Rick Wakeman?

[dr_gn]

Random question: In comparison with, say, Mick Jagger or David Bowie or John Lennon, how well known (by the general public) was Rick Wakeman in the 1960’s/1970’s/1980’s ?

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prand said:

Funny question this, what's the reason?

Must just be from the wrong era for me then I guess.

The reason asked is I hear him a lot on Planet Rock as a presenter, where he is 'presented' as a big rock star, yet he seems to require a group of rather sycophantic people around him as co presenters. He makes frequent reference to the ‘big names’ of the day, but some of his anecdotes seem a bit strained. TBH the first time I ever heard of him was the ‘Grumpy old Men’ things on telly ages ago, and even then, initially I had no idea who he was. Mildly annoying, but I still like the music he plays.

Other presenters on the same station such as Joe Bonamassa, Alice Cooper and Joe Elliot I *have* heard of, and they don’t seem to require nearly as much ‘maintenance’ on-air as Wakeman does.

[dr_gn]

kiteless said:

As a band member of Yes, you'd have to know your onions when it comes to playing a musical instrument.

Think of Yes as an old school Dream Theatre and you're not far off the mark, and back in the 70's a band could be more successful as an "album only" outfit than one that released singles (Led Zep for example). So he was a member of a largely famous 1970's prog-rock "supergroup" and was probably the most flamboyant member. Not, I'll admit, to difficult when your guitarist is Steve Howe and your singer is Jon Anderson......

Fair play to him then, but I wish he'd lose the entourage.

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Pothole said:

dr_gn said:

kiteless said:

As a band member of Yes, you'd have to know your onions when it comes to playing a musical instrument.

Think of Yes as an old school Dream Theatre and you're not far off the mark, and back in the 70's a band could be more successful as an "album only" outfit than one that released singles (Led Zep for example). So he was a member of a largely famous 1970's prog-rock "supergroup" and was probably the most flamboyant member. Not, I'll admit, to difficult when your guitarist is Steve Howe and your singer is Jon Anderson......

Fair play to him then, but I wish he'd lose the entourage.

it's part of his schtick. I suspect he's not very good at the mechanics of presenting.

Probably quite right, they recently added 'Kid' Jensen to his posse.