Responding to a request from a guy who is researching a book on Van Halen, I scanned my October 1981 interview with producer Ted Templeman.
Interesting and sad to read now, with Mo Ostin and Lenny Waronker and Jerry Wexler and all those other great record men gone.
“I’m an officer of the company…. if an artist like Pete Townshend or Paul Simon has a problem in the studio, he can talk to an executive who can actually make records…. they don’t have to explain their technical problems to some guy who used to sell overcoats.”
I think Ted got into some trouble over what he said about Van Morrison, e.g. “He’s a marvelous talent, a fantastic singer – but he’s fired everyone who’s ever worked with him: all his producers, his managers, his attorneys, his wives, his kids.”
Lowell George “couldn’t get out of bed to play the solo on ‘Rocket in My Pocket,’ so I had Bonnie Raitt come in and play it. He got so infuriated that he got out of bed and came down and player the solo that’s on the record.
“I got him to *sing* that song, too. He was singing it kind of wimpy, and I said, ‘Lowell, you’re singing like a pussy. Come on, SING!’ He got so pissed off, he literally jumped off the ground.”
It’s PDFs, not text. One of these days I’ll get it OCR’d. Worth reading, if you’re interested in the music business.
I can’t resist this opportunity. I work with a former Hollywood executive who grew up in Santa Cruz, where Ted Templeman and Dick Yount, and the other guys of the later Harper’s Bizarre were “the big kids” down at the beach, while he and Steve Perry of soon-to-be Journey were learning to surf. They were glad that Ted “made it”. Hometown pride!