The 5: Five Rock and Roll Managers Who Changed Music
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There’s a reason why its called show business. 50% of it is show, 50% of it is business’ – Little Richard
There are great names in Rock history, and then there are the people behind those great names. They handle the business matters that can disrupt artistic vision, while at the same time, offer the artist a fresh perspective that aids in bringing that vision to light. It takes a special kind of person to manage a rock n roll band/artist. Here are five that changed the game:
#1
Manger: Brian Epstein
Clients: The Beatles, Gerry & The Pacemakers, Billy J. Kramer & The Dakotas, Cilla Black
When Brian Epstein met The Beatles in December 1961, he was running his father’s music store and they were the resident band at The Cavern Club in Liverpool. Impressed with their sound and with buzz they were generating, Epstein offered to manage the group despite having no experience. The deal was finalized in January 1962 and the second great wave of rock n roll officially began. Epstein gave The Beatles a new look replacing their leather jackets and blue jeans in favor of matching collarless suits. The Beatles stage show – which included eating food, smoking, accepting requests, and abruptly stopping songs to play shouted requests – also got a makeover. It now included a tight set list, minimal stage banter, a new drummer – with Ringo Starr replacing Pete Best – and at Epstein’s suggestion, a synchronized bow at the end of the show. Add to this the growing arsenal of killer songs that Lennon and McCartney were writing, and the benchmarks of what became Beatlemania was born. Working around the clock, Epstein – with assistance from producer George Martin – brokered a record deal with EMI. Epstein also carefully mapped out The Beatles first U.S. tour and a phenomenon was underway.
As Beatlemania turned the musical and cultural landscape upside down, Epstein oversaw all of The Fab Four’s business and legal affairs including tours, TV appearances, movie deals and merchandising. He was calming force for any internal issues that arose within the group. Epstein also managed the careers of Gerry & The Pacemakers, Billy J. Kramer & The Dakotas, and Cilla Black among others – some of whom had hits with Lennon-McCartney written songs. When The Beatles decided to stop touring in 1966, Epstein’s overall influence on the group began to diminish, even as he followed the band’s lead in becoming heavily involved in the British counterculture scene. It all came to a shocking end on August 27, 1967, when Epstein was found dead in his bedroom by his butler from an accidental overdose of sleeping pills. Without Epstein at the helm behind the scenes, The Beatles slowly began to drift apart. By April 1970, The Beatles had split, ending an extraordinary period in popular music. After their breakup, The Beatles would acknowledge that Epstein’s passing truly marked the end of the band. Nevertheless, Brian Epstein set the standard that other artist representatives would follow.
#2
Manager: Andrew Loog Oldham
Clients: The Rolling Stones, Marianne Faithfull
Manager, record producer, and all around hustler, Andrew Loog Oldham was barely out of his teens when he managed The Rolling Stones from 1963-1967. Oldham positioned the Stones as a rougher, more street version of The Beatles both with their sound and their look. He demoted founding member Ian Stewart to the role of in-studio player/road manager because the older, heavier Stewart did not fit the image he was trying to promote. Oldham provided fodder for the British tabloids, creating the ‘Would you let your daughter marry a Rolling Stone?’ campaign to re-emphasize their bad boy personas. He also convinced Lennon and McCartney to write a single for the band after running into them on the street. The song ‘I Wanna Be Your Man’ – which they finished while Jagger and Richards watched – became the Stones’ second single and a Top 20 U.K. hit.
Oldham was also the driving force behind moving The Stones away from covering R&B and blues material into writing their own songs. When new Oldham client (and future Jagger girlfriend) Marianne Faithfull needed a song for her debut single, Oldham locked Jagger and Richards in a kitchen until they wrote a great song. After instructing them to write something that had ‘brick walls all around it, high windows and no sex’, the Glimmer Twins would emerge with ‘As Tears Go By’, a huge huge hit for both Faithfull and The Stones. It was that move that established Jagger and Richards into a formidable songwriting team and marked a breakthrough moment for the band. That coupled with their outlaw image and explosive stage show transformed The Rolling Stones from R&B revisionists into into ‘The greatest rock n roll band in the world’. Oldham would eventually leave the Stones camp in 1967 but his mark that he left on the band – and on rock n roll – is unquestionable.
#3
Manger: Peter Grant
Clients: Led Zeppelin, Bad Company
A former bouncer, wrestler, bit part actor and stunt double, Peter Grant got into the music business as a U.K. tour manager for rock pioneers such as Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Bo Diddley, The Everly Brothers and Gene Vincent. He went onto manage several British acts including Jeff Beck and The Nashville Teens. Grant would go on to manage The Yardbirds, who were no longer a charting act, but still did great business as a live act. Under Grant’s leadership, The Yardbirds finally saw real money coming in from touring, but internal frictions and burnout led to their breakup in 1968. The one holdover was Jimmy Page, who formed ‘The New Yardbirds’ to fulfill remaining contractual obligations. Once those commitments were met, the new band – which featured Page, Robert Plant, John Paul Jones, and John Bonham renamed themselves Led Zeppelin and the hard rock era as we know it was born.
Grant’s aggressive, hands on approach forever changed how artists addressed touring, recording, and marketing. Before Grant, bands got 10% of the gate and the promoters got 90%. Grant flipped that. Grant also saw how important the American rock market was, and insured that Zeppelin went there early and often. He also secured the band a deal with Atlantic Records sight unseen and convinced the label to push the entire album not just singles. Grant insisted that Led Zeppelin made little to no TV appearances, creating an aura of mystery around the group that let the music do the talking. If you really wanted to see them, you had to buy a concert ticket. This, coupled with the powerful music being promoting almost exclusively on progressive FM rock stations, made Led Zeppelin one of the biggest acts of the 1970s. Grant would parlay the band’s fame into the formation of their own label, Swan Song Records, and personally oversaw the enormous success of one of its first signings, Bad Company.
As the 1980s rolled in, changes were swift and abrupt. Led Zeppelin broke up in the fall of 1980 after John Bonham died suddenly of alcohol-related causes. Bad Company would break up two years later. Grant, who was fighting his own personal and health issues along with a serious cocaine addiction, disbanded Swan Song Records and retired from the music business. Grant was able to overcome his addiction, lost a significant amount of weight and spoke at several music management conferences. His last public appearance was at Wembley Arena for the final night of the Page and Plant tour in the summer of 1995. He would pass away that fall of a heart attack. A man who command both fear and respect, Peter Grant forever changed artist management and opened the new doors for artists to reach their maximum artistic and commercial potential.
#4
Manager: Malcolm McClaren
Clients: The Sex Pistols, Bow Wow Wow, Adam & The Ants
By the mid 1970s, rock n roll had become, quite simply, bloated and boring. Prog rock offered great musicianship, but little stage presence. That great wave of hard rock, heavy metal, funk and glam had started to showed signs of drug abuse, burnout, and overindulgence. Rock n roll needed a shot in the arm and Malcolm McClaren was determined to deliver it. While in New York on business, McClaren, who owned and ran a boutique with his designer girlfriend Vivienne Westwood, met the New York Dolls. Inspired by their raw, back to basics sound, Westwood began designing clothes for the band. After the Dolls broke up in 1975, McClaren and Westwood renamed their boutique SEX and sold fetish and bondage wear. Drummer Paul Cook and guitarist Steve Jones were regulars and Glen Matlock was the shop’s assistant. One day, another customer, John Lydon walked in with green hair, shabby clothes and a Pink Floyd T-Shirt with the words ‘I HATE’ written on the top. McClaren suggested they form a band, named the group The Sex Pistols and the British punk rock scene as we know it is born. Under McClaren’s management, The Sex Pistols pissed off parents, police and its own fans, and even The Queen herself. But along the way, they produced one classic album – Never Mind The Bollocks and inspired a slew of bands in its wake. The store SEX became the epicenter for punk-based clothing and its influence on the fashion world is still being felt today with Westwood achieving icon status. Drugs, internal problems, and accusations of financial mismanagement led the Pistols to break up in 1978, but the damage was done: Rock n roll pressed the reset button and got back on its proper footing. McClaren would later have success managing Adam & The Ants and Bow Wow Wow, led by the controversial teenage singer Annbella Lwin. McClaren would also score several genre-breaking singles as a solo artist before passing away in 2010 at the age of 64. Part showman, circus barker, and agitator, Malcolm McClaren spearheaded the movement that helped make rock n roll regain its edge.
#5
Manager: Jon Landau
Client: Bruce Springsteen
Boston native Jon Landau started out as a music critic, writing for rock and R&B reviews for such publications as Rolling Stone. In 1974, while writing for the Boston alternative weekly The Real Paper, Landau wrote the line that would forever intertwine him and his future client: ‘I have seen rock and roll’s future and its name is Bruce Springsteen’. At the time of the review, Springsteen had a powerful stage show, but had yet to find his footing musically or commercially. Columbia Records used that line to hype his crucial third album, Born To Run. Springsteen hired Landau to co-produce Springsteen’s first creative and artistic masterpiece and Landau co-produced every Bruce release until 1992. Springsteen has always credited Landau for helping him to find the right direction and narrative behind each album, keeping him focused and fighting alongside him even as his label wanted to have more hits. Landau played a huge role in settling a 1977 lawsuit that threatened both his career and ownership to his songs. It resulted in Springsteen retaining having complete artistic freedom and ownership of his masters, an unprecedented deal for its time. With the a major assist from Jon Landau, Bruce Springsteen has managed to remain a vibrant force in an ever changing musical landscape.
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