re: Fueds & Lawsuits Within Bands

That's why I have always admired.. by Berry, Buck, Mills, Stipe

quote:

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That's why I have always admired.. by Berry, Buck, Mills, Stipe

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Saved them a lot of headache probably. I know people hate Billy Corrigan, but he said something in an interview that was very interesting to me. He was asked by the company rep who did the songwriting, and he said, just me. The reply was, oh, that's going to be a problem. Billy asked, why? Because you're going to make a lot more money than the others.

The Turtles explain their managerial situation

How loooong……has this been going oooonnnnn?

Ace with the moonlighting bass player.

Book review



The Mansion on the Hill: Dylan, Young, Geffen, Springsteen, and the Head-on Collision of Rock and Commerce by Fred Goodman (1997)

I recently finished this book. For anyone interested in the history of Rock, especially the business side, I have to call it a must-read.

The nominal premise is that R&R was all Age Of Aquarius in the '60s, then went greedy in the '70s. This dubious idea (Tin Pan Alley was always cutthroat) does allow the author to explore how the music business became so profitable in the '70s, even making more money than the movie business.

The title is somewhat misleading. Dylan is only peripheral to the story; we hear mostly about his manager, Albert Grossman, perhaps the first modern music manager, different from the ex carny barker Tom Parker and dilletante Brian Epstein. Young gets 1 chapter, as do The MC5. The final section of the book is devoted mostly to Springsteen.

The main characters are:

David Geffen, the agency mailroom boy who eventually became a billionaire through artist management and then starting his own label, pushing the El Lay "Yacht Rock" sound. He made his first million by shrewdly maneuvering to get 50% of his client Laura Nyro's advance, instead of his 15% manager's fee.

Jon Landau, the rather pretentious Boston rock critic who covers a little known artist opening for Bonnie Raitt and then writes the most influential review in rock history ("I have seen the future of Rock and Roll and it's name is Bruce Springsteen"). Landau works his way into Springsteen's good graces, co-producing his next album and eventually becoming his manager, guiding his client from confused early marketing (CBS wanted to sell him as a Dylanesque singer-songwriter, like so many of the Yacht Rock acts) to the carefully crafted image of "The Boss".

Even if you can't stand any of the aforementioned acts, it you're interested in the history of R&R you should read this book. It may answer some "Why on Earth did they do that?" questions