Jani Lane, former singer of the hair metal band Warrant dead

I am going to step out of my movie geek persona to address my other passion, music. I wish to address the recent death of former Warrant front man, Jani Lane. While I have never been fan of their music I have seen their Behind the Music episode saw the anger regarding his legacy.

Is it such a bad thing to have a legacy? Something of us to show we existed long after we left this earth.

On Thursday, August 11, 2011 Jani Lane, former singer of the hair metal band Warrant died. As of Sunday, August 14^th, his autopsy was declared “inconclusive”. However, when they found his body at the Comfort Inn in Woodland Hills, CA vodka and prescription pills were found at the death scene. He was just 47 years old. It had been reported he was dealing with “addiction issues” for years. His legacy was the song and video for the Warrant hit song “Cherry Pie”.

One thing that comes to mind that Warrant while have other hit songs like Heaven and Down Boys they will be always be associated with the song or mostly video for “Cherry Pie”. Jani Lane quoted in a interview, “I hate that song,”. He wrote it because the record company wanted a hit single like Love in an Elevator by Aerosmith. He was quoted as saying “my legacy is Cherry Pie, everything about me is Cherry Pie, I’m the Cherry Pie Guy, I could shot myself in the f**kin head for writing that song” The album was originally called “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”; after he wrote and submitted the song the album was called Cherry Pie, as well as the hit single and he was doing Cherry Pie eating contests. He was a tortured soul. Question is would Jani still be alive if “Cherry Pie” never existed? Would Warrant be another pop heavy metal band like Motley Crue or Ratt? Could he have written another song that would bury the Cherry Pie legacy? The Beastie Boys had the “Fight for your Right To Party” frat boy song, and then followed up with the revolutionary rap album “Paul Boutique”. Most of us would love to have a legacy; Jani’s made want to end his life.

Is the Movie “They Live” (1988) symbolism for adulthood? Nah…I’m not that deep but here’s the thing…

I am here to do two things, watch promotions for dated movies and chew bubble gum! And I am all out of bubble gum!

I took the family on a vacation to Disney World and I came to the following conclusion; Disney as a kid is a wonderful thing. Disney as an adult is a greedy, heartless, money sucking Cylon! Other things come to mind, Thanksgiving and Christmas. As a child, I thought of Thanksgiving as, 2-Days off from school, good food and as close the Christmas as I had been all year! But lately I see it as Macy Parade = Brand management, “Think of Macy’s for the holiday season!. Check out these brands!” In other words, like George Nada, in my adulthood I found the special glasses and people like The Aliens are just plain EVIL! Here is some knowledge to absorb.

Wikipedia Info on “They Live”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/They_Live

“When Nada later dons the glasses for the first time, the world appears in shades of grey, with significant differences. He notices that a billboard now simply displays the word "Obey"; without them it advertises that Control Data Corporation is "creating a transparent computing environment." Another billboard (normally displaying "Come to the Caribbean" written above an attractive woman lying on a beach) now displays the text "Marry and Reproduce." He also sees that paper money bears the words "This is your God." All printed matter around him contains subliminal advertising.”

Hum, could all these distractions at the “Happiest Place on Earth be a way of making you want to buy the movies from their exclusive vault? Or perhaps buy an official $50 shirt, watch their shows on their cable channel, maybe listen to their radio station? I won’t bully on one company let’s get back to the Thanksgiving parade. Check out these floats through years. How did we get from Pinocchio in the 1930s to Ronald McDonald in front of the Stoli sign? Or Dora with the parade announcer saying “Can be seen only on Nick Jr! And don’t forget your Dora wig!”. Now let’s go to the less selfish “not-for-profit” Sesame Street. I recall watching Kermit the Frog, wait a second Kermit became host of the The Muppet Show which sells it’’s images everywhere and not only will have a summer blockbuster but now have an exclusive home at Disney Hollywood Studios!

Maybe I’m a socialist at heart. Nah I am too superficial.