"Rock of Ages" Shouldn't Last
And, for those of you who are not regular readers of the Buffet, let me once again announce my bias up front: I do not like 80's hair metal at all. It is not even a guilty pleasure. There was very little chance going in that I would enjoy a musical with a soundtrack packed with songs by Nightranger, Journey, Styx and REO Speedwagon. And,so take that into account when I tell you I loathed almost every moment of it.
The plot is so trivial that it is exactly the first thing you'd think to do: A wannna be rock star and a wanna be actress meet while working crap jobs at a cool club on Sunset Strip called "Rock of Ages." Will they find their dreams or be destroyed by them? Meanwhile, we must worry if the foreign investors will succeed in taking over the club and killing rock 'n' roll? Blah, blah, blah. SPOILER ALERT: Some sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll - later everyone finds true love and the club is saved. Nothing was subtle about the music so why expect more from the musical? But at least the music was always bland. "Rock of Ages" manages two jokes about sex with a middle school girl and the second one was totally disgusting. Fair enough if you want to say that the vaguely evil egocentric rock star dude got arrested for accidentally having a middle school girl among his groupie entourage. But is it really necessary to narrate that while the actress in her middle school uniform eats a corndog from the crotch of the narrator? Okay, I wasn't actually offended (I've been in Vegas too long). But I do think "Rock of Ages" would do better to leave the child molestation jokes to Nabokov, if you know what I mean.
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The odd thing is that they are appealing to a rapidly fading market. The music should appeal to our age group, people between 25-45. But demographics show that group is polarizing between softer rock from the period and the classic rockers. I've never spent any time at the Flamingo; I played a few hands of blackjack there, but I wasn't really comfortable there. But it seems to me that their problems stem from being grossly out of touch with their target market. Maybe they should get a clue (save the sex, drugs, and rock & roll, can't go wrong there).
Posted by: scottage | May 15, 2006 at 04:58 PM
Love Las Vegas. Sorry to hear another hotel is pandering to the lowest common denominator, coupling music with a lame Broadway-esque show. If they want to do it right, they should bring on the music - WITH THE MUSICIANS WHO CREATED IT - anything from 60's Rock to the present. To paraphase a movie, if you play it, we will come.
Posted by: DC | May 16, 2006 at 09:55 AM
Scottage, since you are an expert tell us about 25-45 age group. Can you break it down? Let's see if you were 16 in 1989 (the high water point in hair bands). You would be 33 today. We know the period between age 16 and 21 most adults develop their musical favorites. So while maybe you weren't a fan of Poison, Nelson, or Warrant, a lot of other people were. Also, didn't the Flamingo craddle and coddle you enough while you were there?. Oh they didn't have a day spa for you?
Posted by: Wade Collins | May 16, 2006 at 10:34 AM
Wade, I'm actually 38, but close enough. I've done some dejaying over the years, so I've gotten demographic breakdowns of musica intersts, but admittedly they only look at trends, not individuals. But they examine trends such as downloading, purchases, use of online radio stations, and even requests on major radio stations. Now this doesn't make me an expert, but I know a little. I admit that way back when I liked some hair bands, though not the bands you mention, but as time went on I grew bored of most of that music, finding it lacking in diversity and genuine creativity. As a guitarist I like some of the riffs still, but can only take the bands in limited doses. And nothing against the Flamingo, just didn't do it for me.
Posted by: scottage | May 16, 2006 at 11:58 PM
Not to split hairs speaking of hair bands, but Journey, Styx, REO, Nightranger (throw in Foreigner, Asia, Kansas and a few others) were AOR, not hair bands. But since I won't go to see Ratt, Poison, Dokken, Cinderella, etc..... while they actually tour, no, I'm not likely to go see a knock off musical either....
Posted by: mattybar | May 17, 2006 at 09:46 AM
I actually saw rock of ages the 16th while i was in vegas and it was better then Avenue Q at the Wynn and better then Carrot Top at Luxor... Not taking anything from those shows but rock of ages was better then the We will rock you i saw last year at paris... this show is good,its not a cover band show it was the best show i got to see on my 10 day stay
Posted by: billy watson | May 20, 2006 at 09:36 PM