Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, November 24, 1993 TAG: 9311250159
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MARK MORRISON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Except Bonnie Raitt.
"I didn't figure Bonnie would make the final cut," admitted Lt. Gov. Don Beyer, who started all of this.
Beyer was asked during his re-election campaign whom he would pick for the Mount Rushmore of Rock 'n' Roll, if there was such a thing.
He answered: Mick Jagger, Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton - and Bonnie Raitt.
Arguably, good picks.
Still, Bonnie Raitt? Nothing against her, but does she really rank up there with some of rock's pioneers?
Apparently not.
The same question - Who would you put on the Mount Rushmore of Rock 'n' Roll? - was put to the people.
Bonnie Raitt didn't receive a single vote from the nearly 75 people who called us or wrote us with their picks. (Maybe Don Beyer should indeed stick to politics.)
He was a good sport, though, volunteering to help judge the nominations along with Sam Giles, a disc jockey from WROV-FM; Janet Carty, a local sculptor; and three people from the ranks of the voting populace: Dale Bivens and Sharon Tischler of Roanoke and Brad Thomas of Blacksburg.
As judges, they were all given broad authority to interpret the votes and the accompanying comments as they saw fit. They gathered last Friday, and as you might expect, emotions ran high.
The panel first debated on whether the Mount Rushmore of Rock 'n' Roll should include only four faces, like the real Mount Rushmore, or whether they should allow substitutes.
For example, should a famous rock pairing, such as John Lennon and Paul McCartney or Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, count as one of the faces? Or should a famous rock band, such as The Beatles or The Rolling Stones, count for one face?
It was decided finally to go with four: no duos, no bands. Just like it was decided to limit the real Mount Rushmore to four. "Or else we'd have 12 presidents up there," Bivens pointed out.
Beyer agreed, adding extras was a bad idea. "You'd end up with all kinds of mediocrity," he said.
Then, the judges rolled up their sleeves.
The nominations varied wildly.
There were votes for classical composers: Mozart and Bach. For jazz artists: Charlie Parker and Bill Evans. For blues: Muddy Waters and Screamin' Jay Hawkins.
There were votes for country: Garth Brooks and Patsy Cline. For reggae: Bob Marley. For pop: Michael Jackson, Madonna and Mariah Carey.
These were all dismissed. Not rock enough for the rock, the judges ruled.
The nominations for entire bands also were dismissed. This eliminated some of the more colorful nominations, like from the guy who lobbied for an all-Sex Pistols Mount Rushmore.
"Their music today, it's timeless. It compares to the `Wizard of Oz.' It seems like it came out a week ago," he said.
Or the guy who nominated The "Happy Days" Band: Richie, Fonzie, Potsie, Ralph and Bag. "Even though Richie's band performed on `Happy Days,' their band was as good as any other," he argued.
And the vote for Kiss: "Because they were so unusual."
Other compelling entries also had to be spiked.
Alice Cooper: "When you say rock 'n' roll, I mean, he has got to come to mind."
Frank Zappa: "Because . . . (burp)."
All-Elton: "Four big, fat, huge Elton John heads!"
All-ugly: Axl Rose, Ozzie Osborne, Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley.
And all-nose: Ringo Starr, Pete Townsend, Bono and Ray Davies. "The secret behind a great rock 'n' roll band is a great nose. What better place to honor those noses than at Mount Rushmore."
Ultimately, it came down to the obvious choices.
Elvis Presley and John Lennon stood head-and-shoulders above the pack in voting. No surprises there.
However, their popularity counted only so much. The judges unanimously agreed on Lennon. "That's a slam-dunk," Beyer said.
But Elvis was a tougher sell.
Janet Carty, the sculptor, said: "I mean, he's on the stamp. Do we need him on a mountain, too?"
Beyer questioned whether Elvis was a true rocker. He said the first two albums he ever bought were Elvis Presley's greatest hits and Paul Anka's greatest hits.
"I couldn't tell the difference between them," Beyer said.
Sam Giles, the radio man, said that if he had to choose someone from rock's early years, it would be Chuck Berry over Elvis.
Someone suggested Bill Haley. Retorted Beyer: "Did you ever learn a Bill Haley riff on the electric guitar?"
It was quickly agreed: Chuck Berry deserved a spot.
They left any further discussions on Elvis for later.
The judging then got bogged down with talk of also-rans like Neil Young. "He was grunge before there was grunge," said Sharon Tischler.
To speed things along, Beyer suggested crossing off those whom they agreed definitely did not belong up there.
Gone was Paul McCartney and the other Beatles, Jim Morrison, Elton John, Bob Dylan, Buddy Holly and Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead. "We'll hear about it when we cross off Jerry," warned Sam Giles of the Deadheads coalition.
As the sculptor, Carty said Buddy Holly's glasses would have been a nice touch on the mountain. She said the same about Jimi Hendrix's hair.
That sparked a testy debate over the dueling guitar gods: Hendrix or Eric Clapton.
Here again, Giles said if given a choice between them, he would go with Clapton over Hendrix.
"He said the `C' word, didn't he?" responded Bivens, who was adamant about his feelings on Hendrix over Clapton.
But about Hendrix, Giles argued: "The best song I think he ever did was a Bob Dylan song," citing "All Along the Watchtower."
Bivens replied in kind that Clapton hasn't done any serious rocking for 20 years. Look at "Tears in Heaven," he said. It's practically easy-listening.
"What's your problem with Clapton?" Beyer chimed in.
Sensing another deadlock, Beyer offered another suggestion. The Beatles and The Rolling Stones seem to be the defining bands of the rock era, he said.
Everyone agreed.
Should they pick a representative from each? Everyone agreed they should.
For The Beatles, John Lennon already had been decided. So, it was between Mick Jagger and Keith Richards for the Stones.
Everyone agreed on Keith Richards, despite his low number of votes: 5. There was only one dissenting vote, from Brad Thomas who said all Richards ever did was recycle what Chuck Berry had done before him.
Finally, it came down to the last face - and no consensus.
Should it be Elvis? Eric Clapton? Or Jimi Hendrix?
Or maybe just a blank spot with a question mark?
"No way," said Bivens. "I'm not leaving this room being labeled a non-decision maker."
Maybe a woman rocker? The judges agreed it would be good to have a woman on the mountain, but they boldly refused to add a woman merely for the sake of political correctness.
She had to be just as deserving and none were, they concluded.
Beyer even admitted that his original pre-election choice of Bonnie Raitt was somewhat aimed at the women's vote. In reality, he said, right or wrong, women just haven't had the role in shaping rock 'n' roll that men have had.
He then suggested a vote to end the final gridlock.
And so it went.
Dale Bivens voted for Jimi Hendrix.
Sam Giles and Sharon Tischler voted for Eric Clapton.
But Elvis got the nod . . . from Beyer, Brad Thomas and Janet Carty.
"That's only 3-2-1, is there any way to get a closer consensus?" Beyer asked.
There wasn't.
However, they all agreed they could sleep at night with a Mount Rushmore of Rock 'n' Roll that included Elvis, John Lennon, Chuck Berry and Keith Richards.
At least there was no Mozart or Meatloaf.
by CNB