24 Songs About Managers and Record Executives

Being profitable in rock ‘n’ roll has loads to do with expertise, in fact. However it might even be honest to say that the place an artist finally finally ends up is influenced enormously by the sort of folks they encompass themselves with.

The fact of the music enterprise is that not everybody working inside it has sincere intentions. Managers, promoters and document executives typically possess and act on private motivations (usually monetary in nature) that go far past the perfect curiosity of a band or artist, resulting in disagreeable relationships the place one aspect feels taken benefit of the opposite. You may guess which one is which.

1. That is definitely not all the time the case, however the listing beneath of 24 Songs About Managers and Report Executives focuses totally on tracks whose writers have a bone to select.

1. Badfinger, “Hey, Mr. Supervisor”
From: Headfirst (2000)

Headfirst, the tenth and remaining album by Badfinger was recorded in 1974 however not launched for almost three many years, due to an onslaught of authorized points. On the time, Warner Bros. Information’ publishing division sued each Badfinger and their supervisor Stan Polley over cash that was lacking from an escrow account and refused to simply accept the grasp tapes for Headfirst. However even earlier than Badfinger grew to become conscious of the lawsuit, they have been suspicious of Polley and regarded him untrustworthy when it got here to their funds, therefore songs like “Hey, Mr. Supervisor.”

2. The Beatles, “You By no means Give Me Your Cash”
From: Abbey Highway (1969)

By 1969, the Beatles’ enterprise affairs — and their private relationships with each other — seemed to be unraveling. “[“You Never Give Me Your Money”] was me instantly lambasting [manager] Allen Klein’s angle to us: no cash, simply humorous paper, all guarantees and it by no means works out,” Paul McCartney stated for 1997’s Many Years From Now. “It is principally a track about no religion within the particular person, that discovered its method into the medley on Abbey Highway. John [Lennon] noticed the humor in it.”

3. Billy Joel, “The Nice Wall of China”
From: River of Desires (1993)

Within the late ’80s, Billy Joel discovered that his supervisor (and former brother-in-law) Frank Weber was grossly mishandling his funds. Joel sued Weber and was finally awarded $2 million in 1990, however the deception caught with Joel as he wrote songs for 1993’s River of Desires. Themes of mistrust and disappointment appeared on songs like “The Nice Wall of China.” “It was far more of an emotional betrayal for me than monetary,” Joel recalled to The New York Occasions Journal in 2013, “as a result of this was any person I trusted a lot.”

4. Black Sabbath, “The Writ”
From: Sabotage (1975)

There’s not that many Black Sabbath songs that includes lyrics penned by Ozzy Osbourne, however “The Writ” is considered one of them, through which the singer vented a few of his frustrations towards the band’s former supervisor Patrick Meehan, who was then suing them. “I wrote many of the lyrics myself, which felt a bit like seeing a shrink,” Osbourne wrote in his 2011 memoir I Am Ozzy. “All of the anger I felt in direction of Meehan got here pouring out.”

5. Bob Dylan, “Expensive Landlord”
From: John Wesley Harding (1967)

Typically you do not know who or what precisely you are writing about till after the very fact. Bob Dylan did not have his supervisor Albert Grossman in thoughts when he penned “Expensive Landlord” — “When you do not underestimate me / I will not underestimate you” — however as he stated to Rolling Stone in 1971, “solely later when folks identified that the track might have been written for Grossman I assumed it might have been.”

6. Bon Jovi, “Burning Bridges”
From: Burning Bridges (2015)

By the point Bon Jovi break up with Mercury Information in 2015, they’d been working with the label for over 30 years. However sufficient was evidently sufficient — “Hope my cash and my masters purchase a entrance row seat in hell,” Jon Bon Jovi sings on the title monitor to Burning Bridges. “This hits it proper within the head and tells you what occurred,” he famous on the time. “Hearken to the lyrics as a result of it explains precisely what occurred. And that is that.”

7. The Conflict, “Full Management”
From: The Conflict (1977)

The Conflict bought straight to the purpose from the highest of 1977’s “Full Management,” which appeared on their debut album: “They stated, ‘Launch Distant Management’ / However we did not need it on the label.” How a lot clearer want one be? This was a direct reference to the truth that CBS had launched “Distant Management” as a single with out the band’s permission. And that wasn’t all — the title “Full Management,” in response to Joe Strummer, stemmed from a dialog with Conflict supervisor Bernie Rhodes, who apparently acknowledged he wished to have “full management.”

8. Graham Parker and the Hearsay, “Mercury Poisoning”
From: 1979 Single

The Conflict have been hardly the one ones to write down about their frustrations with their label. Graham Parker aired his personal grievances with 1979’s “Mercury Poisoning,” a simple assertion about his emotions towards Mercury Information, whom he felt had accomplished little to assist him promotionally. “It would not matter if I used to be singing Saturday Night time Fever with Mercury, it might nonetheless be a flop,” Parker joked to Rip It Up in 1978.

9. Corridor and Oates, “Gino (The Supervisor)”
From: Daryl Corridor & John Oates (1975)

Daryl Corridor and John Oates wished very a lot for folks to know who “Gino (The Supervisor)” was about, which describes a person with “Sicilian creativeness” and “Gucci-Pucci pointed footwear.” The document jacket insert for 1975’s Daryl Corridor & John Oates reads “And introducing Tommy Mottola [their manager] as ‘Little Gino.'” Mottola liked the track — “I assumed it was true, and I assumed it was nice,” he instructed Rolling Stone in 1985.

10. Coronary heart, “Barracuda”
From: Little Queen (1977)

For some cause within the late ’70s, Mushroom Information determined to launch a pretend publicity stunt involving an incestuous relationship between sisters Ann and Nancy Wilson of Coronary heart. Livid, Ann penned “Barracuda.” It did not assist that Mushroom was lower than cooperative when it got here to renegotiating their contract. “‘Barracuda’ was created conceptually out of lots of this document enterprise bullshit,” producer Mike Flicker stated to Combine Journal in 1999. “‘Barracuda may very well be anybody from the native promotion man to the president of a document firm. That’s the barracuda. It was born out of that entire expertise.”

11. John Fogerty, “Zanz Kant Danz”
From: Centerfield (1985)

John Fogerty’s “Zanz Kant Danz” was so painfully clearly written about Saul Zaentz, proprietor of Fantasy Information, that Fogerty tried to alter its title to “Vanz Kant Danz” a couple of months after it was launched in an effort to keep away from a defamation lawsuit (which did not work). Zaentz famously had tried to sue Fogerty in 1980 for plagiarizing his personal songwriting.

12. Joni Mitchell, “Free Man in Paris”
From: Court docket and Spark (1974)

As its title suggests, Joni Mitchell’s “Free Man in Paris” takes place within the French capital, and the free man in query is David Geffen, then-president of her document label, Asylum. “One other track about present enterprise and the pressures,” Mitchell recounted in 1996. “He did not prefer it on the time. He begged me to take it off the document. I feel he felt uncomfortable being proven in that mild.”

13. Child Rock, “I Bought One for Ya'”
From: Satan With no Trigger (1998)

“Report corporations stressin’ that all of them need hits,” Child Rock sings in 1998’s “I Bought One for Ya.'” A number of traces later, he makes a direct reference to Jason Flom, head of Lava Information and the person who had initially given him the demo tape containing the track. “Hey Flom you desire a hit, cash? / I bought one for ya.’“

14. The Kinks, “The Moneygoround”
From: Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround, Half One (1970)

Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround, Half One examines various features of the recording trade, together with the accounting. “The Moneygoround” even mentions the Kinks’ three managers, Robert Wace, Grenville Collins and Larry Web page. “Let’s all sit and watch the money-go-round / Everybody take a bit of bit right here and a bit of bit there.”

15. Led Zeppelin, “Hots on for Nowhere”
From: Presence (1976)

In the summertime of 1975, Robert Plant was concerned in a automotive accident. Whereas recovering from his accidents in Malibu, California, he penned “Hots on for Nowhere,” through which Plant thought-about his future and his relationships with these near him, together with Jimmy Web page and Led Zeppelin’s supervisor Peter Grant. “I’ve bought buddies who will give me fuck all,” he sings.

16. Nick Lowe, “I Love My Label”
From: Jesus of Cool (1978)

In sharp distinction to each different track on this listing, Nick Lowe’s “I Love My Label” really waxes poetic about all of the issues he likes about his document label. “They all the time ask for plenty of songs, however not more than 2:50 lengthy, so I write ’em some / They by no means discuss behind my again and so they’re all the time taking part in my new tracks after I come alongside.“

17. Procol Harum, “Butterfly Boys”
From: Unique Birds and Fruit (1974)

It did not take the upper ups at Chrysalis Information very lengthy to acknowledge that the “butterfly” on this Procol Harum track was a reference to them. “Procol Harum is the ‘sinking ship’ right here,” Gary Brooker later defined, “and the label house owners, who have been additionally our managers, are those that ‘get the cake’. We weren’t precisely ripped off, not like prior to now, however [Keith] Reid had noticed an imbalance! They have been very upset in regards to the track, and wished us to alter the phrases and title to ‘Authorities Boys.’ We stated ‘Bollocks.'”

18. Queen, “Loss of life on Two Legs”
From: A Night time on the Opera (1975)

There isn’t any direct point out of Queen’s former supervisor, Norman Sheffield, in 1975’s “Loss of life on Two Legs,” however the lyrics depart little room for interpretation so far as who it is about. “You suck my blood like a leech / You break the regulation and also you breach / Screw my mind until it hurts / You’ve got taken all my cash, you continue to need extra.” In subsequent reside performances, Freddie Mercury would typically introduce the track as being about “an actual motherfucker of a gentleman.”

19. The Rolling Stones, “The Below Assistant West Coast Promotion Man”
From: Out of Our Heads (1965)

In his 2002 e-book Rolling With the Stones, bassist Invoice Wyman confirmed that 1965’s “The Below Assistant West Coast Promotion Man” was “a good-natured jibe” at a person named George Sherlock, who labored for London Information and accompanied the band on their first American tour.

20. Sammy Hagar, “On the Different Hand”
From: Marching to Mars (1997)

Anybody even remotely acquainted with Van Halen is aware of that the transition between singers Sammy Hagar and David Lee Roth wasn’t precisely easy. In 1993, Ray Daniels, the brother-in-law of Alex Van Halen, took over as supervisor after the demise of Ed Leffler. Round that point, Hagar penned two songs for a soundtrack album, solely to be taught that considered one of them can be used for a biggest hits LP as an alternative. “That is the place the unhealthy blood began,” Hagar recalled to SFGATE in 1996. “Subsequent factor I knew they pulled David Lee Roth in as a result of supposedly I wasn’t co-operating.” Hagar’s “On the Different Hand” mirrored a few of this frustration, with traces about “an evil man, cash on his thoughts.”

21. The Intercourse Pistols, “E.M.I.”
From: Nevermind the Bollocks, This is the Intercourse Pistols (1977)

The Intercourse Pistols might not have been round for very lengthy but when there was one factor advisable not to do then was piss them off. In early 1977, the Intercourse Pistols’ contract with EMI was terminated after solely three months, sparking a track named after the label in regards to the hypocrisy the band felt they’d been handed, with lyrics implying the label wished to become profitable off the rising punk phenomenon, solely to get scared the Pistols would injury their popularity.

22. Sheryl Crow, “The Na-Na Tune”
From: Tuesday Night time Music Membership (1993)

Sheryl Crow did not write “The Na-Na Tune” about anybody particular — it was extra an overarching piece about misogyny within the music enterprise — however she additionally did not go up the possibility to name-check Frank DiLeo, who had helped signal Michael Jackson to Epic Information. Crow had met DiLeo when she labored as considered one of Jackson’s backup singers. “Frank DiLeo’s dong / Perhaps if I might have let him I might have had a success track.”

23. XTC, “I Purchased Myself a Liarbird”
From: The Large Specific (1984)

XTC’s “I Purchased Myself a Liarbird” is play on the phrase “lyrebird,” a kind of hen identified for his or her skill to imitate sounds of their surroundings. This 1984 monitor was written about their shady former supervisor Ian Reid, who labored for the band up till 1982 when it was found he was mishandling their revenue. Years and years of litigation adopted.

24. Sure, “5 per Cent for Nothing”
From: Fragile (1971)

When Sure’ unique supervisor, Roy Flynn, parted methods with the group within the early ’70s, a deal was struck through which he would nonetheless obtain 5% of the band’s earnings in perpetuity, however the band was sad with this settlement, going as far as to write down a complete track about it. Ultimately, Flynn settled with the band out of courtroom for $150,000. “To be sincere, after two years I used to be simply emotionally drained,” he recalled to Oxford Mail in 2010. “It is a part of my life I might quite overlook.”