When Rock Legends Sell Out

"Hope I die before I get old"
--The Who, My Generation

When you're in your youth, such sentiments are all too common -- especially if you're a hip, young rock star on the cuting edge of the music industry. Mich Jaggar, I believe, once stated early in his career that he couldn't imagine singing "Satisfaction" when he was 40 -- or something like that, I can't remember the exact quote.

I can forgive Mick for lapsing into a parody of himself in his golden years and still strutting his stuff on stage. I might not be so quick to understand, however, if he were to pop up late one night on my TV screen as an infomercial pitchman spewing cheesy script. Yeah, that would probably be unforgivable.

But that's exactly what I encountered some months back while channel surfing in the wee hours of the morning. It wasn't the vocal half of the Glimmer Twins, mind you, but another of his contemporaries from the radical 60s -- none other than Roger Daltry.

Perhaps I was hallucinating. Could I really be seeing a rock icon of this magnitude degrading his legend to this degree? It's a friggin' infomercial! No way! I gave myself a good smack; it was no hallucination. This was really happening!

Well, I calmed down a bit. Hey, at least he was hawking a collection of classic rock hits from the 60s and 70s. At least he wasn't selling a space saving vacuum bag storage system, spray on hair, or or some kind of kitchen rotisserie gadget.

That didn't make me feel much better, actually, after I watched for a few minutes and listened to the trite dialog he was exchanging with his beautiful, young, long dark haired co-host. Damn, is nothing sacred anymore? Is everyone selling out? Hell, I even caught Ringo promoting a similar rock collection some weeks after that. Well, that wasn't so shocking, actually. Ringo was never one who possessed more than a very modest amount of talent. He had long ago sold out his name to the highest bidder, so no big surprise there.

I wonder if John Lennon, Jimi Hendriks, Janis Joplin or Jim Morrison, if they were alive today, would stoop to such horrendous levels of self degradation? I can't imagine it in my wildest dreams, nor would I want to expend much effort in trying. It's just too depressing!

I only hope this isn't a continuing trend. One thing I do for for sure, I really need to stop turning the TV on late at night and just take a couple of benadryl tablets, instead. I don't need any more major disillusionment, right now.

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