Throwing Stones IX: Offstage Lines

(For Part VIII, click Throwing Stones VIII: Band Vs. Brand.)

In Part VIII, the Rolling Stones appeared on Ed Sullivan and agreed to change the lyrics of “Let’s Spend The Night Together,”  pleasing censors and alienating fans.

Palladium

A week after their Ed Sullivan Show debacle, the Rolling Stones appeared on British television’s Sunday Night at the London Palladium. Like Sullivan, Palladium was a long running, hugely popular Sunday night variety hour. Like Sullivan, Palladium was often criticized as a cornball showbiz throwback. And like Sullivan, Palladium had served as a launching pad for nationwide Bealtemania. But Stones’ manager Andrew Loog Oldham had refused all of the show’s previous offers for fear of tarnishing his band’s hip image.

Things change. After years of roadwork, The Beatles stunned the entertainment world by announcing their retirement from live performing. Mick Jagger told reporters that the Stones would be taking a break from the road, and theirs might become permanent as well. “Let’s Spend the Night Together”/“Ruby Tuesday” would have to climb the singles chart without the benefit of a concert tour.

’Ello Sunday Night At The London Palladium.

The Stones performed both sides of their new single and two other songs without incident. But they refused to join the other guests and wave goodnight from a revolving stage when the end credits rolled. Oldham made it clear that he expected the band to be on the roundabout, whether they liked it or not. The Stones laughed in his face. Oldham stormed out, and Sunday Night’s sign-off remained Stone free.

220px-Rolling_Stones_LSTNTAndrew Loog Oldham insisting that the Rolling Stones behave themselves would have made a terrific Monty Python routine. Skipping the Palladium roundabout was exactly the kind of bad-boy publicity stunt he had routinely cooked up to feed the band’s anti-Beatles branding. But by 1967, Oldham was worried that the Stones were due for some serious backlash.

U.K. fans were angry that the Stones had bowed to the demands of American TV but couldn’t muster so much as a wave for the home front. Still, “Let’s Spend the Night Together” reached number three on the British charts.

Back in the U.S.A., some radio stations played “Let’s Spend the Night Together.” More played it safe, flipping the single and going with “Ruby Tuesday” instead. Hardly surprising, since the Stones’ Sullivan lyric switcheroo would have made it difficult to defend playing “Night” if challenged.

“Ruby Tuesday” went all the way to number one in America, while “Let’s Spend the Night Together” stalled in the mid-fifties on the Billboard chart. It was an embarrassing showing for a Rolling Stones song.

2 StonedUnfortunately, Andrew Loog Oldham had bigger problems. His depressions were growing longer, deeper and more frequent. Self-medicating with massive amounts of booze and drugs only made things worse. When Oldham sought professional help, he found himself at the mercy of a doctor whose ghastly overuse of electroshock therapy left the young manager in a fog even when he was sober. Adding to his woes, Oldham’s beloved Rolling Stones were turning on him.

After his first meeting with Andrew Loog Oldham in 1964, Allen Klein had followed through with characteristic persistence. Well aware of Oldham’s obsession with American movie tough guys, Klein played the role of brainy Jersey-bred bruiser to the bristly hilt. A captivated Oldham agreed that if Klein could get rid of estranged co-manager Eric Easton, he was in.

Oldham introduced Allen Klein to the Rolling Stones with great enthusiasm. Klein presented himself as an American Robin Hood, who took from greedy record companies and gave to deserving artists. Klein vowed to renegotiate the Stones’ record contract and get them more money than they had ever imagined. He was a band’s best friend—and ultimate attack dog. The Stones were impressed.

Klein cut a deal and bought out Eric Easton in short order. Rumors flew that it was more of a bullying out, but Eric Easton made no public comment. His relationship with Andrew Oldham and the Rolling Stones had lasted less than three years. It had been a wild windfall and a huge headache. Whether Easton felt relieved, betrayed or both when his dealings with Oldham and the band came to an end remained unsaid. He filed suit against Oldham a couple of years later and won a relatively small judgement. Easton eventually retired, relocating to Florida.

The Rolling Stones’ original 1963 Decca deal included an impressive royalty rate for the time. But those royalties were paid to their managers’ independent production company, which retained ultimate ownership of the masters. Oldham and Easton took a sizable cut of the royalties before passing them on to the band.

Sir Edward CU

Having secured the role of co-manager in late August of 1965, Allen Klein set about renegotiating the Stones recording contract. Klein famously brought the band along to his negotiations with English Decca head Sir Edward Lewis. As per Klein’s instructions, the band members all wore sunglasses and let him do the talking. Klein mercilessly berated the sixty-five-year-old Lewis and his staff. When Sir Edward said he had many good people working at Decca, Klein snapped, “Well, I hope they can sing, because you aren’t going to have the Rolling Stones.”

Less than a week after Allen Klein officially joined their management team, the Rolling Stones re-upped with Decca in a landmark deal. But while Klein and Oldham celebrated getting the better of a man they dismissed as a hopeless old has-been, Sir Edward got the Stones for five more years. He also funded more than half of the large cash upfront payment that Klein had demanded with accrued American royalties that Decca was in the process of sending the band anyway. Whether American tough guy bluster or sensible English reserve won the day depends on who you ask.

The jubilant Stones reveled in Klein’s hardball tactics.  A few years later, when they found themselves on receiving end of those tactics, they would come to view Allen Klein in a very different light.

(This concludes Part IX of Throwing Stones. Click now to read Part X: Hear Me Knocking.)

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