Is Bret Michaels Sick Again?
Friday, October 26, 2012 at 12:01AM Is Bret Michaels in the middle of another health crisis? I was on Facebook last night and noticed that Bret had updated his page... with a weird, rambling message. Here it is:
After experiencing some life awakening medical events earlier today, it has once again put life into perspective in both my personal and professional life. Though the last few weeks have thrown me a curveball and have been rough to say the least, I refuse to become jaded. For all the loyalty that I have shown to people throughout my life and specifically over the last few weeks, to not have the same respect given back to me, it's times like these when the people who matter the most become most clear. I am grateful once again to my family, friends and fans. Let's rock this upcoming tour! (I also thank God for these RockBands, kickboxing and my motorcycle track for helping with my physical release...as for my mental release, I'm still a WORK IN PROGRESS, LOL.) Thank you to my awesome, family, friends & fans, you rock! Stay tuned, more to come...
It is well known that Bret suffers from Type 1 diabetes, but this isn't his only health issue. During 2010, Bret suffered a subarachnoid hemorrhage (brain bleed) as well as a patent foramen ovale (hole in the heart) which caused caused a transient ischemic attack (warning stroke). Bret also underwent an appendectomy.
I guess we'll have to wait and see what comes of this most recent, bizarre message. Bret isn't one to air dirty laundry, so the comment about not receiving respect is odd. At any rate, I wish Bret well.
Reader Comments (18)
As far as being in the right place at the right time... I couldn't agree more. Just so happens Bret put himself in that spot. I'm not a fan of Poison at all... but I'm not going to hate someone because they were able to live their dream.
I do have a question though. Not to be picky, but . . . legends? To each his/her own. I'd wager a guess, however, that most people--even if they are only digging into their glamtastic early-70s to early-90s memories--would pause before assigning Poison the status of legends. If Poison are X, then what constitutes not X?
Put it this way: if I scaled the hypothetical Mt. Olympus of Glam and found Bolan and Bowie sitting there, I would nod in reverence. If I also found Monroe and Connolly sitting a few steps below them, another nod. But Rockett? DeVille? Michaels?!!? At that point, I think I would exist the scene with my Sherpa Sixx and head back down the mountain (realizing, of course, that Greek mountains, literal and mythological, don't actually have sherpas).
The main focus of this site, correct me if I'm wrong, is to Bring Back Glam of The 1980's.
Granted, while many of you are Glam Metal Poseurs who's true allegiance lies with The Big Four plus Iron Maiden and other crap bands, my Big 4 are as follows:
Crüe, Ratt, Cinderella and Poison.
They are at the top of Hair Metal Mountain, in my book.
As far as Power Metal is concerned, I like Judas Priest, Saxon and Accept for obvious reasons. And now you can see (and hear) why I don't much care for Iron Maiden or the Big 4 -- It's about the vastly superior songwriting of Priest (all) Saxon (all, especially Destiny), Accept (all, especially Metal Heart) and Ozzy (all), in that order, boyz, plain and simple.
Concerning Classic Rock, I like all the usual suspects, Led Zeppelin, THE Best. Lately, I've been getting into Black Sabbath, especially Technical Ecstasy, their much maligned masterpiece. Of what could be considered Classic Rock, KISS, AC/DC, Boston and Cheap Trick are my faves aside from Zep. And Deep Purple.
And lastly, 70's Glam Rock -- of course, Bowie, T. Rex, along with Queen, Sweet and Slade, to a lesser degree, are total legends. I got way into them when I got into Punk, having fried out on Classic Rock after awhile.
As much as many view KI$$ as a joke, it must be said, they really were brilliant at encapsulating all the Genres both in look and sound, even with a little nod to New Wave/Punk (Lick It Up). And now, it's "Hell Or Hallelujah" bringing them back with a bullet!
God Bless Rock And Roll!
p.s. It's too bad Brett Michaels seems incapable of remembering exactly what Rock and Roll is 100% of the time instead of reducing it to a shout out at one of his concerts, whether what he's busy minimalizing Poison now, or with his Clown solo act or LCD crap TV Shows. It's not just about making money, it's how you make it. In my judgement, he's making it the dumb way.
I gave a range, kept my artist well within the Glam wheelhouse. I didn't know I had to tend to the hedgerows of the 80s (especially when we have Metalboy! pointing out all the _current_ bands that are carrying the torch in other posts). I also didn't know that venturing beyond Glam proper was verboten (a new post by Allyson on Hagar, reviews of Testament, etc.).
But, hey, when Cinderella count as Glam, we can be a bit elastic with categories, no? And we are now discussing Power Metal as well. So prog, death, and thrash are all okay/not okay/just depends on what you feel like talking about? And Kiss is the Black Hole that swallows up all genres in its grasp. I stand
Like I said, to each his/her own. And, as always, thanks to Allyson for stirring up some good discussion.
Prog and Thrash Metal and any of that sh*t are a waste of time except for a few exceptions -- Overkill and Pandemonium and a handful of others. But Slayer and all that crap are just that -- crap.
I've studied it all up and down, and hookless, bad songwriting don't cut it. I ain't questioning your perspective, HIM. I'm simply laying out mine.
Screw "Unskinny Bop". I said the first album puts 'em in the Annals of 80's Glam Metal History.
Cinderella is Glam Metal, dude. Just look at the first album cover. Yeah, they got Blues but all their stuff oozes Glam and Sleaze.
We forgot one big one, without whom none of it would have happened quite the way it did -- The New York Dolls!
I think the discussion is more about Great Songwriting, more than anything, and most of what the Poseurs who drive by on here love ain't got it. Simple as that. Great Glam Metal (and Glam Rock, if you insist on bringin' it in here) has it because...
"We're the leather boyz with electric toyz and we're gonna Rock forever!" -- Pretty Boy Floyd, 1989
As far as New Bands go, yeah, you're right -- Go Back and check out that list I left in Comments on Al's cool VAIN post...
They do all have something in common -- They all ROCK!
However, the only reason I put up that list was to try (though, apparently, unsuccessfully) to get through to that Ludite who thought some band who should rename themselves Candya*s were legitimate "Rockers", one of the most hilariously ridiculous things I've ever read on here besides some of the sh*t we come up with occasionally, especially whenever you question the word of Metalboy! or question my motives.
My motives are simple -- Bring Back Glam!
But you must understand how difficult it is to hit a target that constantly shifts. If you isolate your range only to expand it. What does that do for your interlocutors? If you revert to one point of contact (one album, say) only to launch forward with another point of contact (songwriting, say), what is the point of attempting to meet your demands (in a non-aggressive sense, granted)? If a person grants your position only to have you act as though they didn't, where does that leave the other person? It isn't necessarily begging the question, but it comes close. And when you retreat to a position of agreement, only to lurch towards definitive opinions (as if there were such a thing) that would cancel said agreement out, it makes the whole thing seem like an affectation.
Which isn't to suggest you don't have 'tells' as regards your discourse(s). If you disagree, it often means the other person is a 'Luddite,' as if being a worker from the 19th Century was the worst one could be? Kidding. I understand that you are using the more contemporary rendering for some rhetorical flourish. It is still agonistic. But I sense it is flourish nonetheless.
I am going to return to a point I made in the past: I think you hold sway here because you still swagger like the Glam (put aside a definitive description of that for now) that motivates you. Never questioned that or, at least, I don't think I have. I, on the other hand, get a bit too bogged down in details even while, paradoxically, surrendering to an occasional defense or two (or three). To put it another way, you still wear the clothes and wear them well. I still remember them but recognize they don't fit.
That is the great thing about music. It doesn't require some sort of aesthetic stamp of proof. It only requires a love of the same. Someone loves Pretty Boy Floyd. Someone hates them. Why on earth is that even possible? Because the _why_ of love and hate, when it comes to music, is predicated on memories old and new.
And we get to be armchair quarterbacks (to import a shrill metaphor) guiding our passions. We--Kevon, Fletch, Sweet Lou, Kixchix, etc.--actually agree about that fact. We love music. It sustains us, in part or online or a bit of both.
You keep your legends. I keep mine. No one gets hurt. Nothing is lost. Nothing is gained. Actually, that isn't true. We get to have fun talking about music that is fun. And we have, again, Allyson to thank.
If you really study Rock and Roll, particularly, the Glam Metal and the Power Metal bands I sighted -- 80's Hair Metal (up to about '93, more or less), to put an umbrella over it, you'll realize that stuff was really the last pure Rock and Roll out of the gate, in terms of a mass movement -- one huge slab of Chrome Metal!
p.s. I've seen Lynch Mob twice in the last year (M3 and Monsters of Rock Cruise) and I gotta say, that George Lynch is UNFrickin'REAL, still to this day!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4q-d_35rm2U
There's a whole nother level you Rock and Roll Children know nothing about! Except AL and ACE, of course. Welcome to where the air is RARE, kidz!
p.s. Thanks to Metal Chris, who witnessed it all in person (just like Ace) and who set me free by showing me there's more to Glam Metal than major record deals and album sales. Now, if the rest of you characters would just wake the f*ck up like I did, then we'd really be getting somewhere!