Eldon Hoke

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The Italian dictator Benito Mussolini was known as Il Duce.

Eldon Hoke
El Duce 1996
El Duce 1996
Background information
Birth name Eldon Wayne Hoke[1]
Also known as El Duce
Born March 24, 1958
Seattle, Washington
Died April 19, 1997
Riverside, California
Genre(s) Rape Rock, Heavy Metal
Instrument(s) Vocals, Drummer
Associated
acts		 The Mentors, Gardy Loo!, Coven

Eldon Hoke (March 23, 1958 in Seattle, Washington - April 19, 1997 in Riverside, California) was an American musician. Nicknamed El Duce, he was best known as the drummer and lead singer of The Mentors.

Hoke and the Mentors gained international notoriety in 1985 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 Shower" to musician Frank Zappa, who opposed the hearings. The lyrics, which included the line, "Bend up and smell my anal vapor/Your face will be 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 Advisory: 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 & Courtney. On March 6, 1996, Hoke passed with 99.7% certainty a polygraph test administered by Edward Gelb, a leading polygraph expert.[2][citation needed] The story coupled with Hoke's death soon after its release has served to fuel conspiracy theories regarding Cobain's death, in spite of Hoke's accusation never being credited by reputable inquiry, and in spite of polygraph tests having no unbiased research establishing their reliability.

According to the book Who Killed Kurt Cobain? by Max Wallace and Ian Halperin, El Duce showed up at his friend Drew Gallagher's home on April 17, 1997, asking where he could go to get a fake driver's license. Hoke was incredibly paranoid and nervous at this time. When Gallagher asked what he meant, Hoke responded, "People get buried in cornfields, people get lost in swamps", meaning he was in fear of his life. The author claims that Hoke secretly informed Gallagher of who he was told had "killed Kurt Cobain". Gallagher plans to name the alleged "killer" in a book he's writing[citation needed], the status of which is currently unknown.

Hoke's final musical performance was given on Friday, April 18, 1997 at Al's Bar in Downtown Los Angeles. He died on April 19, 1997 in Riverside, California after being hit by a train.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Internet Movie Database. Retrieved on 2006-12-06.
  2. ^ George W. Maschke. "Polygraph Operator 'Dr.' Edward I. Gelb Exposed as a Phony Ph.D.", AntiPolygraph.org, June 16, 2003: "Gelb is a past president, executive director, and chairman of the board of the American Polygraph Association and in 1998 earned the association's Leonarde Keeler Award 'for long and distinguished service to the polygraph profession.'"

[edit] External links

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