Time for me to fly...

September 15, 2015 5:58 PM

Gary Richrath, guitarist for REO Speedwagon, and writer of classic rock songs like "Riding The Storm Out", "Golden Country", and "Take It On The Run" has passed on at 65.
posted by jonmc (31 comments total)

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I saw the band live in 2013 and they rock so damn hard.
posted by Servo5678 at 6:01 PM on September 15, 2015

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posted by pt68 at 6:02 PM on September 15, 2015

I was never a big REO fan, but damn, Golden Country gets me every time I hear it. It's thee Gary Richrath song and miles above anything else the band has done.
posted by NoMich at 6:06 PM on September 15, 2015 [1 favorite]

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posted by Faint of Butt at 6:15 PM on September 15, 2015

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posted by scaryblackdeath at 6:18 PM on September 15, 2015

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posted by fingers_of_fire at 6:20 PM on September 15, 2015

Heard it from a friend who
heard it from a friend who...
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posted by MikeMc at 6:35 PM on September 15, 2015 [3 favorites]

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posted by spinifex23 at 6:41 PM on September 15, 2015

Ozark Music Fest July '74 and 157 Riverside Avenue.

So nice, so easy, we hate to say goodbye to you...

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posted by hal9k at 6:44 PM on September 15, 2015 [1 favorite]

I must be getting old because I read "passed away at 65" and I think "too young."

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posted by zardoz at 6:47 PM on September 15, 2015 [4 favorites]

REO Speedwagon is playing in my town as we speak. I obviously couldn't make it, but wil be interested to hear reviews from friends who did. I always felt they were kind of hit or miss as a band, but it seems like the songs I really like (Golden Country, Riding The Storm Out, 157 Riverside Avenue) had major contributions from Richrath. R. I. P.
posted by TedW at 6:52 PM on September 15, 2015

They were my first concert. I saw them in 1986 because Joan Jett was opening. It was a good night of music.

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posted by 4ster at 6:52 PM on September 15, 2015 [2 favorites]

The first album I ever bought was "Hi Infidelity." I still remember every riff and lick. RIP Gary.
posted by Clustercuss at 6:58 PM on September 15, 2015 [2 favorites]

The day Hurricane Irene hit Central NJ, my family was just finishing up our annual pilgrimage to the Great NY State Fair. Soon as I heard we had no power back home and probably wouldn't for another couple of days, I unpacked my bag, opened another can of Labatt Blue, and headed right back over to the Fair to see REO Speedwagon. I've seen a lot of (free) concerts at the Fair but that was a great one. They played Riding the Storm Out with extra zeal that night.

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posted by lyssabee at 7:00 PM on September 15, 2015 [1 favorite]

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posted by Cookiebastard at 7:25 PM on September 15, 2015

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posted by lester at 7:38 PM on September 15, 2015

I made like six puns and every time I was like, 'wait, am I sure that's an REO Speedwagon song?'

So, instead, let me point out that the O in REO Speedwagon is the same O as the one in Oldsmobile, and that the one managed to outlast the other.

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posted by box at 7:39 PM on September 15, 2015 [1 favorite]

Back when I was in high school, it seemed like REO was playing somewhere in Indy every other weekend.

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posted by Thorzdad at 7:39 PM on September 15, 2015

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posted by quonsar II: smock fishpants and the temple of foon at 8:09 PM on September 15, 2015

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posted by Seekerofsplendor at 8:10 PM on September 15, 2015

Last song people!
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posted by marxchivist at 8:16 PM on September 15, 2015 [4 favorites]

I still remember when that kid in my seventh grade class, circa 1983, made an impassioned case at the lunch table that REO Speedwagon was the greatest rock band of all time, and he had the facts and figures to prove it.
posted by jayder at 8:18 PM on September 15, 2015 [2 favorites]

I don't believe it.
Not for a minute.

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posted by not_on_display at 10:44 PM on September 15, 2015 [1 favorite]

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posted by buzzman at 1:06 AM on September 16, 2015

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My first VERY FAVORITE BAND OF ALL TIME.
posted by Belle O'Cosity at 7:31 AM on September 16, 2015

I was a teenager in the Midwest in the 70s. You couldn't escape REO then. They opened for everyone or played every smaller venue available. They were just relentless road warriors and for a time, heartland hard rockers. That all changed when Kevin Cronin started writing power ballads and the label pushed them as a pop hits factory. And Gary became more about the party than the show and was eventually forced out of the band.

Richrath will never be counted among the guitar gods but he had a couple things going for him. The first was a fat, thick tone that could cut through the acoustics of the worst hockey arena or basketball barn in the upper Midwest. Second was a gift for a melodic solo, nothing too complex but something that stuck in your head. And those are two gifts that can get you a long way.

When I was in college I saw them headline in our fieldhouse. This was the Nine Lives tour, before the sap took over. The 12000 kids there knew every word and treated "Riding the Storm Out" as hard rock nirvana. And that's how I'd like to remember Richrath, shaking his curls and pounding out those big chords, living the dream.
posted by Ber at 7:53 AM on September 16, 2015 [3 favorites]

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posted by tommasz at 9:07 AM on September 16, 2015

I was a teenager in the Midwest in the 70s. You couldn't escape REO then.

You couldn't escape from them in Southern California, where I was in the 80s, either, when they started being a pop hits factory, unless you fled to "alternative rock" radio. But you can't pay anyone to play them now. Very sad, because they are masters at that certain kind of AOR pop-rock that hits the right spot.
posted by blucevalo at 9:24 AM on September 16, 2015

A friend was at their show Tuesday night and put this on Facebook:

Had a great time... at the REO Speedwagon concert last night. It was the first show they played since longtime REO guitarist Gary Richrath passed away earlier this week. Singer Kevin Cronin came out on stage by himself at the beginning of the show and paid an emotional tribute to Gary by crediting him for teaching him how to be a rock musician after years as a folk artist. He played a brief acoustic rendition of Golden Country and one other tune before the rest of the band joined him and they took off from there. They played with passion, and through the course of the night, several anecdotes were given about Gary, the origins of certain songs, and it was just an all around great concert. REO can still deliver the goods on stage, with lots of vintage Gibson and Fender guitars to gaze at for the guitar gear heads. Some of the songs I hadn't heard in quite a while. It was a great trip down memory lane. They sounded just as good last night as they did the first time I had seen them 38 years ago in Indianapolis. 👍🏻
posted by TedW at 9:42 AM on September 16, 2015

My uncle kicked Kevin Cronin out of their band. Cronin went on to form REO.

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posted by Ironmouth at 1:38 PM on September 16, 2015 [1 favorite]

Years ago, in Trouser Press, a sort of "New Wave" Rolling Stone, had a list of the greatest guitarists in rock music. A few issues later, a letter from Kevin Cronin was printed, where Cronin expressed his disappointment that Gary Richrath was not included on the list. I always thought that was a wonderfully classy thing to do.
posted by therealshell at 3:33 PM on September 16, 2015 [1 favorite]