Rainbows and rock'n'roll never fade

Not every rock story is a tragedy. But aging rockers can't fight time.

One of the rare times when a cover is better than the original is Def Leppard’s 2005 version of “No Matter What.” I just think Phil Collen’s stinging guitar is better than Pete Ham’s. But we’ll never know if Ham could have bested Collen because three days shy of his 28th birthday, Ham hanged himself.

Loch Fyne with rainbow by sylvia duckworth, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Pete Ham hanged himself because he received a phone call that all his money was gone. This happened after Apple Records fell apart and withdrew Badfinger’s album deal, and Warner Brothers Records suing to get their advance back. Warner sued because Badfinger’s American manager was a crook.

Stan Polley cut a deal to represent Badfinger in 1972, a year after many of his clients dropped him. They dropped Polley because in 1971, his name came up in a bad way during U.S. Senate hearings dealing with organized crime. Polley’s clients were suspicious to begin with, but Badfinger pressed on, and Polley negotiated their contract with Warner.

Of course, by 1974, the $100,000 advance had disappeared, just as the band was beginning to get its legs. “Come and Get It” (written by Sir Paul McCartney), “Day After Day,” and “Baby Blue” were all legitimate hits, charting in the top 10 on the US Hot 100. “No Matter What” hit #5 in the UK, and hit the top 10 on every other major chart.

Without a label, embroiled in legal troubles that prevented the band from booking gigs or releasing music, and having the latest payroll checks fail to clear (with no check coming in April of 1975), Ham went out drinking with his friend Tom Evans. Evans drove Ham home at closing time—3 a.m.—after ten whiskies. That morning, Ham added a postscript to his suicide note to his 8-month pregnant girlfriend, “Stan Polley is a soulless bastard. I will take him with me.”

Polley lived on, dying at 87 year old in 2009. He never expressed any remorse for Ham’s death, nor the missing money. He went on to defraud others, losing a judgement in Riverside County, California for stealing $250,000 from a partner in a fraudulent deal to manufacture aircraft engines. He never paid that back either.

I still hear Badfinger’s music playing on the classic rock stations. Ham and his bandmates, and their heirs, get some royalties, but not what they deserve. Ham’s bandmate Tommy Evans, after years of court battles, hung himself in 1983.

Not every rock story is a tragedy. Led Zeppelin cofounder John Paul Jones, by the 1960s was a solid session musician, and a member of the Yardbirds. Right around the time JPJ and Jimmy Page were jamming with Jeff Beck, Andrew Loog Oldham rang him up and asked if he could come up with a string arrangement for the Rolling Stones song “She’s a Rainbow.”

The rest of that particular Stones album, with a name that would give any youth pastor nightmares (Their Satanic Majesties Request), was rubbish. Yet, JPJ rocks on, still with the girl he married in 1967, living an otherwise quiet life in West London. To be honest, I was never a huge fan of Led Zeppelin, but recently I’ve begun to appreciate their music a lot more.

And of course, Mick Jagger is still touring, as is Sir Paul. I did get to see the Stones in the early 90s during their “Steel Wheels” tour. It was one of the most awesome concerts I ever attended.

I went through a phase where I was a huge fan of Aerosmith. In the 90s, when the band had its—third, fourth, ninth?—reboot, I listened to the album Get a Grip over and over (and over and over) again. At that time in my life, the songs resonated. It was about the time I became a Christian, and the song “Amazing” kind of felt like a prayer to me. I don’t know much about Steven Tyler’s spirituality (he believes in something greater), but I have heard from reliable sources that when a disaster strikes, tractor trailers show up filled with supplies, anonymously paid for by Mr. Tyler.

Don Henley sang backup vocals on “Amazing.” He’s always been one of my favorite performers. Back in the day, when the Eagles were still broken up, Henley always did a benefit concert for Walden Pond (the one where Henry David Thoreau lived in a cabin for two years). One of those concerts, attended by me and my brother Jay, was billed as “Don Henley and Friends.” The second half of the concert, after the intermission (and plea for money), Henley walked out to the drum kit: “I used to be a drummer…” and the rest of the Eagles came on stage. So I got to see the Eagles, without seeing them (and spending $500).

One of the Eagles best hits, “Take It Easy,” was, as everyone knows, co-written by Jackson Browne, who regularly performs it at his own concerts. I think Browne has made as much in royalties from Eagles songs as he has with his own. Browne still performs. One of his performances in the 1970s was getting arrested at the “No Nukes” protests at the then-under construction Seabrook nuclear power station. I was there (because I lived there) but never saw Mr. Browne. I was just a teenager trying to get to work. Browne still opposes nuclear power, and I still support it.

And getting back to Aerosmith: due to Tyler’s inability (dude is 76) to heal from a vocal chord injury, there will be no more live shows, and the “Peace Out” farewell tour has been canceled. I never got to see Aerosmith live, and now I never will.

None of this has much to do with politics, or really anything but a 50-something guy’s walk through nostalgia. I know what it must have felt like for my dad, or my step-dad, both of whom were professional musicians at some point in their careers, to get to an age when the “current” music is something they couldn’t recognize, but the stuff they grew up with was getting long in the tooth.

I can understand how Count Basie, Benny Goodman, Tommy Dorsey, Duke Ellington, Glenn Miller, Sammy Kaye and the like, along with the Rat Pack—Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., Dean Martin, Peter Lawford—were getting old, but still kicking (most of them). That music is timeless. I sometimes hear my oldest son listening to it. (Some of also it came back as the sound track to the “Fallout” video game series.)

My youngest and I attended an arena concert by AJR. I never knew who they were except they’re my youngest’s favorite band. The concert was a festival of light, music and amazing bits of illusion. I enjoyed it. It reminded me of the elaborate stage shows that Jagger and Keith Richards did (and do). These days, bands can do a residency at The Sphere in Las Vegas and not even bother to bring a light rigger. The venue is its own show.

The era of rock’n’roll I grew up with is waning. Outliving Keith Richards might now be a stretch goal, but one day, the Stones will end, like Aerosmith did. Perhaps, like KISS and ABBA, bands will continue as holo-avatars of themselves.

Or maybe they’ll find a way to keep going, like the Davies brothers—The Kinks (one of my brother Jay’s favorite bands) have tours scheduled through June of 2025. The two sisters who make up Heart had to suspend their tour due to Ann Wilson’s cancer diagnosis. Neil Young also canceled his tour due to unspecified sickness.

Old rockers can’t fight age. They get old. But the rainbows never tire or fade. The music stays. New music emerges. And regardless of our terrible choices at the polls, the wars, terror, and grift going on in the world, that gives me hope that the world really is worth handing down to our kids.

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