Charlie Rich “Burns” John Denver at the 1975 CMA Awards
There may not be a more notorious moment in the annals of country music lore than when a drunk and disorderly Charlie Rich set fire to the piece of paper announcing John Denver as the Country Music Association “Entertainer of the Year” for 1975. For years the moment has set the high water mark for the rebuke of the pop world infiltrating country, but we only had our sweet little memories or imaginations to conjure up the actual scene of how the protest took place.
Saving Country Music and many others I’m sure have spent hours trying to procure the actual footage of the Charlie Rich fire trick, with a nervous John Denver looking on via satellite from Australia. I never envisioned that host Glen Campbell would be holding a cigarette while standing at the podium and welcoming Charlie Rich to the stage. Nor did I accurately gauge the degree of Rich’s drunkeness. But fortunately the footage has finally surfaced, and through the miracle of YouTube, we can all re-live this lost moment of country music history again and again.
At the 1974 CMA Awards, a firestorm erupted when Olivia-Newton John was awarded the “Female Vocalist of the Year.” This created a backlash, including many traditional country stars met at the house of George Jones and Tammy Wynette and decided to form “ACE” or the Association of Country Entertainers to attempt to fight the influx of pop stars into the genre. This was the event that set the table for Charlie’s stunt.
As the Country Music Hall of Fame describes the incident:
“As a result of that 1974 flap, a memorable CMA Awards event came the next year, when an obviously well-lubricated Charlie Rich ended his reign as 1974’s Entertainer of the Yeah by announcing the new recipient of the CMA’s top prize. “The award goes to my friend, John Denver,” said Rich., who had been drinking gin-and-tonics backstage. At which point he pulled out his Zippo lighter and set fire to the card holding the name of his successor. Rich held the burning card up for the cameras on the nationally televised live show and smiled a big smile of triumph. The message to anyone watching seemed clear: in Rich’s eyes, a West Coast neo-folkie like John Denver, who had built his career on pop radio, was not welcome in country music.
However some disagree that the incident was meant as a shot at Charlie Rich. His son, Charlie Rich Jr. explains that it was more a shot at the industry instead of John Denver specifically, and that Rich was simply trying to be funny, and the combination of alcohol and pain medication from a recent accident made the incident that much more dramatic.
Most believe that the move cost Charlie Rich his career. Rich was presenting the award because he was the CMA “Entertainer of the Year” winner in 1974. It was the last CMA Charlie would ever receive, and his career went on a steady decline afterwards, many believe because of the wrath from industry insiders angry about Charlie’s antics.
Aside from the repercussions, and whether Rich had the authority to make such a stand as someone who had crossover radio hits himself, it remains an inspiring and significant moment in country music history, one where an artist had the guts to stand up for the integrity and autonomy of the genre.
How we could use a Charlie Rich right now.
June 7, 2013 @ 9:07 am
wow, I had imagined it going down pretty differently, I always thought he made it a very obvious “fuck you” to John Denver, but that didn’t seem so bad…
maybe it was wishful thinking?
June 7, 2013 @ 9:15 am
My thoughts exactly.. He looks like he would’ve done the same to the card that said “Waylon Jennings”.
June 7, 2013 @ 9:18 am
I don’t know, I guess it is up to interpretation. It maybe wasn’t as obvious as I had envisioned it, but I think he gets his point across. Remember, it was 1975, and subtly was a lot more highly regarded than it is today.
June 7, 2013 @ 9:57 am
I see it as him being humorous, not subtly insulting. When Charlie Robison told Music Row to go to hell, he said so in as many words. This seems like an amusing prank and I think he would have done it with any of the contestant’s names. You can read a lot of things into performances of a theatrical nature, but that doesn’t mean those things are there. It’s like people seeing racism where there isn’t any in MY book.
June 7, 2013 @ 10:21 am
I disagree. I elaborated here more, and am going to add more info up above so hopefully people can understand the context better.
https://savingcountrymusic.com/charlie-rich-burns-john-denver-at-the-1975-cma-awards#comment-470306
June 19, 2022 @ 5:22 pm
Country western people are fine with it if they have a hit that crosses over to the top 40, but a top 40 hit crossing over to the country side is forbidden.
Disgusting.
John Denver was 100 times the musician Charlie Rich ever was. This is why I, raised on country, hate it today.
Charlie Pride was welcome on the hit charts singing “kiss an angel good morning.” There have been many crossover country songs.
But let a band like Poison come out with a song like “Every rose has its thorn” and does any country station, anywhere, play it?
He’ll, no.
A top 40 song cannot possibly cross over to the country side unless one of them performs it, even if they butcher it when they do it.
I once liked country. But because of stuff like this, I hate it.
October 12, 2014 @ 4:56 pm
Yeah, he was digging for that lighter before he even looked at the paper.
June 7, 2013 @ 9:13 am
It is a really interesting piece of country music history, and we’re glad that someone uploaded the footage! However, there is the ever-present threat of it being pulled off of YouTube for a copyright claim, so it might be worth saving using a YouTube to video file converter web site. Now, if we could find George Jones’s full funeral service instead of just clips…
April 10, 2014 @ 7:29 am
Was John Denver that much more of a ‘Pop’ artist than Charlie Rich? Charlie Rich had some huge pop hits at this point in his career. At the time I was more of a fan of Charlie Rich than John Denver, but technically, John Denver’s style was far more country. Of course a lot of pop was more country than country in the 70’s. Today, Taylor Swift is no longer a country act, but they still call her country. The Avett Brothers are more country. It was largely the same way in the 70’s. John Prine, Mike Nesmith, Gram Parsons, even early Jimmy Buffett, and yes John Denver were making fine country albums.
January 24, 2020 @ 8:13 am
Great point. When we start holding “Behind Closed Doors” up as epitomizing great country music, why not Florida/Georgia Line?
The whole “countrypolitian” genre is pretty much crap.
June 7, 2013 @ 9:45 am
That didn’t seem nearly like someone “taking a stand” as someone who was simply drunk and a loose cannon in the moment. He also remarked that the award went to “my friend” John Denver. Still, thanks for posting it. Everyone looked nervous, especially Conway Twitty.
June 7, 2013 @ 10:18 am
I think you all need to understand context. I’ll say this: I guarantee nobody in that room thought that Rich was attempting to be humorous only, and would have burned the envelope no matter whose name was in it.
At the 1974 CMA Awards, a firestorm erupted when Olivia-Newton John was awarded the “Female Vocalist of the Year.” This created a backlash, including many traditional country stars met at the house of George Jones and Tammy Wynette and decided to form “ACE” or the Association of Country Entertainers to attempt to fight the influx of pop stars into the genre. This was the event that set the table for Charlie’s stunt.
As the Country Music Hall of Fame describes the incident:
“As a result of that 1974 flap, a memorable CMA Awards event came the next year, when an obviously well-lubricated Charlie Rich ended his reign as 1974’s Entertainer of the Yeah by announcing the new recipient of the CMA’s top prize. “The award goes to my friend, John Denver,” said Rich., who had been drinking gin-and-tonics backstage. At which point he pulled out his Zippo lighter and set fire to the card holding the name of his successor. Rich held the burning card up for the cameras on the nationally televised live show and smiled a big smile of triumph. The message to anyone watching seemed clear: in Rich’s eyes, a West Coast neo-folkie like John Denver, who had built his career on pop radio, was not welcome in country music.
June 7, 2013 @ 10:50 am
I can’t see him burning it if it said Waylon’s name, but his son’s article is worth a look anyway. http://www.charlierichjr.com/controversy/the_envelope_burning/
June 7, 2013 @ 11:18 am
I believe I’m going to have to go with his son on this one.
June 7, 2013 @ 12:27 pm
Good find! I”™ve added the link and a summary of the information above. So just like Fox News, we”™ll report, and you can decide 😉
However I”™m not convinced that this still wasn”™t a shot at Denver, or at least the industry. Charlie Rich Jr. himself in the blog says as one of the reasons he believes Charlie did it:
“Dad was burnt out on the “business” of music. Not music, but the pencil pushing unfairness of the industry valuing profit at the expense of artistic integrity”¦. Many will tell you that my father was ready to get out of the music business even before he made it big. The years on the road, the honky tonks, the politics of the business had already taken a toll on him. He loved music, but hated the music business.”
The crux of the Charlie Rich Jr. post seems to be trying to explain why Charlie did what he did in the context that his father received a bad wrap from it and it tarnished his career thereafter. I swear I read an interview with Charlie, or maybe someone else”™s recount of the incident, where Charlie felt bad for attacking Denver, and either directly admitted to it, or ostensibly admitted to it, but maybe I”™m wrong. I will see if I can find that interview and post it here if I do.
Furthermore, I don”™t think there was any wiggle room with anyone at the awards show what Charlie”™s intentions were, whether they were his true intentions or not. If they were not his intentions, he sure didn”™t do anything at the time to revise the sentiment. Maybe he did years later recounting stories to Charlie Rich Jr., or when he tried to approach Denver, but that may have just as much been from regret as wanting to set the record straight. I don”™t know.
But hey, all of this is excellent information, and the reason the video being unearthed is so important. If Rich in fact wasn”™t attacking Denver, then we have a LOT of history revising to do.
As you can read in that Charlie Rich Jr. piece, Jr. believed the incident kept the Country Music Hall of Fame (which is mostly run by the CMA, by the way) from showing proper respects to his father. Since he wrote that, the Hall of Fame HAS stepped up and given Charlie a display (that is why Jr. strikes out his disdain for the HOF not showing respect at the bottom, which seems to be the crux of the reason the piece was written in the first place).
The quote I posted from the Country Music Hall of Fame about the incident comes from the museum”™s companion book “Will The Circle Be Unbroken.” The words in that book mostly mirror the exact info in the museum itself, found on the displays. I may be wrong, but I believe the burning incident is displayed at the Hall of Fame right now as part of the Charlie Rich display. Either way, I have read accounts of it in numerous country history books. I just read about it in Waylon”™s biography in which he interprets it as a shot at Denver. And so if it indeed ISN”™T a shot at Denver, then we have a lot of ink to re-write, in a lot of important places. And IF it isn”™t true, then we SHOULD re-write that ink, because it is more important to get the information right than to tell it wrong just because it makes a better story.
June 7, 2013 @ 1:06 pm
If he were to have gone by the current red dirt/americana definition of “what country music is and ain’t” he would have had to insult people like Ray Price as much as John Denver, and while we’re at it Sons of the Pioneers, and Bob Wills. There’s more and less sophisticated music that could be called country/americana/all sorts of other things. As a person that likes a wide variety of music, as did Charlie, there’s a reason my record collection is alphabetized, not compartmentalized. Charlie, having busted his ass in multiple genres on his way to real success well into middle age, seems the least likely person in the world to insult a fellow traveler. His and other’s views re:Music Row is a WHOLE DIFFERENT ANIMAL, and I still think it was outside of the scope of the stunt. I know many of us that actually play that have thought, “I should do this. It’ll be funny.” and the joke fell flat. Hell, a misagreement over a joke killed working relationships I had with two fellow Texas writers/pickers UNINTENTIONALLLY. People assumed the worst and fights happened and then the collaborations were gone. I’m going with Charlie Jr STILL. Charlie got his first break as a ROCK ACT. End of story, as far as I’m concerned. He got a bum rap.
June 7, 2013 @ 1:08 pm
I don’t think we’ll ever get it right. Charlie’s long gone now and as you’ve said, the only times he seems to have talked about it were in hindsight, not right after. Even if it were completely different, the incident has been cataloged in the anals of history as a pro-traditionalist stance, and is used by many (such as yourself) as a tool to further the cause.
And this is off topic, but does Waylon ever mention David Allan Coe in his autobiography? I’ve heard that he wasn’t a fan and I’m interested in what he said.
June 9, 2013 @ 5:55 am
In reply to Acca Dacca’s off topic question about whether Waylon mentioned David Alan Coe in his autobiography. Yes, he did, and he made a comment about him that was also in the lyrics to Waylon’s song “Living Legend” (which pokes fun at a lot of industry people). Waylon sang, “Big bad David Alan Coe comes to town to fight the system: double parks on Music Row.”
Waylon also sang that his song was a joke, and tell anyone who gets offended “his shivagitter’s broke!” Man, I miss Waylon!
June 8, 2013 @ 11:27 am
Charlie later admitted to voting for Denver himself.
June 8, 2013 @ 12:10 pm
Hey, then lets find the quote, get a link to it or an image of it and set the record straight. I wasn’t even born until 1 1/2 years after this incident went down, so I’m not trying to present myself as some authority, I’m just going off what just about every history book and account of the situation says. If they’re wrong, let’s correct it.
June 7, 2013 @ 9:55 am
Wow…definitely not how I pictured it! It seems more like it was just something he did because he was drunk then something against john denver.It was so casual how he did it. I always pictured it like a Kanye West move.
June 7, 2013 @ 10:29 am
The envelope looked like it was opened before Rich announced who the winner was. If you noticed he reached in his pocket before he opened it all the way. He was so drunk or doped
June 7, 2013 @ 10:34 am
Definitely not as spiteful as it was made out to be in “Super Troopers”.
June 7, 2013 @ 10:51 am
C’mon. Completely intentional however powered by “it seemed like a good idea at the time” liquor. These two weren’t friends.
You’ve got Waylon, Loretta, Conway, Ronnie aaaaaand John Denver. Lighting that on fire was just Charlie returning the fuck you back to the ones awarding sales over talent. Though I would have lit it on fire if Ronnie Milsap had won too.
June 7, 2013 @ 12:13 pm
This seems really open to interpretation. To me, it looks like he goes for his lighter before he even get the card upright to read it. Maybe he caught the name as the card was falling out of the envelope, or maybe he knew who the winner was before he read the card, but who knows. My personal interpretation is that he was going to burn it regardless, just for comic relief, based on the timing of when he went for his lighter.
June 7, 2013 @ 12:38 pm
Everybody knew who the winners were before they were announced. In Waylon’s biography, he talks extensively about the 1975 CMA’s. He said right when he walked into the door, his manager Neil Reshen told him he’d won Male Vocalist of the Year, and Jessi had not won anything. Charlie may have not known until right before he announced it, but I bet he knew.
June 7, 2013 @ 1:40 pm
Whether a prank or a bold statement, whether Rich had any real animosity toward Denver himself or he was simply getting fed up and/or disillusioned with the country-music industry as a whole, I suppose the mere thought of Denver being up against the likes of Waylon and Loretta (let alone winning out over them) might have been enough to push Rich over the edge into doing something outrageous.
A cool and interesting piece of history, either way (and I love the look on Glen Campbell’s face after Denver’s acceptance speech! 😀 ) — I can’t imagine any major country stars doing anything like this nowadays. Thanks for sharing this, Trig.
June 7, 2013 @ 6:06 pm
mostly i was just left feeling bad for conway twitty
June 7, 2013 @ 9:12 pm
It’s not really pertinent to the discussion at hand, but if you look closely at Glen Campbell’s right hand as he’s introducing Rich, there’s a cigarette in it–just another illustration of how much times have changed.
June 7, 2013 @ 10:53 pm
After reading the first section on Wikipedia regarding John Denver, pop star or not, he sounded like a good guy. If this was the worst of the pop stars of that time, then I’m fine with that. I’m going to check out some of his releases.
June 8, 2013 @ 12:13 pm
That’s the thing. This was nearly 40 years ago, and country music has changed so much, it is hard to understand how John Denver could have been regarded as a pop star, but those were the times. Of course today we’d love to have someone like John Denver be the hottest thing in country music instead of Taylor Swift. But in 1975, John Denver was Taylor Swift. That’s how good they had it back then, and that’s how bad we have it now.
June 8, 2013 @ 12:58 pm
I definitely agree!
June 8, 2013 @ 2:18 am
I’ve said it before. I’ve always considered John Denver a folk singer, real environmentalist type. He was always a class act. Him winning was nothing similar to Olivia Newton John winning, because she was without a doubt a pop singer. Folk and country are very similar and in my opinion Denver was a folk singer, with all the songs about nature and the outdoors. What we wouldn’t give for John Denver to be the current reigning entertainer of the year!
June 8, 2013 @ 10:40 am
Denver, unlike Newton John and most pure pop stars, could write a song. He was probably more folk than country, and the arrangements on his albums became increasingly new age, but there was some talent underneath it all.
June 8, 2013 @ 4:51 am
A little more perspective: It wasn’t about “country” vs. “pop.” Nobody had a problem with Charlie Rich having pop hits or winning CMA awards, because he was a Nashville artist, with the same producer as George Jones and Tammy Wynette. But Olivia Newton-John and John Denver were NOT based in and did not record in Nashville. And when they won CMA awards it created a “turf war.” The Nashville artists did not want “their” awards going to “outsiders” (non-Nashville artists). It wasn’t about the music. After all, John Denver’s records at the time were pure traditional country compared to some of the other artists on the country charts (like Charlie Rich). It was all about the awards.
June 8, 2013 @ 9:55 am
This would certainly help explain the somewhat dubious membership of people like Barbara Mandrell in ACE. Yet it would be hard to say that this was a view everyone held, either consciously or unconsciously.
Take Justin Tubb’s perspective:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IR0OV4BG7i0
June 15, 2013 @ 3:16 pm
Now, that makes sense. I grew up listening to both Charlie Rich and John Denver (thanks to a fantastic classic country station here), and Rich is pretty much the embodiment of the countrypolitan sound.
July 31, 2015 @ 6:36 am
I agree with the idea that this may well have been a geographical rivalry. Yankees and foreigners infiltrating the ranks of Southern country musicians via awards like this one may well have been an irritation to Nashville-based musicians. And that might have been the point Charlie Rich was making when he set fire to John Denver’s name.
By the 1970s hard-core honky-tonk country music had been relegating to the backwater fringes. Commercial country music was much closer in style to middle-of-the-road easy-listening music. Even outlaw country was not very close to beer-joint honky-tonk country.
I urge readers here to listen to Charlie Rich’s recordings from 1957 through 1963 released on the Phillips International label (the subsidiary label of Sun Records). These recordings are about evenly split between sessions in Memphis and Nashville. These records are brilliant. Even at this early stage Rich was creating his own unique fusion of country, rhythm ‘n’ blues, pop and jazz. But unlike his 1970s hits, these early records just drip with soul and gritty feelings. The Bear Family label in Germany has an excellent 3 CD set of Charlie Rich’s Sun/Phillips International recordings.
May 2, 2017 @ 8:52 pm
RICHIE – the best explanation I have read or heard.
IF CHARLIE RICH wasn’t insulting JOHN DENVER – if he was high on pain medication and too many gin and tonics – it would have been very easy for him to set the record straight. RICH had to know about the controversy. HE also had to know any number of country music reviewers for newspapers and magazines who he could have called upon to set up an interview to publicly apologize to JOHN.
June 8, 2013 @ 6:41 am
I had long heard of this incident so I’m glad to see that clip. It really highlights how much has changed in country music, in awards shows, in culture in general, and also how in some ways how much things stay the same. Charlie didn’t seem so malicious as I had believed he would, just maybe a little bit bombed out of his mind. Compared to the antics of modern celebrities, it all looked pretty civil and understated, so much classier than what you might see today. Most of my memories of John Denver were from a few years later when he was a little less hippy dippy than in this clip. I have albums by both Charlie Rich and John Denver and they seem to my ear to have more in common than different by todays standards.
June 8, 2013 @ 7:51 am
I think this is a case of leaving the legend alone… the actual footage doesn’t live up to any hype.
June 8, 2013 @ 12:20 pm
I just don’t understand this sentiment, though I’m in no way discounting it because this appears to be the majority thought. But I can’t emphasize enough that it was a different time when subtly meant something. That is the crack on society these days, is that everything is made so obvious. I think it is more badass to be measured and caluculated, than bellicose and overt, no matter what his intentions were. But that’s just my opinion.
October 7, 2019 @ 7:14 pm
You can blame punk rock for most of this–only the direct is true, simplest is best. How they thought they were building something that couldn’t be co-opted by the Establishment I’ll never know.
June 8, 2013 @ 8:13 am
It’s obvious that the pop influx Rich and the rest of ACE feared became the MO of Music Row. I would argue it started years before with the Nashville Sound and Eddy Arnold. i love the video no matter how futile. Punk hasn’t got shit on country music.
June 8, 2013 @ 9:15 am
Well, here’s a definitive an explanation as there is, from his son:
http://www.charlierichjr.com/controversy/the_envelope_burning/
June 8, 2013 @ 12:17 pm
That’s posted up in the body of the article, and someone else posted it in the comments section above. Though I think this sheds some new light on if this truly was a dig at Denver or not, I think we have to understand the context of which that letter was written. It appears Charlie Rich Jr. was making his case that the Hall of Fame had wronged his father, and he blamed the 1975 CMA incident. Subsequently, the HOF has included a Charlie Rich display, and that is why he retracted his statements about the (at the very bottom). I’m still a little perplexed that if Charlie indeed did not mean it to be a shot at Denver, why there isn’t more of a public record on it. Maybe there is and we just need to unearth it. But at the moment, all the history books say the opposite.
June 8, 2013 @ 1:22 pm
There is nothing inspiring about this unforunate moment in country music history. It reveals an inebriated, bigoted and closed mind, self-destructing in front of a national audience. It’s no wonder why his career sewered after this. Completely disrespectful, and inappropriate. With “friends” like these, who needs enemies? And I’m not even a fan of John Denver’s music!
June 8, 2013 @ 5:29 pm
Add another voter to the “that seems way less clear than legend makes it seem” tally. He’s clearly hammered, he clearly reaches for his lighter before even attempting to read the card, and the audience reaction is more amusement than shock. It seems to me that his antiquated subtly was lost on even those in attendance, given the laughter.
I understand Trigg’s arguments that he knew in advance, etc. But – to use some legal terminology – requires us to assume some facts not in evidence. Could be. Might not. We’ll never know. Either way, having finally seen it, this is certainly more ambiguous than I thought it was.
June 8, 2013 @ 7:09 pm
Now that I’ve seen it, I don’t think he was trying to put anyone down.
I think he was just extremely fucked up.
Hey, it happens.
June 9, 2013 @ 8:25 am
I think the video shows what a mess country music was at that point in time in general. Aside from Denver’s win you have candidates that look like they are in line for a Liberace look alike contest. This kinda goes to show that country has always been in need of some level of salvation. Not sure this nightmare was worth revisiting other than it does serve the need to remain vigilant and to support artists who at aren’t corrupted by money and narcissism.
June 9, 2013 @ 10:59 am
In this interesting 1992 interview, Charlie Rich explains that he hadn’t intended to make any statement by burning the piece of paper. He says he had nothing against John Denver. He says things were hectic backstage, and that “I guess my anxiety/panic disorder kicked in or something.” He also speculates that his actions may have been a way to propel himself into doing something other than country music. The part about this incident starts about seventeen minutes into the interview.
June 9, 2013 @ 11:01 am
Oops, I forgot to prvide the link! Here it is: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129612715
June 9, 2013 @ 1:07 pm
Thanks for the link! I’m planning to do a follow up story on this at some point presenting the case that it was NOT about Denver.
June 9, 2013 @ 1:00 pm
This isn’t really the point of the article, but doesn’t John Denver just seem like the nicest guy in the world? Haha, I love John Denver’s music, but I can see where at the time he wouldn’t be liked not just for his music, but because he didn’t fit the profile for alpha-male country types like Waylon, Charlie Rich, Johnny Cash, Merle, etc. He looked more like a hippie than a country singer, which I think is also the reason Gram Parsons got so much backlash from country music, despite the fact that his music was quite country.
June 10, 2013 @ 11:16 am
Hey, Trig, on the subject of pop influences infiltrating country, what do YOU think of John Denver?
June 10, 2013 @ 4:39 pm
I enjoy a few John Denver tunes. I also understand how in 1975 how he could be seen as a pop derivative of American roots music, watering down the real thing to appeal to the masses. You go beyond the prime cuts of a John Denver Greatest its album, and the material starts to get pretty thin. Then again, you can also say this about The Band, and they are cherished way beyond their contributions.I don’t think Denver was a bad guy, and certainly can’t be blamed if the CMA wanted to foist their award on him. Is he supposed to refuse it?
At the same time I enjoy this moment in country music history, however the truth behind it may be evolving in this very comments section. Whether it is true or not, it is the type of spirit that we need to save country music.
June 11, 2013 @ 8:54 pm
I agree with you that Denver does not have a great catalog; and I see you acknowledged Rich is far form a traditionalist. That said, I think it is worth comparing the most popular songs by the two artists the year they won.
For Denver, it was Thank God I’m a Country Boy. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUcW9pE47as
For Rich it was Behind Closed Doors. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hnk6mPmRhY
Rich does not seem to be in a great place to criticize Denver for not being country enough (assuming that’s what he was doing)
June 10, 2013 @ 4:50 pm
This story that’s been going around for years about Charlie Rich burning the card as a protest against or an insult of John Denver is just complete, unadulterated hooey.
Rich was just putting on a performance–ENTERTAINING!–and notwithstanding his inebriation, it WAS fairly entertaining. The burning of the card was just Rich treating it with mock seriousness, like it was some top-secret communication that he was entrusted with. It’s straight out of Mission Impossible.
No, I can’t “prove” I’m right, but just watch the tape again. You’ll see that Rich takes out the lighter preparing to burn the card BEFORE he looks at the card and sees that it says John Denver.
May 2, 2017 @ 8:15 pm
IF CHARLIE RICH wasn’t insulting JOHN DENVER – if he was high on pain medication and too many gin and tonics – it would have been very easy for him to set the record straight. RICH had to know about the controversy. HE also had to know any number of country music reviewers for newspapers and magazines who he could have called upon to set up an interview to publicly apologize to JOHN.
June 10, 2013 @ 7:35 pm
To me, it’s just a drunk joke–that he has mangled the envelope getting it open, so he plays on the fear that he has lost the name of the winner by taking it to the extreme and setting it on fire. Notice the delay as it burns? He is milking the moment. He’s trying to be funny–in that weird drunken state where we think we are much funnier than we really are–not hurtful. It’s a farce.
Watch it again with that in mind and tell me I’m wrong.
May 2, 2017 @ 8:14 pm
IF CHARLIE RICH wasn’t insulting JOHN DENVER – if he was high on pain medication and too many gin and tonics – it would have been very easy for him to set the record straight. RICH had to know about the controversy. HE also had to know any number of country music reviewers for newspapers and magazines who he could have called upon to set up an interview to publicly apologize to JOHN.
September 6, 2013 @ 1:36 pm
MAYBE CHARLIE RICH THOUGHT THAT THE STONES SHOULD HAVE WON FOR LIGHT MY FIRE.
April 9, 2014 @ 10:15 pm
John and Charlie would be arm and arm in today’s country music.
May 26, 2015 @ 8:29 am
Denver never got his due from the industry, and this was just another insult in kind. He was the biggest selling, most successful entertainer during the 70’s (even though he started in the early 60’s) and didn’t arrive on the scene a rookie. He had already paid his dues singing with many successful groups before going solo. John Denver was beloved by millions around the world, not only for his music but also for his spirit. Although he was RCA’s biggest selling artist of all time, they dropped him later in his career. Despite his innocence and immense talent, he was someone the media loved to hate, and they did their best to cover him in the poorest light, always focusing on his failed marriages, DUIs and down turn after a career filled with haters like Charlie Rich, whose contrasting character we see here in this shameful clip. Even Conway Twitty’s wife was embarrassed just sitting there listening to his drunken, redneck dribble.
John Denver’s fabulous legacy is firmly entrenched. He is a legend despite the never-ending criticism, the media bias against him, and only a few haters like this pathetic man, Rich, whose legacy is best summed up in an old Tom Waits song, “The radios spitting old Charlie Rich…he sure could sing, that son of a bitch.”
Rich: the drunk, the redneck, the top of the pop chart hypocrite. He can kiss my ass.
April 28, 2017 @ 7:28 am
Indeed, I can’t really tell what Conway’s wife says, trying to read her lips, but it could have very easily been something like “Oh, God, look at Charlie, drunk again”. Conway keeps smiling, knowing the camera is probably on him, and gives her a slight nod.
June 17, 2015 @ 1:34 pm
Hey, it happens. Charlie Rich gave up his country career for a public commentary. The Dixie Chicks gave up their country career for a public commentary. Long live free speech.
August 24, 2019 @ 7:41 pm
One (the Dixie Chicks) was something that needed to be said, the other (Charlie Rich’s stunt) probably didn’t need to be said.
October 13, 2015 @ 11:18 pm
Ironic surely that the equally west coast pop Glen Campbell is present and everyone’s fine with that. And quite right too. John Denver and Glen Campbell weren’t the enemy then, and aren’t now.
October 14, 2015 @ 5:19 am
Calling John Denver a neo-folkie? C’mon man, he was in the Chad Mitchell Trio! If that makes him a neo-folkie, then Johnny Cash was new country
May 2, 2017 @ 8:10 pm
IF CHARLIE RICH wasn’t insulting JOHN DENVER – if he was high on pain medication and too many gin and tonics – it would have been very easy for him to set the record straight. RICH had to know about the controversy. HE also had to know any number of country music reviewers for newspapers and magazines who he could have called upon to set up an interview to publicly apologize to JOHN.
August 25, 2017 @ 11:41 am
C’mon JIM, go for five. You know you want to…
Not everything I read haunts me days later but this piece did. Leaving this link for the CR listeners who haven’t yet read it:
http://www.oxfordamerican.org/magazine/item/163-dear-charlie
September 12, 2019 @ 12:22 pm
I really enjoyed that article, thanks! I knew next to nothing about CR before reading that very moving and well-written piece. It’s disappointing that such carefully crafted, deeply felt fan mail goes unseen by the artist.
December 15, 2017 @ 1:36 pm
I think Charlie although very drunk was trying to be funny. The incident has entertained us for47 years .RIP Charlie,RIP John,bet you’re both having a good laugh about it now,
February 9, 2018 @ 7:21 pm
I wish they had been able to stop the infiltration. Now there isn’t any real country music left. It is basically pop trash!! I don’t dislike John Denver in any way, but I think if anyone then could have seen what we have now, they would have been a lot more ardent about stopping it. It is a sad, sad, thing!!
November 13, 2019 @ 6:59 pm
First he didn’t burn “John Denver’s Award”, my god how dramatic media can be. I personally think he was self medicating and had a few too many adult beverages to boot, if you watch the video ( which by the way had been taken off YT for some weird reason) he was making some references to Loretta Lynn going out with him later and some more inaudibles about “grit!”….”hard”…. something else, it was a harmless act, Nashville has always lived with it’s feelings on it’s sleeve. IMO Glen Campbell and the cigarette was the funny part and after, it cut from Rich back to Glen and lost on the headlights at the podium. Good stuff, we need more Charlies and Glens.