The Mansion on the Hill: Dylan, Young, Geffen, Springsteen, and the Head-on Collision of Rock and Commerce

by Fred Goodman

Book Overview

In 1964, on the brink of the British Invasion, the music business in America shunned rock and roll. There was no rock press, no such thing as artist management -- literally no rock-and-roll business. Today the industry will gross over $20 billion. How did this change happen?

From the moment Pete Seeger tried to cut the power at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival debut of Bob Dylan's electric band, rock's cultural influence and business potential...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0679743774
• ISBN13: 9780679743774
• Release Date: March 1998
• Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
• Length: 464 Pages
• Weight: 1.02 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.2" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

My Mansion is Bigger Than Your Mansion

If you have ever winced at the rapid co-opting of 60's and early 70's rock music by big business and/or mercenary musicians, if you have ever gritted your teeth at paying $15+ for a CD and then wondered who gets your money, if you ever hoped that there was once something culturally meaningful in the rock scene and wondered what happened, then this book will provide many answers. Two things made this book difficult for me: 1) Goodman lays out details and names names with such frequency I could have used a glossary listing of the major players cynically manipulating the burgeoning cultural shifts of the "summer of love" from radio to underground newspapers to rock venues 2) the machinations of many of the artists and most of their managers illustrate such a sad, greedy side of humanity. Everyone who gets rich--really, really, really rich--does it by successfully, often ruthlessly, exploiting consumer willingness to pay for rock and roll product. The organist of Springsteen's E Street band, Danny Federici, sums up one of their mega-tours this way: "We started out as a band, which turned into a super, giant corporate money-making machine." And that about sums up the last 40 years of rock and roll. My advice: read this book, then seek out all of the really great musicians (and CD labels) out there who haven't been sucked up into mega-marketing campaigns, corporate sponsored tours, and manufacturing soundtracks for multinational companies.

The rock business is even worse than you think

I bought this book because I was mildly interested but before long I was sucked into the tale about how the money talked louder than any musician's ability. This is story of how several clever people took the talent-driven music of the mid to late sixties and gradually turned this into a money-driven enterprise where all the artist needed to do was keep the gullible public into believing that "it's all about the music, man!"The book covers some of the major players like Bruce Springsteen's manager, Jon Landau, and record mogul David Geffen, along with the artists they were involved with like Dylan, Neil Young, the Eagles, and plenty more. The book shows how the industry evolved from Warner Brothers execs (in WB blazers) signing the Grateful Dead (and being scared to death of being given LSD) - to the CBS policy of the mid-eighties of taking acts that the company wanted to succeed and have them make a few low-selling albums and play live gigs so they would have more credibility with record buyers.The execs were every bit as exotic as the artists they represented, and thought nothing about double-dipping their clients' earnings even though they were already assured of millions. I was astounded to learn that at the height of the Eagles' success they went out on tour and got NINETY-SEVEN AND A HALF PERCENT of the receipts, leaving the venue with just two and half percent.Essential reading for anyone interested in the music industry, especially people trying to break into the scene. Check your integrity at the door, because it will just be an impediment otherwise.

Very well written, if depressing

You don't have to be a raving fire 'n brimstone type to lament the passing of the "good old days" of rock. You just have to switch on your radio now and hear songs that were once anthems being used to hawk jeans, beer, bank cards, etc. and if that doesn't make you even a little indignant, you're either too young to remember or too embalmed to give a damn. Fred Goodman's book is a good accounting of some of the other nails in rock's coffin, the forces of the entertainment business who saw gold in them thar hills. Yeah, I know, I know---how foolish, how naive to think that rock could be anything BUT a commodity, as with any other form of popular entertainment. Perhaps so, but naivete is what started rock off in the first place, the idea that boundaries were made to be broken and that not all rebels join the herd in the end. I'm still playing my Dylan albums, though, and if the lustre has worn off the man's image somewhat as time has gone by, it doesn't change the fact that Dylan---and Neil Young and Bruce Springsteen and Joni Mitchell and even Glenn Frey and Don Henley---still made a large body of music that mattered then and matters now. But the old image of rock as "music of the people" or whatever, that's gone the way of all flesh.

"Money doesn't talk - it swears!"

In the words of Bob Dylan, one of the main artists highlighted in this book, we can see exactly what is meant when he says "money doesn't talk - it swears". This book illustrates graphically how a musical form that began as a rebellious and riotous yawp against numbing conformity and blandness, was co-opted almost entirely by the powers-that-be. From the idealistic beginnings of the 60's folk boom to the frantic money grabbing of the 90's corporate recording industry mergers, we can watch the power and financial stakes growing. Amidst all of the down-and-dirty money deals, Goodman shows us several high-visibility "musical artists"(primarily Bob Dylan, Neil Young, and Bruce Springsteen) as they walk the tightrope between integrity and the marketplace. As the book makes perfectly clear, it is nearly impossible for the artist to maintain any kind of purity or innocence when dealing with the juggernaut of big business. Those artists unable to protect their interests or find someone to do it for them, are quickly chewed up and spit out by the music industry in the constant "dog-eat-dog" race to find the next money-maker. Goodman tells several somewhat sordid tales of managers and agents all doing battle to come out on top, often at the expense of the artists they are supposedly representing. I found this book incredibly helpful in understanding what it really took to get any kind of "honest, truthful music" into the marketplace in the last 30 or 40 years. And I feel it is a glowing testament to the artists who managed to actually "say something" with their music, while they danced (like Shiva) on the skulls of financial moguls and corporate robber-barons.

A Compelling but Sad Story

People under 30 might not realize that rock, as an artistic creation, and money, as the all-powerful motivator, were once totally separate things. Goodman's book tells a story of how the music and the money collided and fused together. My favorite part is the story of Springsteen and how he was an artist with conviction until he gave way to releasing contrived hits like "Hungry Heart" and "Dancing in the Dark." As a fan, I could never see Bruce in the same way after that period. And the story behind how it happened is fascinating. My only criticism of the book is that it doesn't seem to be "THE" definitive history of rock and commerce, just handpicked pieces of narrative chosen because they support Goodman's thesis. But it is a worldview that I happen to agree with, so that's probably why I liked the book so much.--Evan Schwart