Rock Musician whose Knighthood is Most Disappointing

if I cared about geldof or bono I would be extremely disappointed with them

I'm quite shocked Van Morrison was even offered one. Then again, consider who some of the other Knights of the Realm are.

Geldof - Bob wtf are you doing? again?
Cliff - Obvious he would accept one
George Martin - Old posh bloke, again v much in character
Paul - Yeah this is a bit disappointing, didn't he return his CBE?
Elton - Moral principles seem to vary a great deal with Elton
Mick - Bit of a right-wing prick by all accounts
Tom Jones - Doesn't seem to be involved in politics
Bono - Ridiculous hypocrisy, wouldn't be a first
Rod - Yeah maybe would have expected a bit better from Rod, or maybe not
Van - I would expect no better from Van
Ray Davies - Cruel streak fits the role nicely
Ringo - Our lad from The Dingle done good, of course he'd take it and why not?
Barry Gibb - Pretty apolitical and very proud of himself, so seems in character
Brian May - One of those eco-tories, probably best mates with Charles

So guess it's Paul.

Ray Davies wrote the album Arthur - as devastating a treatise on the English establishment as any mainstream band has produced - and later took a knighthood. That's the answer

needs "all of the above" option, but yeah ray davies.

not really relevant to the thread question but george martin's background was arguably less posh than any beatle except maybe ringo -- his accent and demeanour were more an adaptation in the navy during the war than something that came from family (which was catholic and working class artisanal)

i guess maybe "he was in the navy during the war" is relevant to the thread question

https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/elvis-costello-queens-birthday-honours_uk_5cfb8119e4b0aab91c069ebe

Ray Davies wrote the album Arthur - as devastating a treatise on the English establishment as any mainstream band has produced - and later took a knighthood. That's the answer

― imago

tbf he also wrote one of the most famous songs making fun of trans people ever, i'd say he's well earned the plaudits of the british establishment

mostly i'm just disappointed that the american government doesn't give out, like, honorary postmasterships or something. come on! where's iggy pop's honorary postmaster status?

Voted Tom Jones, since he's the only one on the list I've ever spoken to and he was a really nice guy and a blast to interview. Also, his 21st century albums (Praise & Blame, Spirit in the Room, Long Lost Suitcase and Surrounded By Time) are the best of anybody on the list by a fucking huge margin.

Saw a list of "five famous musicians who turned down the OBE" or whatever, included Bowie, Harrison, Eno, Keef and Lydon. Is that accurate?

disappointment is not really the apposite emotion for this douchebag parade

Van Morrison

only in that he's a fuckhole who shouldn't be offered any award of any type other than a turd in a Lunchables box

Ray Davies is my favourite of these people (apart from Barry Gibb) but I'm not in the least surprised that he would accept a knighthood, it seems very much in character to me so I'm not disappointed. Barry's a conventional old soul, so ditto. Any Irishman who accepts the honour of Knight Grand Cross of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire wants shot, did James Connolly get shot in vain... and in a chair? Van Morrison obviously doesn't count in that respect. I was probably more upset by John Cale accepting an OBE than any of these tbh.

mostly i'm just disappointed that the american government doesn't give out, like, honorary postmasterships or something. come on! where's iggy pop's honorary postmaster status?

The Kennedy Center Honor (given by what was formerly the National Cultural Center until John F. Kennedy's assassination) is probably the highest honor given to artists here. Gershwin and Mark Twain prizes are probably up there as well (the former for song composers, the latter for comedians).

Less famous musicians accepting baubles is more understandable I think - someone like Marc Almond is probably not that well off (given that his biggest hit was a cover), and he's probably gone through life thinking his career could be over at any given moment, so why not take whatever recognition is given to you. But why on earth the Mick Jaggers of this world need to brown-nose the Establishment is beyond me.

They are the establishment.

I guess so!

Maybe I'm an idealist, but I'll choose Ray Davies. I'm like the lovers he writes about in one of his memoirs, who complain that he isn't like the characters in his songs; he tells them, "songs aren't real life".

Mick - Bit of a right-wing prick by all accounts

Prick, yes. Not right wing.

fwiw

Rock legend Mick Jagger has made a rare entry into the war that is modern politics by attacking US President Donald Trump for his rudeness, lies and for "tearing apart" environment controls in America.

The Rolling Stones singer said he was "absolutely behind" young climate change activists who had earlier occupied the red carpet at the Venice film festival, where he was starring in the psychological thriller, The Burnt Orange Heresy.

Jagger said he deplored how politics has descended into name-calling, "including in my own country this week" - a reference to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson comparing opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn to a "big girl's blouse" and a "chlorinated chicken".

To bring it full circle, here’s a Prince Charles sketch from an SNL episode that featured Mick as the musical guest (though sadly he doesn’t appear in this):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwrzj_oMZ7c

I was wrong - he DOES appear in it

Prick, yes. Not right wing.

Oh please, he's been a Tory for years. You can be right wing and dislike Trump... and Boris Johnson btw... support the right of climate activists to protest etc etc.

To be fair, standards are very different in the UK. In the US, if you supported efforts to stop climate change and actively opposed Trump, the GOP would brand you a RINO. But as others have pointed out, U.S. Democrats are broadly equivalent to mainstream conservative parties in Europe. (In terms of actual policy, even Cameron was in a lot of ways to the left of Obama.)

Agreed, he's a Tory prick.

Fair!

he's an English multimillionaire with a mansion in Richmond who doesn't like paying taxes, there isn't way to cut that says he isn't a Tory cunt!

A good litmus test for finding out if someone's a tory is just googling their name + margaret thatcher, to wit:

https://www.theguardian.com/music/shortcuts/2013/jun/12/mick-jagger-admiration-margaret-thatcher

Sadly this method also proves Ilhan Omar is a tory, sorry but rules are rules.

A better litmus test: he can't understand why anyone loathed Thatcher.

A better test for Jagger is to grit your teeth and try to make it thru his Top of the Pops performance of Let's Work

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlXnJgJJzck

You're sitting down on your butt
And you get greedy
You start to lose your nuts
Don't you look seedy?
Can generosity
Bring you humility?

Co-written by Norman Tebbit.

Can’t be long before Bryan Ferry is knighted.

when your musical persona is that of a decadent world weary playboy I don't think anyone gets to be too disappointed you're not a comrade irl I think

his stint the new left's rocker of choice circa 68-69 is so funny/sad/baffling to think about now but I assume he never really believed in anything except mick jagger

he did explicitly position himself as a comrade for like a minute and it was good for his brand until it wasn't. not that it wasn't incredibly naive to believe him

Craig Brown's book One On One includes an account of Tom Driberg's attempts in the late 60s to convince Jagger to either become a Labour MP, or later to set up a new party with him.

Left, Bryan Ferry did? When?

No, Jagger.

Ah ok. I guess my description could work for Jagger too but I meant Ferry.

Jagger was at Grosvenor Square in '68, wrote "Street Fighting Man" for Tariq Ali etc.

One the earliest exponents of radical chic I'd say.

Didn't Mick singlehandedly free Angela Davis with that song about her?

Misread the thread question and voted Geldof because I dislike him the most. Now that I've actually looked at the question, I don't think I'm disappointed by anyone on this list because I'm not surprised by any of them. I mean, even Jagger's rock-star persona may be superficially anti-establishment but has always had a strong element of "kid who did all the work on the group project and wants the teacher to know." He's not someone I'd expect to turn down honors of any kind.

Didn't the queen refuse to be around to do the honours (literally) for Mick?

Anyway, don't care about knighthoods, so not disappointed in any. If John Rot had been offered and accepted, I still would not care. Beyond, of course, the indignant sending theirs back because they felt undervalued now. Good.

sorry I thought you meant jagger but it works for either xps

I don't know think anyone could reasonably expect better enough of any of these people to justify being disappointed with them on this issue

def mick for me

I have cherished Jagger's delivery of his line in that SNL sketch forever, it's amazing. Geldof gets my vote, he's from Dublin, how could he.

tb(somewhat)f to Geldof he's lived in the UK for decades and has been married and raised families here, what's Bono's excuse?

Apparently there's also Sir Karl Jenkins of Nucleus/Soft Machine, presumably nominated for subsequent classical-type composing stuff. Meanwhile Mike Ratledge goes unacknowledged.

SORRY THE WEIRD GUY AT THE CORONATION WAS KARL JENKINS?!?!? AND HE IS NOW A KNIGHT OF THE REALM?!?!?!

i: meghan markle was in soft machine
ii: sir karl william *PAMP* jenkins cbe, fram, honFLSW

it does make a lot of sense that the man responsible for this terrible album would be at the coronation

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/29/LandCockayne.jpg

I'm surprised Clapton hasn't been knighted - it's not like he can do worse at this point.

Townshend doesn't even have an OBE - I mean, Jimmy Page has one so it can't purely be down to a debauched rock and roll lifestyle. There is the little matter of Townshend research materials though.

Gilmour has a CBE, Waters has nothing - I assume they know better than to ask him.

Ian Anderson has an MBE, Jon Anderson has nothing.

Phil Collins has something called an LVO, Peter Gabriel has nothing.

... this could go on all night.

[There is the little matter of Townshend research materials though

yeah the royal family would want to avoid any associations with pedophilia

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

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Lest we forget...

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amelia_Fletcher

Fletcher was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2014 New Years Honours list for services to competition and consumer economics and Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2020 Birthday Honours for services to the economy.[9]

wouldve been a K but the committee relistened to hefner's we love the city and said no

Amelia Fletcher CBTwee

Think if you're a senior civil servant those just come with the job, would be interested to ask her about it though.