On the New York Times online front page I saw a headline that read "First Rock and Roller elected to Congress." They were referring to Orleans front man John Hall. Obviously, like for many liberals, history for the headline writer began when he woke up this morning. Is there no other Rock and Roller that he or she could think of that may have perhaps served in Congress?
Now you may think that Sonny may not have been the best example of rock n' roll, but he was certainly a lot further up the totem pole than John Hall. I actually saw the Colbert Report where John was on, and the best part was not recounted in the article where Colbert wanted the straight skinny on working with John Oats. (Loosely Paraphrased) "I'm not Hall and Oats, I sang with Orleans." John protested.
"Oh," replied Colbert, seemingly losing his enthusiasm.
To be fair, a distinction is made in the article to conveniently remove Sonny Bono from consideration:
Mr. Hall was one of many political activists from that era. But when he was sworn in as a congressman on Thursday, he became the first bona fide rock ’n’ roll musician in the House of Representatives. (Sonny Bono did not play an instrument.)
Orleans does have quite a bit of Internet cache however, thanks to their inclusion in the now famous Worst Album Covers of All Time. Hopefully the thought that went into this album cover is not at all indicative of what to expect from Representative Hall as a congressman.
2 comments:
Sonny Bono was an entertainer, not a rock and roller.
I was never a fan of Orleans, but at least they were rock (ok, more pop-rock than rock, but that's just a detail.)
As for the album cover, it probably isn't "indicative of what to expect from Representative Hall as a congressman," unless, of course, he changes his name to Mark Foley. :)
Both Sonny and Cher and Orleans were pop, not rock so I think we're still missing the first true Rock N Roller in Congress.
Nevertheless, NYT failed to give Sonny his due with that line about not playing an instrument. Sonny was a successful producer and songwriter long before he hooked up with Cher and was responsible for many of their hits. In fact, he only started singing with her because of her terrible stage fright. Unfortunately, that NYT writer believes that the doofus character Bono played on "The Sonny and Cher Show" was real. Someone needs to tell that guy not to believe everything you see on the teevee.
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