Paper: Review of 90 Days at EMI + Ramblings
I fell kinda behind on a few things so to catch up - for those who wanted to read it here is a review of 90 Days at EMI. It's a book about the events that lead up to The Sex Pistols signing at and subsequently getting fired from EMI. Reminder - This was a one draft paper so it has type errors. Paper produced a 100% (A). The audience I wrote it for was for the Rock History Enthuiast - even still I should have included what the Bill Grundy Today show program incident was. Remember the video I posted of The Pistols, Siouxsie Sioux, and old talk show bastard? That's the incident. Also noting, 5 pages was not enough space to give a proper review and over view. Moving on, here it is:
Review of 90 Days at EMI
In his book 90 Days at EMI Brian Southall, a former PR executive at EMI, tells his version of the Sex Pistols 90 day contract with EMI. His version is an inside look at the happenings in the Manchester Square offices of EMI. Acting as a 90-day-encyclopedia this book is laced with commentary from other books written about rock, punk rock, and the Sex Pistols. He explains three different stances on the Sex Pistols time at EMI: The Corporate stance, PR’s stance, and the Sex Pistols stance. In addition to explaining these positions as best as he could Southall adds in commentary from other artists that were signed at EMI during this time. Southall succeeds rhetorically at giving a wide-ranging overview of the situations surrounding the Pistols run at EMI making this book an enjoyable read.
The book begins with a foreword from Glen Matlock, original bassist for the Sex Pistols. In Matlock’s eyes he understood why EMI terminated his bands contract and doesn’t really blame them for what happened. He goes on to state that if it hadn’t had happened it might have been a far worse thing, that part of the Pistols mystique came from their short lived contract at EMI . Matlock goes on to talk about the infamous Grundy interview on the Today show. He admits that there was drinking going on before the show but that their intention wasn’t to go on air and cuss, more that Grundy just happened to pick on the wrong set of guys. Matlock explains the frenzy that followed the Pistols after the show but never gets into the details of the termination of contract but that someone from the Daily Mirror (a newspaper in England) phoned Matlock at his hotel to inform him that their contract was being terminated. Despite all the events that lead up to the Pistol’s contract being terminated Matlock reiterates something that not a whole lot of people probably realized, “We took everything with a pinch of salt and saw the funny side of things. There was a big broad brush stroke of humor through it all and we still firmly believed what we said in songs (8).”
According to the book there were three events that ultimately lead up to the contract termination of the Sex Pistols. The first was the square off with Bill Grundy on Today. The second was the hotel incident in Leeds. And the final incident was allergy at Heathrow Airport and in a plane en route to Holland. Southall gives the reactions to all three of these events from the three stances (corporate, PR, and the Pistols). EMI’s corporate view is thru Sir John Read (chairman of EMI) while A&R’s (A&R or Public Relations) reactions come from various people throughout the PR, though mainly from those who closely worked with the Sex Pistols.
In describing the first incident on the Grundy’s Today show Southall describes the incident as if he had seen it as it aired. In fact Southall, along with a few others who worked closely with the Pistols, managed to miss the on-air theatrics but found out about it quickly. From the A&R stand point this event evoked mixed feelings. It could either be really good publicity, but they knew that things were about to get really crazy and hectic at EMI. He describes the different reactions which, ironically, varied according to age. The older A&R people were mortified while the younger giggled at the humor, the middle aged seemed to see both positive and negative consequences including the potential earning and free promotion this gave the Pistols.
Corporate reactions to the Today incident were few at first. They got word from A&R that it was being handled, and they also felt assured in the fact that Today fired Grundy. It wasn’t until the media starting hounding corporate that action should be taken against the Pistols that they began to get upset. To fuel the flames women who, according to witnesses spoke in the same manner as the Sex Pistols, went on strike refusing to package the “Anarchy” single. Because of these two incidences corporate felt inclined to do something and at the Annual Shareholders Meeting a big topic of discussion were the lines of decency and censorship. They also released a statement to the press saying that the Sex Pistols contract was under consideration.
Meanwhile the Sex Pistols didn’t have much of a reaction to Bill Grundy picking at them, and egging them on to use swear words on live national television. They all agreed that Grundy was provoking them; they all also agreed that there had been a lot of drinking going on not just by them, but by Grundy as well. In a statement where Johnny Rotten was told that the language enraged people to the point of kicking in their televisions, Rotten replied, “Ridiculous to hear of people kicking in their TV sets, haven’t they heard of the off button” (England‘s Dreaming by John Savage, Farber & Farber)?
The Leeds incident was probably the incident that went by quickly. What happened in Leeds was nothing more than people taking a cue from Grundy and again, provoking the Sex Pistols to act outlandishly. According to Southall news reports and tabloids that had been following the Pistols around were sick of not having a story; the journalists would fabricate stories just to have something to print. It was a few journalists that provoked them to act foolishly. One of the Pistols got sick of the provoking and threw a few potted plants through the lobby of the hotel they were staying at. While walking away the reportedly yelled, “Don’t blame us. That‘s what you wanted. Send the bill to EMI” (76).
As the papers hit the stands the next day corporate once again descended from their upper level offices to find out what had happened. This was different; this time an A&R rep was with them and backed up the story that the Pistols were goaded into acting violently. It didn’t help either that before the hotel incident, during their Leeds concert, Johnny Rotten was reported saying, “Fuck the Queen” in concert. Leave it to A&R to spin this at corporate saying they said, “Fuck Queen” as in the band Queen who was signed with EMI at the time. This time corporate came down harder on A&R although it seemed for the wrong reasons. A&R on the other hand were trying to figure out ways to deflate the situation because they knew that the Sex Pistols were skating on thin ice.
At this given point EMI (corporate) had made a brain scanner which it was selling in America. The CAT scanner sales were somehow being linked to the Sex Pistol’s antics. The way they created the link is that EMI made the CAT scan machine, the Sex Pistols were signed with EMI, and so corporate figured that anything the Sex Pistols did would reflect badly on EMI and subsequently their CAT scanner machine.
The final blow to the Sex Pistols contract at EMI allegedly happened at Heathrow Airport and while en route to Holland. According to the newspaper and tabloids the Sex Pistols we’re drunk; yelling at the counter girls calling them names, and even vomited in one of the corridors. During this time an A&R rep was with them and he reported that no such incidences happened. He also reported that the Pistols never went near the counters to check-in. This was not enough for corporate. Sir John Read met with Leslie Hill, who had essentially become Read’s “Go to Guy” during the duration of the Sex Pistols contract at EMI. Hill, who already contacted the A&R rep that went with the Pistols to Holland, reported to Read that no such incidences had happened. Read, in return, said he checked with his sources and his sources said that it did happen. With those words Read asked Hill to negotiate termination of the Sex Pistols contract with EMI.
The Pistols were sacked. Seemed like the one time they didn’t mean to do much was the time they got busted. When A&R investigated further in hopes of getting Read to keep the Pistols they found out that there was a big possibility that media paid for their stories while ensuring anonymity to those they paid. None of this mattered as Read had his mind made up and the next day the Sex Pistols were informed their contract was terminated.
The books ends by telling what happened to EMI after the Sex Pistols: a break off from corporate into its own record company. It also goes to describe the Pistols after EMI: Signed at A&M, sacked in a week, then signed to Virgin to release a number one album only to have Sid kill his girlfriend, Nancy Spugen, then commit suicide himself.
Between the various quotes and the different stances presented Southall showed the scope of the situation with much clarity. In the end you can really see where Matlock is coming from in his foreword and probably not help but chuckle to find out that 30 years later, because they bought Virgin Records, EMI owns the Sex Pistols again. However I doubt that this time they are willing to cut them loose.
/End Paper
Love this old pic of me and my best friend from HS.
Considering what what to do tonight. It's frickin' freezing. As if it's important, last night I cleaned through my closet and I've come to realize, I don't have a whole lot of clothes. I used to. But I keep throwing them away without going out and buying more on a regular basis. It's beginning to look like the boy will be too tired to make it to Malediction. He worked from 6am to 2pm, got home about 2:30. Poor guy. Also, it's due to start raining later tonight.
I guess we'll see...
Review of 90 Days at EMI
In his book 90 Days at EMI Brian Southall, a former PR executive at EMI, tells his version of the Sex Pistols 90 day contract with EMI. His version is an inside look at the happenings in the Manchester Square offices of EMI. Acting as a 90-day-encyclopedia this book is laced with commentary from other books written about rock, punk rock, and the Sex Pistols. He explains three different stances on the Sex Pistols time at EMI: The Corporate stance, PR’s stance, and the Sex Pistols stance. In addition to explaining these positions as best as he could Southall adds in commentary from other artists that were signed at EMI during this time. Southall succeeds rhetorically at giving a wide-ranging overview of the situations surrounding the Pistols run at EMI making this book an enjoyable read.
The book begins with a foreword from Glen Matlock, original bassist for the Sex Pistols. In Matlock’s eyes he understood why EMI terminated his bands contract and doesn’t really blame them for what happened. He goes on to state that if it hadn’t had happened it might have been a far worse thing, that part of the Pistols mystique came from their short lived contract at EMI . Matlock goes on to talk about the infamous Grundy interview on the Today show. He admits that there was drinking going on before the show but that their intention wasn’t to go on air and cuss, more that Grundy just happened to pick on the wrong set of guys. Matlock explains the frenzy that followed the Pistols after the show but never gets into the details of the termination of contract but that someone from the Daily Mirror (a newspaper in England) phoned Matlock at his hotel to inform him that their contract was being terminated. Despite all the events that lead up to the Pistol’s contract being terminated Matlock reiterates something that not a whole lot of people probably realized, “We took everything with a pinch of salt and saw the funny side of things. There was a big broad brush stroke of humor through it all and we still firmly believed what we said in songs (8).”
According to the book there were three events that ultimately lead up to the contract termination of the Sex Pistols. The first was the square off with Bill Grundy on Today. The second was the hotel incident in Leeds. And the final incident was allergy at Heathrow Airport and in a plane en route to Holland. Southall gives the reactions to all three of these events from the three stances (corporate, PR, and the Pistols). EMI’s corporate view is thru Sir John Read (chairman of EMI) while A&R’s (A&R or Public Relations) reactions come from various people throughout the PR, though mainly from those who closely worked with the Sex Pistols.
In describing the first incident on the Grundy’s Today show Southall describes the incident as if he had seen it as it aired. In fact Southall, along with a few others who worked closely with the Pistols, managed to miss the on-air theatrics but found out about it quickly. From the A&R stand point this event evoked mixed feelings. It could either be really good publicity, but they knew that things were about to get really crazy and hectic at EMI. He describes the different reactions which, ironically, varied according to age. The older A&R people were mortified while the younger giggled at the humor, the middle aged seemed to see both positive and negative consequences including the potential earning and free promotion this gave the Pistols.
Corporate reactions to the Today incident were few at first. They got word from A&R that it was being handled, and they also felt assured in the fact that Today fired Grundy. It wasn’t until the media starting hounding corporate that action should be taken against the Pistols that they began to get upset. To fuel the flames women who, according to witnesses spoke in the same manner as the Sex Pistols, went on strike refusing to package the “Anarchy” single. Because of these two incidences corporate felt inclined to do something and at the Annual Shareholders Meeting a big topic of discussion were the lines of decency and censorship. They also released a statement to the press saying that the Sex Pistols contract was under consideration.
Meanwhile the Sex Pistols didn’t have much of a reaction to Bill Grundy picking at them, and egging them on to use swear words on live national television. They all agreed that Grundy was provoking them; they all also agreed that there had been a lot of drinking going on not just by them, but by Grundy as well. In a statement where Johnny Rotten was told that the language enraged people to the point of kicking in their televisions, Rotten replied, “Ridiculous to hear of people kicking in their TV sets, haven’t they heard of the off button” (England‘s Dreaming by John Savage, Farber & Farber)?
The Leeds incident was probably the incident that went by quickly. What happened in Leeds was nothing more than people taking a cue from Grundy and again, provoking the Sex Pistols to act outlandishly. According to Southall news reports and tabloids that had been following the Pistols around were sick of not having a story; the journalists would fabricate stories just to have something to print. It was a few journalists that provoked them to act foolishly. One of the Pistols got sick of the provoking and threw a few potted plants through the lobby of the hotel they were staying at. While walking away the reportedly yelled, “Don’t blame us. That‘s what you wanted. Send the bill to EMI” (76).
As the papers hit the stands the next day corporate once again descended from their upper level offices to find out what had happened. This was different; this time an A&R rep was with them and backed up the story that the Pistols were goaded into acting violently. It didn’t help either that before the hotel incident, during their Leeds concert, Johnny Rotten was reported saying, “Fuck the Queen” in concert. Leave it to A&R to spin this at corporate saying they said, “Fuck Queen” as in the band Queen who was signed with EMI at the time. This time corporate came down harder on A&R although it seemed for the wrong reasons. A&R on the other hand were trying to figure out ways to deflate the situation because they knew that the Sex Pistols were skating on thin ice.
At this given point EMI (corporate) had made a brain scanner which it was selling in America. The CAT scanner sales were somehow being linked to the Sex Pistol’s antics. The way they created the link is that EMI made the CAT scan machine, the Sex Pistols were signed with EMI, and so corporate figured that anything the Sex Pistols did would reflect badly on EMI and subsequently their CAT scanner machine.
The final blow to the Sex Pistols contract at EMI allegedly happened at Heathrow Airport and while en route to Holland. According to the newspaper and tabloids the Sex Pistols we’re drunk; yelling at the counter girls calling them names, and even vomited in one of the corridors. During this time an A&R rep was with them and he reported that no such incidences happened. He also reported that the Pistols never went near the counters to check-in. This was not enough for corporate. Sir John Read met with Leslie Hill, who had essentially become Read’s “Go to Guy” during the duration of the Sex Pistols contract at EMI. Hill, who already contacted the A&R rep that went with the Pistols to Holland, reported to Read that no such incidences had happened. Read, in return, said he checked with his sources and his sources said that it did happen. With those words Read asked Hill to negotiate termination of the Sex Pistols contract with EMI.
The Pistols were sacked. Seemed like the one time they didn’t mean to do much was the time they got busted. When A&R investigated further in hopes of getting Read to keep the Pistols they found out that there was a big possibility that media paid for their stories while ensuring anonymity to those they paid. None of this mattered as Read had his mind made up and the next day the Sex Pistols were informed their contract was terminated.
The books ends by telling what happened to EMI after the Sex Pistols: a break off from corporate into its own record company. It also goes to describe the Pistols after EMI: Signed at A&M, sacked in a week, then signed to Virgin to release a number one album only to have Sid kill his girlfriend, Nancy Spugen, then commit suicide himself.
Between the various quotes and the different stances presented Southall showed the scope of the situation with much clarity. In the end you can really see where Matlock is coming from in his foreword and probably not help but chuckle to find out that 30 years later, because they bought Virgin Records, EMI owns the Sex Pistols again. However I doubt that this time they are willing to cut them loose.
/End Paper
Love this old pic of me and my best friend from HS.
Considering what what to do tonight. It's frickin' freezing. As if it's important, last night I cleaned through my closet and I've come to realize, I don't have a whole lot of clothes. I used to. But I keep throwing them away without going out and buying more on a regular basis. It's beginning to look like the boy will be too tired to make it to Malediction. He worked from 6am to 2pm, got home about 2:30. Poor guy. Also, it's due to start raining later tonight.
I guess we'll see...