Examples of record companies pressuring creative choices?

Alex Chilton's entire career as a Box Top

first RZA and GZA singles

jon landau pressuring bruce springsteen to write a hit single for born in the usa after springsteen thought it was done. he told landau to go fuck himself (those may not have been his exact words), then crawled away (that may not have been his exact action) and wrote "dancing in the dark."

brian epstein forcing the beatles to wear nice, clean, matching suits

Andrew W.K. This album was originally titled "Blow Your Bone", but the title was deemed "Too offensive" by Island Records, so Andrew opted to use the name "The Wolf". Cover art was even made with the original title, but it differed from the cover art of "The Wolf".

Pink Floyd, "It Would Be So Nice"

Nick Mason: "Fucking awful, that record, wasn't it? At that period we had no direction. We were being hustled about to make hit singles. There's so many people saying it's important you start to think it is important. It is possible on an LP to do exactly what we want to do. . . ."

Roger Waters: "Live bookings seem to depend on whether or not you have a record in the Top Ten. I don't like 'It Would Be So Nice.' I don't like the song or the way it's sung."

Mason: "We were a rock and roll band and if you're a rock and roll band and you've got a record that you want to be number one, you get it played and if they say 'take something out' or whatever - you do it. In fact what you do is exactly what was done - you make as much press out of it as possible. You ring up the Evening Standard and say: 'Did you know that the BBC won't play our record because it mentions your paper?'"

steve miller's record company threatening to drop him unless he wrote a song with the word "pompatus" in it*

*this may or may not be true

the tracklisting and everything else about the beatles' first seven or eight u.s. albums, including but not at all limited to "yesterday and today."

Badfinger being told they could have McCartney's "Come and Get It" as long as they played it note for note like his demo

Scott Walker, "The Moviegoer"

The album was the first of six studio albums in which Walker did not contribute original material. Having lost creative control of his music after the commercial failures of his previous two studio albums Scott 4 and 'Til the Band Comes In, Walker was tasked with recording "inoffensive, middle-of-the-road material that could be easily processed, marketed and sold". By way of compromise Walker had some say in the song selection and drew together a selection of themes from some of his favourite films.

This could end up as one of the longest threads on ILX.

where are those Floyd quotes from Tom D? i could, right now, read an entire book of Floyd talking about their entire recorded output in such fashion.

This could end up as one of the longest threads on ILX.

....

... Wikipedia! Sometimes seems Floyd are more critical of their own recordings than most of their critics! (xp)

who was first to break free? the beatles worked themselves up to it, but zeppelin seems to have had unusually free rein from the start. who else?

Dylan was pretty free. Thanks to Albert Grossman.

Rap-A-Lot's rotating cast of Geto Boys members

Zappa (my stock answer for anything)
xp

The La's: The Eden sessions with Lillywhite would become the band's final attempt at recording the album. The frustration of not achieving the right sound and mood in their songs, as well as increasing friction with Go! Discs, who had spent a considerable sum of money on recording sessions for the album, led to them simply giving up on the sessions. Lillywhite pieced together the recordings he had made with the group into what became the eventually released album. The band, particularly Lee Mavers, were not pleased with this decision. Among the band's complaints were that Lillywhite used vocal guide tracks on the LP and that he did not "understand" their sound. Mavers would later go on to claim that the band had played poorly deliberately during the sessions in the hope that the material would not be released, as they did not gel with Lillywhite from day one.

The Turtles, "Shell Shock"

... the quintet assembled at Sunset Sound studios in late 1969 and began recording their usual mix of originals and outside-written tracks. Produced by Jerry Yester, the band again sought to record another intelligent and musically diverse album as Turtle Soup, this time a bit more commercial. Songs known to have been recorded during these sessions include: original songs “Can I Go On”, “If We Only Had The Time”, “There You Sit Lonely”, “We Ain’t Gonna Party No More” and guitarist Al Nichol’s “You Want To Be A Woman”; the Bonner/Gordon leftovers “Goodbye Surprise” and “Like It Or Not”; an authentic cover of Jan & Arnie’s “Gas Money”; and a cover of the band's live staple, Lee Andrews & The Hearts’ “Teardrops”. But midway through the sessions, White Whale wished The Turtles to have a hit single, and suggested that Kaylan and Volman fly to Memphis and record vocal overdubs on a pre-recorded backing track for the ridiculously corny song “Who Would Ever Thought That I Would Marry Margaret”, penned by professional songwriters Dino and Sembello. Kaylan and Volman refused, claiming this transgression would reduce their rock band into transparent pop idols. In retaliation for their refusal to turn their band into a pair of fake pop singers, White Whale chained the doors to their studio at Sunset Sound and even posted guards outside the door, not allowing The Turtles to even retrieve their own gear, let alone finish the album!

In a desperate attempt to save the Shell Shock recordings and the hope to somehow finish the album, Kaylan and Volman agreed to record “Margaret”, although they refused to add anything other than their necessary lead and backing vocals. This ‘unfinished’ mix was released to dismal critical and commercial attention—just as the pair had predicted—and the single was a flop. Despite Kaylan and Volman’s participation, White Whale still refused to let The Turtles finish Shell Shock and both parties sued each other: White Whale sued The Turtles for a breach of contract and The Turtles sued White Whale for a missing $2,500,000 that was owed to them. The band soon called it quits amidst litigation. In one final plea to salvage the band’s reputation, White Whale allowed Kaylan, Volman and Nichol to record vocals for a final Turtles single, the beautiful “Lady-O”. Written and performed acoustically by Judee Sill, it was a gentle goodbye to the band.

The product of two years of labor, "Tim Hardin" found the artist moving away from his earlier white-blues catalog towards folk-rock. Backed by an eclectic cast, including The Lovin' Spoonful's John Sebastian, the combination of Hardin's world weary drawl, several classic tunes ("Reason To Believe", "Hang On To a Dream" and "Don't Make Promises") and his pretty boy looks proved irresistible to critics who raved over the set. Ironically, Hardin was reportedly furious with the string arrangements and other postproduction work.

Strings on Chelsea Girls were by Larry Fallon, btw, who also did the string arrangements on Astral Weeks.

"Neil Young is the only artist in the history of modern recording to be sued for refusing to be himself. The suit, filed by Geffen Records, Young’s label for much of the Eighties, charged that he was violating his contract by recording ‘unrepresentative’ albums. In other words, Neil Young wasn’t making Neil Young music."

Van Morrison: Bert Berns, Them’s producer and composer of their 1965 hit, "Here Comes the Night", persuaded Morrison to return to New York to record solo for his new label, Bang Records.[55] Morrison flew over and signed a contract he had not fully studied.[56] Then, during a two-day recording session at A & R Studios starting 28 March 1967, eight songs were recorded, originally intended to be used as four singles.[57] Instead, these songs were released as the album Blowin' Your Mind! without Morrison being consulted. He said he only became aware of the album's release when a friend mentioned on a phone call that he had just bought a copy of it. He later commented to Donal Corvin in a 1973 interview: "I wasn't really happy with it. He picked the bands and tunes. I had a different concept of it."[58]

And the funny part: Following the death of Berns in 1967, Morrison became involved in a contract dispute with Berns' widow, Ilene Berns, that prevented him from performing on stage or recording in the New York area.[62] The song "Big Time Operators", released in 1993, is thought to allude to his dealings with the New York music business during this time period.[63] He then moved to Boston, Massachusetts, and was soon confronted with personal and financial problems; he had "slipped into a malaise" and had trouble finding concert bookings.[64] However, through the few gigs he could find, he regained his professional footing and started recording with Warner Bros. Records.[65][66] The record company managed to buy out his contract with Bang Records. Morrison fulfilled a clause that bound him to submit thirty-six original songs within a year to Web IV Music, Berns' music publishing company, by recording thirty-one songs in one session; however, Ilene Berns thought the songs "nonsense music … about ringworms" and did not use them.[67][68] The throwaway compositions would come to be known as the "revenge" songs.[69]

Mark Prindle on this whole situation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_BGmEJW6OM

having trouble finding the source of this anecdote but I could've sworn there was some oral history recently about the Humpty Dance where Shock G credited some label/mgmt person as encouraging them to do a whole song as the character

Ice-T: Home Invasion was the first album that Ice-T released following the controversy over the Body Count song "Cop Killer." Sire/Warner Bros. Records had stood by freedom of expression during the controversy, although some within the Time Warner conglomerate now favored a more pragmatic policy. The album was originally set for a November 15, 1992, release, but the Rodney King riots were still fresh in people's minds, an election was in process, and political releases by Ice Cube and Dr. Dre were causing controversy, so Ice T agreed to postpone Home Invasion's release, in addition to removing the song "Ricochet," which had already appeared on the soundtrack to the film of the same name.

With the album's release postponed to February 14, 1993, Sire/Warner Bros. told Ice-T that it would not release the album with its current artwork, painted by Dave Halili (cover artist for Body Count), which depicted a white youth who is seemingly immersed in black culture surrounded by images of violence, mayhem and disorder. Although the catalog number 45119 was already assigned to it and the single “Gotta Lotta Love” was released, the album was still deferred. Ice-T initially agreed, opting for an all-black cover and a name change to The Black Album. He later realized that his future output was going to be continuously monitored and censored, so he left the label amicably, signing a distribution deal with Priority Records, which released the album with the originally intended artwork. Due to the postponed release of the album, tracks were altered to keep the topics up-to-date.[

Jane's Addiction "Ritual De Lo Habitual" censored album cover

too bad they stopped there

when oh when will these monsters stop defiling the creative process?

Bill Nelson got the usual "we don't hear a hit" line. He responded by writing this brilliant song:
http://youtu.be/WsUu7GjshSc

After hastily signing the Human League in 1978 it became apparent to Virgin Records that the band were not very profitable, with none of their releases under Fast Records making any impact on the charts. Virgin began putting pressure on the group to justify their large advance signing fee. Pressure was put on Ware, Oakey and Marsh to abandon their no traditional instruments rule and use conventional instruments in an attempt to be more commercial and sell more records.[1] Ware reluctantly agreed but insisted that any material recorded this way should be released under a pseudonym to ensure that it wasn't confused with the pure electronic sound of The Human League. "I Don't Depend on You" was the only product of this compromise with Virgin. It was recorded with the addition of session musicians and was released under the name The Men. The song also features the synth riff from debut single Being Boiled towards the end of the track. Afterwards the band were able to record tracks in their original style for Virgin.

Waif Me

lol Shakey stfu dude

'can we list specific examples of this supposedly widespread thing?'
'I DONT JNOW PROBABLY THERES LOTS OF THEM OR ALL OF THEM'

beach boys SMiLE / smiley smile : pressure to finish the former or can it and clump the scraps into the latter

beastie boys not being allowed to name licensed to ill whatever homophobic shit it was supposed to be called

Twelve Times Industry Monsters WRECKED the Creative Process. (I was floored by #7!)

there's an ilm thread about whether the Beastie Boys would have had a career if their record company had agreed to release the album under the original title:

If the Beastie Boys' had released "Don't Be A Faggot"...

didn't A Tribe Called Quest's record label prevent them from putting a homophobic track on The Low End Theory, and it was replaced with "Show Business"?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nyKcZb5LufE

Del the Funkee Homosapien's "I Wish My Brother George Was Here"

― Οὖτις, Friday, July 8, 2016 7:32 AM (9 hours ago)

wasn't this Ice Cube's choice of direction, not the pressure of a record company that would have had no expectation of this teenager with no previous releases?

anyway, Ice Cube OTM, this album towers over everything else Del ever did

it doesnt.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cut_the_Crap

― Οὖτις, Friday, July 8, 2016 7:41 AM (13 hours ago)

this also has nothing to do with record company pressure of any kind, and is the result of a band's musically untalented manager doing a very bad job of turning some extremely weak demos into full recordings, under a pseudonym deliberately intended to imply the band's singer had done them, after the entire lineup had left the band.

it doesnt.

okay, Clint Eastwood was pretty good, when he again wrote to the shape of someone else's idea and then got mad afterwards that it turned out well

Hadn't heard this before:

After auditions (during which the identity of the band remained a secret), the Clash selected two guitarists, Nick Sheppard and Greg White, with the latter taking the name Vince White due to Simonon's refusal to play in a band with someone named "Greg".

sic it isn't clear to me that RAG understands what a "record company" is or what it does, so I wasn't being too strict about distinguishing between various kinds of external pressures being brought to bear on artists ie producer vs. management vs. actual label representative (roles which are sometimes interrelated/conflated, as was the case with Ice Cube)

Ice Cube didn't own Elektra iirc but it's been a while

(which is to concur with everyone that the thread would be more fun if you actually narrated the anecdotes behind the examples you're shouting at cumulo-gilmour)

yes well RAG wants specific examples dontchaknow, doesn't seem to care that the vast majority of bands are an example

This seems a very odd thing to be getting so angry about

Jesus, guys. Thanks a lot for completey ruining A Tribe Called Quest forever for me.

yeah georgie porgie is one of the worst things

http://genius.com/A-tribe-called-quest-georgie-porgie-lyrics

They should've at least mentioned it somewhere in the Michael Rapaport doc.