Long before Phil Spector was convicted of the murder of Lana Clarkson, the music mogul was offering bad advice to The Beatles. Paul McCartney recalled the time Spector insisted the band ought to squeeze more money out of their fans.
“I remember Phil Spector telling us in the early days that he used to think we wasted our material by putting two good songs on a single. He said, ‘You shouldn’t have two, you should just have one.’
But as fans of music as well as musicians, Paul McCartney says The Beatles recognized the disservice this would be to their millions of fans who work hard for the money they spend on buying music.
“We said, ‘No, no, no value for money. You know, it should be an A-side and a B-side. And it’s great!’” McCartney recalled.
But Spector, showing his true colors as someone more concerned about the money to be made than the music, pushed further.
“And he said,’No!” McCartney explained. “No, you should just put the backing track of the A-side on the B-side.’”
But John, Paul, George, and Ringo knew shortchanging their fans was dishonest.
“And we just thought that’s cheating.”
As it turned out, not following Phil Spector’s advice was the right decision.
Recording Abbey Road.
Paul McCartney is no stranger to underhanded dealings in the music business. As a result, he appreciates when people give good value for the price.
“I mean many people may not know this, but I love to give value for money,” he explained to his crew. “That was sort of what George Martin always used to say and talk about: it’s good value for money.
“That sort of hit a nerve with us because we remembered, particularly when we were first recording in Abbey Road. We remembered recently having been the people who had bought the records, not made them. And if you ever got cheated, you hated the artist or the label.”
McCartney went on to explain an instance where he felt cheated on a music purchase.
“I once bought a record by Little Richard and I thought, ‘Wow! A new record by Little Richard!’” he recalled. “And I got it home… and it was actually by the Buck Ram Orchestra! And in one of the tracks, Little Richard was a guest.
“Through the whole album was this other stuff I didn’t want to listen to. And just this one little thing, so I thought, ‘God, that’s a real cheat.’”
That’s why Paul McCartney and John Lennon and the rest of The Beatles will always be more respected than most. Certainly more than Phil Spector ever was even before he was sent to prison for murder.
Watch the chilling video Spector released before he was imprisoned.
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