Steve Haynie 12,205 Posted June 11, 2019 Share Posted June 11, 2019 This article is over 12,000 words. It will take a while to finish, but the first part is very interesting. The Day The Music Burned Link to post Share on other sites
tbonesullivan 2,491 Posted June 11, 2019 Share Posted June 11, 2019 Holy crap that is depressing as hell. Guess we'll never really know how much was truly lost. Link to post Share on other sites
tommy p 2,242 Posted June 11, 2019 Share Posted June 11, 2019 i just read a much shorter article on that. Terrible news. I love when they go back in the vaults and find alternate takes and unreleased songs. Link to post Share on other sites
crunchee 5,402 Posted June 11, 2019 Share Posted June 11, 2019 Paul McCartney couldn't have been happy that Buddy Holly's master tapes went up in smoke, since Macca owns most if not all of Holly's song publishing catalog. Craploads of Chess Records master tapes--gone, including Chuck Berry's. If those in charge didn't know about previous archive disasters, it's because they weren't paying attention or could have cared less: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_film https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1965_MGM_vault_fire https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1937_Fox_vault_fire TV is worse, they often just 'wiped' (erased) videotapes, just so they could reuse the videotape for something else rather than buy new tape: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_television_broadcast Link to post Share on other sites
tbonesullivan 2,491 Posted June 12, 2019 Share Posted June 12, 2019 20 hours ago, tommy p said: i just read a much shorter article on that. Terrible news. I love when they go back in the vaults and find alternate takes and unreleased songs. This is why many high profile artists with lots of $$$ negotiate to get possession of their original master tapes. Then they can put them in a proper fireproof vault for future use, avoiding them getting lost in the huge warehouses that the companies now use to store music masters in. "Director's Cuts" of movies are only possible because the original film from shooting was stored. I believe Francis Ford Coppola kept all the footage he shot for his movies, which is why he's been able to go back and completely recut a lot of them. The problem of course is that when a film is "cut" it's literally CUT, in the cutting room, and a lot of scenes that didn't make the "final cut" ended up on the cutting room floor, and put in the trash. Link to post Share on other sites
gtrdaddy 9,134 Posted June 12, 2019 Share Posted June 12, 2019 21 hours ago, tbonesullivan said: Holy crap that is depressing as hell. Guess we'll never really know how much was truly lost. Link to post Share on other sites
crunchee 5,402 Posted June 12, 2019 Share Posted June 12, 2019 Man, that's a tragedy. Except for maybe the Yoko Ono tapes. Link to post Share on other sites
Studio Custom 3,328 Posted June 12, 2019 Share Posted June 12, 2019 Um, this happened ELEVEN years ago. In other news, Germany lost two World Wars. Link to post Share on other sites
Steve Haynie 12,205 Posted June 12, 2019 Author Share Posted June 12, 2019 Eleven years ago the extent of the loss was downplayed. Link to post Share on other sites
Never2Late 570 Posted June 12, 2019 Share Posted June 12, 2019 7 minutes ago, Steve Haynie said: Eleven years ago the extent of the loss was downplayed. Downplayed by Record Company Executives who can't lie anymore - their cover is now blown. I'm utterly shocked at the sheer volume of loss, and Corporate deception regarding that loss, represented by this article. Clearly, there are many in the "music industry" who just don't CARE.... Link to post Share on other sites
gtrdaddy 9,134 Posted June 12, 2019 Share Posted June 12, 2019 34 minutes ago, Studio Custom said: Um, this happened ELEVEN years ago. In other news, Germany lost two World Wars. ....and the top story tonight, General Francisco Franco is still dead, Link to post Share on other sites
Studio Custom 3,328 Posted June 12, 2019 Share Posted June 12, 2019 34 minutes ago, Never2Late said: Downplayed by Record Company Executives who can't lie anymore - their cover is now blown. I'm utterly shocked at the sheer volume of loss, and Corporate deception regarding that loss, represented by this article. Clearly, there are many in the "music industry" who just don't CARE.... I'm shocked! Link to post Share on other sites
mrjamiam 2,981 Posted June 12, 2019 Share Posted June 12, 2019 I can’t find the quote to properly credit now, but I think it might have been Peter Grant who characterized the record industry as being populated almost entirely by “half-wits and criminals.” Link to post Share on other sites
Punkavenger 1,350 Posted June 13, 2019 Share Posted June 13, 2019 John Coltrane, Al Green, Sonic Youth, Nirvana, Soundgarden .... so only all of my favorite bands? Whew! That's a relief Link to post Share on other sites
jwhitcomb3 685 Posted June 14, 2019 Share Posted June 14, 2019 An awful lot of that article is speculation. Look at how many times the author uses "may have" been lost. Link to post Share on other sites
Never2Late 570 Posted June 17, 2019 Share Posted June 17, 2019 On 6/14/2019 at 12:37 PM, jwhitcomb3 said: An awful lot of that article is speculation. Look at how many times the author uses "may have" been lost. Well, the primary issue is, the entire building was consumed by fire BEFORE they had a thorough accounting of what was on-the-shelves. Since this material existed nowhere-else, the assumptions are quite sound. Where ELSE would these recordings have been at the time of the fire? The true test will be for Dave Grohl/Eric Clapton/Steven Tyler to request the master tapes for a re-mix/re-release, and the Studio can't produce them. BOOM. Given that the Record company made an effort to archive properly after the fire, I suspect their panic and true sense of loss is pretty steep. Link to post Share on other sites
jwhitcomb3 685 Posted June 17, 2019 Share Posted June 17, 2019 2 hours ago, Never2Late said: Well, the primary issue is, the entire building was consumed by fire BEFORE they had a thorough accounting of what was on-the-shelves. Since this material existed nowhere-else, the assumptions are quite sound. Where ELSE would these recordings have been at the time of the fire? The true test will be for Dave Grohl/Eric Clapton/Steven Tyler to request the master tapes for a re-mix/re-release, and the Studio can't produce them. BOOM. Given that the Record company made an effort to archive properly after the fire, I suspect their panic and true sense of loss is pretty steep. Agreed that there is much still to learn here, and perhaps the author should have waited to learn it before publishing an article based largely on speculation. Link to post Share on other sites
gtrdaddy 9,134 Posted June 17, 2019 Share Posted June 17, 2019 1 hour ago, jwhitcomb3 said: Agreed that there is much still to learn here, and perhaps the author should have waited to learn it before publishing an article based largely on speculation. The fire wasn’t speculation, the fact that there were countless, and in many cases priceless recordings lost wasn’t speculation. A lot of what was stated, was fact. There were, some items of speculation. Some things will never be 100% accounted for. Because of course there will most likely never be definitive proof of what was actually destroyed, because it’s well, destroyed. So, you would suggest that the author not write anything. Ever. Pffft. Link to post Share on other sites
Steve Haynie 12,205 Posted June 17, 2019 Author Share Posted June 17, 2019 My take is that the author is pointing out that in roughly a decade there has been little effort to prevent an archival loss from happening again, and that there is "corporate wishfulness" that people will forget. The admission of loss is kept ambiguous on purpose. Link to post Share on other sites
crunchee 5,402 Posted June 17, 2019 Share Posted June 17, 2019 1 hour ago, Steve Haynie said: The admission of loss is kept ambiguous on purpose. Gee, that's handy when it comes down to placing blame on those responsible. Or trying to. Link to post Share on other sites
Never2Late 570 Posted June 21, 2019 Share Posted June 21, 2019 On 6/17/2019 at 3:45 PM, Steve Haynie said: The admission of loss is kept ambiguous on purpose. Can one imagine the lawsuits that would occur if the Executives admit what was lost truthfully? Estate-heir lawyers would be employed for decades, a reality that seriously motivates Studio executives from any specifics regarding this story. Granted, the labels could claim "the Masters belong to us, therefore the loss also belongs to us and no-one else".....as-if that would somehow boost sales, faith and reputation of the Major Labels considering their careless and callous treatment of what can only be regarded as National Treasure. Link to post Share on other sites
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.