Todd was also attached to Jim's Bat Out of Hell Musical back in 2016, but for whatever reason (to the best of my knowledge, at least), Todd was never actively involved.
I think it's a mistake to assume that different artists were presented to the same people in more or less the same way, and then those people simply made decisions based on their opinions of the relative merits of the work of the artists in question.
Somebody mentioned seeing him do A Wizard a True Star would be amazing. I did see that a few years ago in Minneapolis and it was way cool.
Is this old thread still bangin' around as if anybody should accidentally assume the OP's postulation is actually valid? Well, I will say, I have a friend in the neighborhood who used to be an opera singer in the NorthWest; devoted her heart and soul to it, which is okay I suppose. But, if I with my 35+ years in radio can stretch my interest a little bit outside of the lines to know at least SOMEthing about the "serious" music commonly mistakenly pegged merely as "classical", I should certainly expect somebody with her career to now and then at least turn on a pop radio station once in a while? She has a son, in his 40's, who is quite skilled in rock guitar. He's tutored for decades, and has a pretty wide skillset. Preently, besides tutoring prodigies here in the Harrisburg area, as well as in Philadelphia, he also has a regular gig with a Rush cover band. He's pretty damn good. Thanks to him, I suppose, she appears to know a little something about rock guitar, and speaks fluent Vai, Satriani and Emmanuel. And now...she's getting into Rush. But I was with her this past week, she asked about my birthday, and I mentioned I got a couple of Joe Jackson tickets. To which she replies, "...and this, 'Joe Johnson' fella, he would be.....?" Okay. Alright, she doesn't have to know everything I'm into, but I tried to give her a 50-word crash-course, and then mentioned, "well, he's not quite the status of, say, Todd Rundgren, but..." To which she replies, "...and this Todd Rungerd fella, he would be...?" Ummm...did I mention, this lady has a 50-year music career...as a musician...working in the field of music...? Somebody tell the OP, I may have met the only other person on earth who might also buy into the notion that Todd isn't famous enough...
In other words, I think it's a mistake to assume that people would be equally familiar with the output of a number of artists--that they know more or less the same percentage of each artist's output (and also that the artists would be more or less on an even playing field for people re the way the artist is presented to the listener, re the listener's ability to contextualize the music, the listener's familiarity with the genre, and so on), and then they're simply assessing the relative merits of each. It doesn't typically work that way. Many people would likely make different assessments if artists were to be presented to them on a more even playing field.
I seriously don't care for Todd's music. He's probably the worst opening act I ever sat thru,that in 1974 but it was outdoor/stadium gig and he went on before The Band and Clapton. The bar was too high for Todd that day. I've tried to give him a fair listen many times but just can't connect.
To the best of my knowledge, none of the 200 School of Rock locations have ever done a Todd Rundgren show. A search of YouTube yielded a total of five School of Rock Todd covers, and two of them were done as a treat for me. Dozens of Black Sabbath, countless Rolling Stones, Judas Priest...even Wilco...but no Todd.
While you're at it, do a tally for Little River Band, Katie Melua, Raffi, Glenn Branca, or Benny Mardones. Although these artists are more than familiar to various audiences, and some far more memorable than you might expect, I don't anticipate seeing as many hits there as even the meager amount you find for Todd. Nor, however, do I see School of Rock as the definitive criteria for establishing a baseline for public cred. Oddly, I would be more than vindicated were I to see this percentage versus other rockers, better represented in a list of Ted Talks (not that I've counted, or anything, but, as far as rock gods go...Todd Rundgren's image is really more at home with that crowd). Creator. Innovator. Enabler; hell, I could make Todd an excellent, accurate and respectful tombstone without ever going near the word, "rock". When a young music student wants to stand up in front of a recital audience to show his chops rockin' out, no, I don't see the happy-bouncy piano figure of "Hello It's Me", or even "Bang On The Drum", being the first choice. I also don't think "Facist Christ" is gonna make any kind of impression on Parents' Night, even if enough of the participants would recognize it. Part of Show Business is recognizing what part of the show earns the business. So yes, expect more School of Rock students to consider their first performances being chosen from Aerosmith's or Boston's catalog, rather than digging deeper past Todd's more-recognizable numbers like "We Gotta Get You A Woman" or "I Saw The Light", just to find one that cranks balls. I don't think Rundgren's lack of presence in a scholastic curriculum really factors into this specific issue. Because I'm pretty sure, YouTube count or no, there's plenty of kids in a program like this that would know Todd Rundgren's name. Just because the same kid might feel a Judas Priest song might be more appropriate for a video project as an assigment, doesn't necessarily mean he's not reaching them in some other form of awareness. This is like saying Honey isn't a popular flavor, because there's no "honey"-flavored Life Savers. * (*I'm beginning to think I need to make this particular smiley my spirit-animal...)
I think I videotaped it. No idea what I did with it though. I was a couple years ago. I'll have to look for it. My buddy Jesse is his guitarist and I took a bunch of video of the show and backstage. Wizard was great live -- especially the fat suit. My daughter who had never heard of Todd loved the Wizard performance. It was fun backstage because there was Elliot Easton from The Cars was there, too.
Maybe the HoF can be a final resting place for Maurice the Sphinx and the Pyramid, and some of Todd's more notable stage costumes, like the Peacock suit!
At the AWATS show I saw (I think it was New Haven CT), the fat suit lost its inflation, so it just sort of hung there. Didn't have the intended effect.
Yes, I know. You and I talked about it there at the venue. Now Maurice is back in storage, and according to Chris Andersen there's no immediate plan to take him out again. It would be nice for it to be on permanent display. The pyramid is rusting away in a field near Fall River, Mass. It deserves a better home, too.
He works hard as hell. He told me he practiced "Wizard" for months to get every single note right because Todd expects that kind of performance.
I'm the guitarist from Throw Money, the fan band, and I helped you set up your cameras as Maurice was being erected.
I think his career path is best compared to Prince - both insanely talented guys who could play it all, write it all and do it all, and didn't have the patience to play the commercial game. Yes, I know Prince was a legend even before his demise (which was front page news around the world, so yeah, he was pretty famous I guess). But he was not an artist that made the most commercially expedient moves. If success was his sole motivation, he'd have released maybe a quarter as many albums, and each one would be as big as Purple Rain was. I see a lot of the same in Todd - he could turn out heart and head melting hits every day of the week, but he'd rather put his considerable talents into projects that excite him more. A young Prince apparently appeared on stage with Todd when the latter played Minneapolis. It works have been interesting to hear a proper collaboration between the two. Assuming either could compromise enought to make it work!
It was Todd's ex Bebe Buell who told of Prince meeting Todd, and she has a tenuous relationship with the truth - she claimed Little Red Corvette was about her, that Prince was singing "...Bebe you're much too fast." They were both on the cursed episode of Saturday Night Live where Charlie Rocket dropped the eff bomb. Todd did two songs, Time Heals and Healer, then Prince did the show later. It's a shame they never worked together.
