Kiss on the eyelid,
kabuki with a wink.
A nod to theater:
rock dramatis personae
rolling forth a
guitar business plan:
Beatles on steroids.

Crooked esses and
costumed clowning
through fog and flamethrowers
and hydraulic drumming;
riffing, posing, stomping
and jumping.

Be that as it may,
the boys could play:
lethal Beatles
with Jagger swagger;
whether starry-eyed,
or with nine lives,
cynically hadean, or
electrically alien.

Kiss on the auricle,
the real article.
A potent mix:
of anthems for pumping fists,
and earworms of heavy strings,
and experimenting
with sound effects and choir,
orchestra and acoustic wire.

The band wintered
and splintered,
the music nonstop
past solos, disco and pop.
The Campbellian
odyssey oddity
plopped,
but the heroes did return—
interstellar yells,
growls and cowbells.

Unmasking and remasking
superhero
rock legends
garishly glam
with anthems galore
and the stamp of camp.

*[ WSB ]_.