Jeff Beck passed away yesterday at age 78 after battling Meningitis. I am devastated. Growing up, I knew of Jeff Beck from the Yardbirds and his solo work, but of course corporate radio only played “Heart full of Soul” and “For Your Love” and rarely played any of his solo stuff. Then came Martin Scorsese. In 1995 Universal Pictures released his movie “Casino.” The scene where “Ace” Rothstien (Robert De Niro) catches two cheaters was my Red Pill to Jeff Beck. Beck’s guitar starts screaming. Then Rod Stewart screams: “Well I ain’t superstitious, black cat just cross my trail.” At that moment, I was fixated on the music, not the action on the screen. I was now a Jeff Back fan. For a number of years, I lost track of Jeff Beck, continuing to listen to my reliable bands (The Doors, Led Zeppelin, The Allman Brothers Band etc..). Then came the internet, satellite radio, and internet radio. Thank God!
I remember the last two times I listened to Jeff Beck that was really special to me. Once was last summer, in Upstate New York. It was me, my father, and my kids on dad’s boat near Yahnundasis, NY. My father’s boat had Bluetooth, and his cell phone from Woodchuck Cellular had much better reception than my Verizon phone! Go figure. I was setting up his phone to the boat’s Bluetooth and 5 minutes later we were listening to Becks Truth album in its entirety, drinking beer and looking at women on a beautiful summer day. My kids were having the time of their lives. The other time was on the day he died. I was at a friends house who was talking about the song “People get Ready” originally done by the Impressions. My lady friend liked it. I didn’t. While she went to the kitchen or something, I said: “Alexia, play I ain’t superstitious by the Jeff Beck group!” It still gives me goosebumps!
When I was starting Red 42, I had to pick the bumpers. I wanted good rock and roll. Stuff you don’t hear on corporate terrestrial radio. Heartbreaker by the Rolling Stones was the obvious intro song, but I played some lesser known songs by Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin. I also picked Beck’s Bolero as one of our bumper songs.
Like I have been saying, see your idols when you can. Time waits for no one. Unfortunately no one lives forever and these legends are mortal. We already lost Jimi, Duane, Terry (Kath), Eddie, Leslie (West) Stevie Ray. We also lost Jim Morrison, Ray Manzarek, Keith Moon, John Bonham, Barry Oakley, Gregg Allman, Brian Jones, Charlie Watts, John Entwistle, Dusty Hill, Lemmy, John Lennon, George Harrison, Jack Bruce, Ginger Baker, Paul Kanter, Marty Balin, Chris Squire, Alan White, Neal Peart, Chris Cornell, Ronnie Van Zant and countless others.
Thank you Jeff Beck for making the world a better place with your music.
SEVEN FIVE RADIO 