Sound City Page #4

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car, and then six months being

the night phone-answering guy.

And when someone above you quit

or got promoted or moved on,

then everybody moved up a step.

I hired Nick 'cause he could

make guac. Very important, you know.

I did.

I made guacamole all the time.

As a runner, I would go in

there, you know, and empty the

ashtrays and dust the console

and vacuum.

And that's when I started to

learn the board.

We had runners that became

engineers.

Then, they became producers.

Lot of people that hung around

here became really successful in

the record business.

You know, recording - it's a

different art form.

Down on South Street,

Philadelphia

When we came to Sound City,

the producer, Gary Lublow, would

say, "No, man, slow it down so

they can hear the f***in' song".

We'd say, "This is punk rock!

We don't slow anything down!"

You know?

I don't care about you

F*** you

You're getting 50 seconds'

worth of music with the same

amount of f***ing notes, 'cause

we play them faster.

I saw a man that was sleeping

in puke

And a man with no legs

fallin' down Fifth Street

Tryin' to get something to

eat

I don't care about you

Oh, no

One of the greatest punk-rock

albums - they made The Record

at Sound City.

That sound comes out of his

face, man.

That's actually his voice.

I don't care about you

Gary Lublow had been the

producer on the

R.E.O. Speedwagon record.

But what he wound up being was

the engineer who fought with me

every day.

I became a producer by

default, because nobody knew

what a producer was.

The old definition of

"producer" was more watching the

budget, scheduling musicians,

scheduling studio time.

That's not what they did at

Sound City.

A producer works with the

songs.

You don't know how it feels

to be me

A producer says, "Hey, I

think this could be better.

I think that could be better.

I think that's amazing.

Why can't the rest of it be as

great as that?"

That's not easy to do.

Everything I try to do is

from a fan's perspective.

I can listen and go, "Hmm, this

part really speaks to me.

This part doesn't speak to me so

much".

It sounds like you're aiming a

little lower today than you

should be.

What balls, you know, to tell

rock stars that they got

nothing.

But let me get to the

point

Let's roll another joint

I like to push it during the

songs, you know?

Like, I'll hit the guitar and,

like, mess it up.

I want it to be on fire.

Working with Ross was intense

as sh*t.

We did 12 songs the first night

we were there.

And the whole time, he is

throwing potted plants at us.

I grabbed one of the candles,

and I threw it against the wall

as hard as I can.

Wax went across his face, and

he's like, "Aaaaah!"

Screaming into the floor.

It was so good.

You don't know how it

feels

The way I love the term

"producer" - it's someone that

puts, you know, a cake dish over

the bat phone, you know?

They protect you from the

outside world, and they help you

actualize the sounds in your

head.

Producer's job is really

easy.

He's the vehicle to get the

artists' creativity onto tape in

a way that is accessible to your

marketplace.

To be me

What you have to do is get

the listener to claim what

you've done as theirs.

A girlfriend - an

ex-girlfriend - it's always an

ex-girlfriend - hooked me up

with this guy that knew Joe at

Sound City.

And he said, "Joe's looking for

artists to sign".

I think we signed him, like,

in the middle '70s.

Joe's office was under the

car ramp that took the cars up

to the parking lot on the roof.

I actually thought

about not signing because of

that.

Love is all right tonight

He was turned down by RCA for

about five years.

I got into the studio when

the paying clients had bailed.

You know, "Tom Petty just

canceled.

We got studio 'A' for four

hours".

Joe took Rick Springfield

under his wing, and he kind of

developed him.

Got him acting lessons.

Got him an apartment.

Got him some little car.

Got him the "General Hospital"

thing that started his career.

Here's Bobbie, one of our

best nurses.

Bobbie Spencer, this is

Noah Drake.

How are you?

I'm very happy to see you

again.

The first steady money I'd actually

seen in my life was 500 bucks a week.

That was the first regular money

I'd ever had.

Joe came to me and asked me

to do these couple of songs.

Keith Olsen picked

"Jessie's Girl" out of the demos

they gave him.

I didn't get why he picked it.

I thought there were stronger

songs.

Rick didn't think I knew what

I was talking about.

Well, Jessie is a friend

And, oh, he's been a good

friend of mine

Keith didn't like my guitar

playing, so he had Neil Geraldo

play guitar on "Jessie's Girl"

and bass.

Being a record producer,

there's a time when you have to

say, "It would really be good

for your career if you let this

go that way".

Keith never liked my guitar

playing.

He's a prick.

Patricia had just finished

the "Crimes of Passion" record

at Sound City.

Then I just met him one day,

and that was - we just did it.

I mean, I probably knew him for

song.

He had this pit terrier, so

he would bring the dog into the

studio, and he goes, watch this.

And he'll throw it a basketball.

And it would take the basketball

and go pghh!

And, you know, puncture it with

his teeth.

With my dog, Ron, the sound

guys would get this laser light

and run it up and down the walls

of studio "B".

And he'd take chunks out of the

wall, and put holes in all the

walls.

So, we get ready to do the

take.

All of a sudden, the dog comes

into the studio, sits down, puts

his nose right in my crotch.

It's like, if I screw up, he's

gonna bite me.

What the hell is going on here?

And she's watching him with

those eyes

I made it through the take.

Might have even been the one we

used.

It was pretty funny.

Never moved.

He sat right there.

It was fantastic.

You know, I wish that I had

Jessie's girl

I wish that I had Jessie's

girl

We signed a lot of acts.

Every one you signed, you

thought, "This is gonna be the

big one".

You know, "This is gonna be it".

I was the only one that

really finally paid off for him,

you know?

Nominated for best male rock

vocal performance, singing about

Jessie's girl, is

Mr. Rick Springfield!

The first check we got from RCA

was over a million dollars.

It's mind-blowing.

I think Joe had pretty good

karma, and this magic studio

sprung up out of this ass-ugly

complex in Van Nuys.

And all these people just

started coming.

It was amazing.

All during the '80s, we were

booked solid. You listen to one of these

stations where they played

rock 'n' roll, 7 or 8 out of the

Sound City.

Describe Hollywood in the

'80s.

Hollywood in the '80s -

I don't remember.

It was all, like, you know, the hair

bands. It was all the makeup, all the

pretty boys, you know.

'Cause I'm a wanted man

I was wondering who ever used

the board after us if they had a

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