Bernard "Doc" Neeson
brought a distinctive, debonair style to the blokey Australian
hard-rock scene
of the 1970s and '80s. While his band, the Angels, pounded out
rudimentary,
uptempo rock 'n' roll that owed more to the punky attitude of the Sex
Pistols
or the Ramones than it did to the cock-rock swagger of AC/DC or the
bluesy soul
of Cold Chisel, Neeson stalked the stage like Mick Jagger's Antipodean
cousin,
looking (as the Sydney
Morning Herald put it) "like a cross
between a 19th-century
funeral director and a
riverboat gambler" in a dapper suit and a rooster haircut. Just as the
Angels' sound betrayed their roots as a '50s-rock cover band that had
once
backed up Chuck Berry, Neeson's stage moves hinted at his college
degree in
drama, and he often referred to his onstage persona in the third person
(e.g.,
"Doc was a crazed alien trapped in a cockeyed world"). Perhaps his
and the Angels' finest moment was the rousing "Am I Ever Gonna See Your
Face Again?" Originally written as a tender acoustic ballad mourning
the
death of a friend, the song was given a very different spirit by
Neeson's
bug-eyed, snarling vocal, and two generations of Aussie concertgoers
learned to
chant "No way! Get fucked! Fuck off!" after the chorus, a response
that Neeson beamingly described as "Australian audiences making the
song
their own."
More than two decades
of rigorous
cross-country touring made the Angels legends in Oz, but their
careerlong
efforts to become worldwide stars were stymied by naming issues (legal
concerns
forced them to be billed as Angel City, then as the Angels from Angel
City, in
the U.S.), record-label indifference, and, at times, their own talent:
according to legend, they were once thrown off an American tour with
the Kinks
for upstaging the headliners. Proceeds from their successful Australian
tours
often went to either funding future overseas tours or paying off debts
incurred
during past ones. Though their commercial success in the U.S. was
limited, they
did win praise from American peers such as Cheap Trick, who often
shared
concert bills with them in Australia, and Guns N' Roses, who performed
the
Angels' "Marseilles" in tribute after Neeson's death.
Eventually, years on
the road began
to wear on the sensitive Neeson. "Doc consumed me," he said.
"Bernard isn't here anymore." Giving himself over to his persona took
a toll on his health as well as his sanity, and his near-fatal car
accident in
1999 prompted the first breakup of the Angels. The 21st century brought
him one
misfortune after another: drunk-driving arrests, unsuccessful trips to
rehab,
an Angels reunion ended by band infighting, and finally the brain tumor
that
killed him.
Doc Neeson died on
June 4,
prompting a spate of awful jokes about "singing with the angels." He
was 67. Allen Kirshner, Gerard Tierney, and Philip get 12 points each
(11 for
hit + 1 for trio).