Lennon in response to Todd Rundgren

I wish he was still around to write me a letter like that.

 

Everybody knows John could be, um, difficult. That said, it's a pretty funny response. There is an edge to it, but it's whimsical enough that I can believe that he really did appreciate Todd's work. Kinda reminds me of the SNL episode where Sinatra (played by Piscopo? Or was it after his time?) keeps referring to Sinead O'Connor by a different wrong name each time, including "Skinhead O'Cranium!"

 

No. Denial... maybe. That and an overall indifference as to how they really were in everyday life. I've always been fascinated in the art. Not the artist. But this is him. His words. Very ugly

 

Fair enough! I'm one of those people that, generally, likes to learn as much as I can about the artists I like. Even if it turns out their right bastards, I'm pretty good at separating the person from the music. If I wasn't, there wouldn't be much left for me to listen to!

 

I have to agree that he certainly did, Rundgren's greatest period was the 70's, but you gotta listen to the albums cuz not everything was played on the radio. John on the other hand had Imagine and Plastic Ono Band (Double Fantasy was 1980) and some good songs on the other albums but Rundgren's output and quality was very healthy.

 

Id like to see more from this Awful

 

Lennon complements the Runt as he cuts him down a notch or two. When a Beatles likes some of your work and has listened to you and says so, you must be ok in their eyes.

It's all good.

 

Wonder if Todd and Ringo have ever talked about this...

 

That was Phil Hartman.

 

Correct, Piscopo idolized Sinatra and was constantly worried about offending him in any way, shape or form. Phil Hartman had no such hangups, which is probably why his version is far funnier...

 

The part too many responders miss or are not aware of Todd's obvious and deep love of the Beatles and John Lennon. A man doesn't cover his songs, and participate in shows like A Walk Down Abbey Road and a full concert production of Sgt. Peppers and tour supporting Ringo if he's not a Beatles fan.

Seeing one of his heroes, drunk in a bar, being an ass and acting like a jerk to a waitress? Finding out that he had feet of clay? John doesn't deny that he was drunk or a jerk, but he does deny hitting a woman. Who knows, it could have looked that way from where Todd was.

Back when Todd was trying to re-invent the entire Internet via his Patronet system (it crashed and burned) he wrote about it for an autobiography that never appeared that was sampled in the service's Interocitor app.

Todd did drugs, but the drugs he did were pot, acid and Adderall - which he used to be so productive for that period in the 1970s. From his behavior, I suspect Todd is ADHD or ADD, and I suspect the latter was a matter of self-medicating.

By the way, some of Todd's output in the last decade is at least as good as anything he did back then. Liars is brilliant, and I'm saying that as someone who has been a Todd Rundgren fan since I was a teen.

 

That was a time when politically correct was not the standard. People were people then.

 

Funny how John was always trash-talking the Beatles in his post-breakup interviews, but he wouldn't stand for it when anyone else did (even as mildly as Todd did here).

Mostly bitterness, I suppose. In truth, I suspect he missed the band more than any of the others.

 

Todd was trash-talking Lennon, not the Beatles, accusing John of being a hypocrite.

By the way, Todd has had a Beatles connection all through his career - stepping in for George when he got too busy with the Concert for Bangladesh and finishing the Badfinger album, touring with Ringo, getting into a literary slapfight with John...

Dunno if he had any dealings with Paul.

 

Todd talks about the incident in the interview linked below. Basically he says that he was called by John and they both agreed they were being used to sell magazines and decided to drop the whole thing.
(I haven't read the entire thread and I hope this isn't redundant)

http://www.theguardian.com/culture/2013/may/01/todd-rundgren-interview

 

Redundant? More than that, it is actually recursive, with this thread linked as footnote #7 in that article.

 

You gotta love it!

 

Well it's not w competition. Lenmon did the best work he was capable of at the time and was at a very different place in his career.

Lennon had a lot,of talent, a lot of demons and could also be a great guy otherwise we wouldn't love him. Feet of clay for sure same with Rundgren.

 

Those of us who are big Todd fans know that Todd can be a jerk. As I mentioned earlier, he is legendarily sarcastic - so much so that Andy Partridge (himself no slouch in the snark department) is still kind of butthurt about the things Todd said to him during the recording of Skylarking.For his part, Todd claims that Andy threatened to split his head with an axe.

I think having two sons with Karen and one son with Michele has mellowed him quite a bit, and he has devoted himself to being the best father he can be. I'm not sure, but the whole situation with his ex-girlfriend Bebe Buell catting around on him and getting pregnant with Steven Tyler's baby while they were together might have embittered him somewhat. Bebe letting the 11 year old Liv Rundgren know that the man she thought was her father was not her biological father couldn't have helped either, and Liv adopting Tyler's name had to be the icing on the cake.

 

John was honest - he spoke his mind and what you saw was what you got.

With his amazing gift for words I'm surprised that he never wrote anymore books after "A Spaniard In The Works".

 

cop that Rudd.

 

To be the best, you have to challenge the best. But quite frankly Todd was way out of his league.

I like some of Todd's output where it more grounded and doesn't sound completely insincere. At least John's ego didn't overshadow his work with the Beatles and solo, which is saying an awful lot.

 

It actually doesn't matter what those around John thought of Lennon's state of happiness at that time. John himself said it was horrible, and of course christened it his "Lost Weekend". Just because May Pang loved her involvement in it, and the fans enjoyed John reuniting with Paul and John's working with Bowie and Elton, etc, doesn't necessarily mean John was satisfied or at his most content.

 

As for Todd -- these days I only consider him as that paunchy guy who's long overstayed his welcome as part of Ringo's All-Starr Band .