This should be a fun one, Philip! I have a couple of thoughts.
1. It was revealed not too long ago that the "brown M&M" rider imposed by Van Halen was not a rock star caprice but rather an indicator of the venue's attention to detail. After too many shows where elements such as sound, lighting, and safety were mishandled, the band started the brown M&M scheme, i.e., if there were brown M&Ms in the bowl, what other details had been missed? They would then have to review everything before the concert to make sure the important stuff was taken care of.
2. After reading Bob Spitz's Led Zeppelin book, I started thinking about the collision of art and commerce that drove these (mostly) young (mostly) men to their limits of endurance. The album/tour/album cycle was brutal. It would have been fascinating if Spitz had taken a higher-level view of the band's behavior in the context of the times and the demands on them, rather than just judging their antics while presenting them for our shock and entertainment.
Great idea. Look forward to reading it! Very different world now, the gender domination in music has changed and female artists don’t seem quite as childish as their older, male counterparts. It is fun though reading about the exploits of these old rock stars.
Great idea! Keith Moon must have been an absolute nightmare to tour with, and he was big mates with Oliver Reed. Imagine! It is amazing what people got away with in those days. Would definitely be an extremely entertaining read 👍
This should be a fun one, Philip! I have a couple of thoughts.
1. It was revealed not too long ago that the "brown M&M" rider imposed by Van Halen was not a rock star caprice but rather an indicator of the venue's attention to detail. After too many shows where elements such as sound, lighting, and safety were mishandled, the band started the brown M&M scheme, i.e., if there were brown M&Ms in the bowl, what other details had been missed? They would then have to review everything before the concert to make sure the important stuff was taken care of.
2. After reading Bob Spitz's Led Zeppelin book, I started thinking about the collision of art and commerce that drove these (mostly) young (mostly) men to their limits of endurance. The album/tour/album cycle was brutal. It would have been fascinating if Spitz had taken a higher-level view of the band's behavior in the context of the times and the demands on them, rather than just judging their antics while presenting them for our shock and entertainment.
Thanks for your very full response, food for thought!
Great idea. Look forward to reading it! Very different world now, the gender domination in music has changed and female artists don’t seem quite as childish as their older, male counterparts. It is fun though reading about the exploits of these old rock stars.
Thanks Alan!
Great idea! Keith Moon must have been an absolute nightmare to tour with, and he was big mates with Oliver Reed. Imagine! It is amazing what people got away with in those days. Would definitely be an extremely entertaining read 👍
Thanks for the encouragement!