Eddie Van Halen deconstructs his collaboration on 'Beat It'

[DaneMcCloud]

Originally Posted by Gadzooks

I wish I knew this crap back in the early 90's with my shitty Metal Band. We would have made a fortune!
The Paul Anka story comes from a Stern interview from 2002 or so... He must have sour grapes for not cashing in on some of the ongoing royalties.
The Neil Diamond piece is based off of a Corolla rant where he says when trying to come up with a soundtrack to a movie you tend to find out that even the most obscure song you've ever liked was probably written by Neil Diamond and therefore is too expensive to use in your film.
Publishing has always been a mystery to me and yet it’s most likely the most important thing any “professional” musician should know about.

Neil Diamond was a legendary "Brill Building" songwriter and he most certainly earns writer royalties on everything he's written. Those guys basically put ASCAP on the map. The only reason his songs aren't getting more film and TV placements is because his publishing company is charging exorbitant sync fees, likely because he feels his music is too "important" to be exploited.

That said, he didn't seem to have a problem with that dopey movie "Saving Silverman" using his music, in which he played himself and had several song uses.

FYI, I LOVE Neil Diamond and my comments are not meant to be derogatory.

[Gadzooks]

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

Neil Diamond was a legendary "Brill Building" songwriter and he most certainly earns writer royalties on everything he's written. Those guys basically put ASCAP on the map. The only reason his songs aren't getting more film and TV placements is because his publishing company is charging exorbitant sync fees, likely because he feels his music is too "important" to be exploited.

That said, he didn't seem to have a problem with that dopey movie "Saving Silverman" using his music, in which he played himself and had several song uses.

FYI, I LOVE Neil Diamond and my comments are not meant to be derogatory.

I've always thought that bands became successful as long as they had a member who was willing to blow record executives. I assigned this duty to my bass player. I always figured he must have be bad at it (sharp teeth, poor hand technique, ugly face etc…), so I’ve always blamed him for our lack of success. Little did I know that there’s actually more to this whole music business thing.

[DaneMcCloud]

Originally Posted by Gadzooks

I always thought that bands became successful as long as they had a member who was willing to blow record executives. I assigned this duty to my bass player. I always figured he must be bad at it (sharp teeth, poor hand technique etc…), so I’ve always blamed him for our lack of success. Little did I know that there’s actually more to this whole music business thing.

[Chiefshrink]

I would like to see Van Halen do their version of Bread's(David Gates) hit song from the mid-70's "Guitar Man" with Hagar singing lead. Eddie would have fun with that because he IS the guitar man. That would be absolutely NUCLEAR !!

[rabblerouser]

Originally Posted by Gadzooks

I've always thought that bands became successful as long as they had a member who was willing to blow record executives. I assigned this duty to my bass player. I always figured he must have be bad at it (sharp teeth, poor hand technique, ugly face etc…), so I’ve always blamed him for our lack of success. Little did I know that there’s actually more to this whole music business thing.

well, see...that's where you ****ed up; everyone knows that drummers suck the best cock.