck represent himself well with the Cubs I have a different angle on this and fully admit it’s A Total Buckner Apologist Position. I’m sure you baseball fans will be familiar with my points in favor of BB, but I’ll lay them out anyway for non-fans and in hopes that they will dovetail neatly then with my choice for Bill Buckner of rock.
Buckner was a damned solid all-around player until ankle injuries took away his speed and mobility. But he had a really good batting eye and often was near the top of his team in batting average, also leading the entire NL once. Mind that during the best of his career he was generally lost in the shuffle at first base by players such as Pete Rose, Steve Garvey, Willie Stargell, and Keith Hernandez. But we Cub fans knew we were lucky to have such a dependably productive guy at first base.
As he entered his mid-30s (I believe) the Cubs traded Buckner to Boston, where he’d go on to infamy in that ’86 WS game. Granted, a Major League veteran should be able to cleanly field a slow roller between one’s legs. But I digress.
First, one must remember that that blunder did not end the season. The Sox went on to blow a three run lead in a Game Seven. One must also remember the shitty pitching in Game Six that led to Buck’s miscue (giving up three hits and a wild pitch after getting two out). Finally, one must remember that the balky-ankled Buckner had often been replaced in late innings by a more nimble, defense-oriented player during the season. For whatever reason this night, manager McNamara left a gimpy Billy Buck in there to hobble a couple feet over (that’s all it took) to try and field the grounder and then hustle over to first to beat flying speedster Mookie Wilson down the line. All in all, I say that Billy Buck did his best and had a really good career, but forces beyond his control flowed together to ultimately and mistakenly cast him as a Friggin’ Bum!
SO…it is in this spirit that I nominate as the Bill Bucker of rock…Peter Frampton! Solid, not spectacular, career leading up to his Waterloo – the release and gi-normous but ultimately derided success of “Frampton Comes Alive.” Was Peter supposed to say “No thank you” to that? And was he responsible for the glut of marketing and selling of his pretty face, hair, etc.? Again, I say it would have been tough to turn all that down. Should he have gone to his current hair style in ’78? Would that have solved anything?
So that’s it: Billy Buck’s “screw up,” though unfortunate, didn’t end any season. And Peter Frampton takes too much heat for all that over-kill.
And I’m having too much fun with this topic. I got a friggin’ list in my head of totally superficial connections that I wanna post just to get some awesome baseball names out of my system!
aloha
LD
I think you’ve just hit the 61st, steroid-free home run of this thread! Outstanding. Keep ’em coming. I’m as sick with interest in this topic as you are.
Sinead not rock? I may have to do a Critical Upgrade sometime. She had it going on for a bit —
http://youtu.be/JugUQJv9YlY
and her new album is really quite good.
Steve Jordan is the Len Sakata of rock and roll. Completely forgettable all-rounder, called on when people are kind of beyond caring who actually fills what ought to be a key position.
I would’ve said Waddy Wachtel, but I actually kind of like Len Sakata.
Mad props! for the Len Sakata citation alone!
Now that Cal Jr’s got the record, shouldn’t Pete Best be the Lenn Sakata of rock?
aloha
LD
Pissing on the Alamo would make Ozzy the Exact Opposite of the Rick Monday of rock.
Sorry for that stretch. Just wanted to get a Rick Monday ref out there. After all, he *was* my first favorite player. My rationalization? We both batted and threw lefty! O the mind of an eight-year-old!
aloha
LD
Took me a while to follow up the Dave Kingman one, but how about this:
Rod Stewart is the Dwight Gooden of rock. He came on the scene young and was so outstanding, it seemed a lock he’d be a generation-defining talent. Instead, he did a bunch of blow, and sunk into mediocrity, even as he hung on forever.
I like that one!
High five with our left hands! Now I’ve got to figure out the rock ‘n roll version of my first lefthanded hero, Willie Montanez.
Unstoppable force, refusal to deviate from their one perfectly devastating trick…AC/DC is the Mariano Rivera of rock. Or maybe Bruce Sutter. Mariano’s had a couple more “Back in Black”s than Sutter.
aloha
LD
Undeniable talent, plays better with a partner than alone, Substances!Substances!Substances!, bulked up nicely, outstanding candor about their personal lives, lately have become entertaining circuses (circi?)…David Crosby is the Jose Canseco of rock.
aloha
LD
I realize this game ended months ago, but I was thinking of Axl and I think he’s the Andruw Jones of rock: a world beater in his 20s who looked like a sure thing for the hall of fame, who was fat, washed-up, and mostly useless by his early 30s.
That entry was WELL worth the wait! Thank you!