RIP Eddie Money

[PCLoadLetter]

That's why will always love this place, guys debating the relative merits of Eddie Money (not a HOFer in my book). And anyone who rips Gino Vanelli can go **** their hat. Not a HOFer - even here in Canuckistan - but black cars do look better in the shade.

Gonna have "Black Cars" going through my head the rest of the day now.

 

[CD Boogie]

I'm not the one making the "big hits" argument. That was you, and he did not have them.

"Staying power"? OK.

Look, man, he was a decent, workmanlike entertainer. Plenty of people who were responsible for booking state fair entertainment were thankful for Eddie Money. He couldn't not have been much more generic or forgettable. Several songs were pleasant.

I guess I was too loosey goosey with the term "big hits." I think of them as songs that are still being played decades after their first release.

 

[HanSenSE]

I'm not the one making the "big hits" argument. That was you, and he did not have them.

"Staying power"? OK.

Look, man, he was a decent, workmanlike entertainer. Plenty of people who were responsible for booking state fair entertainment were thankful for Eddie Money. He couldn't not have been much more generic or forgettable. Several songs were pleasant.

So you're saying, outside of his hometown, he won't be A1 like Collins?

 

[Jake from State Farm]

Not a Hall of Famer but a solid career
He opened Pine Knob, the outdoor amphitheater outside Detroit, every summer
This was his best song
RIP

 

[cyclingwriter2]

Isn’t his home town New York City?

 

[Starman]

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 ****ing 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.

 

[MTM]

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."

 

[Huggy]

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

 

[Neutral Corner]

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.

 

[exmediahack]

Those "big hits"? He had two top ten singles in his entire career.

Look, man, I've got nothing against Eddie Money. If you like that stuff, cool. But Rock and Roll Hall of Fame? That's the equivalent of a second baseman hitting .260 going in the Baseball hall.

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.

 

[daytonadan1983]

Take Me Home Tonight
Two Tickets to Paradise
Shakin
Endless Nights
Walk on Water.
I Wanna Go Back
Baby Hold on to Me

I just more than doubled your claim. Those are all 7 big hits that you still hear regularly on the radio.

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...

 

[tapintoamerica]

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

 

[PCLoadLetter]

You guys insulting Cheap Trick can ****ing fight me.

 

[cyclingwriter2]

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

 

[Huggy]

You guys insulting Cheap Trick can ****ing fight me.

Me too.

 

[CD Boogie]

You guys insulting Cheap Trick can ****ing fight me.

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

 

[misterbc]

The Guess Who before Eddie.
Just listen to “Undun”.

 

[Starman]

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

Yeah, it pretty much is.

 

[Starman]

The Guess Who before Eddie.
Just listen to “Undun”.

The Guess Who and Bachman-Turner Overdrive, are each, separately, about Harold Baines-level candidates for the RNRHOF.

 

[BitterYoungMatador2]

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 ****ing 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 never tire of stories like these from you.