{"id":805883,"date":"2020-03-31T11:05:35","date_gmt":"2020-03-31T17:05:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/?p=974764"},"modified":"2020-03-31T11:05:35","modified_gmt":"2020-03-31T17:05:35","slug":"flashback-what-the-hell-were-the-rock-music-awards-in-1975","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/music-news\/flashback-what-the-hell-were-the-rock-music-awards-in-1975\/","title":{"rendered":"Flashback: What the Hell Were the \u2018Rock Music Awards\u2019 in 1975?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Five months after the 1975 Grammys, Elton John<\/a> and Diana Ross<\/a> drove onto the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium stage in a futuristic-looking golf cart to host a ludicrous awards show that has been forever lost to time.<\/p>\n

Producer-manager-impresario Don Kirshner, who had long since earned his bona fides as the capo of the Brill Building, manager of the Monkees and, later, as the dry host of Don Kirshner\u2019s Rock Concert<\/em><\/a> that featured countless A-list acts, was looking for an alternative to the Grammys. He had the clout to get numerous superstars to attend on August 9th, 1975, and, with John and Ross onboard as hosts, was ready to make a play for the industry\u2019s most dominant, yet worthless, perennial spectacle.<\/p>\n

It didn\u2019t work out that way.<\/p>\n

While it only went on <\/strong>three years, the cleverly titled \u201cRock Music Awards\u201d (which Linda Ronstadt would call the \u201cWho Cares\u201d Awards<\/a> in a Rolling Stone<\/em> interview the following year) was a loose, gloriously insane affair melding the debauchery of the Golden Globes with the scripted dad-joke hamminess of any other award show. (\u201cGood evening, everybody in TV land, I\u2019m Captain Fantastic,\u201d John says in his opening line. Ross\u2019 response: \u201cAnd I\u2019m general delivery!\u201d ZING!)<\/p>\n

Rock Music Awards \u2013 Part 1<\/strong><\/p>\n