It Takes Two to Make a Thing Go Right

Indigo Girls and the Eagles were both in Atlanta last Friday. One thing that crossed my mind is that for a certain constant success, you need one who has great business savvy and the other with spiritual gratitude. Emily Sailers is the spiritual leader while Amy Ray is very talented and spiritual, her business acumen is what keeps the band alive. For the Eagles, Don Henley was the guru for the Eagles with his songwriter but Glen Frey was the promoter who got the money down. You can say the same thing about NWA with Ice Cube and Eazy-E as well as Chris Wong and Luther Campbell (You say, m; I say o, whatever) from Two Live Crew.

Run DMC fascinates me the most in this concept but it was of three. It was a Rick Rubin show like he did with the Beasties but only because he brought the music to suburbs. Russell Simmons or Run managed them, did all the promotions, and behind the scenes. Yet, you had Jam Master Jay who had that promotion sense while DMC was a mystic to himself. They could have focused on what the people wanted and given it to them like Hammer but they didn't. They focused deeplya on their spirituality. However, DMC couldn't sugarcoat because it had deep thought implications that young divinity students want to understand but mature adults can.

Most of the groups or artist when they come to town are "protrayed" as either being the business/promoter advocate and the other being the artist, guru, or spiritual guide. There is only a few people that I remember being promoted as both. James Brown, Jerry Garcia, Prince, Sly Stone, Rick James, Ian Anderson from Jethro Tull, Quincy Jones and George Clinton. Just to name a few. However, most bands have a producer that do all the talking for them like a tennis coach. Like George Martin, James Guericio, Mutt Lange, and Berry Gordy but he let Smokey and Otis do their thing. Of course, most of the bands have had producers other themselves but they hire them to work for them not the other away around.

Of course that is where the problems come when you have a manager and the band folks are trying to be their own. To explain. It is sort of like tennis players from the 70's and before. They didn't have coaches or money managers with some exceptions. They had to make their own deals with companies to sponsor their travel, pay tournament fees, and equipment. But Ion Tiriac, a former tennis player did this with fellow tennis players, Illie Nastase, Guillermo Vilas, and Boris Becker. Likewise, he coached them or hired coaches like Gunther Bosch for Becker. But he got into issues just like Harold Melvin and Teddy Pendegrass but unlike Tiriac, Melvin couldn't replace a talent like Pendegrass.

In musical terms, Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes are a tragedy. Harold Melvin did all the arranging and brought in talent but Teddy Pendegrass was the man, dude. When he left, Harold should have quit and taken over as manager for Teddy. Teddy was great on his own due to the help of producers, Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff (Harold's discovery). Once they left, Teddy found sorry producers who couldn't understand his idiosyncracies. Harold did. It would have benefitted both of them but Harold replaced musicians before and thought Teddy was just another James Brown wannabe. Likewise, Teddy thought Harold was a Quincy Jones wannabe. Both are right and wrong (re-recording Teddy's hits to your singers is not cool, Harold). Snoop says "leaving me is like Blue Notes leaving Harold Melvin, you will never go platinum." In Harold's case, he should have put Teddy Pendegrass on the name.

If you look at the history of bands, two's operate best with some exceptions. Look at Otis Williams of the Temps and David Ruffin. When Ruffin left, the Temps survive to this day due to Mr. Williams but the soul of the band died in 1967. Look at the Rolling Stones but you would think it is different with Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. You think its all Mick but talk to the band, it is Keith that is the spiritual leader and Mick the business man (Be good to your kids and I want a burial). As he said when writing music, "its better to have two than one because you always get a different angle."