Well, Ian Faith of Spinal
Tap doesn’t make Gibson’s 10 Famous Rock and Roll Managers,
because he is, after all, fictitious.
But he does capture the essence of the ones who do, which are:
Kit Lambert, Colonel Tom
Parker, Malcom McLaren, Andrew Loog Oldham, Tony Jeffries, Albert Grossman, Don
Arden, Allen Klein, Peter Grant, Brian Epstein.
Creating image, managing the
brand, conceiving new directions, bullying young punks into becoming skilled
songwriters, looking after the dark side, feeding the machine, and at times
micromanaging the personal lives of their charges – these guys definitely
provided the script for the Spinal Tap character.
Including the cricket bat.
They provided an invaluable
service to their artists, and, in turn, to us.
After all, with the possible exception of Mick Jagger, none of the
artists these guys managed had any business
acumen at all. Can you imagine The
Beatles managed by John Lennon? The
Stones managed by Keith Richards?
Zeppelin managed by John Bonham?
The Who managed by Keith Moon?
Makes you wonder if some of
those one-hit-wonders disappeared because they didn’t have good management.
So hats off to the managers on the list, even if some of them are more
than a bit creepy.
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