The . . . odd . . . opinions of Henry Rollins

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Has anyone seen the interviews with Henry Rollins he does for VH1? He provides sound bites for just about every program they have now, and honestly, everything he says is so uncharacteristic. He says things about him liking Wham, hair metal (saying he prefers them to overly seriously political bands... wasn't he in one?), it was all very odd. He also said something about him not liking Morissey.

― David Allen, Friday, 25 April 2003 04:08 (twenty-two years ago)

dear lord, i hope he doesn't catch indie guilt.

― donut bitch (donut), Friday, 25 April 2003 04:27 (twenty-two years ago)

Rollins can surprise you sometimes with some of his opinions and self-deprecating humor. i like a lot of his standup, although i get annoyed when he on and on about easy targets like Michael Bolton or U2. i mean, sheesh, let it go.

― Al (sitcom), Friday, 25 April 2003 05:11 (twenty-two years ago)

has anyone else seen that program on the bbc that is like a real life version of robot wars, presented by... henry rollins!

its camp as hell!

― Robin Goad (rgoad), Friday, 25 April 2003 10:50 (twenty-two years ago)

ARGGGGHHH!!1 I hate it! It took over the timeslot that belonged to the beloved TIME TEAM!!!

However, Henry Rollins on Time Team would be great. He's got all those muscles, they'd be good for digging.

"Now, Henry, what do you think about the Saxon era?"
"That is clearly dirrrrrt!"

― kate, Friday, 25 April 2003 10:53 (twenty-two years ago)

i like his spoken word stuff - he's a top guy for my money... and if he doesn't like morrissey then he's even better as far as i'm concerned

― Dave Stelfox (Dave Stelfox), Friday, 25 April 2003 12:03 (twenty-two years ago)

For a punk, he sure is a VH1-loving, Details-magazine-posing muhfugga. But whatever. It's not like he was the heart of Black Flag anyway.

― Kenan Hebert (kenan), Friday, 25 April 2003 12:09 (twenty-two years ago)

if steven wells made music. self righteous, repetitive, old, tired, dull

― gareth (gareth), Friday, 25 April 2003 12:13 (twenty-two years ago)

Yes, but his early stuff was inspired and necessary!!!

― kate, Friday, 25 April 2003 12:15 (twenty-two years ago)

black flag was never seriously political, though... unless you consider "fuck this town/run by pigs/taking the rights away/from all the kids" to be seriously political

― Fritz Wollner (Fritz), Friday, 25 April 2003 12:19 (twenty-two years ago)

I do. It's like "Fight For Your Right".

― Ally (mlescaut), Friday, 25 April 2003 12:26 (twenty-two years ago)

or "tv party"!

― Fritz Wollner (Fritz), Friday, 25 April 2003 12:32 (twenty-two years ago)

Fritz is right. Black Flag didn't really have ideas. They had riffs, and they had frustration. Sometimes that's all you need.

― Kenan Hebert (kenan), Friday, 25 April 2003 12:33 (twenty-two years ago)

I didn't say they were dumb or even apolitical - just that their politics were pretty street level & kid-style

― Fritz Wollner (Fritz), Friday, 25 April 2003 12:52 (twenty-two years ago)

A lot of what Rollins says is just to patronize the person he's talking to though..

From Thinktank:
English guy: "Oh, Mr. Rollins - you're from the U.S. So I guess you like Bon Jovi."
Rollins: "LIKE him? LIKE Him?! I LOVE THAT GUY! Bon Jovi ROCKS!"

... Rollins also claimed to like the song "Funkytown"..

― dave225 (Dave225), Friday, 25 April 2003 12:52 (twenty-two years ago)

Rollins was hilarious on that VH1 80's show.

Rollins on hair metal vs. punk : "This song is about people in Nicaragua - STOP SMILING!

― Kerry (dymaxia), Friday, 25 April 2003 14:09 (twenty-two years ago)

black flag was never seriously political, though...

Does SOA count as political?

― die9o (dhadis), Friday, 25 April 2003 14:36 (twenty-two years ago)

that's kind of a "if a tree falls in the forest" question, doncha think?

― Fritz Wollner (Fritz), Friday, 25 April 2003 14:40 (twenty-two years ago)

Not only does he LIKE "Funkytown", he has recorded a cover version of the song with RU PAUL ...or so he said when I saw him speak like 6 years ago. It was for a compilation of some sort, but never ended up being released.

― Bobby D Gray (bedhead), Friday, 25 April 2003 17:28 (twenty-two years ago)

'Details posing', 'camp as hell', records duet with Ru Paul; don't you see the man is gay gay gay!!

― Sean (Sean), Friday, 25 April 2003 19:55 (twenty-two years ago)

Him and Danzig should get together and get married in Vermont, that'd be so great.

― Ally (mlescaut), Friday, 25 April 2003 19:58 (twenty-two years ago)

if I recall his criticism of Morrissey boiled down to, "won't that fag stop whining?"

― amateurist (amateurist), Friday, 25 April 2003 20:03 (twenty-two years ago)

^Rollins=OTM (officially targets Morrissey?)

― buttch (Oops), Friday, 25 April 2003 20:26 (twenty-two years ago)

black flag and steven wells are both great.

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Friday, 25 April 2003 22:16 (twenty-two years ago)

He makes me ill. I think I met him once but I can't even remember - thank god for repression.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Friday, 25 April 2003 22:22 (twenty-two years ago)

or as Morrissey would likely say: "He's vile"

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Friday, 25 April 2003 22:22 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm sure I have no idea what you're talking about.

― Henry Rollins (Arthur), Friday, 25 April 2003 22:23 (twenty-two years ago)

did anyone see those great rollins fashion spreads that motorbooty did? henry modelling in calvin klein ads etc.? priceless.

someone said: "if I recall his criticism of Morrissey boiled down to, "won't that fag stop whining?""

pretty rich from a closet case.

― Jade Pillar, Saturday, 26 April 2003 15:43 (twenty-two years ago)

Henry Rollins on Full Metal Challenge, with that woman who is obviously a primary school teacher they've kidnapped and forced to host a TV show (see also: Fearne Cotton) is a) scary and b) shit. His presenting skills consist of talking a lot, then shouting a bit, and then talking some more.

And he's shit in the Jackass movie as well.

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Saturday, 26 April 2003 15:51 (twenty-two years ago)

He is great in CSI.

― Andy K (Andy K), Saturday, 26 April 2003 16:18 (twenty-two years ago)

Wasn't he hosting a Twilight Zone-knockoff at one point? He's sorta like the closest American equivalent to what goes on in the BBC where somebody's bit of fame was long spent but they're still everywhere unavoidably. I mean, even Paula Abdul and Monica Lewinsky had to be exhumed first.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, 26 April 2003 16:23 (twenty-two years ago)

"And he's shit in the Jackass movie as well."

What wasn't shit in the Jackass movie?

― David Allen, Saturday, 26 April 2003 16:37 (twenty-two years ago)

Yeah, Ned, he was hosting the short-lived Night Visions for Fox, which I never got to see. Did anyone see that? If so, what was he wearing? A tux, or maybe a black t-shirt with leather pants? I was curious how they were gonna pull off a 21st century Rod Serling look.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Saturday, 26 April 2003 16:39 (twenty-two years ago)

oh, and his last solo album, Nice, is easily some of the most tolerable stuff he's ever done. "Up For It" and "Let That Devil Out" are surprisingly fun.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Saturday, 26 April 2003 16:40 (twenty-two years ago)

What wasn't shit in the Jackass movie?

The scenes that actually involved shit

― Nate Patrin (Nate Patrin), Saturday, 26 April 2003 16:41 (twenty-two years ago)

Also: MY THROAT MUSCLES ARE COMPLETELY SHREDDED

― Nate Patrin (Nate Patrin), Saturday, 26 April 2003 16:42 (twenty-two years ago)

Henry Rollins on Full Metal Challenge, with that woman who is obviously a primary school teacher they've kidnapped and forced to host a TV show

I assume you are speaking of Cathy Rogers, creator and host of Scrapheap Challenge and (more importantly) keyboard player from Heavenly. Black Flag and Heavenly team-up = classic regardless of the quality of the show.

― Miranda (Miranda), Saturday, 26 April 2003 19:35 (twenty-two years ago)

Wasn't the original co-host of Scrapheap Challenge the vocalist from Marine Research? There's probably a pattern here.

What wasn't shit in the Jackass movie?

David: you = fool. Ryan Dunn shoving a toy car up his ass is obviously the finest achievement of humanity.

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Saturday, 26 April 2003 19:41 (twenty-two years ago)

He's sorta like the closest American equivalent to what goes on in the BBC where somebody's bit of fame was long spent but they're still everywhere unavoidably

Lenny Henry to thread!

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Saturday, 26 April 2003 19:42 (twenty-two years ago)

hollly shit. I didn't know she was in Heavenly (she looks different with the racoon eye make up)! Jeepers! Those two need to COLLABORATE!

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Saturday, 26 April 2003 19:46 (twenty-two years ago)

When I say host of Scrapheap Challenge I mean former host, as she and the current host of Full Metal Challenge (assuming things haven't changed, I only saw it once) are one and the same. Sorry if I confused, or maybe I didn't confuse anyone and I am the one who is confused.

Anyway I get a huge kick out of seeing Cathy on teevee since Heavenly is one of my favorite bands ever - and then pairing her with Hank Rollins is just too strange to even be real.

― Miranda (Miranda), Saturday, 26 April 2003 19:58 (twenty-two years ago)

Hank's my dog. Really, the politics of Hank didn't factor into Black Flag lyrics to much seeing as Greg Ginn wrote most of them.

But, really, he's been around long enough to not be too-punk-for-Madonna and tuned in enough to make educated political statements. Who cares if he rags on easy targets like Bono and the Hummer H2, he still will hit on shit I haven't had the time to think about in my meager 23 years.

I agree with most of the stuff he says, and the rest I find entertaining anyhow.

Hank's my dog.

― Helltime Producto (Pavlik), Sunday, 27 April 2003 00:02 (twenty-two years ago)

i like that song he does where he goes "i wanna be Devine!" he's not even trying to hide it anymore. i heard he is starring in the next john waters movie as pee wee herman's twin brother

― bob snoom, Sunday, 27 April 2003 11:06 (twenty-two years ago)

Whoa. I so hope that's true.

― Ally (mlescaut), Sunday, 27 April 2003 20:25 (twenty-two years ago)

Unless Henry's performing with his band, doing a talking show, or writing a book, you can pretty safely assume he's doing whatever he's doing FOR MONEY. Cathy Rogers is hott, by the way.

― Bryan (Bryan), Sunday, 27 April 2003 22:30 (twenty-two years ago)

Does he do the other stuff for free?

― Ally (mlescaut), Sunday, 27 April 2003 22:58 (twenty-two years ago)

If Ayn Rand were a tatooed muscled bound man delving into stand-up comedy??????????
http://www.objectivemedicine.org/images/Ayn_Rand_III.gif

― Black Flack, Monday, 28 April 2003 00:05 (twenty-two years ago)

Yes he does, Ally.

― Bryan (Bryan), Monday, 28 April 2003 00:11 (twenty-two years ago)

How do I get him to come over my apartment and do it, then?

― Ally (mlescaut), Monday, 28 April 2003 01:02 (twenty-two years ago)

Groan...

― Bryan (Bryan), Monday, 28 April 2003 01:11 (twenty-two years ago)

Skipping 35 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

relevant tweet re life being too short for "sissy boys writing namby pamby songs about girls they never had in the first place": https://twitter.com/henryrollins/status/70739869713960960

― da croupier, Thursday, 2 June 2011 13:27 (fourteen years ago)

No, he's off to see Dinosaur Jr.

― Mark G, Thursday, 2 June 2011 13:29 (fourteen years ago)

REAL MUSIC

― da croupier, Thursday, 2 June 2011 13:34 (fourteen years ago)

xxxp watching VH1 is a pretty good way to stay angry

― got a whole lotta gloves (snoball), Thursday, 2 June 2011 13:34 (fourteen years ago)

If the Twitter feed is to believed, he is in India or somewhere making snake/bug documentaries for National Geographic

― total ass retain (MaresNest), Thursday, 2 June 2011 13:36 (fourteen years ago)

three years pass...

https://vimeo.com/89659920

― Kornblud (admrl), Thursday, 12 June 2014 17:29 (eleven years ago)

woah

― sinister porpoise (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, 12 June 2014 18:00 (eleven years ago)

― mh, Friday, 13 June 2014 01:37 (eleven years ago)

ahahahaha

― Who whom kissed? (imago), Friday, 13 June 2014 01:46 (eleven years ago)

Go to his vimeo page - some of the other videos are hilarious. There's one where his assistant has drawn sideburns on him in an effort to encourage him to grow them out.

― Humorist (horse) (誤訳侮辱), Friday, 13 June 2014 01:55 (eleven years ago)

Loved this guy as the psycho coach in Jack Frost

what else has he been in

― Master of Treacle, Friday, 13 June 2014 03:07 (eleven years ago)

1,000,000 music documentaries

― rage against martin sheen (sic), Friday, 13 June 2014 03:49 (eleven years ago)

he's a cop in lost highway

― sci-fi looking, chubby-leafed, delicately bizarre (contenderizer), Friday, 13 June 2014 03:51 (eleven years ago)

Johnny Mnemonic

― EZ Snappin, Friday, 13 June 2014 03:51 (eleven years ago)

He's a cop in The Chase as well.

He plays a very tiny role as muscle in Heat.

― Johnny Fever, Friday, 13 June 2014 03:56 (eleven years ago)

Most recently he's been a white supremacist on Sons of Anarchy

― sinister porpoise (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, 13 June 2014 14:04 (eleven years ago)

I like Rollins, though he is pretty weird and always has been.

This makes me like him less but we were all young once!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HGb7yo4SFM

― (maybe) (admrl), Friday, 13 June 2014 14:11 (eleven years ago)

two months pass...

as someone who has struggled with depression pretty much my entire teenage + adult life, i am pretty sick of people FREAKING OUT that henry rollins wasn't being 100% nicey-nice about suicide

― example (crüt), Monday, 25 August 2014 19:50 (eleven years ago)

a lotta people responded as if he were a cruel and clueless happy instead of a person who kept himself alive a certain way imo

but idk, i wouldn't have written that piece

― difficult listening hour, Monday, 25 August 2014 19:57 (eleven years ago)

i said this on the robin williams thread, but as much as i hated that original piece, his apologies seem sincere in a way apologies rarely do now.

― you couldn't even wear a fedora if your lifes depended on it (stevie), Monday, 25 August 2014 19:58 (eleven years ago)

The problem, for many, was not that his views as first expressed were not "nicey-nice," it's that they were uninformed. In response to the furor he has a new column in which he says in part:

As you might imagine, I got a few letters about my recent column about suicide. Actually, it was a lot of letters. For days. I read them. No matter how angry or instructive, I appreciate them all because they were written with complete sincerity, even if some had only two words, the second being “you.”

After reading carefully and responding as best I could, it was obvious that I had some work to do in order to educate myself further on this very complex and painful issue. I am quite thick-headed, but not so much that things don’t occasionally permeate.

In the piece, I said there are some things I obviously don’t get. So I would like to thank you for taking the time to let me know where you’re coming from. None of it was lost upon me.

I cannot defend the views I expressed. I think that would be taking an easy out. I put them out there plainly and must suffer the slings and arrows — fair enough. I won’t attempt to dodge them. However, that doesn’t mean that I can’t be taught a thing or two. I have no love for a fixed position on most things. I am always eager to learn something. I promise that I will dig in and educate myself on this and do my best to evolve. Again, thank you.

http://www.laweekly.com/westcoastsound/2014/08/25/henry-rollins-more-thoughts-on-suicide

― curmudgeon, Monday, 25 August 2014 19:59 (eleven years ago)

i'm just enraged that my friends are STILL linking to the 900th wave of thinkpieces that have emerged from this

― example (crüt), Monday, 25 August 2014 20:01 (eleven years ago)

oh i hadn't even seen that followup, yeah.

This state has made me have to do things in a certain way to remain operational.

anyway yeah i get it crut fuck writing tbh

― difficult listening hour, Monday, 25 August 2014 20:07 (eleven years ago)

crut totally otm

― rockist raccoon (Drugs A. Money), Monday, 25 August 2014 21:24 (eleven years ago)

I get that Rollins has to get R Lee Ermey on his ass sometimes to get himself thru the day but his comments were still insensitive

― everyday sheeple (Michael B), Monday, 25 August 2014 21:45 (eleven years ago)

Henry spent a lot of time in The Shed

― ruffalo soldier (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Monday, 25 August 2014 23:58 (eleven years ago)

i'm just enraged that my friends are STILL linking to the 900th wave of thinkpieces that have emerged from this

feel like we're at peak thinkpiece-economy, at some point general exhaustion has to settle in, no?

― Now I Am Become Dracula (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Tuesday, 26 August 2014 01:48 (eleven years ago)

hmm, good point - have 3000 words in for me on the subject by breakfast.

― you couldn't even wear a fedora if your lifes depended on it (stevie), Tuesday, 26 August 2014 09:09 (eleven years ago)

The . . . low self- . . . opinions of Henry Rollins

― am0n, Tuesday, 26 August 2014 16:44 (eleven years ago)

nine months pass...

This is really odd:
http://henryrollins.com/dispatch/detail/henry_heidi_podcast_mr._pepperman/

― maybe/whatever/so what/boring (admrl), Tuesday, 9 June 2015 19:01 (ten years ago)

how so

― ( who ALSO my boss and his sister!) (sic), Tuesday, 9 June 2015 22:57 (ten years ago)

can you summarize so I don't have to listen to the henry rollins podcast

― Joan Crawford Loves Chachi, Tuesday, 9 June 2015 23:29 (ten years ago)

weird teen on ritalin gets told to toughen up by well-meaning teacher

― ( who ALSO my boss and his sister!) (sic), Wednesday, 10 June 2015 00:17 (ten years ago)

The podcast has been pretty fun so far, kind of a throw back to his earlier talking records (Sweatbox, Human Butt, etc)

― chr1sb3singer, Wednesday, 10 June 2015 15:22 (ten years ago)

how so

Yeah, I guess you summed it up. But it was also a little creepy and off in that Rollins way (and I like Henry, he's just weird)

― maybe/whatever/so what/boring (admrl), Wednesday, 10 June 2015 15:36 (ten years ago)

I didn't think it was creepy at all.

― chr1sb3singer, Wednesday, 10 June 2015 15:47 (ten years ago)

three years pass...

Henry Rollins and shelves. A thread. pic.twitter.com/hwnpOcgDLS
— Simon (@iamsimonyoung) April 6, 2019

― Dan Worsley, Sunday, 7 April 2019 18:14 (six years ago)

A+

― Theorbo Goes Wild (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 7 April 2019 18:21 (six years ago)

Assuming all of Henry's targeted social media ads are for black or grey t-shirts

― chr1sb3singer, Monday, 8 April 2019 13:04 (six years ago)

I’m always ready to lol at Rollins but I gotta admit a lot of those are pretty nice looking shelves tbf

― One Eye Open, Monday, 8 April 2019 13:29 (six years ago)

I was thinking to myself, I'd love to have a big room just so I could put a bunch of shelves up for my stuff. It would be cool to have it all laid out like that.

― earlnash, Monday, 8 April 2019 16:26 (six years ago)

tbf, musician/spoken word/author/collector guy is exactly who I would expect to be hanging around shelves all the time. Next thing you know, they'll have a photo essay of librarians posing with books.

― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 8 April 2019 19:49 (six years ago)

Turned on KCRW Sunday night while working and happened to hear his show. Henry’s gonna Henry as a talker, but with the music there was lots of good rare interesting stuff.

― ... (Eazy), Tuesday, 9 April 2019 21:34 (six years ago)

he should post to ilm with all the CDs he's hoarding

― findom haddie (jim in vancouver), Tuesday, 9 April 2019 21:43 (six years ago)

eleven months pass...

4 hour podcast if you dare:

https://www.kcrw.com/music/shows/music-special/henry-rollins-radio-longform-joy-division-ian-mackaye

― Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Tuesday, 7 April 2020 17:39 (five years ago)

Seems to be streaming audio, no podcast option, unless I have too many plug-in blockers (but I ctrl+f'd the source code for the page)

― donald failson (sic), Tuesday, 7 April 2020 18:41 (five years ago)

I like to think of him looking for his Buggles test-pressing ($17 on Ebay) in that photograph.

― Maresn3st, Tuesday, 7 April 2020 19:57 (five years ago)

The Impulse! section needs some work, Henry. Man, that's a tidy collection.

― Vanishing Point (Chinaski), Tuesday, 7 April 2020 19:58 (five years ago)

This could potentially make a thread but which musicians/commentators have their own personal version of Godwin's law, ie:

Rollins mentioning his quite good friends with Ian MacKaye
Don Letts mentioning he worked with the Clash

― Vanishing Point (Chinaski), Tuesday, 7 April 2020 20:16 (five years ago)

Donovan: Beatles/Zep

― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 7 April 2020 20:25 (five years ago)

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