Rock Massacres, Vol. 7: Pete Townshend

This extremely rare massacre took place in 1974 while The Who's Pete Townshend was rather long-windedly waxing poetic about the positive attributes of Rock Music. Interviewer Melvyn Bragg, usually possessing a keen eye and ear for journalistic detail, swears to this day that this mishap never occurred. Well, as much as I admire Bragg as a journalist, I must respectfully disagree here, as the footage clearly tells the tale.

As for Townshend, he was so inebriated during this interview that he didn't realize what had happened until The Who started assessing footage to be used in The Kids Are Alright almost three years later (The Who, perhaps mercifully, opted not to use this part of the interview for the film).

Click on the image to view the footage. Enjoy.

Rock Massacres, Vol. 6: Paul McCartney

There have been many rumors over the years about Paul McCartney being dead. There is recent evidence that contradicts the popular belief that Paul was killed in late 1966 in a car crash. Judging by this rare footage from early 1967, Paul was being interviewed by the BBC, talking rather incoherently, when tragedy struck. Take a look at the footage and judge for yourself.

Click on the image to view it.

Rock Massacres, Vol. 5: Van Morrison

Today's massacre features one of the all-time greats, in my humble opinion: Mr. Van Morrison. The "song" he is singing here, simply known as "Thirty Two," comes from a one-day session at Bang Records in 1967 where Van spontaneously creates 31 songs in order to get out of his recording contract. It's a hoot and a holler, believe you me.

WFMU's Beware of the Blog not only provides some more detail on the subject, but streams all 31 songs for your listening pleasure. I especially recommend "Ring Worm" and "Want a Danish" for starters.

Click on the image to view the video.

Rock Massacres, Vol. 4: John Cale

Here's the latest massacre, and this time the honor goes to Mr. John Cale. Now, you at home may be asking "Why would you do such a thing to John Cale? I thought you liked John Cale." And it's true, I do. But these massacres aren't intended merely to punish substandard artists (except for Robert Plant; that was intentional), they are more a kind of love letter in the form of a brutal stabbing or beheading. As Noam Chomsky would say: "To truly love your idols, you must first depict them being horrifically slaughtered in some way, perhaps in a 30 second web-based video, just off the top of my head." I'll tell you, that Chomsky was a true prophet.

I should also point out that the image used is from an old vinyl compilation called Guts, which came out in 1977, a full three years before an enormously popular slasher film. Yeah, that John Cale was a true prophet.

Click on the image to view it.

Rock Massacres, Vol. 3: David Bowie

Here's the latest installment of Rock Massacres. This time, it's David Bowie's turn. Now, you may accuse this of being an inadvertent piece of commentary on Bowie's chameleon-like artistic nature which has allowed him to sustain a career for decades without entirely forming a concrete artistic identity. If ever he should discontinue adopting the "masks" of other artists, you may argue, he would artistically cease to exist.

I know that's what you're all thinking. Oh, don't try to deny it. It's perfectly natural to draw parallels like this.

But the truth is, I was just trying to be funny. And isn't laughter the greatest gift of all? No? Damn, I honestly thought it was. Sorry. Try to enjoy it anyway.

Click on the image to view it.

Rock Massacres, Vol. 2: Peter Gabriel

Well it looks as though this might become a series after all. Massacring rock stars is fun stuff. This one utilizes Peter Gabriel's second album cover in a way that makes me uncomfortable. But I'm easily made to feel uncomfortable. You'll notice that I sound uncannily nothing like Peter Gabriel, but this shouldn't prevent you from enjoying this bit of fluff.

Enjoy. Click on the image to view it.

Rock Massacres, Vol. 1: Led Zeppelin

My video shorts are beginning to make less sense as the days progress. Anyway, this one may become a series if you're not careful. VH1 is craving something just like this, I can feel it.

Enjoy. Click on the image to view it.