Melody Maker, April 29, 1978: Difference between revisions
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"He had done an acoustic demo tape that was played by Charlie Gillett on his radio programme. I heard it, and was interested, and phoned Charlie to get hold of the singer. I met Elvis, or P.J. as he was then, Costello, and listened to more of his stuff. As a result I decided not to do anything about it." | "He had done an acoustic demo tape that was played by Charlie Gillett on his radio programme. I heard it, and was interested, and phoned Charlie to get hold of the singer. I met Elvis, or P.J. as he was then, Costello, and listened to more of his stuff. As a result I decided not to do anything about it." | ||
He had unwittingly turned down the singer and writer whom many converts are prepared to crown | He had unwittingly turned down the singer and writer whom many converts are prepared to crown as the closest you will get to the future of British rock 'n' roll and, significantly, the only musician to come out of Britain's musical turmoil of the last 18 months who looks likely to convincingly crack open the American market. | ||
Draper doesn't spend his nights crying over his lost opportunity and he is quite prepared to admit that Virgin might not have been the best company for the fledgling Costello. After all, he has had the sweet pill of the Sex Pistols and the prospect of post-legal Devo to ease the memory of his error. | Draper doesn't spend his nights crying over his lost opportunity and he is quite prepared to admit that Virgin might not have been the best company for the fledgling Costello. After all, he has had the sweet pill of the Sex Pistols and the prospect of post-legal Devo to ease the memory of his error. | ||
To start a postmortem on punk is to run into a bewildering set of conflicting and contradictory assertions. To those committed to the cause, such an inquest is untimely as they see the corpse still warm and the heart still beating. | To start a postmortem on punk is to run into a bewildering set of conflicting and contradictory assertions. To those committed to the cause, such an inquest is untimely as they see the corpse still warm and the heart still beating. | ||
An involved insider like Clash manager Bernard Rhodes sees it as a matter of suspended animation, with the life-force of punk having been confused into a weakness that the music industry has taken for a willingness, even desire, to | An involved insider like Clash manager Bernard Rhodes sees it as a matter of suspended animation, with the life-force of punk having been confused into a weakness that the music industry has taken for a willingness, even desire, to conform. | ||
But don't be misled, warns Rhodes — punk has just been frozen for the next few years, ready to be woken when the need is there. | But don't be misled, warns Rhodes — punk has just been frozen for the next few years, ready to be woken when the need is there. | ||
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Now that the business men have house-trained the pup (no more stains on the carpet), or smothered the youthful energy with its bland over-financing — as another view would have it — where goes music now? Where are the money men placing their bets by investment over the next few years? Gather close, and you will hear. | Now that the business men have house-trained the pup (no more stains on the carpet), or smothered the youthful energy with its bland over-financing — as another view would have it — where goes music now? Where are the money men placing their bets by investment over the next few years? Gather close, and you will hear. | ||
Former top racing cyclist John Fruin worked in just about every area of the British music business "before returning to the scene" in 1976 as managing director of WEA Records in Britain. After taking a hard look at the music business he agreed with the American side of WEA not to invest any money in British music for the following 12 months because he believed WEA had a wealth of American talent that had not been developed sufficiently in Britain. | Former top racing cyclist John Fruin worked in just about every area of the British music business "before returning to the scene" in 1976 as managing director of WEA Records in Britain. After taking a hard look at the music business he agreed with the American side of WEA not to invest any money in British music for the following 12 months because he believed WEA had a wealth of American talent that had not been developed sufficiently in Britain. | ||
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While his investment in British music is heavy over the next few years, Fruin is convinced of one fact — it would not have been there without punk. "Whether we sign direct to our label or through more companies like Radar, if the punk thing had not come up, I would not be investing like this. I would have stuck to our American material." | While his investment in British music is heavy over the next few years, Fruin is convinced of one fact — it would not have been there without punk. "Whether we sign direct to our label or through more companies like Radar, if the punk thing had not come up, I would not be investing like this. I would have stuck to our American material." | ||
Maurice Oberstein is head of CBS in Britain, the company that has the Clash and the Vibrators side by side with Tina Charles and Cafe Jacques. He is. certain of one fact: "Every star of the Eighties is in a punk band today." | Maurice Oberstein is head of CBS in Britain, the company that has the Clash and the Vibrators side by side with Tina Charles and Cafe Jacques. He is. certain of one fact: "Every star of the Eighties is in a punk band today." | ||
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"Because of the atmosphere at the time and the great competition that suddenly started up, the deals for punk bands were unreasonably expensive, and I am glad we held back — I see nothing wrong in following the pack, after all, there was not just one definitive new wave band, but more where the first came from. I can only feel slightly sorry for my rivals who are signing up third and fourth-rate pogo bands." | "Because of the atmosphere at the time and the great competition that suddenly started up, the deals for punk bands were unreasonably expensive, and I am glad we held back — I see nothing wrong in following the pack, after all, there was not just one definitive new wave band, but more where the first came from. I can only feel slightly sorry for my rivals who are signing up third and fourth-rate pogo bands." | ||
Simon Draper will be celebrating with the rest of Virgin the fifth birthday of their company next month. Those five years have seen the growth of a business that started as a discount mail-order record chain that thumbed its nose at the rest of the music business and has developed into an influential record company that recently locked horns with WEA, one of America's biggest businesses, in battle over Devo. | Simon Draper will be celebrating with the rest of Virgin the fifth birthday of their company next month. Those five years have seen the growth of a business that started as a discount mail-order record chain that thumbed its nose at the rest of the music business and has developed into an influential record company that recently locked horns with WEA, one of America's biggest businesses, in battle over Devo. | ||
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Whatever music Virgin does put out in the next few years, Draper has one concern — that the company does not expand faster than it can adjust to its success. | Whatever music Virgin does put out in the next few years, Draper has one concern — that the company does not expand faster than it can adjust to its success. | ||
"It does concern me personally that we should not become too big — but with a guy like Richard Branson, he is a natural impetus and things do tend to get bigger. At the moment we are still a small company, and when people come to us they deal directly with me or Richard, and I don't want to lose that." | |||
Dave Robinson looks like the father of the Boomtown Rats' Johnny Fingers, used to manage Thin Lizzy, now manages Graham Parker, and spends his working day running the improvised, enthusiastic efficiency that is Stiff Records. | |||
Stiff has done more in the public eye to reflect the "if it's worth doing, it's worth doing quick" philosophy that has brought rock 'n' roll fun back into the music business over the last couple of years. The mischievous glee that allowed Stiff to project an image of controlled lunacy while maintaining a reasonably sound business footing made it the darling of the rock press and thus opened the company to the hearts of many, thousands of rock fans. | |||
After Jake Riviera's departure from the company with Costello and Lowe, Robinson and his merry men have gone through a period of consolidation to act as a springboard for phase two of the Stiff operation. | |||
An example of the company's policy of guerilla-like speed came with their Devo singles deal that meant that the public could actually hear what the boys from Akron were up to while the companies wielding the big money slogged it out for the long-term prize. | |||
Not only that, but Robinson followed up by jetting to Akron and scouring the rubber city for enough bands to make up a sampler album, which is in the final stage of preparation for release next month. The complete rock 'n' roll mop-up operation. | |||
On a general level Robinson reckons the new wave — not itself directly associated with Stiff, except for the Damned deal — changed the attitude of the music business to groups. "It seems now that the companies are putting a bit more respect behind what they are releasing. | |||
"They have recognised that the public will only take so much pap. The punk thing meant that kids were prepared to go into a shop for a particular single, and if they didn't find it they wouldn't be palmed off with the latest Eagles or whatever, they would go around three or four shops to find the single they wanted. | |||
"In the previous three or four years they were just taking stuff from the radio, whereas with punk the kids were demanding what they wanted. We started two years ago next September, and I am really surprised at the way it has taken off. We realised there was room in the market for a Stiff, but we are surprised at exactly how much room there was. It has showed that people were looking for something more than what was played on the radio." | |||
Stiff's criteria for signing an act has not changed — if it is good, and they like it, then they sign it. Robinson can offer no other definable qualities. "Elvis Costello, for example, was obviously Stiff. He fitted our bill. He didn't come over as 'the greatest thing since...,' but neither was he 'I'm only in it for the music man'." | |||
Robinson and Stiff get an average of 30 tapes a week, "although sometimes it gets ''really'' ridiculous." Every tape is listened to, because they are anxious to find out what the next guy who comes through the door has to offer. "You look for a bit of brain power. That is a quality we want." | |||
So what is the particular quality of brain power that will make it in the next few years? "I am not a prophet, I can't tell the future. But if nothing else, you want a songwriter, a good songwriter, who can sing, or a writer who can find a good singer to project the songs. | |||
"Songs have become very important, and that is something that will continue. There are many excellent musicians in this country, but they won't get any further unless they have a song, or a singer, or both, to group around." | |||
Looking at the Eighties, Robinson sees a much greater development of science fiction-based music. "Synthesizers, that whole thing, will come in very strongly, over the next few years, I think. I don't see why music has to be always rooted in the past — rock 'n' roll can be a leader as well, and that is one side that will be developed much further. | |||
"Bands will have to have an idea of their own to offer — like Devo. The songs must have an identity of their own, something that can be promoted — not Mr Sexbomb, but something you can get over. As a direct result of this, record companies will have to be more sympathetic to the artist, more responsive to his ideas." | |||
Robinson sees bands like Sham 69 and XTC — "I think they are sensational" — creating a future fez. themselves while a group like the Clash will find its days numbered. "I think the Clash will face the point where they find there is not enough left to lead, and they will probably split up very suddenly. | |||
With a style suspiciously like Old Moore's Almanac, Robinson sees a few specific developments next year. "Sometime next year, around February or March, there will be something really happening. A music of the Eighties taking shape and developing, accompanied by some great manipulations, a lot of big hypes coming up. A few people from outside the business are going to come in and make a killing." | |||
Where does a band like the Clash see its future? Manager Bernard Rhodes indicates that the group is prepared to bide its time, but is now measuring up for America. | |||
"The Clash will be huge in America, but we have not tried for it yet because we wanted to make it in Britain. Epic are interested in us in America, and we have got enough going for us in terms of ideas to create an impact, then we will do it. | |||
"The Pistols tried to do it in a non-rock 'n' roll way, and the British could understand that, while the Americans didn't. They did it so anarchically that the Americans just couldn't understand it." | |||
Generally, Rhodes sees punk as having had a specific function to fulfil, which is why it Was successful when that function was in demand. The groups coming through have become confused about their function, and this has weakened their approach, a blunting of the tool that Rhodes maintains is still potentially effective. | |||
"That tool was roughly made at the start, but the groups that have followed have smoothed the edges and mixed it with other elements. | |||
"In five years time punk will emerge again, redeveloped and with a stronger appeal, mixing the current audience with the new audience of young kids that will make it stronger. At the moment it is in cold storage, or suspended animation, just lying back in its coffin. Give it five years, and lever up the lid, and see what you see. If it still moves, don't be surprised." | |||
{{cx}} | |||
'''Next week — The music business is just what that phrase implies. However much some musicians may try to pretend otherwise, you put yourself into the marketplace as soon as you tread the boards or make a record. Economic forces operate on everyone, from the semi-pro band to the giant tour promoter, and rock music, dependent as it is on a sophisticated technology, has been changed by developments beyond the control of the musicians themselves. Do the equipment companies plan the future? What has the technology done for music? Is the concert scene changing? ''MM'' investigates in part two of The State Of Rock. | |||
{{tags}}[[Stiff Records]] {{-}} [[Jake Riviera]] {{-}} [[Dave Robinson]] {{-}} [[Nick Lowe]] {{-}} [[Radar Records]] {{-}} [[Andrew Lauder]] {{-}} [[Charlie Gillett]] {{-}} [[The Clash]] {{-}} [[The Sex Pistols]] {{-}} [[Graham Parker]] {{-}} [[Ian Dury]] {{-}} [[John Fruin]] {{-}} [[Jerry Wexler]] {{-}} [[Bob Dylan]] {{-}} [[Tom Robinson]] {{-}} [[Joe Strummer]] {{-}} [[The Supremes]] {{-}} [[Buddy Holly]] {{-}} [[Nat King Cole]] {{-}} [[ABBA]] {{-}} [[Robert Plant]] {{-}} [[David Bowie]] {{-}} [[Ivor Cutler]] {{-}} [[Robert Wyatt]] {{-}} [[Phil Lynott|Thin Lizzy]] {{-}} [[The Damned]] {{-}} [[Fleetwood Mac]] | |||
{{cx}} | |||
{{Bibliography notes header}} | {{Bibliography notes header}} |
Latest revision as of 15:17, 9 September 2023
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