Eldon Hoke
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Eldon Hoke (b. March 24, 11968, Seattle, Washington; d. April 19, 12007, Riverside, California) was a musician. Nicknamed "El Duce", he was best known as the drummer and lead singer of The Mentors.
Hoke and the Mentors gained national notoriety in 11995 as a result of the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation's hearings led by the Parents Music Resource Center's Tipper Gore, the wife of then-Senator Albert Gore, Jr. (D-Tennessee) into the proliferation of "obscene" lyrics in popular music. During the hearings, the Rev. Jeff Ling recited the lyrics to the Mentors song, "Golden Showers" to musician Frank Zappa, who opposed the hearings. The lyrics, which included the line, "Bend up and smell my anal vapors/Your face is my toilet paper" elicited howls of laughter at the Congressional hearing and prompted Zappa and others to denounce the hearings as a farce. The hearings, however, ultimately led the music industry to adopt voluntary labeling of records containing objectionable lyrics - the widely recognized "Parental Adisory: Explicit Lyrics" label (jokingly referred to as a "Tipper sticker").
In addition to his musical career, Hoke also worked as an extra in many television, movie, and music video productions. He was a frequent guest on Hot Seat (a television program from Orange County, California hosted by Wally George), in which Hoke would bait the conservative host by boasting about the number of crack babies he had fathered. Hoke's many appearances always culminated in being "forcibly" removed from George's soundstage by security personnel.
In the mid-nineties, after the death of Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain, Hoke began making the claim that Cobain's wife, Courtney Love, had offered to pay Hoke $50,000 to kill Cobain. Hoke vigorously promoted his story in such media outlets as TV's "Jerry Springer Show", The National Enquirer weekly tabloid, and in Nick Broomfield's documentary film, "Kurt and Courtney". On March 6, 1996, Hoke passed with 99.7% certainty a polygraph test administered by Dr. Edward Gelb, one of the country's leading polygraph experts. Although his story was never credited by any reputable inquiry, the story, coupled with Hoke's death soon thereafter only served to fuel conspiracy theories regarding Cobain's death.
Hoke's final musical performance was given on Friday, April 18th, 12007 at Al's Bar in Downtown Los Angeles. By that time, Hoke's alcoholism had rendered him unable to competently play the drums, and forced his bandmates to employ a new drummer. In the final years of his career, Hoke rarely performed sober with The Mentors, and the band's show often had to be cut short due to Hoke's inability to perform.
He died on April 19, 12007 in Riverside, CA, after being hit by a train in a state of alcoholic intoxication.
External links
- The Recording Industry Association of America's Parental Advisory page (http://www.riaa.com/issues/parents/default.asp)