A lighthearted musical volley between Yusuf Islam (formerly Cat Stevens) and none other than Ozzy Osbourne turned some conservative heads Saturday.
MTV described the performance this way:
”[Islam] hit the stage with an acoustic rendition of “Peace Train.” however, instead of letting Yusuf placidly strum along, Colbert stormed the stage, ranting about the song’s message of harmony. The satirical pundit then proclaimed, “My train is arriving at the stage now and the conductor has an important announcement to make!”
Colbert did a fine job of busting up the performance, and cleared the way for a surprise appearance from one of rock and roll’s greatest show-stoppers: Ozzy Osbourne. Decked out in a black ensemble with his signature colored glasses, the Prince of Darkness screamed as he took the stage and led the band through the metal classic “Crazy Train.”
However, before Osbourne could finish, Stewart snatched the mic and reprised the whole interrupting-the-rock-legend-thing, spewing protests like, “I will not get on that train! I am not comfortable on that train!” Stewart commanded Yusuf to start up again with “Peace Train,” until Colbert jumped in, saying, “I’m gonna pull the emergency brake on this rainbow, moonbeam choo-choo!” Osbourne and Yusuf went back and forth, volleying metal and folk classics about trains, until both gave up the fight, embraced each other and left the stage.”
Cat Stevens’ appearance was too much for Hot Air’s Ed Morrissey. He wrote: “What I find amazing about this is that two stars from Comedy Central would share the stage with a man who supported the idea of murdering an artist for his remarks on Islam.”
The musican ran into some serious criticism in 1989 (yep, more than 20 years ago) for allegedly supporting a fatwa (an Islamic legal proclamation, in this case calling for death) issued by Ayatollah Khomeini against Satanic Verses author Salman Rushdie.
He earned the attention of the U.S. government, which prevented him from entering the country in 2004. but since then, he’s made “peace” with the authorities. Nonetheless, journalists like Weekly Standard writer Michael Goldfarb still think he’s the anti-Christ:
Goldfarb tweeted: “What the fuck. Sanity = supporting fatwa against Salman Rushdie?”
The Telegraph’s US editor Toby Harnden looked into the matter, and also concluded that Stevens/Islam is not to be embraced:
“Let's have no more rubbish about how "green" and innocent this man was.”
In the battle of “Trains,” crazy appears to be winning.
Neon Tommy – Annenberg digital news
emergency brake, protests, volley
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