defend the indefensible: EDDIE MONEY

There was actually a real cool interview with him in an old issue of Roctober. He went through some pretty tough times with drug addiction.

First two records were great late 70's rock records to my junior high ears. I loaned them to Glenn Fitch in 1979 and still haven't gotten them back. So I didn't buy any more Eddie Money records.

TS: Eddie Money -vs- Eddie Munster

His apperance in "Wonderland" is worth seeing.

I like "Take Me Home Tonight."

You betcha - ditto Jimmy Buffett. Rick Springfield, John Mellencamp and Pat Benatar never did much business over here either.

I'd bet she got seriously creeped out when her ex got charged with murder....how Ronnie survived being locked up by that lunatic (yes, a very talented lunatic) is anyone's guess.

Ronnie remains one of my all time favorite female voices, along with the long forgotten Arlene Smith of the 50's Chantels (Maybe, Every Night)....Arlene left the biz and went back to teaching. I do think, however, that she's done some retro shows. Unfortunately, I won't spend $50 to see Arlene do 2 songs and have to sit through the likes of Jay and the Americans doing Cara Mia.

a great riff, that gets worn out through overinsistence (see also "sufragette city"). bridge and verses are kind of trite. but not bad.

Hey, if Homer likes him, he's good enough for me! (Even if only for that song and his other '70s biggies - don't like the 80s stuff.) "I heartily endorse this event or product or rock singer!"

[Oh wait - I just this second realized that you guyz meant "money" in the "Swingers" sense! Shit. Oh well, let me get back to where I was...]

And as some long-ago Rolling Stone reviewer pointed out, the name of his music publishing company is Cash-ola Tunes! As a recording artist, it's obvious that he isn't in it for the music. As though his roots were in Scotland, rather than Ireland. (Sorry for the non-PC racial slur; but I'm 3/8 Scots myself, so I'm ALLOWED to.)

And yes, those two '78 hits still sound pretty great!

Also, nobody has mentioned that his mouth is on the side of his face, not the front!

lol

whatever happened to weird looking/ugly pop stars?

dolph gelt?

esteban dinero?

http://www.derekerdman.com/ilovemilkshakes/march/eddie_money.mp3

and ugh no surprise that he says Elvis Costello and The Clash were dicks:

When people write something bad about you, you wanna come back and say something bad to them on the telephone, I guess. I don’t know. I was never the darling of the critics. For example, I’d do a show with Elvis Costello who was the biggest prick you’d ever want to meet in your life.

Wait. Why?

Because he wasn’t very nice to me. And I’m … [Makes unintelligible yelping sound to wife Laurie] My wife is punching me in the leg here. Am I saying something fucking wrong here? I can’t talk … Maybe Elvis Costello is a nice guy right now, but when I met him in 1977, he was a scumbag. I opened up for the Who with the Clash. For some reason, these guys from the Clash were really super mean to me, and I’m going, I’m the nicest guy in the world! Why are these people being pricks to me? One thing I can say about me is I’ve always been the same person.

“Think I’m in Love" is a classic too

Take Me Home Tonight introduced me to Ronnie Spector, and for that I will be ever grateful.

I think of him like Tom Petty as an early MTV mainstay. Petty kept cooler company but Money's biggest singles stand up to Petty's biggest.

Adding to the list of people who plagued him -- turns out he loathed Kenny Loggins.

https://www.clevescene.com/cleveland/hes-alright-classic-rocker-eddie-money-talks-about-his-annual-trip-to-town-and-why-he-hates-kenny-loggins/Content?oid=4102163

Money sounds like he was a great interview

"People say, 'How did you O.D.?' and I said, 'What do you mean how did I O.D.? It was free! How do you think I O.D.'d?'"

i shan't speak ill of the departed

IIRC Costello mentions Money in his book, not in a mean or cruel way but in a "Why was I getting booked with THIS guy to play in the States?" way.

The Clash opening for a band they specifically name-checked as irrelevant in 1977, then shitting on Money, is completely unsurprising. I love the Clash, but they were some real shit-ass poseurs a lot of the time.

RIP to the money man. He played an oversized role in my life because one of my high school English teachers was a drummer in Money's touring band in the 80s, which was an endless source of amusement to us as teens in 2001. I was also lucky enough to catch him play a free show at a ribs festival in Reno 2-3 years ago. His voice was totally shot, he was completely hammered (he also disappeared backstage for a couple minutes and came back much much more energetic and sniffly at one point also), but it was enjoyable nonetheless.

Also he deserves praise for the weird patience he exhibited on his epic Longmont potion castle call. Even Sidney Poitier was cursing and hanging up within a minute or two.

In 1998-1999 I had a job in Westlake Village and I'd occasionally see him in the grocery store, Tower Records, coffee bar, etc. - totally out of his mind and looking like he just got off stage during a heat wave, but somehow still maintaining? At least until he got arrested by the local cops for vandalizing his own house. I haven't heard any of his songs in decades, but I can absolutely recall them the instant I see the title.

totally out of his mind and looking like he just got off stage during a heat wave

lol

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EEXjAhrW4AUCvn3?format=jpg&name=large

I’m the nicest guy in the world! Why are these people being pricks to me? One thing I can say about me is I’ve always been the same person.

EC and the Clash and ... Kenny Loggins might have been jerks, but if someone told me Eddie Money was himself a world-class coked-out asshole it's not like it would come as a shock.

Elvis Costello is obviously a dick anyway but I imagine, back in the day, Elvis and the Clash were like, "Who the fuck is this guy, I've never heard of him, why am I playing with this loser?"

When he opened for the Who in Detroit in 1982 he constantly bad-mouthed fellow openers the Clash on stage. He was pissed that his set was before the Clash's because he had a #1 record at the time and they didn't.
― Lawrence the Looter (Lawrence the Looter), Friday, March 17, 2006 2:01 PM (thirteen years ago)

rip eddie -- two tickets and take me home tonight are two of my very fav classic-rock staples

The Clash opening for a band they specifically name-checked as irrelevant in 1977

Did they say the Who was irrelevant? If so, it'd be weird in light of a) Mick Jones and Topper Headon (and Strummer, I think) being stone Who fanatics, and b) no fewer than two Clash songs using the "I Can't Explain" riff.

And Big Audio Dynamite's "Contact," too:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEgjdRIVSvg

And of course "Baba" sampled in "Rush."

Next thing you'll be telling me Mick Jones was actually a fan of the Stones.

No! No Elvis, Beatles or Rolling Stones, iirc!

Just the Who!!!!

Pretty great post by Paul Collins of the Nerves/Beat fame here:

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10156305253146856&set=a.10152390072631856&type=3&theater

Thoughts from Peter Case too

When Eddie was still an unsigned act in the Bay Area, he championed my band The Nerves and had us open his shows. That was my first experience playing rock and roll in packed clubs, and it blew our minds. And I agree with MDB, he was a great singer...sad news. https://t.co/to0vgg5rFF

— Peter Case (@ThePeterCase) September 13, 2019

RIP

i didn't know he was once a NYC cop, interesting. i watch these music shows on AXS TV and he is on there all the time. seemed like a good guy but yeah i can see puck rock people hating him at the time.

eddie money was nypd?

i know who will be taking him home tonight.

satan.

https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/13/entertainment/eddie-money-cancer-death-trnd/index.html

"Born Edward Joseph Mahoney in Brooklyn, New York, he briefly served as a member of the NYPD before moving out to California in 1968 to try his hand in the music business."

try his hand in the music business

An apt phrase, since this guy's entire discography can be summed up with the jerk-off gesture. I swear, the power of childhood nostalgia is fucking stunning sometimes.

Argh, you're right, the Who wasn't one of the bands the Clash named. In any case, it was still another case of their constant internal contradictions: A glam rocker (Jones) and R&B/rock and roller (Strummer) insisting that their music was an entirely new thing that owed no debt to the music that came before, as well as jumping feet first into a music world they were constantly trying to disassociate themselves from.

I swear, the power of childhood nostalgia is fucking stunning sometimes.

― shared unit of analysis (unperson), Friday, September 13, 2019

who's writing 1000-word essays placing him as Zep or the Who or Aerosmith's equal? The line overwhelmingly has been, "Average at best dude who sang and wrote/co-wrote a couple great songs."

what are you so cranky about?

always one of those dudes I was happy to hear pop up on the classic rock station. KQRS had a particular affection for "Gimme Some Water" a deep cut that might be the world's best Bad Company ripoff. obv Two Tickets and Take Me Home tonight are AOR classics

Gimme Some Water:

https://youtu.be/rU-KVObNEd4

That one rings a bell, not sure how many times I might have heard it back in the day.

what are you so cranky about?

One of those guys who's just been a name to me as he made no impact in the UK whatsoever. Anyway he seems to be some kind of proto-Bryan Adams type. Did he have a misguided new wave phase, several years after everyone else, that failed to set the charts alight?

well, he did wear a skinny tie

Ha, right exactly. Think he hit as part of the bar band wing of AOR that amiably coexisted with and borrowed bits and pieces of New Wave already so no need for a full on New Wave phase iirc. See also the Nerves connection mentioned by Ned.

If I had to pick an artist whose first name is Eddie and who has been very successful in the States but who no-one in Britain has ever so much as heard of let alone bought a record by it would be a dead heat between Eddie Money and Eddie Rabbitt.

― Dadaismus (Dada), Friday, 31 October 2003 16:33 (fifteen years ago) bookmarkflaglink

Ha.

Always felt he filled the niche of/filled the need (if indeed there was such a need)for a less bombastic Meatloaf. If you didn’t have time to sit through the whole Sturm und Drang of “Paradise by The Dashboard Light” then why not just get with “Two Tickets To Paradise.”

he grew up in levittown long island and would often return to do free summer shows in eisenhower park, where he'd always show his bona fides by referring to it as salisbury park, a name you'd only remember if you were of a certain age. suited with tie open at the neck and askew, hair mussed, beer belly, head tilted, he'd always pull out a few hits that would make you go huh, he did that too? he was funny and seemed genuinely nice.

AOR vs. guitar based new wave is one of the biggest cases of narcissism of small differences in history

yup

*checks URL*

a last Eddie Money thing---i'd forgotten he'd shared a bill with Elvis Costello in Cleveland, Dec 1977. "a grumpy ex-cop," as per EC pic.twitter.com/2oZ3dehgbW

— Bowiesongs (@bowiesongs) September 14, 2019

This was fun.

I always pictured the character of Larry from Stephen King's The Stand as a Eddie Money analog.

Wow, I didn't even know he had died!

I file him with Loverboy as "cool" branded people who make music that is mostly not cool, but when I'm in a perverse frame of mind, I might listen.

See also Supertramp, Cheap Trick

Loverboy only has one good song I know, and is decidedly not cool, but Eddie Money (indeed, also not cool) has several (the biggest of which features the line "I feel a hunger, it's a hunger ...", which is sort of accidentally brilliant).

I've had a few people try to sell me on Supertramp, but the many songs I hear from them on the radio have always been enough. Cheap Trick, otoh, is cool as hell.

I used to think that about Loverboy but I gave the first album a listen it's kind of creepy in a good way if too commercial for my taste.

Working for the Weekend still sucks though.