They Are Legend

More like They Are "Could Have Been" Legend. It's funny how someone i thought was legendary as a kid can become the biggest Grade A dork in my adulthood. No one exemplifies this better than David Lee Roth.

 

When i was a kid there was no one cooler. He was a Rock God. Looks, Charisma to burn, fronting one of the greatest rock bands of the time. And he Blew It. He went from this..

A fucking Rock and roll machine!
To this...


The 1980's were cruel to a lot of artists and even greats like Bowie, Elton, and the Stones put out some of the worst shit ever but THIS! He left Van Halen for This! This guy was always larger than life but he made himself into a "character". A product. An action figure.

 

Van Halen went on to be bigger, more famous, and some people say better. (Not me. I don't hate Van Hagar, in fact i'd bet a million dollars Sammy is probably a likable guy. Dave i would probably kill in just under an hour.) 

Dave made a few more solo albums. Than a bluegrass Van Halen album. Then a techno remix Van Halen album. Then he became an E.M.T. Then he was a Disc Jockey. Somewhere in there he got busted for buying a dimebag in Central Park. Recently Eddie Van Halen decided to take his son Wolfgang on a rock star vacation and since he was mad at Sammy that week he looked under various cardboard boxes until he found Mr. Roth and reformed Van Halen. Now Mr. Roth can have his drugs delivered like a normal person.

Jesus he looks like the guy that brings you pizza at Chuck E. Cheese now.

Another person who comes to mind when i think They Are "Could Have Been" Legend is Ice Cube.

 

As one of the original members of N.W.A. Cube was the first to leave the Gangsta super group (unlike Mr. Roth) over money disputes and not ego. Having been the writer of 45% of N.W.A.'s music he was able through his solo albums to prove very successful. Never was Ice Cube more on top his game than after the riots when he released The Predator.

The Predator, to me, is one of the greatest Hip Hop albums of the 1990's. The anger of a people as voiced through a lyrical poet. Cube started to garner success in films both good (Boyz in the Hood, Friday-as writer and producer) and mediocre (Higher Learning) but never choosing anything outright bad or "sellout".

Yet.

In my eyes one of the last dope things he did was re-collaberate  with Dre on Natural Born Killas, a single for the film Murder Was The Case.

My first "Uh Oh" moment with Cubes Career came when he started hanging out with Korn and Limp Bizkit. I saw Cube perform at the lollapolloza festival in 92 and it was there he was turned on to rock by performing and traveling with the likes of     ..

Red Hot Chili Peppers, Ministry, Soundgarden, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Pearl Jam,Jim Rose Circus, Porno for Pyros, Cypress Hill, House of Pain, Stone Temple Pilots, and Rage Against the Machine.

To bad he wasn't able to differentiate good rock music from bad rock music and what was once pure black anger was replaced by white boy suburban angst. Crappy jocko rap-rock turned a legend like Ice Cube into a joke. Soon after he was making crap movies and hanging out with Fred Durst.

(This is not photoshoped)

In writing this post i can really only think of one artist who in my eyes is and always will be a legend.Even when he turned fat and went crazy with drugs and women. Made more bad movies than good. Actually had the indignity to die on a toilet and is still a legend! Yep. The King.

Long Live the King.

Random side note- I'm not a good writer and i apologize if my run on sentences and half formed ideas get on any of your nerves. I bring this up because my friend Nolan and i were talking about this post and i was saying how i wish i knew how to write better and he said " you aren't the best writer but your really good at spewing"

That's the quote of the day.