Warren Zevon


YEARS OF EXISTENCE: 1969-2003

YEARS OF DECENT EXISTENCE: 1976-1982

BEST RECORDS: Warren Zevon (1976), Excitable Boy (1978), Bad Luck Streak In Dancing School (1980), Stand In The Fire (1981)

WORST RECORDS: Sentimental Hygiene (1987), Mutineer (1995), My Ride's Here (2002)

GO DOWNLOAD: "I'll Sleep When I'm Dead," "Werewolves Of London," "Lawyers, Guns And Money," "Play It All Night Long," "Mr. Bad Example," "Poor, Poor Pitiful Me," "Even A Dog Can Shake Hands"

FILE UNDER: One Last Bar Fight From The Dying Light

SIMILAR SOUNDING DINOSAURS: Randy Newman (for his sarcastic wit and hatred of humanity), Tom Waits (for his ability to raise dereliction to an art form) and John Hiatt (because he usually ends up back-to-back with Zevon on my mix discs).

THE MUSIC: The '70s were simply festering with singer-songwriters like boils on a plague victim. When Warren Zevon came out with his first record, 1969's Wanted Dead Or Alive, he was just another carbuncle on the rusty hull of California rock. After said album's failure, he fled to Spain for five years until a buddy (well-scrubbed former Eagles member and nuclear-power antagonist Jackson Browne) got him a record deal. Zevon's new music had all the piss and vinegar of a seasoned bar band, albeit more melodic, and with a sardonic lyrical wit. Zevon liked excess (and his records were compelling arguments against rehab), and so did his fans. But when he had to clean up his act, he somehow accessed fans of America's new wave/alt-rock underground-something his coterie of analgesic Cali-rock whistle-dicks never did. (Okay, Linda Ronstadt did cover some Elvis Costello songs. Sue me, swoop-head.)

WHAT THEY SAY: "His highly literate songs, shot through with violence and black humor, are strewn with edgy, marginal misfits, mercenaries of the gun and of the heart, seedy characters and downright villains." -Rock, The Rough Guide

WHAT I SAY: When he sang lines like "Sweet home Alabama/play that dead band's song again" (from the redneck snubbing "Play It All Night Long") or "I got a 44 Magnum up on the shelf/and I don't intend to use it on myself" ("I'll Sleep When I'm Dead"), many a punk acknowledged Zevon as a full-on badass.

WHY YOUR (GRAND)PARENTS LIKE HIM: "Werewolves Of London" was a great song for getting drunk at tailgate parties, especially when your mom lifted up her shirt and yelled during the "ah-oooo!" parts and met your father several minutes later.

CURRENT WHEREABOUTS: Warren Zevon succumbed to lung cancer in 2003, after finishing his final album, The Wind. Rhino Records recently reissued Excitable Boy, Stand In The Fire and The Envoy, just in time to inspire a new generation of rockers who desperately need the guidance. -Jason Pettigrew