BOWIE

Rest In Peace, Legend.

GB JAN 2016 interview with Jerry Jaffe

“There were all these great characters,” is how Jerry Jaffe describes his music industry cohorts during the 70’s & 80’s when he was A&R at Polygram, and later artist management.  Those were days when companies would hire someone based on their knowledge and passion for music, and the college music coarse requisite of today on your resume wasn’t even a blimp on your qualifications.  There’s the new HBO series Vinyl, produced by Martin Scorsese and Mick Jagger based on the record industry of that time, which depicts these characters.  So you went to Belmont, big deal, go fuck yourself.  The heart and integrity, the search for true talent, the nights out in the clubs, the makings of deals because you’d put your ass on the line for that band is something associated with the Jimmy Iovine’s, Tommy Mottola’s, Tom Werman’s, and Tom Zutaut’s of the world.  Insert Jerry Jaffe to that list.  Bon Jovi performed at his wedding.  In this podcast episode, he recounts the time Bongiovi’s demo tape was handed to him by Derek Shulman, which led to the band’s signing, in addition to Jerry’s suggestion of dropping the “g” in the name.  1984 also saw the release of one of his other signings, Candy’s “Whatever Happened To Fun.”  It’s a record he’s proud to have had a hand in.  While Jerry went on to sign acts like Jesus & Mary Chain and others, we focus more on this episode with his tenure of hard rock & glam bands.  His involvement with Kiss through 4 of their records, Danny Goldberg enlisting him in his camp in favor of the band taking the make up off, showcasing Electric Angels for Jason Flom at Atlantic, and how his other band Nancy Boy took flak for being male models.
Cut through the static and listen to this music veteran tell it how it is.  Get it here.

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