The Ultimate Rock Icon.

[BimboBob]

Re: The Ultimate Rock Icon.

Get out you cockney buffoon.

 

[Ancient Citizen]

Re: The Ultimate Rock Icon.

Although not my personal choice, I can't see any grouping of music journalists/analysts and musicians themselves not voting for Elvis Presley. Although not the first Rock 'n Roll star he was by light years the one most people attribute the genre to have started with. Add to this a phenomenal worldwide appeal that shows no sign of diminishing and there's no contest really.

Alex Turner fans may disagree.

 

[OB1]

Re: The Ultimate Rock Icon.

YOU ARE ALL HOMOPHOBES!!!

I'm not, I can assure you. Gay or not, Freddie Mercury and Queen were not as good as some people seem to believe.

Shit band, shit songs.

Just my opinion.

Shit opinion.<br /><br />-- Wed Jul 18, 2012 3:28 pm --<br /><br />

Reading this it's pretty clear to me that some people aren't sure what a rock icon is and think this thread is about their favourite singer/band etc. Many of the biggest bands and performers from the '60s are icons; they transcended the music, their images and influence were felt far beyond it and into the wider arts, the media, the public psyche and the then-fledgling underground.

Crossing boundaries, photographers like David Bailey and Terence Donovan added to the wealth of imagery in the magazines and newspapers of the day, thus creating genuine iconography whilst making household names for themselves, no more so than the Beatles, the Rolling Stones (Mick Jagger in particular), Bob Dylan and, of course, Elvis. There are hundreds of iconic images of these performers, imprinted into the public's memory bank.

Later in the decade, when rock was really born, artistically things exploded here and in America: Cream, The Who, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, The Doors, Jefferson Airplane, Janis Joplin, the Grateful Dead all came with their own imagery, little of it from record company A&R men and hand-outs, but much of it created by a handful of illustrators/designers here (particularly the Australian, Martin Sharp) and from the East and West Coasts of America like Wes Wilson, Alton Kelly, Stanley Mouse and Rick Griffin on behalf of key venues.

These were the people who created the original iconography; many of the images in your mind are probably the ones they created. I can't deny that relative late-comers like Sid Vicious and Kurt Cobain were icons to their generation but they simply don't carry the gravitas that the old school rock stars did and still do. If you don't believe me, have a look at some of the prices some of this paraphernalia garners.

In the meantime, if you want to know more about bona fide rock iconography, order yourself a copy of the bible on these things: the AOR...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Art-Rock-Po...=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1342560276&sr=1-1

You'll thank me for it.

Bloody hell, someone who knows what they are talking about.

 

[OB1]

Re: The Ultimate Rock Icon.

Although not my personal choice, I can't see any grouping of music journalists/analysts and musicians themselves not voting for Elvis Presley. Although not the first Rock 'n Roll star he was by light years the one most people attribute the genre to have started with. Add to this a phenomenal worldwide appeal that shows no sign of diminishing and there's no contest really.

Alex Turner fans may disagree.

We're getting into semantics perhaps but was Elvis Rock (as opposed to rock 'n' roll or pop)?

 

[Ancient Citizen]

Re: The Ultimate Rock Icon.

Although not my personal choice, I can't see any grouping of music journalists/analysts and musicians themselves not voting for Elvis Presley. Although not the first Rock 'n Roll star he was by light years the one most people attribute the genre to have started with. Add to this a phenomenal worldwide appeal that shows no sign of diminishing and there's no contest really.

Alex Turner fans may disagree.

We're getting into semantics perhaps but was Elvis Rock (as opposed to rock 'n' roll or pop)?

I know what you're saying, possibly it's the latter, but it was the latter that kicked it all off.

 

[OB1]

Re: The Ultimate Rock Icon.

Although not my personal choice, I can't see any grouping of music journalists/analysts and musicians themselves not voting for Elvis Presley. Although not the first Rock 'n Roll star he was by light years the one most people attribute the genre to have started with. Add to this a phenomenal worldwide appeal that shows no sign of diminishing and there's no contest really.

Alex Turner fans may disagree.

We're getting into semantics perhaps but was Elvis Rock (as opposed to rock 'n' roll or pop)?

I know what you're saying, possibly it's the latter, but it was the latter that kicked it all off.

That is true and there's no denying that Elvis is an iconic figure of major proportions (all those cheeseburgers).

 

[Banned Tosspot]

Re: The Ultimate Rock Icon.

It should probably be Elvis at the end of the day. He's what made the white kids actually believe that they could actually do the rock 'n' roll thing themselves. Because of him we had all those sixties bands that eventually went on to what we know as Heavy Metal.

He was good looking and dangerous. Sadly he eventually became a shit cover singer and a fat bastard.

 

[Anonymous]

Re: The Ultimate Rock Icon.

No. Definitely Hendrix.

Wild, dangerous, gifted, supremely talented and dead at a very young age.

ICONIC:

 

[BimboBob]

Re: The Ultimate Rock Icon.

As voted by NME readers the semi finalist are

David Bowie
John Lennon
Liam Gallagher
Alex Turner

Can't say I disagree with any of the above, each worthy winners.

Well I fucking do. Alex Turner? A rock Icon so iconic that I had to look him up? Liam Gallagher? Liam?? I wouldn't even put Noel on the list but at least he would be nearer to it. Bowie? Rock? Fucking hell.

No place for Roger Daltrey? Keith Richards? Lemmy? Ozzy? Plant? Gillan? Jim Morrison?

Yes there was room for all those nearly-rans but they got knocked out in the early rounds, just goes to show the younger generation don't regard the oldies as icons anymore.

Apart from Bowie, who is and was never a rock icon, and Lennon who was more of a pop one. Way to go readers. And Allan.

 

[Banned Tosspot]

Re: The Ultimate Rock Icon.

Well I fucking do. Alex Turner? A rock Icon so iconic that I had to look him up? Liam Gallagher? Liam?? I wouldn't even put Noel on the list but at least he would be nearer to it. Bowie? Rock? Fucking hell.

No place for Roger Daltrey? Keith Richards? Lemmy? Ozzy? Plant? Gillan? Jim Morrison?

Yes there was room for all those nearly-rans but they got knocked out in the early rounds, just goes to show the younger generation don't regard the oldies as icons anymore.

Apart from Bowie, who is and was never a rock icon, and Lennon who was more of a pop one. Way to go readers. And Allan.

Lennon a pop idol?

Try some of his solo work, especially his Plastic Ono Band album.