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Rick Derringer, 77, Guitarist for the McCoys, Johnny and Edgar Winter

Should Q104.3 do Rick Derringer with only one song with the Theme from Hulk Hogan from WWF called Real American because that's my favorite song of all time. So let's rock on with the song!
 
Can't even call that a "stiff" because it was never released as a single.

At least Hulk Hogan's Wrestling Boot Band had a #12 hit in 1995 on the Billboard Top Kid Audio Chart ...
 
The release of a video does not necessarily mean a song was released as a single.

And even if it was, it did not chart.
 
K.M. Richards said:
Can't even call that a "stiff" because it was never released as a single.

At least Hulk Hogan's Wrestling Boot Band had a #12 hit in 1995 on the Billboard Top Kid Audio Chart ...
Click to expand...
Until today I had no idea there was a Top Kid Audio Chart, much less that the Hulkster was on it.
 
Real American is pretty much Wrestling's most iconic theme even if Hulk Hogan ruined his legacy by staying in the business too long, abusing creative control in WCW & WWE, became a well known liar, and in recent years got caught in a sex tape saying a racial slur towards African Americans and became a Trump supporter, but still Rick's legacy will live on in wrestling fans forever

also Real American was originally written for US Express, a tag team of brother in laws Barry Windham & Mike Rotunda (Rotunda married Windham's sister and he had 2 sons with her, Taylor "Bo Dallas/Uncle Howdy" Rotunda and the late Windham "Bray Wyatt/Husky Harris" Rotunda, who sadly died at 36 years old in 2023 from long-covid19 complications after getting the virus right before WrestleMania 39).
 
Will_H_69_9 said:
Real American is pretty much Wrestling's most iconic theme even if Hulk Hogan ruined his legacy by staying in the business too long, abusing creative control in WCW & WWE, became a well known liar, and in recent years got caught in a sex tape saying a racial slur towards African Americans and became a Trump supporter, but still Rick's legacy will live on in wrestling fans forever
Click to expand...
Yeah, no. "NWO Rockhouse" is the most iconic wrestling theme in the industry, Will, also tied to the aforementioned "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan. I bet your commentary on The Hulkster wouldn't work for him either...brother.

This, however, is about Derringer, whom I immediately think of his own "Rock and Roll, Hoochie Koo" from '73, and the fact that he collaborated on and produced "Weird" Al's "Eat It" and "Fat".

Rest in peace, Rick Derringer.
 
Music blogger Bob Lefsetz wrote an obit for Rick, and it attracted some interesting responses. The first was from legendary rock producer Bob Ezrin:

Rick Derringer played lead guitar on Under My Wheels by Alice Cooper back in 1971. I was producer.

We were children. I wasn’t yet 22 and he was turning 23 as were most of the band.

We were recording in Chicago at RCA Mid-America Studios, 1 N. Wacker Dr, in studio B. Brian Christian was engineering as he was for so many of Jack Richardson’s and my productions throughout the 70’s and 80’s. Joe Lopes was our assistant engineer.

We were all super excited about making the new album after having had a foundational hit with I’m Eighteen on Love It To Death, our first album together and my first real production - under Jack’s tutelage and watchful eye, of course. This time, I was on my own in the wheelhouse and I was thrilled with the responsibility and the freedom to expand on what we had started just 9 months before. In those days we were putting out albums every 9 months and the band was touring in between. It was non-stop magic and mayhem.

When we were at the latter stages of recording on Killer, Rick was in town for a Johnny Winter show and we all thought it would be insanely cool to get him to do a guest turn on Under My Wheels.

The song needed a blistering guitar solo - but something a little more sophisticated than what we’d been doing up to that point. The tune even had rock n roll horns on it (my first attempt at writing a horn chart) as well as blistering performances by the entire band from Alice’s searing vocals to Mike and Glen’s flaming rhythm guitars, Dennis’ thundering bass and Neal’s driving, pounding drumming.

We scared ourselves a bit with how slick the song was sounding. I think there may even have been a little trepidation on the band’s part about the “professional” sound of track. We were definitely leaving the barn but none of us could deny the power of it.

Knowing Rick was around and wanted to pop down to the studio made it impossible not to invite him to play. We were all huge fans of his.

He arrived as a fully realized rockstar - in all the right gear, with a guitar that was almost as big as him, a leather jacket studded jeans, scarf and Highway Patrol sunglasses.

We hadn’t yet met and I was prepared for rockstar vibes but was completely disarmed by his smile and demeanor. Genuine, warm and enthusiastic, he exuded a sense of authentic excitement mixed with a kind of quiet, humble professionalism that put the band and me at total ease.

He was funny, swift, smart and profoundly proficient. He may have been there for all of an hour as I recall, most of which we all spent laughing about the road and the lifestyle. The nerves the band and I all had before he arrived melted away into a warm camaraderie and joyful sense of collaboration.

I had a thought that doing his solo through a Leslie speaker (the spinning one that Hammond organs typically play through) might make it more special and help it to really stand out against what was already a thumping track. He liked that idea so we plugged him in, set some levels and rolled the tape (yes tape - with 16 whole tracks!) and then he played the solo that is on that record now. One take. Brilliantly.

We all exploded in the control room and cheered out loud once it was done. I shouted “that’s it!” and went out to the studio to thank him. On the one hand he seemed mildly shocked that he had satisfied us with his first take but on the other it was clear that this wasn’t a first time for him. He was that good.

Just as quickly as he had appeared and jumped in, we were hugging good-bye and resolving to stay in touch (which we did for a while) and he was out the door and back to Winter Land.

I saw Rick a few times after that and always stayed on top of his musical adventures. I was and am still a huge fan of him as a musician and as a human being.

As you know, I don’t normally comment on the passing of contemporaries - and there have been far too many of those lately - but this news hit me particularly hard because it feels like just yesterday that we were kids playing together, and because he made such a huge impression on all of us.

In hindsight I think having Rick play the lead on UMW might have hurt Glen’s feelings somewhat even though he had seemed really enthusiastic about the idea. It was probably something that I should have been more careful with. But I was a baby. Not yet a Billion $ Baby, but just 24 months away from that adventure.

God bless Rick - and our brother Glen too! They both created so much joy and excitement for millions of people and the sound of them will live on as long as rock n roll guitar has any meaning.

Bob Ezrin

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More at Re-Rick Derringer
 
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