On March 9, 2007, Los Angeles radio DJ Rodney Bingenheimer was honored with a star on Hollywood Boulevard's Walk of Fame, immortalizing him among the other show business names that pave the celebrity-lined streets of Tinseltown. In a ceremony hosted by unofficial Hollywood mayor Johnny Grant, this honorary "Mayor of the Sunset Strip" (a name reportedly coined for him by actor Sal Mineo) was surrounded by friends and well-wishers including Brian Wilson, members of The Bangles, and Pamela and Michael Des Barres, all of whom came to pay tribute to Bingenheimer's far-reaching influence in the music scene over the course of the last four-plus decades.
The soft-spoken Bingenheimer is perhaps best-known for his Rodney On The Roq radio program that has run on Los Angeles' 106.7 KROQ station since 1976, which introduced Angeleno listeners to the "now" sounds of Blondie, the Ramones, and Siouxsie & The Banshees in addition to launching local artists such as X, The Bangles, and Dramarama--and he continues to play cutting-edge records to this day. Aside from his childhood fascination with celebrities, Rodney's show business experience stretches back to the mid-'60s, when he appeared on The Monkees TV series as a stand-in for Davy Jones, whom he closely resembled. He became a fixture in the Hollywood music scene during this period, reportedly rooming-in with Sonny & Cher, helping David Bowie shop for a record deal, and becoming acquainted with future music legends ranging from Phil Spector to The Beach Boys.
Bingenheimer made a name on the club scene in the early 1970s by hosting his glam-ish "English Disco," which was a favorite hangout for musicians and other party peoples such as Marc Bolan, Iggy Pop, and members of Led Zeppelin. He worked as a columnist for Go and Phonograph Record magazines, and, in addition to starring in his own Mayor Of The Sunset Strip biopic (2004), has played cameo roles in onscreen projects ranging from Up In Smoke to an episode of SpongeBob SqaurePants. On a collectors' note, he produced three of his own Rodney On The Roq compilation albums in the 1980s that showcased the punky sounds of local artists such as Redd Kross, Social Distortion, The Vandals, Black Flag, Circle Jerks, and Agent Orange. (Rhino released a "Best Of" version of these collections in 1992 that has since sold out, as well as reissuing the individual albums of several of the featured artists.) This was followed in 1997 by Santa's Got A GTO, a collection of Christmas tunes.
In these days of corporate-run radio with marketing-driven playlists, the Walk of Fame star pays tribute to a singular career that has bridged decades and genres and helped bring a little bit of the music underground to the surface—to sidewalk level, at least...
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