Do you ever get a song stuck in your head? It happens to most people. Some little ditty or the memorable part of a hit song or a carpet company jingle, you try to go to sleep and there it is, doot-doot-doo-ing away in the back of your mind. Super annoying.

Have you also noticed how the song "Private Dancer" by Tina Turner never ever gets stuck in your head, no matter how many times you've been forced to hear it? That's because "Private Dancer" is so formless and hideous that there isn't even enough of a tune there to get stuck.

"Private Dancer" is the absolute zenith of the art of 80s schlock. There's a sort of synthetic rhythm, and some schmeer of digital drama provided by the Yamaha DX7 keyboard, but no actual music. On top of it all, a creaking, tuneless yowl of a vocal, rattling up from the guts of a parchment-skinned old woman trying to sexy at you. Hideous.

So, "Private Dancer" makes the perfect palate-cleanser. Whenever you have a song stuck in your head, force yourself to mentally trudge through the song "Private Dancer," at least as much as you can remember. It also helps to imagine the video of a once-stunning, now-cartoonish Tina Turner, the last of the pain pills and red wine finally down her throat, heaving her clattering bones around the soundstage trying to sexy.

Run that through there for twenty seconds, and it's better than Drano. It clears-out whatever was stuck and leaves on its own, leaving no trace behind.

I have had limited dealings with Billy Corgan, and everything I personally dealt with him on, he was totally reasonable and unpretentious. He was also very generous with his time in regards to some charity stuff he was asked to do, and I applaud him for that.

Many people have passed judgment on him based on some public statements and presumptions about how he managed the membership of his bands. Even a micro celebrity like myself is occasionally asked to make statements for public consumption, so I know that things said in haste or without consideration can come back to haunt you. Also, not having been in his bands, I'm not prepared to say what he should or shouldn't have done with the members, and who "counts" as a "real" band member.

The first part is true, but not necessarily because of the second part. You are asking about historical perspectives, and I happened to be around while this was underway, so maybe I can shed some light.

In Chicago in the late 1980s, there began to develop a kind of budding professionalism that struck us in the punk/underground scene as distasteful: Bands with managers, publicists and other agents were encroaching on a self-made scene that had previously been by, for and about the bands themselves.

The Smashing Pumpkins personified this creeping professionalism, having a management relationship with a creepy local music business player who was also responsible for booking the biggest venue in town. As a result, any decent touring band that came through town would have the Smashing Pumpkins added to the bill as a support act. This was rightfully seen as an imposition, and patrons learned to arrive at the Metro an hour later than usual in order to miss them. It isn't overstating things to say they were something of a joke in Chicago -- a band imposed on an existing audience by the music business rather than a band building its natural audience through accretion.

Additionally, early on they were associated with the exceptional band the Poster Children, through some shows and a shared label. The Poster Children (and other bands from the same downstate scene, like Hum) were an obvious and direct influence on the Smashing Pumpkins' sound. For anyone familiar with both, it is hard to see how the a lesser derivation of the Poster Children's sound could be hailed as some kind of revolutionary genius, except by rock critics and music business people unaware of anything at the street level.

In some of those public statements I mentioned earlier, Billy Corgan has derided the underground scene of the day, saying it was clique-ish and insular, and that he wanted to rebel against it by going through conventional rock star channels to become a conventional rock star. Well, bully for that kind of thinking, I guess, if you think being a retrograde reactionary and joining the suffocating mainstream culture and business is some kind of rebellion, and if you think the penthouse of the managers and lawyers is somehow more open and inviting than the open field of the DIY scene.

For those of us involved daily in bucking that system, it was gross.

Especially considering who you're talking to right now, you ought to realize this is pure nonsense.

Not my cup of tea.

do you think you will ever work with glen and the frames again?

what are your feelings on Mic Christopher

If your only goal was to sell records, how big of a rock star do you think you could have been? Billy Corgan big? Much bigger? Which rock star would you place as the upper bound on how famous you could have become?

I think this is what you ment by your statement, sorry if I got it wrong.

Steve, you were featured in a few sound bites on VH-1's "Best 100 Bands in Hard Rock History" a few years ago. I assume you voted on this list? If so, do you mind sharing your list.

Thanks again for your service to our country!

I keep trying to needle you into saying something negative about modern music, especially hiphop. Is there any that you like?

You've mentioned some soul and R&B singers here, which I didnt find surprising, even though it seems out of character, (rockers are only supposed to like rock, DJs aren't supposed to listen to indiepop etc)...and this is awesome. But some might say that eclecticism can ruin a persons musical focus, especially as a youngster. Some of the best rock and rollers I've know personally have been totally ignorant of everything outside of their genre...is this just an accident of their obsession, or a necessity for them to be

Did you ever say something nice about a person's music just to (wait for it...) get in her pants? You once said that Liz Phair was the least terrible "alternative rock" act in Chicago...COINCIDENCE?

SOME POKER QUESTIONS:

Any poker ambitions (play in WSOP, higher stakes, etc)
Any poker heros? (Beside Andy B obv)
Ever played with any pros?
Future of poker predictions?


SOME LIFE QUESTIONS:

What would you tell a young stalwart man-boy who never seems to get it going with the ladies? Say he writes long dopey letters to chicks after they reject him on their first date? Is he hopeless? If not, should he get a hooker just to clear his mind, or should he just listen to his older and wiser friends and just keep going out and getting rejected until he isn't afraid of chicks? How can we get him to stop putting tha P on a pedestal?

what it do,
--GA

A good rule of thumb is that if you want the sound of a certain amplifier, then you ought to use that amplifier to record. Trying to fool Mother Nature is seldom a realistic goal. There isn't a single standard for what makes a good guitar sound -- it's all relative to the kind of music being played and the techniques in play. But if you aren't happy with the sound of your amplifier, you shouldn't record it and hope that some magic happens to make you like it on tape. If you are happy with the sound as-is, then you need to get better at capturing that sound, and that takes experience.

Recording is a strange objective. I have always seen playing the music as the goal, and recording as a document of the playing. To that end, I would suggest trying to get a band together (even as a pastime) and get comfortable playing the songs. Recording it with this band should then be a pretty straightforward exercise, and you can certainly do it in the practice room. If you just want to make demos of the songs without putting a band together, then you'll either need to pay or cajole musicians into playing them, or you can do everything yourself as overdubs.

You are apparently ignorant of the enormous number of indie pop bands out there who strive for nothing more than obvious, memorable melodies. There are thousands of such bands. If you mean the ugly end of the spectrum, okay, there are people like me who have no taste for pop music, and don't pretend to understand it.

If you can beat the Tuesday Game, you can make enough in a couple of months to record your songs, and I'll get all the lesson I can handle in the process. Send me a PM.

In early 1981, when I realized that I didn't like being drunk or high, and that I turned into a real prick when I drank. Imagine that.

It shouldn't surprise you to know that I've never thought about Guthrie Govan, not once, not even now.

It's posted on guitargeek, and is pretty accurate. There is no external A/B box, but otherwise, they got it right.

Well, John Novotny, of course.

But as for performing comics, probably Bill Hicks (who my girlfriend introduced me to) or Richard Pryor. Currently, Andy Kindler and Patton Oswalt.

Larry Damore. Spend an evening with him and you'll learn everything it takes to get through life as a guy from Chicago. Everything. Double smoothies, the bye-bye clown, how to grow weed in your mom's house, why not to toast marshmallows with a fork, what to do when you accidentally drop acid, how to answer the phone, what to do with a wrong number (and which tollway rest stop to do it at)...

A Goliath of Fun.

Are you trawling the internet looking for places to hassle me?

Thank you, I love it too. Glad you noticed our considered pace. Perhaps if everybody put out fewer records more of them would be worth listening to.

The rest of the ass is busy getting licked shiny by your ma.

If by "never," you mean only a couple of times a year, then bite my crank, I guess.

You could ask your ma. There's no telling what he'll blurt out when she sticks a couple fingers up his ass.

Humboldt Park, Ukranian Village, Back of the Yards, Uptown, Pilsen or Bucktown. Anywhere you can afford, right guy?

wank off, the Clapper.

I hope so. They are a terrific band and fun people to hang around.

Tragic story. I didn't know him, but he was always remembered fondly by people who did know him.

I get to use a decent studio with resonable microphones but the sound room is dead. Any tips on bringing the room alive besides standard stereo mic techniques?

So most underground bands would turn down a big record deal and national promotion so they can continue to work the local scene for free beer, and finally retire to a carpet cleaning business or whatnot? I mean you make a nice living, you have a skilled techincal profession, I am speaking more of band members that have nothing else to lean on. Does 'keeping it real' trump all?

I imagined it wouldn't be, I thought you might appreciate it for the effort and talent that went into making such a dynamic, painstaking production - perhaps you disdain that though! :P

http://tools.wikimedia.de/~gmaxwell/jorbis/JOrbisPlayer.php?path=Nancarrow40b.ogg&wiki=en

You realize that I have worked on records that have sold many millions of copies, right? I've made a reasonable living for 20 years doing only things that I thought were within the bounds of my ethics. I'm not just guessing when I say it is possible to survive and flourish without "selling out." Along the way, I have been offered things that would have earned me literally millions of dollars, and I decided that my peace of mind was worth more than that, so I didn't do them.

The most obvious case is that I am paid a flat fee for my work as an engineer, rather than paid out of a band's royalty. This has directly benefited the bands I work with (and consequently cost me) several million dollars. Despite which, I have never gone hungry, built a nice business and been able to release records and tour the world pretty much at will. Not selling out hasn't hindered me in the slightest.

I mention this not to make note of any accomplishments of mine (a necessity, but one that took me several pages of discussion to relent to), but to show you that the world is not divided into rock stars on one hand and miserable bar bands on the other. There is a comfortable independent realm that is inhabited by thousands of bands like mine, and selling out is neither an objective or necessarily any real improvement in conditions for them.

There is an apocryphal story about Ahmet Ertegun approaching Ian MacKaye of Fugazi in an attempt to get him to sign with Atlantic. He says something like, "I can offer you your own label and a million dollars." To which Ian replies, "I already have my own label and a million dollars."

If you mean could I have been a rock star in the manner Billy Corgan, well no, probably not. I'm not a very good singer, I'm nothing special to look at, and the music I make doesn't appeal to a large audience.

The band Cheap Trick were in our studio, and VH1 came in to film interviews with them. While they were here, they realized they could interview me too, so they asked me to comment on a few of the bands on Cheap Trick's list. I didn't get to make a list, but I may do so tonight for funsies.

That would be great. I had some major problems with their list, and I am guessing your list would be significantly different as well.

Hmmm, Ok. I was just refering to this statement that you made

I thought your were implying that you were given the opportunity to "sell out" and you chose not to. I am pretty familiar with your career, though I first heard of you as "the dude Kurt Cobain got to record his last album."
I only discovered your bands' music much later, when I was in college.

I didn't mean to imply that you have not had a good career in music or that you are nothing since you might not be considered a "rock star" or whatever.

You answered my question in the last paragraph. Thanks!


And if you are still with me, you said that taking a flat fee helped the bands you worked with. Did it benefit them in anyway besides the obvious monetary one for bands that sell alot of albums?

Also, I believe you charge bands like Bush and Nirvana more than if I or some other random dudes wanted to record with you. Why do you think this is ethical? (I am not criticisizing you here, I know you have been very vocal on this issue [wrt to royalties] and I want to understand your view better.) Thanks again for a great thread!!!!

Steve, right now I'm sitting in Lakeview reading your little Q&A here, wondering why we're not just hanging out anyway.

My question is this: I grew up on a farm in Iowa in the late 90's. My only CD outlet was Wal-Mart and the Pumpkins were the only band I cared about till I moved away to college. I still think their early stuff is undeniable. Is there any hope for me?

Big label sessions demand more administrative attention, take more time to organize in advance, and are often open-ended, in that I may find myself working much longer than anticipated on such a session, and most importantly, it is bastard hard to get a major label to pay its bills, and I want to be compensated for that nuisance. I have to cover the cost of lost work, often there is travel and associated living costs, sometimes I even need to hire someone temporarily either to cover my ass back home or keep up with the session I'm on. Additionally, big label sessions often have some prick demanding changes and revisions long-distance, and that is much more time consuming than working with just the band in the studio.

Working on big label projects can be a royal pain in the ass and cost money to execute. I want all that covered, and I want to make a profit, so I charge them more. Still, I charge them less than most people in my position, and I am undeniably a bargain.

Hmmm, Ok. That's just exactly, precisely what I was saying, not implying.

Lots of people, given the option of selling out their principles for millions choose not to. I happen to be one of them.

Yes but its because you already have money/millions and are happy. If you're working for 8 dollars an hour doing labor, and playing for free beer and a few bucks at night, staying true to principles isn't as easy.

So much you do not understand. So many words it will take to teach you. Okay.

I don't suggest that most bands would turn down big deals. Most would take them and be worse off eventually. Luckily, most bands are not offered deals, and so don't have to make such choices, and the question is therefore moot.

Of those bands who are offered deals with big record labels, many of them (not a majority, but enough to prove my point) are already comfortable on independent labels that serve them well, and they see no need to move to a more bureaucratic situation that works less efficiently and cares less about them specifically. Not all bands think this way, but quite a few (especially those who have been paying attention and can do their own math) do.

National and even international promotion and touring is available to bands of no stature and no resources through the extremely efficient fan-and-band network that has supplanted the mainstream outlets for independent bands.

If you're talking about payola, okay, that single example of the incredibly inefficient music business is only available to big label acts. Whoop de doo. If you're not satisfied with selling records and concert tickets, and getting played on enthusiastic independent/college/internet/satellite stations, but also insist on getting played on am and morning zoo fm radio, then you have no choice.

Independent bands tour the world and play in front of crowds in the many thousands. To suggest that they will be playing "Proud Mary" in local taverns forever is to display utter ignorance of the music economy. Some of these bands can command fees better than $10,000 a night, and a few can get a multiple of that. Hardly beer money.

As for the carpet-cleaning business, where do you think major-label artists end-up once their advance has been spent? In the palaces of the old rock star gated retirement community?

No, they end up getting jobs, just like everybody else. Where's the shame in embracing that reality instead of deluding yourself about it?

If you will starve unless you become a rock star, then you have bigger problems than whether or not you are a rock star.

Do you think I dropped into the world that way? Do you think I did not have my share of $8 an hour jobs? I am older than you, probably, so the figure was more like $5, but you get the idea.

Would you believe me if I told you that not compromising my principles is what got me whatever money and success I have enjoyed in excess of that $5 an hour?

If not, I'm sorry, but you will never understand. If you believe me, then the rest of your curiosity should satisfy itself, QED.

Can you estimate what percentage of bands that sign major deals regret it? I read that article a while back where you keep track of a bands finances after they sign and it was pretty interesting. I think I used to assume that you sign a deal and you wake up the next day and you're Creed or somthing

Do you ever go to Discus CD Exchange on Broadway? I just rented a DVD for 50 cents; best deal in town.