FLASH! Rock Hall of Fame Gets One Right!

In the same press release where they announced the Hall of Fame’s latest batch of inductees will include Madonna (quick - what’s the hardest-rocking Madonna song you can think of? Bzzzzt! Time’s up!), they also revealed their intention to honor one of the most influential pop singer/songwriters of the modern era, Leonard Cohen.

Mostly Mr. Cohen draws his fans from a small pool; rock snobs, rock stars and rock critics. I, of course, fall in to that middle category…

Because The Man Cub has brought home another awful malady from Day Care (I swear to god, The Missus thinks it’s Hoof In Mouth disease, which I thought only cattle got), I don’t have the luxury of staying up all night to write a Beowulf-length paean to the subtlety of his melodies, the depth of his lyrics, or the goosebump-inducing resonance of his bass voice (he makes Johnny Cash’s low baritone sound like a soprano schoolboy’s).

I will tell you this, though. Besides being an inspiration to a generation of pop musicians and well-meaning wannabe’s, an author and a critically renowned poet, he’s a hell of a human being too. At the height of his career resurgence in the 1990s, he walked away from it all (including girlfriend Rebecca De Mornay back when she was still hot), and spent several years in a Zen monastery, living in a single room and preparing meals for the monastery’s head yogi. Here’s a terrific story/interview on that period.

I’ll also mention that I caught him on his most recent tour, in 1993, and to this day, it’s the only concert I have ever described afterwards as “sublime.” I floated out of that place on a wave of excellently composed and executed music, love and graceful good vibes. It was more than a concert, just short of a religious experience. And since his accountant took the opportunity to rob him blind while he was sequestered away at the monastery, Mr. Cohen has, in his 70s, released a couple albums in the last few years as good as anything anyone has ever recorded.

If you don’t believe me, go to iTunes and download 2001’s “Ten New Songs.” Or “Nightingale” or “The Faith” off “Dear Heather.” Or “Tower of Song.” Or Neil Diamond’s cover of his “Suzanne.” Or almost anything off “Various Positions” or “The Future.”

Wait - I promised not to wax on endlessly. Sorry. Just barely caught myself.

I actually met Mr. Cohen once, at a Tom Waits show in L.A. He was sitting about half-way back in the house like a regular Joe, with some woman who was either his daughter or his girlfriend. I was goaded into approaching him and begging an autograph (inset), which to this day is tacked up on my office wall, next to a photo of my son and a channel conversion chart for the local cable company. Heady company indeed!

It’s going to be a goddamned weird affair, with (presumably) both Mr. Cohen and Madonna in the same room when they’re inducted. My guess is, she’ll come on to him like the star-fucker she is and he will rebuff her, but artistically and without hurting her feelings. Watch for A-List rockers (U2, R.E.M., Nick Cave, etc.) to duke it out over who gets to induct The Great Man. My money’s on Bono, because, well, he’s Bono. He gets things done.

This is one induction ceremony I’ll watch when VH1 televises it. Oh please, god I don’t believe in, let him perform at that event!

And to answer my Madonna question as it relates to Mr. Cohen, I would probably have to pick “Don’t Go Home With Your Hard On” from 1977’s Phil Spector-produced “Death of a Ladies’ Man.”

Here’s a clip of once-and-future Eagle Don Henley covering one of Cohen’s masterworks (seriously!), “Democracy,” from Bill Clinton’s inauguration, ca 1993. Enjoy!