Shitty rock journalism

[Nitro Express]

So with the movie industry seeing that movies on rock bands and rock stars do well we will get more of those until we get sick of them. I think people are finally getting sick of the comic book super hero movies. So if VH were smart and wanted to make some more scratch they would come out with a movie. Dave would be all over that. So would Sammy. The Van Halen's who consider themselves musicians and not rock starts will hate the idea. Yeah Eddie can play and Alex can beat the drums but in reality, those two have to be the biggest party poopers on the planet. All they do is stay home and play music. Yeah that's how they got good but holy hell guys, let's have some goddammed fun for once.

[twonabomber]

There's no feel-good aspect to the Van Halen story. A movie would never work.

[Terry]

They were both very good and I think 100 times more reliable than anything that could come from the band members themselves.

An example is at the time I really enjoyed the Crazy From The Heat autobiography - I lent out 2 copies of it to friends and haven't read it in a while but as I remember it opens with some crap about Dave being on his hands and knees cleaning the stage so he knows every inch of it before performing. This is less believable when you get older and find out he never even turns up for a 5 minute sound check...

Roth is just as full of (bull)shit as anybody else: he had/has some entertaining stories to tell, but I wouldn't say he is any more or less truthful than anybody else on the planet.

[Terry]

That was the difference between reading Rolling Stone and Musician magazine in the 80's/early 90's. Musician was more about (gasp!) the music and less about the OD.

Too much content now, because there is too much space to fill. Everyone's gotta put their spin on the story, or show their personality quirk. Simply reporting isn't enough any more. It's more about the writer and less the story.

Which, I mean, whatever one thinks about what Frank Zappa had to say about rock journalism (something along the lines of it being interviews of people who can't think, written by people who can't write and published for people who can't read), I will say I enjoyed reading Rolling Stone magazine in the 1980s. Spin magazine too, along with the odd issue of Musician magazine. Even Guitar Player magazine back in the 70s and 80s was a fairly serious periodical, then along came Guitar World, which I initially enjoyed but it eventually turned into the monthly kiss EVH's ass bit of pulp.

I get that tangible print mags sold in stores are a bit of an anachronism...maybe it's just that I'm not looking hard enough, but online all I seem to get are an infinite number of "best of" clickbait lists. To the point where I don't give a shit anymore. Same with podcasts: everybody and their fucking brother has one. I have neither the time nor - more importantly - the inclination to listen for 3 hours re: what Joe Rogan has to say about ANY given topic. Or listen to Eddie Trunk's daily thoughts on the entire UFO discography for the ten millionth time and why they were a criminally underappreciated band.

[Seshmeister]

Roth is just as full of (bull)shit as anybody else: he had/has some entertaining stories to tell, but I wouldn't say he is any more or less truthful than anybody else on the planet.

I'd say he is less truthful than a lot of people on the planet but a lot more truthful than the Van Halens and hugely more truthful than Hagar.

That's just a judgement call from 20 years on here...

On the significant stuff Roth has basically been honest over the years, I'm picking up more spin these days than there used to be and I don't know if that's him or me or just the long form interviews.

[FORD]

So with the movie industry seeing that movies on rock bands and rock stars do well we will get more of those until we get sick of them. I think people are finally getting sick of the comic book super hero movies. So if VH were smart and wanted to make some more scratch they would come out with a movie. Dave would be all over that. So would Sammy. The Van Halen's who consider themselves musicians and not rock starts will hate the idea. Yeah Eddie can play and Alex can beat the drums but in reality, those two have to be the biggest party poopers on the planet. All they do is stay home and play music. Yeah that's how they got good but holy hell guys, let's have some goddammed fun for once.

Bad movies are already on the way. Shortly after Bohemian Rhapsody did well at the Oscars, it was announced that a Sex Pistols biopic would be coming soon.

Except it's not really a Pistols biopic at all, since the story will be told from the point of view of Malcolm McLaren & his ex girlfriend Vivienne Westwood. And their version of the band's story is complete crap. The Pistols themselves have completely disowned any association with the project, so if such a movie is ever made at all, look for it to be even more inaccurate than "Sid & Nancy" was. And I won't even bother to stream the thing illegally online, much less pay to see it in a theater.

John Lydon has a brief statement regarding the film on his website....

You may have seen recent reports of a Sex Pistols biopic. For the avoidance of doubt this film would be unauthorised, unofficial, and not endorsed by Sex Pistols.

[Seshmeister]

Most biopics are horrible especially music ones, the best ones are probably the least accurate about people you don't know much about...

[Nitro Express]

Most biopics are horrible especially music ones, the best ones are probably the least accurate about people you don't know much about...

Good screenplays are hard to find period. The movie industry today runs on trends. The next big thing is perceived to be rock and roll movies. They will make a bunch of mediocre rock and roll movies and some will do well and others won’t.

Movies are tricky. There is only so much history you can cover and things are changed and embellished to make a movie the producers think will get a return on investment.

[Nitro Express]

Which, I mean, whatever one thinks about what Frank Zappa had to say about rock journalism (something along the lines of it being interviews of people who can't think, written by people who can't write and published for people who can't read), I will say I enjoyed reading Rolling Stone magazine in the 1980s. Spin magazine too, along with the odd issue of Musician magazine. Even Guitar Player magazine back in the 70s and 80s was a fairly serious periodical, then along came Guitar World, which I initially enjoyed but it eventually turned into the monthly kiss EVH's ass bit of pulp.

I get that tangible print mags sold in stores are a bit of an anachronism...maybe it's just that I'm not looking hard enough, but online all I seem to get are an infinite number of "best of" clickbait lists. To the point where I don't give a shit anymore. Same with podcasts: everybody and their fucking brother has one. I have neither the time nor - more importantly - the inclination to listen for 3 hours re: what Joe Rogan has to say about ANY given topic. Or listen to Eddie Trunk's daily thoughts on the entire UFO discography for the ten millionth time and why they were a criminally underappreciated band.

That’s ok. It’s only rock and roll and it’s not to be taken too seriously. It was about skipping school and driving 200 miles to see a show. A bad night was drinking too much and puking. A really bad night was ending up in jail. A good night was getting your nuts blown by some slut in a cheap motel after the show.

[Nitro Express]

There's no feel-good aspect to the Van Halen story. A movie would never work.

You could make a pretty good movie on the early days of the band. I would cover the back yard party days through the club days to maybe where Ed get’s married. You could drag it out to the 1984 tour.

[ZahZoo]

There's no feel-good aspect to the Van Halen story. A movie would never work.

Ain't that the truth... they missed the boat on a tragic ending and nobody wants to see a movie that ends with the core subject rusting away in someone's back yard.

[Seshmeister]

That stuff can all be spun, look at The Dirt which shows a post Corabi Crue triumphant career.

They could do the same with the 2007 reunion.

[Igosplut]

There's no feel-good aspect to the Van Halen story. A movie would never work.

Not unless it was an anger-management class exhibit film......

[Jetstream]

Most biopics are horrible especially music ones, the best ones are probably the least accurate about people you don't know much about...

Which is why a pseudo one like "This Is Spinal Tap" is great