I still can’t believe it. When I first wrote in the space in 2016 about Warren Zevon and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, I had no idea how many people felt the same way I do. After receiving supporting messages from Jordan and Crystal Zevon, I kept hearing from more and more people sharing their Zevon stories with me and asking me for my copy of the UCSB set where he famously opened for the Grateful Dead for the first time. That offer is still open, by the way. I have also identified my “Georgetown 1979” tape as Lisner Hall 5/8/77.
In 2020, I followed up that piece with a second for this esteemed publication. Bruce Springsteen, always a Zevon advocate, released “Janey Needs A Shooter,” the song he famously gave (in title only) to “Mr. Bad Example” in 1978. David Letterman used his induction speech for Pearl Jam the following year to remind the Hall of Zevon’s omission. His lone electric live album, Stand In The Fire was given an expanded deluxe reissue on vinyl in 2021. Fortunately, it will be re-offered in April for Record Store Day this year.
Why the sudden surge in the “Excitable Boy?” Apparently, we all have Billy Joel to thank. When the LA Times published “The soul of L.A.’: 20 years after his death, the stars are aligning for Warren Zevon,” it detailed Billy Joel’s recent efforts to get Warren his long-deserved nomination. I’ve lived on Long Island since 2005 and didn’t like most of Billy Joel’s music when I moved here. Surrounded by his acolytes everywhere I turn, I assume this would be similar to someone in Jersey not liking Springsteen.
However, I’ve never heard a negative thing about Billy Joel (unlike Jan Wenner.) The Rolling Stone founder’s vendetta against Warren Zevon is well documented at this point. Joel actively campaigned for Zevon this year, using the strategy that piano players aren’t often seen as rock stars. His letter to the Rock Hall apparently carried a lot of weight since the Times published the piece even before Zevon’s nomination was made official. He had been eligible since 1994 and had been left off the ballot each and every fucking year since then.
Billy Joel recalled to the Times seeing Zevon perform in the late ’70s at a club near Philadelphia. “The first minute I saw him, I was knocked out. He was like the crazy brother I never had. He was fearless, and it stuck with me. I never thought he got the attention he deserved.” After the show, he and Zevon downed a lot of vodka” after the show while commiserating over “what a pain in the ass it was to schlep around these clubs and have to deal with whatever piece of junk they had available to play.”
The two kept in touch over the years. In 1988, they both attended David Letterman’s 6th Anniversary Special at Radio City Music Hall. Billy Joel was a bona fide superstar at that point and Zevon was going through one of his many “career arcs.” When interviewed by Goldmine in 1995 (the first year I got to see him perform) Zevon recalled seeing Joel while he was the musical director for Johnny Cash Presents The Everly Brothers Show. “Whatever idea I had about myself as a classical pianist-turned-rock-guy evaporated in one moment standing behind Billy Joel. I think he’s a wonderful player, but I don’t think he’s underestimated. [Laughs] He’s a great player.”
When I last wrote about Warren Zevon,, I suggested his reference to “Billy and Christie” in his live performances of “Detox Mansion” should be ignored. Apparently, I was wrong. I guess you could look at “Ballad Of Billy The Kid” by Billy Joel and Warren’s “Frank and Jesse James” and see some commonality. I’ll never become a Billy Joel fan but am eternally grateful for his help getting Zevon this far.
The “fan voting” for the Class of 2023 is open until April 28. Like everything with the Rock Hall, it’s not clear what the impact of these votes have. Warren Zevon is currently in 3rd, behind Cyndi Lauper (for whom Billy Joel also advocated) and George Michael. I am sure Zevon would joke about being lumped together with those two. Then again, Warren may have felt more for their music than I know. The biggest thing I have learned writing about him over the years was that he can still surprise you. The most frequent comment I got when screaming from the rooftops about his being overlooked for the Rock Hall all these years was that he wouldn’t care about it and that therefore it didn’t matter. But, as his son Jordan pointed out on Facebook, it may or may not have mattered to his dad, but “It matters to me. The recognition, late as it may be. The message to the Hall of Fame voters that you did overlook a legend. Because it’s fun. Throwing a wrench into the works of what might have been expected. If they scratch their heads long enough, they might find they’ve won something!”
That’s the kind of iconoclasm that attracted me to Zevon’s music, to begin with. I’ve spent the last decade writing “No Zevon, No Give A Shit” on every social media post that references the Rock Hall. Now, I give a shit. I very much give shit and so do a lot of others. That’s what inducting Warren Zevon into the Hall of Fame would mean. Yes, he was the “outsider’s outsider.” But that’s all the more reason he deserves to be recognized. The words of Hunter S. Thompson, one of Zevon’s friends, come to mind from Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas.
There was a fantastic universal sense that whatever we were doing was right, that we were winning….And that, I think, was the handle—that sense of inevitable victory over the forces of Old and Evil. Not in any mean or military sense; we didn’t need that. Our energy would simply prevail. There was no point in fighting—on our side or theirs. We had all the momentum; we were riding the crest of a high and beautiful wave.”
Maybe Warren Zevon can ride that wave into the middle of Cleveland.
3 Responses
Yeah, figures Warren Zevon didn’t make the cut, despite being third in the fan votes. That asswipe, Jann Wenner no doubt still has a pine cone up his ass(and don’t tell me he had nothing to do with it) about Zevon because Warren wouldn’t kiss his ass. As long as that fuckneck still has a breath in his body, it just ain’t gonna happen. Good, because the whole franchise is just lame-assed fuckery. For stupid losers. For someone of Warren Zevon’s ilk, intellect, caliber and depth it would only be damning him with faint praise. Fuck you, Hall of Lame. Fuck you very much.
Same thing happened with the Moody Blues. Wenner didn’t like their music and the Moodies could care less about the Rock Hall of Fame. They finally were inducted after intense fan pressure. I imagine as fans of Warren’s we need to put the pressure on. Thankfully Wenner is gone from the RRHOF board!
Like she said!