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- Abbey_Road
- Rep: 16
Re: Interesting tidbit about Jimmy Iovine - Interscope Records
Got this from mygnr.com
http://www.mygnrforum.com/index.php?sho … try1944325
I was reading my new issue of Entertainment Weekly cover to cover (as I usually do) and came across an interesting tidbit. The Nicole girl from the Pussycat Dolls who has been working on a solo album since 2005 is under contract with Interscope. The album has been held up because Jimmy Iovine is notorious for holding back an album's release until every single song is up to his standards.
Apparently, he has been holding up Gavin Rossdales solo album for 3 years as well as a few others...many of these artists have called it "Jimmy Jail".
So, if GNR's album is being held up by the record company, it could be because of Jimmy Iovine himself.
Sidenote:
Those of you who do not know who Jimmy Iovine is or why Interscope records has anything to do with GNR, look it up first, don't start a debate or a Q&A in this thread.
Re: Interesting tidbit about Jimmy Iovine - Interscope Records
Oh no, not another reason for a delay 
I'm reading Slash's book right now and every page is steering me towards thinking that the old band should reform. Nothing against the new guys, I just don't think its meant to be after this massive wait.
Another thing that got me, when Bumblefoot quoted that he was trying to inject some 'sleaze' into the new songs...I think it sounds really fabricated...in order to do that it seems to me that you need to be a bit sleazy in the fist place, don't you think?
Re: Interesting tidbit about Jimmy Iovine - Interscope Records
Well, as Baz put it:
We had to play music that we recorded together [for Angel Down] for Jimmy Iovine, who is the head of Interscope, who has Axl signed, and he loved it when he could've said, "No." So Jimmy knew how important it was to Axl and said yes.
- source
At the moment, it does look like GNR has been moved back to Interscope. As for Iovine himself, he was present with Axl during the final mixing of Oh My God back in '99; another thing is that in '01 Axl publically mentioned the record company had voiced some opinions on the album to secure the best possible outcome. Back in those days Iovine might've had a hands-on approach on Axl's work, but I kinda doubt he'd reject a GNR album more than once, especially after all the wait.
Nowadays they likely just want an album to release.
Re: Interesting tidbit about Jimmy Iovine - Interscope Records
Here's an interesting article on Iovine. I've included the parts that can be attributed to the GNR situatinon. The full article can be viewed here.
THE MUSIC INDUSTRY TITANS
Ears wide open
He interned with Lennon, got Dr. Dre on the air, was musical matchmaker for Gwen Stefani. Jimmy Iovine listens and imagines, then makes it happen.
By Robert Hilburn
Special to The Times
November 26, 2006
"WHEN I first went into the studio with John Lennon and Bruce Springsteen, I thought making records was going to be fun, like going to a Rolling Stones concert," says Jimmy Iovine, reflecting on his route to becoming a record industry tyco4on. "But fun had nothing to do with it. Fun wasn't even on the menu.
"Bruce would spend eight hours trying to write one line of the lyrics to 'Jungleland' and longer on the guitar part to 'Thunder Road.' He'd try it one way and then tell everybody 'again' and 'again' for days. I fell asleep for four hours one night and the first thing I heard after waking up was Bruce saying, 'Again.' "
[...]
"I also learned that the songs are everything. If the songs aren't there, you're dead. You must do whatever it takes to get them right '” as much time, as much pain."
Iovine brought one intangible with him to the music business: an instinct for hits, and his 35-by-30-foot exercise room is where he searches for them several mornings a week.
[...]
Last fall in the room, Iovine heard new tracks by Nelly Furtado, a young Canadian singer he inherited when Universal bought DreamWorks Records.
Iovine had tried to sign Furtado, a pop singer with teasingly seductive dance and hip-hop sensibilities, and he was fond of Furtado's 2000 debut album and, even more, a remix track she did with hip-hop producer Timbaland.
But Iovine felt Furtado's new music was too "mature" '” his polite word for uninspired '” and he made a mental note that morning: "Timbaland!"
Meeting with Furtado a few days later, Iovine advised the twentysomething singer to scrap the tracks she had done and go into the studio with Timbaland. Furtado jumped at the suggestion so fast it surprised Iovine, but artists do listen when you've got his track record.
In June, the Timbaland-produced album, "Loose," entered the U.S. pop charts at No. 1, thanks in part to a sassy single, "Promiscuous." Worldwide sales: more than 2.5 million.
By focusing on the music rather than chiefly on quarterly spreadsheets, Iovine fits into the grand, entrepreneurial tradition of post-World War II executives who built the modern record business '” people such as Ahmet Ertegun, Clive Davis, David Geffen, Mo Ostin and Iovine's mentor, Doug Morris, with whom he confers six to 10 times a day.
"I don't talk to my artists about record deals," Iovine says. "I talk to them about how we are going to make their records better. To do that, you've got to infiltrate the artist and get their trust and confidence so that you can help push them in directions they might not see or might not even want to go at first, and that can cause tension, but that's just part of the creative process.
"If you don't speak the truth in the studio, your relationship with the artist is finished. It's not enough to just tell them everything is great. The most important thing is to tell them when it's not great."
[...]
For Nicks, who was making a solo album after her success with Fleetwood Mac, Iovine did more than help shape the sound or reach outside for a hit song. He didn't know that much about Fleetwood Mac, so he listened to "Rumours" before he went into the studio with Nicks '” and he realized instantly the challenge in making a Nicks solo album.
"If you are going to make a Mick Jagger solo record, you've got to make sure people don't miss the Rolling Stones. With Fleetwood Mac, you had three voices, now you are only going to have one. With Fleetwood Mac, you had three writers, now you only have one. With Fleetwood Mac, you had the musical inventiveness of Lindsey Buckingham and the comfortable feel of that rhythm section."
Iovine's game plan to supply those missing elements offers a revealing glimpse of what he can bring to a project. Fortunately, Nicks had lots of songs, so material wasn't a problem. But there was a Petty song that Iovine thought would be perfect for Nicks, and he got them to agree to a duet on the song, "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around." He also teamed Don Henley with her on a Nicks song, "Leather and Lace."
To add some of the musical color of Buckingham and the rest of the band, he pulled in musicians he admired, including two he remembered from his days in the studio with Springsteen and Petty '” keyboardists Roy Bittan and Benmont Tench.
"Whenever I'd work on the sound mix on Tom or Bruce's records and find a spot in the record that needed a lift," Iovine recalls, "I would always find myself reaching for Roy or Benmont because they were always doing something interesting."
[...]
IT'S the day before Iovine is to head to London to meet with U2 and Stefani to hear new music, and he's on the elliptical trainer, listening to a new recording by Stefani.
As he pushes the pedals of the trainer, Iovine is asked about one of his big disappointments of recent years: the Hives.
Iovine goes into a long litany of the personal and professional roadblocks that can keep a band from reaching its potential on record. It feels like a filibuster until he cuts to the chase.
"They just didn't come up with the songs," he says bluntly of the last Hives album, which failed to live up to the enthusiasm the Swedish band had built on its indie releases. "They thought people were just responding to the attitude in their shows, and it was never just that. But I'm not giving up. I've already spoken to them, and they know what they need to do."
- dave-gnfnr2k
- Rep: 11
Re: Interesting tidbit about Jimmy Iovine - Interscope Records
Axl is the only reason dont kid yourself.
If axl turned in the album after all this time geffen would not say its not good enough take it back and work on it some more. Come one now
- Locomotive98
- Rep: 17
Re: Interesting tidbit about Jimmy Iovine - Interscope Records
Oh no, not another reason for a delay
I'm reading Slash's book right now and every page is steering me towards thinking that the old band should reform. Nothing against the new guys, I just don't think its meant to be after this massive wait.
Another thing that got me, when Bumblefoot quoted that he was trying to inject some 'sleaze' into the new songs...I think it sounds really fabricated...in order to do that it seems to me that you need to be a bit sleazy in the fist place, don't you think?
I agree with you on all counts here. Slash's book really made me yearn for the good old days. Even if he did make a spelling mistake on page 86 damn him.
I remember commenting at the time about BF's remark. Cant remember exactly what he said but it was along the lines of injecting some sleaze to make it sound more authentically GNR. Well no offense but the old GNR were sleazy which is why they sounded like they did. Plus if those guys are GNR then it should sound like GNR, sleazy or not. They could make an album of pan pipe music (with hip hop beats of course) and it should sound authentically like GNR because thats who they are right?
But that may not be exactly what BF said anyway and I'm sure someone would be more than happy to correct me if I am wrong..!
Anyway thats besides the point and I apologize for straying from the subject.
Jimmy Iovine is just another name to add to a list of excuses that have worn thin long ago...
Re: Interesting tidbit about Jimmy Iovine - Interscope Records
Thats pretty much exactly what BBF said. At the time of GNR they were drinking vodka for breakfast, fucking everything in sight, taking way too many drugs, lying about taking way too many drugs, arguing between each other, stealing, destroying stuff etc etc etc. Not recording solo albums or travelling around the world taking photos.
One of the other interesting things I have taken from the book so far is how they would only get stuff done when they were together as a band. That's when all of the best stuff came out too. The recording for Chinese Democracy maybe finished, but with all of their 'extra curriculum' activities I just don't see how they'll achieve anything. Why don't they get together, jam, play a gig, do some interviews and make it work one way or other?
For fucks sake! Its so easy, yet I imagine all of those blood suckers on the sidelines are making it way more complicated than it needs to be. If its so bloody difficult why are there so many new bands out there doing just that?
