RIP Eddie Money

Isn’t his home town New York City?

 

When I worked as a pump jockey and grease monkey at Happy Jack's Natco some 40 years ago (now), one of the first guys I had any seniority over (in age or service time) was this long long frizzy-haired Deadhead-hippie type named Butch. Butch looked very much like Weird Al would a decade later, but his hair was longer -- down the middle of his back. Butch also wore nothing else than farmers overalls. Ever.

Okay. Anyway, Butch was a rock snob. A real rock snob. He listened to GOOD rock music, he assured us. ONLY good rock music. Beatles (only after 1967!, everything before that was 'teenybopper crap'), Stones, Who. Pink Floyd. NOT LED ZEPPELIN!! Not Fleetwood Mac. Bruce Springsteen was a "greaser guido." (This was just about the time 'Darkness on the Edge Of Town' came out.)

He had a whole checklist of songs he would or wouldn't allow on the radio. He'd walk in the showroom and switch the radio off mid-song.

For whatever reason, he loved the hell out of Eddie Money. Just fucking loved him. (This was when he'd only had one or two hits.) When I'd say, "ahh, he's OK," he'd launch into a 20-minute soliloquy on why Eddie Money kicked total ass and anybody who doubted it was flat out ignorant.

As was perfectly normal in the gas station biz, Butch came and went within about six months, and I've never seen him again. (Although maybe I have; if he cut his hair short and wore a suit, I'd never know him.)

So Butch, wherever you are, hold on to your two tickets to paradise.

 

I saw Eddie twice in the past five years, once on a bill with Rick Springfield and Little River Band then at a county fair type event in a small SoCal town in 2018. His voice was pretty much shot, but he was really entertaining.

He did a funny scene on The Kominsky Method, where he played in a fake tribute band. "Eddie Money has tax problems, Freddie Money is free and clear."

 

I'll take state fair concert lineups I never expected to see for $500, Alex

 

Eddie Money was a solid performer who had a few hits. He was good live in his prime, but there was a lot of filler.

Classic "Hall of Pretty Good" guy. If he gets into the Hall, it's because they've run out of greats who aren't in yet.

 

I’ve said that Eddie Money was the Kurt Warner of his rock genre. Great first stage (1977-79), then his years of fumbling/dropping coke vials and then the great comeback (1986-89).

If Cheap Trick is in, Eddie Money has to be in.

 

Throw in Peace In Our Time ... and some friends and I hung out with him before one of his Daytona Beach Biketoberfest shows. Add me to the If Cheap Trick Is In list...

 

1) The bar for the RRHOF is remarkably low.
2) Eddie just bought one ticket to paradise.

 

You guys insulting Cheap Trick can fucking fight me.

 

Eddie Money in the RRHof would be like Harold Baines getting in the baseball Hall of Fame. Oh wait...

 

Me too.

 

They had a nice cameo in Daddy Day Care...