If you’re wondering where Michael Anthony’s Jack Daniel’s bass is located, it’s at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, which is where it belongs. Eddie Van Halen’s Frankenstrat is on the top level—where it also belongs—and Mike’s one-of-a-kind bass is on the first level. It’s prominently displayed, and I feel good about that.
When I started this project at the very end of last year, I reckoned that each group of six former ballplayers from the 70s needed to have a name, to reflect who each group is composed of. Ironically enough, only one group of players (those who played in the 70s and died before turning 70 themselves) is actually named for a ballplayer. And if you’re curious about who that is, here you go).
The other six groups are all named after rock stars, which makes sense because rock and roll has been a major part of my life since, well, the 70s themselves. So there was a group named for Jimmy Buffett, and one for Mick Jagger, and so forth. The remainder of the groupings are explained here.
So long as Michael Anthony, the longtime bassist for Van Halen, was younger than 70 it made sense for the group of similarly-situated ballplayers to bear his name. But Michael Anthony, who turned 70 on June 20, now technically belongs in the Neil Young Club along with the majority of ballplayers involved with this project. So the question is can it still be called the Michael Anthony Clique if Michael Anthony is no longer young enough to be in it?
It’s a hard call to make, on some level. None of the original musicians from the first Foreigner album still performs onstage with Foreigner, except maybe Mick Jones on occasion, and yet it doesn’t prevent them from going out on tour every summer. But on the other hand, there could be lots of permutations of the Coral Reefer Band, but without Jimmy Buffett himself to join them, can it ever really be the same? And my “Moves Like Jagger” grouping (players from the 70s who are sill alive in their 80s) will probably need to be renamed once Mick’s not with us anymore. Hard to think about, I know, but it’s going to happen some day.
So what to do? I’ll think on it for a day or two, and if anyone wants to weigh in I’ll certainly listen. But the parameters I would have to follow is that the musician would have to be someone who achieved some notoriety during the 1970s, but isn’t yet 70 themselves. So Eddie Vedder and a thousand others aren’t eligible because while they may have learned how to play music in the 70s, they weren’t yet on a level where somebody like me would have heard their name back then.
The youngest player currently in this cohort is Thad Bosley, who was born on September 17, 1956. So there’s still a couple of years left before this group exhausts itself by all turning 70 years of age. Ideally, someone who was well-known in the 70s and born after that date in 1956 would be ideal. If Carrie Fisher were still alive she would be a shoo-in, but alas. And if you’re thinking Mark Hamill, don’t. He’s already 72 years old.
So I’ll need a bit of time to think this over, but there could be a name change on the way soon. We’ll see what happens.