"That Sting—he's a really good singer."
—Sting, in a pre-Academy Awards interview during which he explained that (a) he was unlikely to receive an Oscar for "My Funny Friend and Me," a song that he and David Hartley wrote for "The Emperor's New Groove (he was right) and (b) what the members of the Academy were going to be thinking after his performance of the tune during the ceremony.
The first time I saw Rod Stewart in concert was in the very early '70s at the Birmingham Palladium (Michigan, not England), when he was with the Faces, a band that featured the likes of Ron Wood and Ronnie Lane. As the band was essentially unknown then (people may have known the Small Faces), it was a listening situation where my friends and I sat on a bench with our feet propped up on the stage. I saw Stewart and the Faces several times after that, primarily at Cobo Arena. They'd become known. At the end of '75, Stewart went solo. Before he became a disco Vegas lounge act (without playing Vegas: just running with the accoutrements and the approaches), I'd seen him multiple times.
Although I'm sure that many of you are wondering why anyone who openly admits he's seen Stewart several times would be permitted to post stuff on the main page, I should point out that (a) when playing Detroit, he'd often invite the likes of David Ruffin on stage, (b) even on the peroxided "Blondes Have More Fun" ('78) he does a respectable version of "Standing in the Shadows of Love," and (c) "The Mercury Anthology" ('82) is nails.
In 1984, after moving back to Detroit from a stint in Rockford, Illinois (Warren Zevon during a concert at the city's Metro Center: "Rockford! ROCKford! How can you miss with a name like ROCKford!?! All 100 or so of us in the largely empty hall could have clued him in), my wife and I went to a concert at Pine Knob. It was Rod Stewart. He was out in support of his "Camouflage" album.
Let me say this about that: I once sat through a Three Dog Night concert. (Oddly enough, the lineup was Rod Stewart, Johnny Winter, and then the Night(mare). Unfortunately, I didn't drive that night and the guy I was with had no idea who the other two acts were. I was nearly whipped to death by the fringe on his suede cowboy jacket as he kept time to the Dog's greatest hits.
Fortunately, I did have the keys for Stewart at the Knob. We left. Fast. It was embarrassing for me to watch. I am only surprised that it wasn't mortifying for him.
While never really being much of a fan of the Police or solo Sting, his is a career that is somewhat hard to miss. And there have certainly been some high points.
But will someone tell the guy that it is over? Elsewhere on this site the whole notion of musicians selling their music for wallpaper in ads has been debated. I don't think anyone has gone as far as Sting and the Jaguar commercial ("What does a rock star dream of?") He isn't even driving the damn car! What is that all about?
I happened to catch him during the preshow activities at the Superbowl, during which he ended his act by jumping down about 2.5 feet from the top of an amp. Wow! That's REALLY rockin', Sting. His performance of the song referenced above during the Academy Awards show would have seem oddly stiff had he not hit so many flat notes.
Just as Stewart doesn't fool anyone, Sting's antics are pulling the wool over the eyes of only those who book acts for big, televised events. Oh, yeah, and the millions of people who still buy his whorish releases.
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