Hey everyone, let’s name some notable rock folks who almost certainly tell lies frequently when being interviewed. Steely Dan have long mastered the art of turning Q&As into their own personal Marx Brothers routines. I am convinced that Paul Westerberg routinely changes his answers to questions about The Replacements, possibly out of boredom. I bet both PW and the Dan learned their craft by studying Bob Dylan interviews.

Also, who should start lying more when being interviewed? Rollins, yes. The Boss, sure. Paul McCartney, definitely.

(I’ll admit that my interest in this topic is partially due to disenfranchisement with the whole interviewing thing, the idea that you can get an even minor rock star to provide a “teachable moment” by revealing something about themselves and their art. It’s not so much that it’s impossible, but do people care anymore? Maybe some rockers may reveal more of themselves when they’re covering up their tracks.)

A simple enough question, I believe: What genre do you most prefer relative to the original, “authentic” form when done by “inauthentic” musicians?

In your heart of hearts, for instance, relative to authentic reggae, would you rather listen to The Clash play “Police and Thieves” and their other reggae covers?

Can you take or leave authentic Chicago blues, yet you seek out any early Fleetwood Mac album involving Peter Green?

Is your country music collection primarily made up of albums by bearded Columbia University graduates living in Brooklyn?

Is your interest in rock ‘n roll so weak that you prefer hearing it handled by the French?

Something else? Do tell!

Foreshadowing of my complete lack of interest in Flashdance

I may have mentioned this once before, as a 15-year-old boy watching The Last Waltz in a theater when it came out, the image of Joni Mitchell in all her silken, dewy womanhood in that long skirt and leotard terrified me. For some reason it was more woman on a stage with rock musicians than I could handle. Around the same time I saw Kate Bush for the first time, on Saturday Night Live. If memory serves she was wearing a leotard and those floppy socks that you see ballet dancers wear when they’re working out. Or was she wearing that Where the Wild Things Are lion suit from one of her early albums? I think she was lounging on a piano. Because this is a visual-based thread, I won’t get into that voice, but again, too much woman – or more likely, since I later woud find both Mitchell and Bush kind of hot, too much leotard or Cats costuming.

Anyhow, to this day, those are the scariest images I’ve seen in rock. What frightening rock image has been stuck in your mind all these years?