Henley knows a thing or two about incredible arrogance. He and Glenn Frey are two of the most pompous blowhards in rock. They run the Eagles like CEOs of a lucrative corporation—keeping Joe Walsh and Timothy B. Schmidt on as employees of the brand, casting off guys like Felder who question their authority, and more than happy to charge ridiculous prices to phone in the same old tunes for aging Boomers on vacation or at corporate team-building retreats.
Kanye’s personality certainly rubs a lot of people the wrong way, but the attacks get unnervingly personal. And a lot of it—particularly in the wake of Kanye’s controversial comments about Beck at this year’s Grammys—seems to stem from some sort of bitterness towards what Kanye represents. ‘Ye implied that Beck wasn’t a “real artist,” and the rockist nation scoffed—because Beck is the epitome of what they respect as “real art.” KISS guitarist Paul Stanley said Beck should’ve “kicked Kanye right in the nuts,” and David Crosby arrogantly and ignorantly noted that Kanye doesn’t write and sing and play in the “classic rock” sense. It confuses that generation that someone who doesn’t make music the way they do can be held in such high esteem.
Yes, Crosby is another California rock icon who isn’t a member of the Yeezy fan club. In March, the former Byrds singer blasted West during a Q&A with his Twitter followers after someone asked what he thought of Kanye’s music. “Music?” Crosby responded, “He’s an idiot and a poser….has no Talent at all.” When another tweeter brought up the subject in June, Crosby amplified his dismissal of Kanye. “As I said ..he can’t write, sing , or play At all He is an egomaniac He is dumb as a post He creates nothing Helps no one.”
That’s right, David Crosby. The same David Crosby who spent the better part of three decades racking up weapons and drug charges, along with a drunken hit-and-run, has the self-righteousness to blast another celeb for being “dumb as a post?”
It’s telling that so many of these “artists” have such a limited idea of what constitutes making music. Even if it’s not your traditional guitar, bass, drums and piano, it’s still legitimate art. But the Crosbys of the world don’t want to acknowledge that. Somehow, this generation is foreign to them. Even with the emergence of instrumentalists, gravel-voiced singer-songwriters, and studio innovators as the standard-bearers of rock music, these classic rock stars never questioned the greatness of Elvis Presley—who, in hindsight, was oftentimes more of a crooner operating in a rock ‘n’ roll aesthetic. They would never disrespect the legacy of Frank Sinatra, despite the fact that he never wrote or played anything and despised most everything associated with their generation’s music. Maybe it’s easier to respect what came before you. Maybe it’s easier to disrespect art that’s much younger and much blacker than you. Maybe it’s both.