A Capitol Controversy
The label may have earned some kiddie-cred by snatching up Lily, but Capitol Records is a house in disarray today. Page Six reports that "disgruntled staffers have fired off a scathing letter to the label's parent, EMI, charging that Capitol president and CEO Andy Slater is a lackluster leader who's destroying the company with a roster of sub-par acts and should be axed." The anonymous message laments Capitol's fall from the "cutting edge" in the '90s to is present state, where it's involved with acts "clearly a step behind what is happening in music." And what band did the letter identify as "going nowhere"? New York City's own Morningwood!
Morningwood – "Nth Degree" (MP3)
Morningwood – "Take Off Your Clothes" (MP3)
The "dozens of Capitol employees" the letter represents are pissed about Slater ignoring core acts like Bonnie Raitt (so awesome she is) and Roseanne Cash. The story's source threw a little haterade on, too, saying that Slater's often unreachable 'cause "he's out at night at clubs and partying with girls." The selfish bastard.
EMI's rep said "Chill the fuck out, he's doing fine" (paraphrased) and pointed to OK GO!, a Bob Seger come-back, and "hot indie band Interpol" as signs of his success. So, dude's responsible for Morningwood, OK GO! and Interpol! Talk about mixed emotions. Would you boot him? (Be fair and don't hold his "Night At The Roxbury" lifestyle against him.)
Interpol – "Obstacle 1" (MP3 Link Expired)
RELATED: We see Carlos D in the Tompkins Square dog run in the East Village nearly every day. He comes in full suit, sunglasses, and has a matching, stand-offish, black-sweater clad Italian Greyhound. As they say, like father, like son!
Posted at 8:47 AM in MP3
Tags: Interpol | Morningwood
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let's get a picture of carlos running with the dogs!!
p.s. interpol is clearly a step behind...um...1986.
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No mention of Decemberists in all this?
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Amazing that one anonymous letter -- and people who know Capitol are all dubious it was from someone who actually works at the label -- gets sent to Page Six and now it's "near mutiny."
As for Slater, I'd be worried about a major label whose president *wasn't* out at clubs every night.
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label standpoint-
morningwood is pulling in money and has (had?) commercial appeal. for NOW. i don't see them going anywhere with another album and have little faith that they can revolutionize the genre of sexpop. i mean, i like they guys/girl. it's cute and fun. but as we've seen, cute and fun is not a good equation for major label pop acts (esp. sex-based poprock) since the year 2000.
also, random cred-building comment about interpol.
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Did i ever tell you about the time i went trick-or-treating with Carlos D from interpol?
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i love italian greyhounds. i need new interpol like now.
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signing lily and interpol should be enough to keep his job right there.
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I have no knowledge of they guy other than from this article, but sounds like the guy is signing artists from his gut. I think we need more guys in charge of record labels like him.
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So this guy has Interpol, The Decemberists, OK Go, and Morningwood, and he's ignoring Bonnie Raitt and Roseanne Cash? He shouldn't be a record label exec, he should be our next president. Or my new daddy.
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This reminds me of last week's The Office...
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Interpol, Decemberists and Lily Allen...sounds like they're on the comback to me?
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morningwood are like an unfunny weird al. total novelty. how can anybody like them?
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Excellent Italian Greyhound!
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he's one of the very few record company
presidents left who passionately cares
about music...
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... but that being said, i wish he'd
return my call!
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It doesnt really take a genius to figure out that people like Interpol in 2006.. and OkGo is a great band that was practically ignored until they made their own video, although Capitol signed them several years ago. Lilly Allen is good, and closer to ballsy, as she is big in the uk and that doesnt always translate to this country.
Morningwood, I can altogether do without...
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re: carlos & dog: pictures please.
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capitol sure hung sound team out to dry. & i really like sound team
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i think it is trying to say that Morningwood is going nowhere becuase of andy slater. not becuase they are a go nowhere band. its written poorly either way.
that band has sold more records than most every new band out there i think and probably will succeed on future records if they keep writing songs like Nth Degree which is everywhere. Just becuase the too-cool-for-school crowd in nyc and LA doesnt like it, doesnt mean it isnt good. in fact, that probably means it is good.
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Eh, the too-cool-for-school crowd everywhere thinks they're pretty bad. Seriously, they're not that great. "Nth Degree" is an okay pop song, and I like the guys in Morningwood, but I hate that chick singer. She's obnoxious and just waves her tits around. They need a new frontwoman.
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Capitol has been making some ballsy moves... Kevin Devine's new record comes out next tuesday & Street To Nowhere's debut just got re-released... both great records, both artists that I really love, but I'm not sure a major was the best fit for either of them.
I don't see OK Go as any validation... for all of the hype, those guys have barely sold 100,000 copies. Great band, great songs, great video, great dance moves. They just should've done it all themselves.
Morningwood I can do without.
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Before Andy Slater was president of Capitol, he was a manager of musicians such as Fiona Apple, Macy Gray, and The Wallflowers. He tends to favor bands/musicians with an artistic edge that can still be viable in the mainstream. He's apparently had enough successes and made enough profits for EMI, the parent company of Capitol, to keep him on as president so far. The 'Night At The Roxbury' lifestyle is hardly unique to Andy Slater, and is surely exemplified far better by other A&R types in L.A. well beyond Mr. Slater. If you met him, I sincerely doubt you would think "This guy parties too much". His fate is entirely in the hands of his English bosses (or boss, to be precise), so we'll see what happens. I'm betting he stays on.
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I can’t believe you so-called 'music fans' don't give a shit about Bonnie Rait and Roseanne Cash - horrible horrible horrible people. just cuz your parents may have liked them, doesn't mean you have to ignore them. Those artists, along with other 'ancient relics' like Nat King Cole, The Beach Boys, The Beatles, Joe Cocker, Peggy Lee, Dean Martin/Frank Sinatra made that label what it once was, the greatest (major) label on earth. Then signing The Beastie Boys, Radiohead, The Buzzcocks, RHCP...etc and other bands that will stand the test of time, simply set that fact in stone - i'm sorry, but nobody is going to give a shit about OK GO in 5 years (except 14 year olds who have not seen the videos yet).
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Would've be nice if Capitol promoted Sean Lennon's amazing new album "Friendly Fire".
Didn't know it was out? Yeah, I don't blame you.
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as someone who works for a major label here in NY, I often find myself wondering if labels other than mine opperate with a bigger sense of pride in their artists and their past, as my company sure as hell doesnt. but we take pride in our hard work. every label has abandoned their heritage. island started with bob marley. now its panic at the disco. RCA.. Atlantic for christ sake???!!! Ahmet Ertegun would be turning over in his grave if he were dead. its a changing music business and its more competitive than ever.
the beef here should be in the fact that Capitol Records has a pathetic staff that couldnt break a fast after yom kippur let alone a record. If they can't sell 500,000 OKGO records with everything that band did, (and did themselves mind you), they are failures. the product managers there are all the rejects of the music business and they are the ones with no vision or balls. the radio staff is pathetic and in constant transition with no real rock guy in place. yes, the man in charge may party hard and get laid a lot and make too much money, but its everyone at the label who makes it happen. and it is shocking that they couldnt break bands like Morningwood who were going on all cylanders and had huge airplay, mtv, vh1, and had their music in what seemed to be every tv show and commercial on tv, and Aslyn back in the day who was poised to be the next huge female artist but they were unable to connect the dots and follow through. This seems to be a company that just doesnt work well together. I wouldnt want to be a band on capitol, not becuase they have chingy and some other wak artists, but because they dont seem to know how to create carears.
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It's, er, Just OK Go, not OKGO!
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"I'm sorry, but nobody is going to give a shit about OK GO in 5 years (except 14 year olds who have not seen the videos yet)."
WOW do I disagree with you on that. You're judging them solely on the popularity of their videos and failing to see that, when you get down to it, they are a great band. How can you predict the future? How do you know that nobody's going to give a shit? Are you even aware of how long these guys have been together and how hard they've fought to get where they are now? It pains me to see people treat them as just a novelty band, because really, they're so much more than that if people are willing to look past "A Million Ways" and "Here It Goes Again."
And while we're on the subject, let's mention the fact that everything OK Go has done to get recgonition, they've done themselves. Capitol can lie all it wants, but they were the ones who did NOT want those dance videos released. And that's just the tip of the iceberg- there's also the fact that this band has been on the Capitol label since around 2001 and they're only just now paying attention to them. Catch any longtime OK Go fan, myself included, and they will say the same thing: Capitol has NEVER truly supported this band, even though the potential for true success was always there.
I'm with major label hobag here- if Capitol couldn't push OK Go's records, then they've pretty much failed, no matter who's on top or who signed them.
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"I'm sorry, but nobody is going to give a shit about OK GO in 5 years (except 14 year olds who have not seen the videos yet)."
WOW do I disagree with you on that. You're judging them solely on the popularity of their videos and failing to see that, when you get down to it, they are a great band. How can you predict the future? How do you know that nobody's going to give a shit? Are you even aware of how long these guys have been together and how hard they've fought to get where they are now? It pains me to see people treat them as just a novelty band, because really, they're so much more than that if people are willing to look past "A Million Ways" and "Here It Goes Again."
And while we're on the subject, let's mention the fact that everything OK Go has done to get recgonition, they've done themselves. Capitol can lie all it wants, but they were the ones who did NOT want those dance videos released. And that's just the tip of the iceberg- there's also the fact that this band has been on the Capitol label since around 2001 and they're only just now paying attention to them. Catch any longtime OK Go fan, myself included, and they will say the same thing: Capitol has NEVER truly supported this band, even though the potential for true success was always there.
I'm with major label hobag here- if Capitol couldn't push OK Go's records, then they've pretty much failed, no matter who's on top or who signed them.
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Whoops, sorry about the double comment, my Internet was on the fritz! >.<
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steve perry wrote, "but as we've seen, cute and fun is a not a good equation for major label pop acts (esp. sex-based poprock) since the year 2000."
Just ask the Donnas.
As for the Beatles being among the artists who made Capitol Records what it once was: Let's not forget that Capitol eviscerated the Beatles' UK albums for the U.S. market.
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ok, perhaps I was a bit harsh - however, my point was that Capitol doesn't have new 'legacy' artists, that you feel you could one day compare to the greats that I mentioned before - are you telling me you'd put OK GO next to The Beach Boys and Radiohead?
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Plain and simple... the music is not good enough!
If you took all the new acts today combined, they would be able to match up to ONE single record by the Beatles, Pink Floyd, Beach Boys, etc... That's the truth
From what I have read El Presidente is a huge music fan and very into the avant guard... that's all I know. Put yourself in his shoes, trying finding an act that compares to those legends. No easy task, the odds are stacked against you from day one.
But what do I know... I'm just a simple rock n'roll songwriter.
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Well Robert I disagree with you. You can't tell me that OK Computer by Radiohead doesn't stack up to these classics. I think it does quite admirably.
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