Bob Seger on Leno

He did the night I saw him on the American Storm tour in Toronto. I believe Alto Reed (cool - if fake - name for a sax guy) copped that move from Clarence Clemons. Great, great show as I recall.

 

From a very good concept album about people leaving the Rust Belt for the Sun Belt ("Boomtown Blues" was on it). Early '80s I was sharing a place with two colleagues who were Michigan grads.

 

Funny thing about Bob Seger, which I don't entirely understand. I used to love his work, saw him in concert (superb show), now I kind of like his work... for some reason his music has a shelf life with me. The more I hear it, the more it seems to come across as trite and cliched. His lesser-heard work ("Blame it on Midnight" for example) still sounds good. But I swear, "Old Time Rock and Roll" and "Like a Rock" give me facial tics at this point.

And yet, John Mellencamp (similar basic, midwest appeal; similar career arc) never gets old for me. I could play "Pink Houses" or "Minutes to Memories" 10 times in a row and rock out every time. Can't figure it out for the life of me.

 

I don't remember that, but I remember Alto climbing on top of the piano for a solo. Best part about seeing Seger the first time is we went down shortly before the show, bought tickets outside. One was in the upper deck, one in the lower. We just went down to the lower deck, found the best seats we could about 12 rows off the floor and nobody moved us the whole show. Paid something like $15 each for the tickets. Of course, this was 1983 or '84.

 

It could just be that Old Time Rock and Roll and Like a Rock are probably his most commercially successful songs, but are probably his worst music. I have several Seger CDs, have played them over and over and I still like a ton of the songs (Understanding, Turn the Page, We've Got Tonight, Shame on the Moon, etc.) but I despise both songs you mentioned.

 

--Yes.
--Not bad, but I like the studio versions better. The live version of Katmandu is better than the studio version, tho.
--Doesn't do much for me.

 

That's a great point. I kind of feel the same way about Seger. I could live happy never hearing Old Time Rock 'n Roll ever again. Or Hollywood Knights. Or Strut.

But know that I think about it, I feel the same about some Mellencamp songs too, so I dunno.

 

Those of us who grew up in Michigan in the late 60s/early 70s remember Seger's bar-band beginnings, and his early days as a member of the Michigan garage-punk movement headed by the MC5, Iggy and the Stooges, Mitch Ryder and Rare Earth (the only white band signed to Motown).
"Heavy Music" was a foot-stomping, AM-radio-blasting-out-the-car-windows hit in 1969 or thereabouts, and the original studio version of "Ramblin' Gamblin' Man" (MUCH superior to 'Live Bullet') right about the same time.

"Get Out of Denver" was Seger's first major nationwide hit, in 1969 or 70 if I recall exactly. He kind of hovered on the borderline of hitting it big for a few years after that, before getting the Silver Bullet Band organized and finally striking the jackpot with "Night Moves" in 1975 or so.

He's the third member of the redneck-white-working-class "Sons Of Dylan," along with Mellencamp, and of course, Bruce Springsteen. (Tom Petty also fits in this category somewhat, along with the elder brother of the whole crew, John Fogerty).

Now if somebody could get THAT whole bunch together for a hootenanny, that would be some fun times. ;D ;D

 

Bob Seger is a much better artist than Neil Young

 

I woke last night to the sound of thunder.

 

I bet you could if Bush were able to run for a third term.

 

<i>Ain't it funny how the night moves
With autumn closing in ... </i>

Those two lines mean a lot more to me as each year passes.