VH1's "Rock Honors", tributes to Queen, Kiss, Judas Priest & Def Leppard (1 Viewer)

[Aaron Silverman]

Paul Stanley said in an interview that Ace and Peter were "invited" to be there, but he didn't elaborate as to whether they were invited to perform as KISS.

The impression that I got from the interview was that the four original members seem to be on good terms with each other these days, even if they aren't performing together. So that's nice to know.

 

[ElevSkyMovie]

From what I've read, Paul and Gene own everything. The name, the images, the marketing stuff, all of it. If Peter and Ace play with the band, they play like any other players. They all sit down and work out a contract to have them play. If they can come to terms, and Peter and Ace swallow their pride, they play with them. Otherwise, Paul and Gene get someone else to put on the make-up.

 

[Kevin C Brown]

I just watched it. Paul Rodgers could tone down the Freddie-ness. I've seen Rodgers a few time in concert and he's always worn black, or blue jeans, or a white T shirt. A red tank top? And the twirling the mike stand thing is also a Freddie thing.

I liked the song selections from all the band. If Judas Priest had played Living After Midnight, I would have puked. (have heard that one about a million times too often.)

And it was nice to see the all star Kiss tribute band with Ace, and God of Thunder is actually one of my faves by them.

I chuckled at the one comment by the Def Leppard dude about them playing pop metal and not hard rock. They actually started off as a hard rock band. The 1st 2 albums are killer. They were transitioning with Pyromania, and then by the 4th, they were solidly pop. Playing the T Rex tune was a nice touch.

The Godsmack medley for Priest was pretty cool too.

I couldn't understand why Jamie Pressley was wearing Kiss stuff to intro Def Leppard though.

I just went back and looked at the setlist. Maybe we can hope they'll do a DVD with all the performances on it. (Assuming they can get all the rights. )

One last thought is I wonder if they asked any other bands to do this before they got these 4?

 

[Aaron Silverman]

I was wondering why they did that one, but then I heard that Leppard has a new album of cover tunes out, and that's one of the tracks on it.

There have been some interesting covers of that song on movie soundtracks (Velvet Goldmine, The Truman Show, and a few others).

 

[Michael Allred]

The Freddie-ness? He's about as different from Freddie as you can imagine from his vocal style to stage performance (he's pretty far from the campiness of Freddie.)

All of the clothing and jewelry he wears on stage now is designed by his girlfriend...and I'm a bit baffled as to why you're questioning his wearing a red shirt on stage. Blue jeans and a white T-shirt are pretty boring if you ask me.

As for the mic twirling being a Freddie thing, how so? First Paul uses the entire stand whereas Freddie held half of it. Freddie was more known for thrusting his half mic stand or making other gestures with it, certainly not twirling (which, again, would be harder to do with only half of the stand inhis hand.)

 

[Kevin C Brown]

Dude, like I said, I've seen Paul Rodgers more than once before in concert. He never wore anything as ... flamboyant ... as a red tank top before ("blue jeans and a white T-shirt are pretty boring"? What- is he trying to win a fashion contest?), and he never used a mike stand either. I'm sure it's just coincidence he did those things with Queen.

And, I never said anything about his vocal style. Paul is one of the best blues/rock singers there is (Free, Bad Co, The Firm), but he can't emulate Freddie Mercury in that regard because he doesn't have the range.

I never thought he was a good fit with Queen, and seeing him with them on the Rock Honors special did nothing to change my mind as far as that goes.

 

[Dave Mack]

I'd rather have Paul Rodgers doing his own thing with Brian and Roger than some Freddie imitator like JOURNEY got with Steve Augeri. And live Queen+Paul Rodgers plays a load of FREE and Bad Company tunes and Roger and Brian sing almost 1/2 the Queen stuff. No problem here. We saw them in Hollywood and they rocked.

 

[Aaron Silverman]

I am actually amazed by Steve Augeri. Not only does he sound like Steve Perry, he even looks like Steve Perry, and for the love of God, he's named STEVE!

 

[Dave Mack]

I hear ya Aaron! It's eerie! I think he was playing in a JOURNEY cover band, yes?

 

[Aaron Silverman]

I dunno, but that wouldn't surprise me one bit.

 

[Todd H]

Actually, I don't think Augeri was in a Journey cover band. I think at the time Journey contacted him, he was out of the music business after his band Tall Stories called it quits.

There was a rumor that Hugo was considered as a replacement. If you've never seen or heard Hugo, then you'll be shocked when you do. I can't find his old website, but here's an interview with him.

http://www.metal-rules.com/interviews/hugo-May2004.htm

It's scary how similar he is to Perry, even moreso than Augeri! He's also in a Journey tribute band, Evolution. Here's their myspace site...

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm...endid=68692707

 

[Michael Allred]

So who *would* be a good fit with Queen then? Off the top of my head I cannot think of a quality rock singer who can handle soft AND hard stuff, that is NOT someone who would be considered a Freddie imitator and has a great stage presence.

 

[Kevin C Brown]

There was a thread here a while ago which you obviously know about. Two suggestions that came from other people are George Michael and Gary Cherone. I don't know about Cherone, but George Michael would have been a better fit than Rodgers. I've also seen Rob Thomas mentioned as a possible good fit too. I am obviously not the only one who thought Rodgers and what's left of Queen weren't a good fit.

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htf/...d.php?t=199246

If Paul and Brian have indeed called it quits, then I think they are both better off.

 

[Michael Allred]

People mention George Michael all the time and yet always fail to give valid reasons as to why a fluffy pop singer would fit in with a rock band as opposed to someone who is a legit rocker. Rob Thomas would be good if you wanted everything to sound incredibly boring.

As for calling it quits, I have seen nothing from Queen or Paul that would suggest their collaboration is over.

 

[Aaron Silverman]

I'm going to assume that you haven't seen the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert from '92, when George Michael performed with Queen. He really blew people away. I remember being totally shocked at how good he was.

IIRC, he never toured with Queen because he wasn't as good at the harder rocking material.

 

[ElevSkyMovie]

 

[Michael Allred]

Which is basically what I've been saying all along. He's about as much of a rock singer as Michael Jackson is a womanizer.

 

[Michael Allred]

As Brian May is fond of saying, reporters will say pretty much whatever they want without any basis in fact.

 

[Aaron Silverman]

Brilliant!

 

[Michael Allred]

Yes, except for "39" when he bungled the lyrics.