Ah, Dee Snider. Always a very controversial guy, but always on the right side since the day he walked into the Congress and slammed Tip Gore in 1985 because of all their PMRC crap. Well, now he chimed in a conversation at Twitter between Hard Rock Cafe and a fan. The fan complained about Hard Rock Cafe’s policy on having rap and pop artists in their video playlists. Dee supported him and said much more. Take a look.
The fan wrote:
“Hard Rock Cafe, as your name speaks for you, can ya stop to put rap and Shakira in your video playlist? Otherwise you should start to reconsider your Brand name, I believe.”
The company replied:
“Our walls tell our story – we honor today’s artists because we know they are tomorrow’s legends. We truly believe ‘rock and roll’ is an attitude, and today’s rock stars come from all genres. Music brings us together. That’s what we stand for, it’s what we’ve always stood for. [Devil horns emoji]”
Dee chimed in:
“Who is this idiot? Some millennial spouting ‘what we’ve always stood for’ when they weren’t even a consideration to their grandparents at the time of the Hard Rocks inception. Good job promoting the company line though. The ‘metal horns’ at the end were a nice touch. ‘You rock.'”
Hard Rock Cafe replied:
“Millennials everywhere [heartbroken] right now by Dee Snider.”
The person running the company’s Twitter account also replied from his personal account:
“Dee Snider, much respect to you and your career. I work for Hard Rock and do everything I can do to keep the Metal alive when I’m at work. [Devil horns] (p.s. you can fact check me through my Twitter feed. I’m not a millennial).”
Dee also wrote:
“That has always bugged the hell out of me. The Hard Rock Cafe made its name on the backs of Cream, Hendrix, the Who (original hard rock bands) and now… look at them.”
The company replied to the musician:
“Actually… we have always supported music of all types. Legends are not held to a genre, so why should we be? Our walls have memorabilia from rock stars like Hendrix, the Who… but also Aretha Franklin, Madonna, Snoop. The music in our cafes matches the variety on our walls!”
Snider replied:
“I like that you’ve chimed in. But that’s not how it started out. First guitar on the wall in London @EricClaptons from the hard rock band… CREAM! I do believe Pete Townsend from the hard rock band The Who was next, not to be outdone by Eric! (but I could be wrong on that fact).”
After one fan replied to Dee with, “Interesting move to discredit millennials just because we weren’t there for the ‘inception’ of rock. I also think it’s a bit closed-minded to disregard other genres. Run DMC, Public Enemy, Jay Z… All have worked with rock acts because they enjoy it as well. Just a thought,” the company replied:
“Couldn’t agree more. This close-minded thinking isn’t what we’re about. Our cafes were founded on the idea that all were welcome. So we try to keep that spirit alive. That’s the spirit of rock and roll, it’s about being different and celebrating what’s different.”
The company also added:
“Rock is a genre [100%]. But rock and roll is a spirit, and we’re just trying to keep it alive by celebrating musicians from the past that have paved the way for musicians today. We still love rock and celebrate rock. But we’re lovers of music. Is that so bad?”
