Would you like to inspect the original subtitles? These are the user uploaded subtitles that are being translated:
1
00:00:02,352 --> 00:00:07,918
This programme contains
some strong language.
2
00:00:07,953 --> 00:00:13,113
The impetus to move West and
blast all that open and be free,
3
00:00:13,148 --> 00:00:16,673
being in that gorgeous state
of California.
4
00:00:19,073 --> 00:00:23,673
You smoked a big one, took the
shrink-wrap off, put the record
on the record player
5
00:00:23,708 --> 00:00:25,672
and you were gone.
6
00:00:28,673 --> 00:00:31,877
There were things that we all
felt were right
7
00:00:31,912 --> 00:00:36,192
and the truth is, I don't think we
were wrong about hardly any of them.
8
00:00:37,952 --> 00:00:43,073
I had to watch the fights, the egos,
the drugs, the alcohol,
9
00:00:43,108 --> 00:00:48,153
the...the...paranoia that came along
with all of that.
10
00:00:48,188 --> 00:00:50,152
And it scared me.
11
00:00:54,752 --> 00:00:58,272
10 million girls
and 2,000 bumps down the line,
12
00:00:58,307 --> 00:01:00,792
you don't know who you are any more.
13
00:01:04,553 --> 00:01:09,152
What's happening in the process,
which I served gladly,
14
00:01:09,187 --> 00:01:11,552
is the corporatisation of rock.
15
00:01:14,712 --> 00:01:17,317
We just...
16
00:01:17,352 --> 00:01:19,833
took it to the bank.
17
00:01:20,313 --> 00:01:23,372
# On a dark desert highway
18
00:01:23,407 --> 00:01:26,397
# Cool wind in my hair... #
19
00:01:26,432 --> 00:01:32,112
In 1965, Manhattan and London
monopolised the music business.
20
00:01:32,147 --> 00:01:35,993
A decade later, for musicians
and moguls alike,
21
00:01:36,028 --> 00:01:38,437
there was only one place to be,
22
00:01:38,472 --> 00:01:41,913
and it wasn't rain-soaked England
or uptight New York.
23
00:01:43,032 --> 00:01:47,033
This is the story of how a small
community of singer-songwriters,
24
00:01:47,068 --> 00:01:51,230
exiled in a rustic paradise
at the heart of the metropolis,
25
00:01:51,265 --> 00:01:55,393
transformed Los Angeles into
the music capital of the world.
26
00:01:55,428 --> 00:01:59,197
#..This could be heaven
or this could be hell... #
27
00:01:59,232 --> 00:02:02,717
It's a tale of artistic brilliance
and decadent decline,
28
00:02:02,752 --> 00:02:08,352
of how a bunch of hippies gave rise
to the biggest-selling record
of all time,
29
00:02:08,387 --> 00:02:12,432
of the birth of corporate rock music
and the death of a dream.
30
00:02:12,467 --> 00:02:16,073
#..Welcome to the Hotel California
31
00:02:18,873 --> 00:02:21,353
# What a nice surprise
What a nice surprise
32
00:02:21,388 --> 00:02:24,833
# Bring your alibis... #
33
00:02:46,432 --> 00:02:49,232
At 3am on 18th August 1969...
34
00:02:51,152 --> 00:02:56,153
..a new group from Los Angeles
took the stage at the Woodstock
music festival.
35
00:02:56,188 --> 00:02:57,673
Thank you.
36
00:02:59,393 --> 00:03:01,792
They faced an audience
of several hundred thousand
37
00:03:01,827 --> 00:03:04,997
and a cross-section
of their musical heroes.
38
00:03:05,032 --> 00:03:11,033
This is the second time we've ever
played in front of people, man.
We're scared shitless.
39
00:03:14,112 --> 00:03:18,592
There's that remark by Stephen,
"This is our second gig and
we're scared shitless."
40
00:03:18,627 --> 00:03:20,238
I mean, he was right.
41
00:03:20,273 --> 00:03:23,352
We'd played a couple of nights
before in Chicago
42
00:03:23,387 --> 00:03:25,078
and that was our second gig.
43
00:03:25,113 --> 00:03:28,872
Everybody that we really thought
was good was there.
44
00:03:28,907 --> 00:03:32,153
Hendrix, Airplane, Grateful Dead,
the Band.
45
00:03:32,188 --> 00:03:33,918
The Band.
46
00:03:33,953 --> 00:03:36,277
Did I mention...the Band?
47
00:03:36,312 --> 00:03:40,193
Uh...all standing around
right behind us.
48
00:03:43,393 --> 00:03:45,192
"OK, the record was OK.
Come on, show us."
49
00:03:48,953 --> 00:03:52,632
We knew who we were and what
we could do, but nobody else did.
50
00:03:53,913 --> 00:03:57,652
# It's getting to the point
51
00:03:57,687 --> 00:04:01,392
# Where I've no pride any more
52
00:04:02,873 --> 00:04:05,832
# I'm sorry
53
00:04:07,393 --> 00:04:09,358
# Sometimes it hurts
54
00:04:09,393 --> 00:04:13,632
# So badly I must cry out loud
55
00:04:14,393 --> 00:04:18,798
# I'm lonely... #
56
00:04:18,833 --> 00:04:21,552
Woodstock marked the collective
climax of the hippy dream
57
00:04:21,587 --> 00:04:23,838
and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young,
58
00:04:23,873 --> 00:04:28,632
along with their friend Joni
Mitchell and manager David Geffen,
59
00:04:28,667 --> 00:04:32,232
were the alternative generation's
hip new disciples.
60
00:04:38,873 --> 00:04:42,358
# By the time we got to Woodstock
61
00:04:42,393 --> 00:04:46,638
# We were half a million strong
and... #
62
00:04:46,673 --> 00:04:51,713
We arrive at LaGuardia airport
and the New York Times says,
"400,000 people sitting in mud,"
63
00:04:51,748 --> 00:04:53,873
and I said, "Forget it,
I'm not going."
64
00:04:53,908 --> 00:04:57,998
#..We are stardust... #
65
00:04:58,033 --> 00:05:03,392
Joni and I stayed in New York
at my apartment, where she wrote
the song Woodstock.
66
00:05:03,427 --> 00:05:07,032
#..And we got to get ourselves
67
00:05:07,067 --> 00:05:12,190
# Back to the garden... #
68
00:05:12,225 --> 00:05:17,313
David Crosby, Stephen Stills,
69
00:05:17,348 --> 00:05:19,770
Graham Nash, Neil Young,
70
00:05:19,805 --> 00:05:22,193
David Geffen, Joni Mitchell.
71
00:05:23,633 --> 00:05:26,558
Six rising stars
of the counterculture
72
00:05:26,593 --> 00:05:31,473
who came together in a city
where ambition and idealism
went hand in hand
73
00:05:31,508 --> 00:05:34,632
and helped put Los Angeles
on the musical map.
74
00:05:45,472 --> 00:05:48,672
That man on the end is Jim McGuinn.
75
00:05:48,707 --> 00:05:51,837
The one playing bass is
Chris Hillman.
76
00:05:51,872 --> 00:05:55,237
The one playing the drums is
Michael Clarke.
77
00:05:55,272 --> 00:06:00,633
And I'm David Crosby and, when we are
together, uh, they call us the Byrds.
78
00:06:00,668 --> 00:06:03,392
MUSIC: "Mr Tambourine Man"
by the Byrds
79
00:06:05,232 --> 00:06:07,878
You'd be driving down Sunset Strip
in your car
80
00:06:07,913 --> 00:06:11,033
and you'd hear the beginning notes
of that and think, "Wow!"
81
00:06:11,068 --> 00:06:12,712
It'd just be such a rush.
82
00:06:14,513 --> 00:06:16,872
The quintessential folk-rock music.
83
00:06:17,753 --> 00:06:21,173
# Hey, Mr Tambourine Man
84
00:06:21,208 --> 00:06:24,558
# Play a song for me
85
00:06:24,593 --> 00:06:31,592
# I'm not sleepy and there ain't
no place I'm going to... #
86
00:06:32,592 --> 00:06:36,873
In May 1965, the Byrds,
a Los Angeles beat group,
87
00:06:36,908 --> 00:06:39,517
released Mr Tambourine Man,
88
00:06:39,552 --> 00:06:44,072
a song written by
the definitive hero of '60s folk.
89
00:06:44,107 --> 00:06:48,353
#..I'll come following you... #
90
00:06:48,792 --> 00:06:53,152
The convincing case, the QED
for the singer-songwriter...
91
00:06:55,152 --> 00:06:56,838
..was Bob Dylan.
92
00:06:56,873 --> 00:07:01,832
Would you say that the words were
more important than the music?
93
00:07:02,232 --> 00:07:04,037
Uh...
94
00:07:04,072 --> 00:07:07,232
the words are just as important
as the music.
95
00:07:07,992 --> 00:07:10,638
There would be no music
without the words.
96
00:07:10,673 --> 00:07:14,673
I got turned on to the Byrds
because...I was a Dylan fan.
97
00:07:14,708 --> 00:07:18,877
And the music was important
all of a sudden.
98
00:07:18,912 --> 00:07:23,873
Music was saying something,
something that might move you, might
change you, might change the world,
99
00:07:23,908 --> 00:07:26,158
might...push buttons.
100
00:07:26,193 --> 00:07:30,953
And there was a sense that something
very important was going on.
101
00:07:30,988 --> 00:07:34,553
The Byrds transformed Dylan's
acoustic folk ballad
102
00:07:34,588 --> 00:07:37,158
into a number-one pop single,
103
00:07:37,193 --> 00:07:40,813
directly inspired by another
revolutionary team of songwriters.
104
00:07:40,848 --> 00:07:44,433
George Harrison, John Lennon,
Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr.
105
00:07:44,468 --> 00:07:47,472
We just were in awe of them.
106
00:07:47,507 --> 00:07:49,153
They were SO good.
107
00:07:50,393 --> 00:07:54,752
They'd put out a song like Paperback
Writer and I'd wanna just give up
108
00:07:54,787 --> 00:07:57,838
cos I could never do that,
I could never get close.
109
00:07:57,873 --> 00:08:02,873
Probably the thing that John and I
will do will be write songs,
110
00:08:02,908 --> 00:08:05,393
as we have been doing
as a sideline now.
111
00:08:05,428 --> 00:08:07,357
We'll probably develop that more.
112
00:08:07,392 --> 00:08:11,758
You could be an artist who did songs
that were written for you
113
00:08:11,793 --> 00:08:16,153
but you really wanted to be the kind
of artist that the Beatles were
114
00:08:16,188 --> 00:08:19,793
because they wrote all their stuff
and you could - ha-ha! -
115
00:08:19,828 --> 00:08:22,632
you could really express yourself
if you could do it.
116
00:08:25,352 --> 00:08:27,678
Everyone was so thrilled,
117
00:08:27,713 --> 00:08:32,358
and nobody was thrilled about
folk music at all.
118
00:08:32,393 --> 00:08:36,753
It was as if it didn't exist,
and pretty soon it didn't.
119
00:08:42,392 --> 00:08:46,132
For a generation schooled in the
folk tradition of the East Coast,
120
00:08:46,167 --> 00:08:49,838
the Byrds' artistically credible
but commercially successful pop
121
00:08:49,873 --> 00:08:54,792
opened up a whole new world
in which the singer-songwriter
reigned supreme.
122
00:08:54,827 --> 00:08:58,489
Musical life in Los Angeles would
never be the same again
123
00:08:58,524 --> 00:09:02,152
and a small stretch of Hollywood
became the only place to be.
124
00:09:02,187 --> 00:09:04,512
# So you want to be
a rock'n'roll star
125
00:09:04,547 --> 00:09:08,073
# Then listen now to what I say
126
00:09:09,912 --> 00:09:11,437
# Just get an electric guitar
127
00:09:11,472 --> 00:09:14,752
# And take some time and learn
how to play... #
128
00:09:14,787 --> 00:09:17,998
The Sunset Strip is just this
bizarre anomaly,
129
00:09:18,033 --> 00:09:22,472
physically part of the city
but politically unincorporated,
130
00:09:22,507 --> 00:09:26,912
and from the '30s and '50s,
essentially governed by the Mob.
131
00:09:26,947 --> 00:09:28,878
By the early '60s, the Strip was
in decline
132
00:09:28,913 --> 00:09:33,558
and so what happened is that
the folk-rock scene inherited
133
00:09:33,593 --> 00:09:38,557
what was the ruins of the glamorous
Strip of the 1930s and '40s.
134
00:09:38,592 --> 00:09:43,752
The place where the musicians and
songwriters felt they could be most
in touch with
135
00:09:43,787 --> 00:09:47,352
the kids who represented the shape
of things to come.
136
00:09:54,232 --> 00:09:57,877
All these kids would come,
and they'd be underage kids,
137
00:09:57,912 --> 00:10:01,872
wearing bell-bottoms and beads
and flowers and all that stuff.
138
00:10:01,907 --> 00:10:05,832
There was this flowering of feeling
and reverence for life,
139
00:10:05,867 --> 00:10:07,877
like a carnival midway.
140
00:10:07,912 --> 00:10:10,833
And so the music scene was happening
right in the middle of all of that.
141
00:10:13,313 --> 00:10:16,478
There was a magical quality to it.
142
00:10:16,513 --> 00:10:21,513
We suddenly found ourselves
in the centre of a vortex.
143
00:10:23,112 --> 00:10:25,798
Somehow, music became
144
00:10:25,833 --> 00:10:28,593
a medium for an entire generation.
145
00:10:33,392 --> 00:10:35,592
You know, they're shooting this
for television.
146
00:10:35,627 --> 00:10:37,758
I'm sure that they'll edit this out.
147
00:10:37,793 --> 00:10:40,958
I want to say it anyway,
even though they WILL edit it out.
148
00:10:40,993 --> 00:10:45,317
When President Kennedy was killed,
he was not killed by one man.
149
00:10:45,352 --> 00:10:49,593
He was shot from a number
of different directions
by different guns.
150
00:10:49,628 --> 00:10:53,712
The story has been suppressed.
Witnesses have been killed.
151
00:10:53,747 --> 00:10:57,912
And this is your country,
ladies and gentlemen.
152
00:10:58,992 --> 00:11:04,953
Nobody articulated the values
of the Sunset Strip's
burgeoning counterculture
153
00:11:04,988 --> 00:11:08,690
with as much swagger
as the Byrds' David Crosby.
154
00:11:08,725 --> 00:11:12,358
David was the mouthpiece
for our generation.
155
00:11:12,393 --> 00:11:16,632
In Rolling Stone, he was the one who
had the mouth - he was speaking out
156
00:11:16,667 --> 00:11:19,358
and saying stuff,
politically speaking.
157
00:11:19,393 --> 00:11:23,193
I certainly wasn't anybody's guru,
man. I'm not smart enough.
158
00:11:23,228 --> 00:11:24,712
Er...and I...
159
00:11:26,352 --> 00:11:28,398
..I was certainly outrageous.
160
00:11:28,433 --> 00:11:31,833
I probably helped tilt it
towards outrageousness.
161
00:11:32,633 --> 00:11:35,638
So outrageous and so outspoken
162
00:11:35,673 --> 00:11:42,353
that it was no surprise
when David Crosby was kicked out
of the Byrds in 1967
163
00:11:42,388 --> 00:11:45,150
and began to look for a new band.
164
00:11:45,185 --> 00:11:47,888
I like eclectic music, you know.
165
00:11:47,923 --> 00:11:50,557
I like things that have roots.
166
00:11:50,592 --> 00:11:54,052
# New Jersey turnpike
in the wee, wee hours
167
00:11:54,087 --> 00:11:57,512
# I was rolling slowly
cos of drizzling showers
168
00:11:58,392 --> 00:12:01,532
# Here come a flat-top
He come movin' up with me
169
00:12:01,567 --> 00:12:04,637
# Waving goodbye
to some little old souped-up... #
170
00:12:04,672 --> 00:12:10,273
When my group was playing in
New York, we played at a jazz club
and we sang four-part harmony.
171
00:12:10,308 --> 00:12:14,952
And we discovered him down the block
playing in a little coffee house.
172
00:12:15,513 --> 00:12:18,713
#..Bye-bye, New Jersey
I'd become airborne... #
173
00:12:18,748 --> 00:12:22,030
Wow! This young guy with the guitar
is really neat.
174
00:12:22,065 --> 00:12:25,313
#..And you can't catch me... #
My group moved to LA
175
00:12:25,348 --> 00:12:28,278
and, soon after,
Stephen moved to LA.
176
00:12:28,313 --> 00:12:32,873
He'd stand at the edge of the stage
and watch us singing
and he loved the harmonies.
177
00:12:32,908 --> 00:12:36,473
#..You can't catch me
No, baby
178
00:12:36,508 --> 00:12:38,272
# You can't catch me
179
00:12:39,552 --> 00:12:44,672
# Cos if you get too close, you know
I'm gone like a cool breeze. #
180
00:12:53,472 --> 00:12:57,758
In 1965, Stephen Stills,
a folk-singer from Texas,
181
00:12:57,793 --> 00:13:02,397
joined the musical exodus from
Greenwich Village to Sunset Strip.
182
00:13:02,432 --> 00:13:07,072
The following year,
another precocious songwriter
from Canada arrived,
183
00:13:07,107 --> 00:13:09,953
chasing sunshine and stardom in LA.
184
00:13:11,472 --> 00:13:13,672
Everybody having a good time,
or what?
185
00:13:16,752 --> 00:13:22,273
# I think I'll pack it in
and buy a pickup
186
00:13:24,072 --> 00:13:28,072
# Take it down to LA
187
00:13:31,072 --> 00:13:36,393
# Find a place to call my own
and try to fix up
188
00:13:37,633 --> 00:13:41,913
# Start a brand-new day... #
189
00:13:43,953 --> 00:13:48,832
I was sitting on the trunk of my car
and he saw me and he pulled in
190
00:13:48,867 --> 00:13:50,277
and, er...
191
00:13:50,312 --> 00:13:53,878
"How are you, man?"
And he dug out his guitar
192
00:13:53,913 --> 00:13:58,073
and sang me four or five of the best
songs I'd ever heard in my life.
193
00:13:58,108 --> 00:14:01,390
#..See the lonely boy
194
00:14:01,425 --> 00:14:04,673
# Out on the weekend
195
00:14:05,712 --> 00:14:10,477
# Trying to make it pay... #
196
00:14:10,512 --> 00:14:13,113
If he'd been a girl,
I would have kissed him!
197
00:14:13,148 --> 00:14:18,833
His power as a songwriter
is undeniable.
198
00:14:18,868 --> 00:14:22,673
#..Can't begin to say... #
199
00:14:27,113 --> 00:14:31,397
In April 1966, Neil Young
and Stephen Stills
200
00:14:31,432 --> 00:14:35,197
came head to head in a traffic jam
on Sunset Strip.
201
00:14:35,232 --> 00:14:40,072
Well, we, er...came to Los Angeles
in an old hearse to, er...start...
202
00:14:40,107 --> 00:14:43,632
to try and make the stars -
you know, we're gonna be stars.
203
00:14:43,667 --> 00:14:45,958
So, er...we were just about to leave
204
00:14:45,993 --> 00:14:49,797
and I saw him in a van
going the other way on Sunset
205
00:14:49,832 --> 00:14:53,672
and he stopped and we stopped and
we all stopped and then we started.
206
00:14:56,872 --> 00:15:00,432
Stephen Stills had found the band
that he'd always wanted.
207
00:15:01,633 --> 00:15:05,998
# I don't tell no tales
about no hot, dusty roads... #
208
00:15:06,033 --> 00:15:11,073
They were widening the street on
Franklin - a street in Hollywood.
I went outside
209
00:15:11,108 --> 00:15:14,570
and they were all arguing
about what to call the group.
210
00:15:14,605 --> 00:15:18,032
And on a bulldozer, I saw the words
"Buffalo Springfield".
211
00:15:21,113 --> 00:15:26,152
Buffalo Springfield represented a
hip, new wave of musical emigres -
212
00:15:26,187 --> 00:15:29,449
more a collective of mutually
ambitious individuals
213
00:15:29,484 --> 00:15:32,677
than the uniform pop groups
that preceded them.
214
00:15:32,712 --> 00:15:38,592
Er...my name is Neil Young... Neil.
How do you do?..lead guitar player.
How do you do? This is Richie Furay.
215
00:15:38,627 --> 00:15:43,912
Big Dewey Martin - Buffalo Dew.
Hello, Dewey.
216
00:15:43,947 --> 00:15:46,632
Bruce Palmer from Toronto,
Canada. OK.
217
00:15:46,667 --> 00:15:50,249
Steve Stills from New Orleans.
218
00:15:50,284 --> 00:15:53,832
#..I don't like being alone. #
219
00:15:55,952 --> 00:16:00,192
Buffalo Springfield
brought a new musical momentum
to the Sunset Strip.
220
00:16:00,227 --> 00:16:04,433
And when their audience provoked the
city's reactionary establishment,
221
00:16:04,468 --> 00:16:08,433
their response was a pop protest
that, like LA,
222
00:16:08,468 --> 00:16:10,113
was both cool and commercial.
223
00:16:15,273 --> 00:16:19,352
Los Angeles was the scene of one
of great culture wars in US history.
224
00:16:19,387 --> 00:16:22,969
They want everybody to do the same
thing and live their own life.
225
00:16:23,004 --> 00:16:26,552
They want you to grow up, get an
education, raise children and die.
226
00:16:26,587 --> 00:16:31,237
From the coming of Hollywood,
with its sinful lifestyles,
227
00:16:31,272 --> 00:16:37,273
into a city into which a million
pious, Protestant mid-Westerners
had moved during the 1920s...
228
00:16:37,308 --> 00:16:41,273
Because you don't have a job
because you don't have a direction,
229
00:16:41,308 --> 00:16:44,878
you're not a part of
the super-society called "America".
230
00:16:44,913 --> 00:16:48,912
And in a sense, the battle
of the Sunset Strip in the late '60s
231
00:16:48,947 --> 00:16:52,278
was the last battle
in this 40-or-50-year-long clash
232
00:16:52,313 --> 00:16:58,752
between Hollywood Babylon on one
hand and the kind of main-street
puritanism on the other.
233
00:16:58,787 --> 00:17:01,877
Why do they think they can put down
on our music?
234
00:17:01,912 --> 00:17:06,432
They say it's bad. They say it's
noise - "Turn down the noise."
235
00:17:06,467 --> 00:17:09,233
But do they ever listen
to the words?
236
00:17:09,268 --> 00:17:12,233
# Somethin' happening here
237
00:17:13,593 --> 00:17:17,192
# What it is ain't exactly clear
238
00:17:18,312 --> 00:17:22,492
# There's a man with a gun over there
239
00:17:22,527 --> 00:17:26,673
# Tellin' me I've got to beware... #
240
00:17:28,872 --> 00:17:32,273
In the daytime, Sunset Strip had
all these posh clothing stores.
241
00:17:32,308 --> 00:17:35,912
Those people didn't like the kids
hanging out at night.
242
00:17:35,947 --> 00:17:38,837
And so, pretty soon,
the police would come down.
243
00:17:38,872 --> 00:17:45,393
They'd park a big bus in the middle
of the Strip and take everyone that
was underage on the bus to jail.
244
00:17:48,432 --> 00:17:53,712
Pulling these beautiful young girls
and throwing them on the bus.
245
00:17:53,747 --> 00:17:57,513
What is that about? You know.
Everybody... "That's crazy!
246
00:17:57,548 --> 00:17:59,997
"It's the man. It's the pigs.
247
00:18:00,032 --> 00:18:04,553
"It's the other side.
It's the same people
that are trying to send us to war.
248
00:18:04,588 --> 00:18:07,872
"It's the older generation that
doesn't know what life is about."
249
00:18:07,907 --> 00:18:09,598
#..Battle lines being drawn... #
250
00:18:09,633 --> 00:18:12,993
They were worried
about the counterculture.
251
00:18:13,028 --> 00:18:15,873
#..If everybody's wrong... #
252
00:18:15,908 --> 00:18:18,397
Godless communism.
253
00:18:18,432 --> 00:18:20,433
#..Young people speaking
their minds... #
254
00:18:20,468 --> 00:18:22,517
Corruption of youth.
255
00:18:22,552 --> 00:18:25,637
#..So much resistance... #
Drugs.
256
00:18:25,672 --> 00:18:30,838
# I think it's time we stop
Hey! What's that sound...? #
257
00:18:30,873 --> 00:18:36,072
He's communicating with his peers
and the cop says, "You can't do it.
Get off the street!"
258
00:18:36,107 --> 00:18:39,329
#..Paranoia strikes deep
259
00:18:39,364 --> 00:18:42,517
# Into your life... #
260
00:18:42,552 --> 00:18:46,412
The Sunset Strip riots provided
the perfect showcase
261
00:18:46,447 --> 00:18:50,272
for Buffalo Springfield's
socially conscious folk rock -
262
00:18:50,307 --> 00:18:52,477
a distinctive sound
263
00:18:52,512 --> 00:18:56,392
that was sending shockwaves through
LA's new musical establishment.
264
00:18:56,427 --> 00:18:58,877
# Stop! Hey, what's that sound?
265
00:18:58,912 --> 00:19:01,918
# Everybody look
what's going down... #
266
00:19:01,953 --> 00:19:06,433
I saw dollar signs. I thought,
"These guys will do something great!"
267
00:19:06,468 --> 00:19:09,397
#..Stop! What's that sound...? #
268
00:19:09,432 --> 00:19:11,398
There was sort of
a whole marketplace.
269
00:19:11,433 --> 00:19:17,393
These guys were doing something
purely unique and wonderful
270
00:19:17,428 --> 00:19:18,917
that I really loved.
271
00:19:18,952 --> 00:19:21,398
That was it.
It was like the moment of truth!
272
00:19:21,433 --> 00:19:25,638
Whether or not any one group
could hold that much talent...
273
00:19:25,673 --> 00:19:31,632
Don't forget, in Buffalo Springfield,
on top of Neil and Stephen you had
Richie Furay and Jim Messina
274
00:19:31,667 --> 00:19:33,273
and, er...
275
00:19:35,392 --> 00:19:36,037
It was...
276
00:19:36,072 --> 00:19:39,392
It was explosive!
277
00:19:41,232 --> 00:19:44,918
Despite producing three albums
and a hit single,
278
00:19:44,953 --> 00:19:48,992
a combination of incompatible egos
and bad management
279
00:19:49,027 --> 00:19:52,072
made Buffalo Springfield's demise
inevitable.
280
00:19:53,192 --> 00:19:54,958
And by 1968,
281
00:19:54,993 --> 00:19:59,993
Stephen Stills and Neil Young
were once again solo artists.
282
00:20:02,832 --> 00:20:06,192
If you're political, I guess
it means a political revolution
283
00:20:06,227 --> 00:20:09,558
and, to some people,
it's a spiritual revolution.
284
00:20:09,593 --> 00:20:13,913
I like to believe that maybe people
are getting more together.
285
00:20:18,553 --> 00:20:24,037
# I've looked at clouds
from both sides now... #
286
00:20:24,072 --> 00:20:28,512
When Judy Collins sang, "I've looked
at life from both sides now..."
287
00:20:29,592 --> 00:20:32,832
#..It's clouds' illusions
I recall... #
288
00:20:32,867 --> 00:20:34,557
"Clouds' illusions".
289
00:20:34,592 --> 00:20:40,113
We'd never used words like that,
and so we discover a new songwriter
290
00:20:40,148 --> 00:20:41,917
named Joni Mitchell.
291
00:20:41,952 --> 00:20:46,393
# Rows and flows of angel hair... #
292
00:20:46,428 --> 00:20:51,150
#..And ice-cream castles in the air
293
00:20:51,185 --> 00:20:55,873
# And feathered canyons everywhere
294
00:20:56,232 --> 00:21:00,072
# I've looked at clouds that way... #
295
00:21:01,272 --> 00:21:04,398
By 1967,
296
00:21:04,433 --> 00:21:07,473
Joni Mitchell, a Canadian
folk singer based in New York,
297
00:21:07,508 --> 00:21:11,398
had already found success
as a writer.
298
00:21:11,433 --> 00:21:16,313
But a chance meeting
with David Crosby, following his
unceremonious exit from the Byrds,
299
00:21:16,348 --> 00:21:18,437
would draw her west to LA.
300
00:21:18,472 --> 00:21:23,832
#..Oh, I've looked at clouds
from both sides now... #
301
00:21:23,867 --> 00:21:26,433
Walked in to a coffee house
in Florida.
302
00:21:26,468 --> 00:21:28,232
She was singing.
303
00:21:31,833 --> 00:21:34,158
My heart nearly stopped.
304
00:21:34,193 --> 00:21:36,918
#..I really don't know life... #
305
00:21:36,953 --> 00:21:40,918
I'd never heard anybody play
like her, anybody sing like her.
306
00:21:40,953 --> 00:21:45,432
I most especially had never heard
anybody write like her,
and I still haven't.
307
00:21:45,467 --> 00:21:47,952
For about a year after that, we...
308
00:21:49,113 --> 00:21:51,393
..stayed together. It was good.
309
00:21:57,632 --> 00:22:00,332
David Crosby had been thrown out
of the Byrds
310
00:22:00,367 --> 00:22:02,998
and hadn't found Crosby,
Stills And Nash yet,
311
00:22:03,033 --> 00:22:06,878
so he was bumming around town
in a VW bus with a Porsche engine.
312
00:22:06,913 --> 00:22:11,193
And one night, David says, "Come on
up to the house and we'll get high."
313
00:22:11,228 --> 00:22:13,158
He always had the best dope.
314
00:22:13,193 --> 00:22:17,412
It was like being invited for a
wine tasting at Baron Rothschild's.
315
00:22:17,447 --> 00:22:21,632
About three or four in the morning,
we're pretty wasted and David said,
316
00:22:21,667 --> 00:22:25,449
"Oh, there's someone
I want you to hear..."
317
00:22:25,484 --> 00:22:29,197
..and comes back downstairs
318
00:22:29,232 --> 00:22:32,592
with Joni Mitchell -
live, with a big guitar.
319
00:22:32,627 --> 00:22:34,512
# Light up
320
00:22:35,193 --> 00:22:36,877
# Light up
321
00:22:36,912 --> 00:22:40,632
# Light up your lazy blue eyes
322
00:22:41,832 --> 00:22:44,878
# Moon's up, night's up
323
00:22:44,913 --> 00:22:48,798
# Taking the town by surprise... #
324
00:22:48,833 --> 00:22:52,638
She played songs
that hadn't even been recorded yet.
325
00:22:52,673 --> 00:22:56,112
Nobody had heard that music.
Nobody had heard that voice.
326
00:22:56,147 --> 00:22:58,918
For us, it was like a hallucination.
327
00:22:58,953 --> 00:23:02,832
But by the time Crosby had finished
producing her first album,
328
00:23:02,867 --> 00:23:06,157
everybody in LA knew
about Joni Mitchell.
329
00:23:06,192 --> 00:23:10,597
I did not do a very good job
of producing her record.
330
00:23:10,632 --> 00:23:15,912
But I did do one wonderful thing,
which was keep everybody else
off it.
331
00:23:15,947 --> 00:23:17,558
THAT'S a good thing.
332
00:23:17,593 --> 00:23:20,917
We have the power.
We have the tolerance.
333
00:23:20,952 --> 00:23:23,397
We can go in front of a TV camera,
we can go on the air
334
00:23:23,432 --> 00:23:26,632
and we can say with definition that
Hitler was wrong, Rockwell is wrong,
335
00:23:26,667 --> 00:23:28,597
people who hate Negroes are wrong.
336
00:23:28,632 --> 00:23:31,798
We can get up there
and shout it to the world, Pete!
337
00:23:31,833 --> 00:23:38,513
# I thought I was dreaming
But I was wrong, yeah, yeah, yeah
338
00:23:38,548 --> 00:23:41,112
# Oh, but I'm gonna keep on schemin'
339
00:23:41,147 --> 00:23:43,589
# Till I can make you
340
00:23:43,624 --> 00:23:45,997
# Make you my own... #
341
00:23:46,032 --> 00:23:49,593
I spent years with the Hollies
perfecting the pop song.
342
00:23:49,628 --> 00:23:52,477
#..Yeah, yeah, yeah... #
343
00:23:52,512 --> 00:23:54,477
Frivolous is not the right word,
344
00:23:54,512 --> 00:23:58,713
but certainly a little shallower than
the stuff I was feeling personally.
345
00:23:58,748 --> 00:24:00,677
#..Oh, oh
346
00:24:00,712 --> 00:24:02,197
# Just one look... #
347
00:24:02,232 --> 00:24:06,473
So, at one point, the Hollies
were not wanting to do my stuff -
348
00:24:06,508 --> 00:24:10,397
I'm talking about Marrakesh Express,
Teach Your Children,
349
00:24:10,432 --> 00:24:13,872
Lady Of The Island, the first Sleep
Song - and it kinda made me feel bad,
350
00:24:13,907 --> 00:24:16,913
because I thought
they were decent songs.
351
00:24:18,912 --> 00:24:21,438
At the beginning of 1968,
352
00:24:21,473 --> 00:24:26,472
Graham Nash was a highly successful
but thoroughly discontent
Mancunian pop star.
353
00:24:27,552 --> 00:24:29,917
By the end of the year,
354
00:24:29,952 --> 00:24:35,952
he'd joined Joni Mitchell,
David Crosby and Stephen Stills
on the musical trail to LA.
355
00:24:35,987 --> 00:24:40,513
# Don't you know we're riding
on the Marrakesh Express...? #
356
00:24:40,548 --> 00:24:43,752
Stephen is at loose ends
after Buffalo Springfield.
357
00:24:43,787 --> 00:24:47,150
David has been thrown out
of the Byrds.
358
00:24:47,185 --> 00:24:50,469
He and Stephen tried
to cut some songs.
359
00:24:50,504 --> 00:24:53,753
Graham, as it turns out,
meets up with Joni
360
00:24:53,788 --> 00:24:56,918
while he's on tour with the Hollies.
361
00:24:56,953 --> 00:25:02,917
#..I smell the garden
in your hair... #
362
00:25:02,952 --> 00:25:04,673
Joni and I spent the night together
in Ottawa
363
00:25:04,708 --> 00:25:07,432
and I fell completely in love.
364
00:25:08,153 --> 00:25:12,713
Listening to his high harmonies
on the Hollies records,
David and Stephen
365
00:25:12,748 --> 00:25:14,677
have conspired to kidnap him.
366
00:25:14,712 --> 00:25:18,477
#..Let me hear you now... #
"That's just the thing we need!"
367
00:25:18,512 --> 00:25:22,512
#..On the Marrakesh Express... #
David shows up at a Hollies show
in England.
368
00:25:22,547 --> 00:25:27,478
Crosby came, with his cape
and his cane and his attitude.
369
00:25:27,513 --> 00:25:32,712
"Hmm. Having a hard time with all
these drinking guys who don't wanna
cut Marrakesh Express."
370
00:25:32,747 --> 00:25:35,037
He had the best drugs.
He had the best grass.
371
00:25:35,072 --> 00:25:37,713
He had the prettiest women,
who were always naked.
372
00:25:37,748 --> 00:25:41,592
#..All aboard the train... #
373
00:25:41,627 --> 00:25:43,038
Crosby said,
374
00:25:43,073 --> 00:25:46,473
"They're crazy. We'll record it.
Come on over."
375
00:25:46,508 --> 00:25:54,757
#..Come aboard... #
376
00:25:54,792 --> 00:26:00,712
If Nash had any doubts, they were
banished after a musical gathering
in the Hollywood Hills.
377
00:26:03,153 --> 00:26:06,633
My memory is
that we were in Joni's living room
378
00:26:06,668 --> 00:26:10,113
and David said, "Hey, Stephen,
play that song."
379
00:26:10,148 --> 00:26:13,952
And it was, um...
You Don't Have To Cry.
380
00:26:13,987 --> 00:26:16,237
#..Cry, my baby
381
00:26:16,272 --> 00:26:19,077
# You don't have to cry... #
382
00:26:19,112 --> 00:26:21,993
And he said, "Sing it again.
That's fabulous!"
383
00:26:22,028 --> 00:26:23,997
#..You don't have to cry... #
384
00:26:24,032 --> 00:26:28,473
"OK, one more time.
Just sing it one more time."
385
00:26:28,508 --> 00:26:30,278
#..You don't have to cry... #
386
00:26:30,313 --> 00:26:34,152
The third time, I put my harmony
in there and my world changed.
387
00:26:34,187 --> 00:26:37,878
#..In the morning... #
388
00:26:37,913 --> 00:26:40,752
Stephen and I both had the same
thought, which rarely happens.
389
00:26:40,787 --> 00:26:44,478
We both thought, "Oh! We know
what we're gonna be doing."
390
00:26:44,513 --> 00:26:49,917
I heard that sound and that's what
I wanted. I wanted that sound.
391
00:26:49,952 --> 00:26:54,912
And I left everything. I left
the Hollies, I left my band, I left
my family and I went to America.
392
00:26:54,947 --> 00:26:57,678
#..Cry, my baby
393
00:26:57,713 --> 00:27:00,917
# You don't have to cry... #
394
00:27:00,952 --> 00:27:04,712
Graham Nash was the latest addition
to a communal Who's Who of LA music
395
00:27:04,747 --> 00:27:08,672
that had made its home in
the most tranquil of city settings.
396
00:27:11,753 --> 00:27:16,438
Los Angeles is unusual in that it has
a mountain range running through it.
397
00:27:16,473 --> 00:27:21,953
There are several canyons that slice
through it in a more or less north
to southerly trace.
398
00:27:21,988 --> 00:27:26,193
Laurel Canyon was settled
at the turn of the 20th century -
399
00:27:26,228 --> 00:27:29,637
in the early 1900s -
by land speculators.
400
00:27:29,672 --> 00:27:34,073
It was a place where, mostly, people
would come to hunt on the weekends -
401
00:27:34,108 --> 00:27:37,912
a bucolic canyon in the middle
of this unsparing urban environment.
402
00:27:41,472 --> 00:27:46,673
Since the 1920s, Los Angeles
had traded on the contrasting
allure of sun and surf by day
403
00:27:46,708 --> 00:27:49,518
and Hollywood glitz by night.
404
00:27:49,553 --> 00:27:53,317
But the spiritual Shangri-La
for a generation
405
00:27:53,352 --> 00:27:57,478
collectively committed
to going back to the garden
406
00:27:57,513 --> 00:28:02,033
was Laurel Canyon,
a rural paradise nestled
right behind Sunset Strip.
407
00:28:04,233 --> 00:28:06,132
# I'll light the fire... #
408
00:28:06,167 --> 00:28:07,997
I lived across the street
409
00:28:08,032 --> 00:28:10,312
from Mark Volman of the Turtles.
410
00:28:10,347 --> 00:28:12,477
On my street alone
411
00:28:12,512 --> 00:28:17,832
was Mama Cass, Henry Diltz,
Joni Mitchell, Carl Wilson.
412
00:28:17,867 --> 00:28:20,489
Jim Morrison right up the hill.
413
00:28:20,524 --> 00:28:22,838
#..Staring at the fire... #
414
00:28:22,873 --> 00:28:25,118
Tim Hardin was living there.
415
00:28:25,153 --> 00:28:28,953
There was Frank Zappa and the
Mothers. There was Frazier Mohawk.
416
00:28:28,988 --> 00:28:31,038
Stephen Stills, David Crosby.
417
00:28:31,073 --> 00:28:35,433
I'd been living there
since the Byrds. Jackson Browne.
418
00:28:35,468 --> 00:28:36,272
Micky Dolenz lived round the corner.
419
00:28:36,307 --> 00:28:38,833
#..Such a cosy room... #
420
00:28:38,868 --> 00:28:40,398
Tim Buckley
421
00:28:40,433 --> 00:28:43,358
and Larry Beckett
lived somewhere else,
422
00:28:43,393 --> 00:28:46,373
but they were at our house really,
really a lot.
423
00:28:46,408 --> 00:28:49,318
Eric Burdon was living
in the canyon.
424
00:28:49,353 --> 00:28:53,273
The Doors had a place in canyon.
John Mayall lived in the canyon.
425
00:28:53,308 --> 00:28:55,478
Crazy Horse had a house
in the canyon.
426
00:28:55,513 --> 00:29:00,953
The late, great record producer Paul
Rothschild had a house in the canyon,
427
00:29:00,988 --> 00:29:05,913
with the late Fritz Richmond,
who was the jug player...
428
00:29:05,948 --> 00:29:07,917
#..Our house
429
00:29:07,952 --> 00:29:10,353
# Is a very, very, very fine house
430
00:29:10,388 --> 00:29:12,850
# With two cats in the yard
431
00:29:12,885 --> 00:29:15,277
# Life used to be so... #
432
00:29:15,312 --> 00:29:21,472
Graham Nash found himself in the
midst of an extraordinary community
of songwriters.
433
00:29:21,507 --> 00:29:25,489
But his alliance with David Crosby
and Stephen Stills was hampered
434
00:29:25,524 --> 00:29:29,472
by a series of contracts binding
all three to their previous bands.
435
00:29:29,507 --> 00:29:32,389
They needed professional help.
436
00:29:32,424 --> 00:29:35,237
We knew that we needed a manager,
437
00:29:35,272 --> 00:29:40,832
and we thought we had met one
that was intelligent, that we liked,
in Elliot Roberts.
438
00:29:40,867 --> 00:29:43,958
He was already managing Joni,
and we liked him.
439
00:29:43,993 --> 00:29:47,272
But we also knew that we were going
into the big leagues,
440
00:29:47,307 --> 00:29:50,470
and, essentially, the big leagues
are a shark pool,
441
00:29:50,505 --> 00:29:53,598
so we thought it would be good if
we had our own shark.
442
00:29:53,633 --> 00:29:58,992
I think I liked music.
Whatever strikes me as being good
is something that I wanna record.
443
00:29:59,027 --> 00:30:02,958
I don't think that every record
we make is a hit,
444
00:30:02,993 --> 00:30:05,333
or that every artist that we record
is going to be a star,
445
00:30:05,368 --> 00:30:07,673
but I think that all the music we
put out is very valid.
446
00:30:16,473 --> 00:30:19,632
First of all, I had
no contracts with my clients.
447
00:30:19,667 --> 00:30:21,718
They could all leave at any time.
448
00:30:21,753 --> 00:30:24,633
As it happens,
none of them ever left.
449
00:30:29,992 --> 00:30:35,233
It was my job to stand like a dam
against the river of shit that was
coming down on these people,
450
00:30:35,268 --> 00:30:37,518
and that was a difficult job.
451
00:30:37,553 --> 00:30:40,993
I don't think THEY had a sense of how
difficult it was,
452
00:30:41,028 --> 00:30:44,437
but I certainly did
and, given how young we were,
453
00:30:44,472 --> 00:30:47,673
how inexperienced we were,
I think we did a pretty great job.
454
00:30:59,392 --> 00:31:05,593
David Geffen and Elliot Roberts
set up shop on Sunset Strip in 1969,
455
00:31:05,628 --> 00:31:08,630
and set about challenging the
balance of power
456
00:31:08,665 --> 00:31:11,598
in LA's increasingly outdated
music industry.
457
00:31:11,633 --> 00:31:15,513
Most of the business was still
centred in New York,
458
00:31:15,548 --> 00:31:19,597
so...we had an advantage
over the people
459
00:31:19,632 --> 00:31:22,512
who were surfing
and smoking a lot of pot out here.
460
00:31:22,547 --> 00:31:26,993
Our metabolisms ran
at a much higher speed.
461
00:31:30,233 --> 00:31:33,917
New York's Tin Pan Alley
and Brill Building -
462
00:31:33,952 --> 00:31:40,473
songwriting factories churning out
hits for artists considered
disposable by their record labels -
463
00:31:40,508 --> 00:31:43,170
had dominated the industry
for decades.
464
00:31:43,205 --> 00:31:45,798
Geffen and Roberts had
a different model,
465
00:31:45,833 --> 00:31:49,878
in which the artist was the centre
of the musical world.
466
00:31:49,913 --> 00:31:56,032
There were deals for artists
with the record companies
that were, you know, horrible,
467
00:31:56,067 --> 00:31:59,958
and David and Elliot, in particular,
changed the dynamic.
468
00:31:59,993 --> 00:32:04,192
Up until then, the artists were
getting screwed in a profound way.
469
00:32:04,227 --> 00:32:08,392
After them, they only got screwed
in a less-than-profound way.
470
00:32:11,033 --> 00:32:16,398
In 1969, David Geffen set about
negotiations
471
00:32:16,433 --> 00:32:20,633
to release David Crosby, Graham Nash
and Stephen Stills from
their previous commitments,
472
00:32:20,668 --> 00:32:25,192
and allow them to begin work on
their eagerly anticipated
first album.
473
00:32:25,227 --> 00:32:28,117
He's a rapacious businessman.
474
00:32:28,152 --> 00:32:31,752
Once you give him
something to work with,
475
00:32:31,787 --> 00:32:35,318
he will, you know, tear it up,
and he did.
476
00:32:35,353 --> 00:32:39,273
Elliot and I were baby doctors
helping them deliver their baby,
477
00:32:39,308 --> 00:32:40,998
but it was about them.
478
00:32:41,033 --> 00:32:43,078
They were genuinely exciting.
479
00:32:43,113 --> 00:32:46,117
When you heard them sing,
you were blown away.
480
00:32:46,152 --> 00:32:50,513
When Stephen wrote Suite -
Judy Blue Eyes, about Judy Collins,
481
00:32:50,548 --> 00:32:53,433
who he was having a relationship with
at the time,
482
00:32:53,468 --> 00:32:56,032
and you heard them sing that song,
483
00:32:56,067 --> 00:32:59,989
it was awesome.
484
00:33:00,024 --> 00:33:03,912
# Friday evening
485
00:33:06,432 --> 00:33:09,672
# Sunday in the afternoon
486
00:33:12,992 --> 00:33:16,192
# What have you got to lose? #
487
00:33:17,673 --> 00:33:19,733
They had wonderful songs,
488
00:33:19,768 --> 00:33:21,758
exquisitely roving melodies,
489
00:33:21,793 --> 00:33:24,593
and the simplest of arrangements.
490
00:33:24,628 --> 00:33:27,152
The whole thing was so pure.
491
00:33:27,187 --> 00:33:29,569
And it sang.
492
00:33:29,604 --> 00:33:31,917
And it worked.
493
00:33:31,952 --> 00:33:33,033
And it touched your heart.
494
00:33:36,633 --> 00:33:39,478
Just like their LA predecessors,
495
00:33:39,513 --> 00:33:42,318
the Beach Boys
and the Mamas And Papas,
496
00:33:42,353 --> 00:33:45,552
Crosby, Stills And Nash were
a harmony group,
497
00:33:45,587 --> 00:33:48,277
but they encapsulated a new spirit -
498
00:33:48,312 --> 00:33:52,957
the laid-back acoustic sound
of Laurel Canyon.
499
00:33:52,992 --> 00:33:56,352
We wanted to engage the listener
and put the listener on a journey
500
00:33:56,387 --> 00:33:59,369
where you smoked a big one,
took the shrink-wrap off,
501
00:33:59,404 --> 00:34:02,352
put the record on the record player,
and you were gone!
502
00:34:02,387 --> 00:34:09,873
# Guinevere had green eyes
503
00:34:11,313 --> 00:34:17,712
# Like yours, milady, like yours... #
504
00:34:20,553 --> 00:34:26,597
People say, "I don't know how many
hours I stared at that picture."
505
00:34:26,632 --> 00:34:32,753
I had a musician from England say,
"We used to sit and look at
that Crosby, Stills And Nash cover
506
00:34:32,788 --> 00:34:35,910
"and say, 'What is it like
to be there in California?'
507
00:34:35,945 --> 00:34:39,033
"and just stared at that thing
while the music played."
508
00:34:39,068 --> 00:34:42,997
#..Peacocks wandered aimlessly
underneath... #
509
00:34:43,032 --> 00:34:47,472
The '60s counterculture
had been dominated
by the strident psychedelia
510
00:34:47,507 --> 00:34:51,197
of acts like Jimi Hendrix, Cream
and the Grateful Dead,
511
00:34:51,232 --> 00:34:56,993
but LA had produced a new sound
that was both commercial
and politically credible.
512
00:34:59,472 --> 00:35:02,793
FM radio, which was our path
to the marketplace,
513
00:35:02,828 --> 00:35:05,878
was all hard-ass rock'n'roll,
you know,
514
00:35:05,913 --> 00:35:10,953
and then along came acoustic guitars
and three harmonies,
515
00:35:10,988 --> 00:35:13,490
and it just changed everything.
516
00:35:13,525 --> 00:35:15,958
# Da-da
Da-de-dum-de-dum... #
517
00:35:15,993 --> 00:35:20,153
They had a hit album,
a formidable manager
518
00:35:20,188 --> 00:35:22,757
and were planning a live tour,
519
00:35:22,792 --> 00:35:26,472
but Crosby, Stills And Nash
also had a problem.
520
00:35:27,233 --> 00:35:32,153
Stephen played both guitar
and keyboard on the record,
and you can't do that on stage.
521
00:35:32,188 --> 00:35:36,078
Stephen talked to Ahmet Ertegun, who
owned Atlantic Records at the time,
522
00:35:36,113 --> 00:35:42,473
a dear friend and a great supporter
of Crosby, Stills And Nash, and he
said, "Why don't you talk to Neil?"
523
00:35:42,508 --> 00:35:45,490
# He's a perfect stranger
524
00:35:45,525 --> 00:35:48,473
# Like a cross of himself
525
00:35:48,508 --> 00:35:49,752
# And a fox... #
526
00:35:51,592 --> 00:35:55,392
Less than a year after the collapse
of Buffalo Springfield,
527
00:35:55,427 --> 00:35:59,158
Neil Young had already begun
to make his mark as a solo artist.
528
00:35:59,193 --> 00:36:06,513
Now he was the fourth front man
in a supergroup
overflowing with individual talent.
529
00:36:08,952 --> 00:36:10,917
Even then,
530
00:36:10,952 --> 00:36:12,957
Neil was powerful.
531
00:36:12,992 --> 00:36:17,313
You weren't sure if you wanted
to be competing with that power
or co-operating with it.
532
00:36:17,348 --> 00:36:20,112
# It's the loner... #
533
00:36:22,593 --> 00:36:27,113
It was inevitable that
that band would be as big
as it turned out to be.
534
00:36:27,148 --> 00:36:28,797
No question about it.
535
00:36:28,832 --> 00:36:34,553
And it was also inevitable
when Neil joined the group
536
00:36:34,588 --> 00:36:37,512
and it became
Crosby, Stills, Nash And Young,
537
00:36:37,547 --> 00:36:40,149
that, inherent in that greatness,
538
00:36:40,184 --> 00:36:42,717
was the seeds of its destruction.
539
00:36:42,752 --> 00:36:47,612
# I'm not going back to Woodstock
for a while... #
540
00:36:47,647 --> 00:36:52,473
Crosby, Stills, Nash And Young's
mutual ambition
541
00:36:52,508 --> 00:36:55,078
had brought them fame and fortune,
542
00:36:55,113 --> 00:36:59,652
but over the next ten years, their
early potential would be squandered
543
00:36:59,687 --> 00:37:04,157
amid clashing egos, drug addiction
and the trappings of celebrity,
544
00:37:04,192 --> 00:37:10,992
and as the collective spirit of the
'60s gave way to an age that would
come to be known as the Me Decade,
545
00:37:11,027 --> 00:37:14,912
LA's solo singer-songwriters
found their voice.
546
00:37:35,993 --> 00:37:37,918
When listening to music,
547
00:37:37,953 --> 00:37:41,832
look at the social forces that
surrounded it when it came out.
548
00:37:44,472 --> 00:37:46,352
Look at what happened that year.
549
00:37:50,152 --> 00:37:53,557
In the summer of 1969,
there was a genuine feeling
550
00:37:53,592 --> 00:37:58,512
that the collective values
of the Woodstock generation
might change the world.
551
00:37:58,547 --> 00:38:02,592
By the end of the year, that
optimism would be all but shattered.
552
00:38:04,392 --> 00:38:07,512
The assassinations
of Martin Luther King
553
00:38:07,547 --> 00:38:10,918
and Robert F Kennedy
554
00:38:10,953 --> 00:38:12,832
so shook our world in America...
555
00:38:14,952 --> 00:38:17,958
..but in '69...
556
00:38:17,993 --> 00:38:22,072
Charles Manson
visited Los Angeles,
557
00:38:22,107 --> 00:38:26,117
and that changed the entirety
for ever.
558
00:38:26,152 --> 00:38:31,712
# Now we live in a trailer
at the edge of town
559
00:38:32,952 --> 00:38:37,518
# You'd never see us
cos we don't come around... #
560
00:38:37,553 --> 00:38:42,233
'The Manson family has become the
most notorious of hippy groups...
561
00:38:42,268 --> 00:38:45,798
'It is said they were
a pseudo-religious cult.
562
00:38:45,833 --> 00:38:49,752
'People who worked on the ranch said
they were heavy users of drugs.'
563
00:38:49,787 --> 00:38:52,872
We went horseback riding out there
at that farm.
564
00:38:52,907 --> 00:38:54,913
We knew some of the people.
565
00:38:56,953 --> 00:38:58,957
It was just terrifying.
566
00:38:58,992 --> 00:39:02,072
'Among his followers,
members of the family,
567
00:39:02,107 --> 00:39:04,473
'Manson is regarded as a saint.
568
00:39:04,508 --> 00:39:05,478
'Many call him Jesus.'
569
00:39:05,513 --> 00:39:09,993
It was the commune gone wrong,
wasn't it?
570
00:39:10,028 --> 00:39:13,273
# Well, I hear that Laurel Canyon
571
00:39:13,308 --> 00:39:16,517
# Is full of famous stars
572
00:39:16,552 --> 00:39:19,232
# But I hate them worse than lepers
573
00:39:19,267 --> 00:39:21,912
# And I kill them in their cars... #
574
00:39:21,947 --> 00:39:24,037
I don't have any big illusions.
575
00:39:24,072 --> 00:39:27,272
I know what I have done,
and no man can judge me.
576
00:39:27,307 --> 00:39:29,678
I judge me.
What have you done, Charlie?
577
00:39:29,713 --> 00:39:36,997
This crazed, misguided, drug-driven
cultism...Satanism...
578
00:39:37,032 --> 00:39:43,477
touched the irrationality of the very
thing that sustained flower-power,
579
00:39:43,512 --> 00:39:48,632
and that was the sense of
unbridled optimism
and social integration and trust,
580
00:39:48,667 --> 00:39:53,753
and all of that was shattered.
It was like the snake
that came into the Garden.
581
00:40:01,273 --> 00:40:06,833
The Manson gang's killing spree
shamed and terrorised LA's
alternative artistic community,
582
00:40:06,868 --> 00:40:11,112
of which he'd been a well-known
if barely tolerated presence.
583
00:40:12,672 --> 00:40:18,472
Three months later, at a free
Rolling Stones' concert at Altamont,
near San Francisco,
584
00:40:18,507 --> 00:40:22,113
the counterculture was dealt
another devastating blow.
585
00:40:29,913 --> 00:40:31,992
It was crazy, man.
586
00:40:34,392 --> 00:40:37,452
The Hell's Angels were the security.
587
00:40:37,487 --> 00:40:40,513
The were all drinking cheap red wine.
588
00:40:40,548 --> 00:40:42,672
They were all loaded on PCP...
589
00:40:42,707 --> 00:40:44,238
and acid.
590
00:40:44,273 --> 00:40:46,873
And it got really ugly.
591
00:40:49,992 --> 00:40:51,993
Can everybody just clear out!
592
00:40:53,952 --> 00:40:56,273
Will you clear out, everybody!
593
00:40:59,033 --> 00:41:05,513
Altamont's defining moment was
the murder of an audience member
called Meredith Hunter
594
00:41:05,548 --> 00:41:06,957
by a Hell's Angels gang member.
595
00:41:06,992 --> 00:41:11,878
People have been killed
in sight of the stage, you know.
596
00:41:11,913 --> 00:41:17,312
While the Stones sing Sympathy
For The Devil, everybody went,
"This is a little NOT OK."
597
00:41:22,992 --> 00:41:24,198
That was death in your own backyard.
598
00:41:24,233 --> 00:41:26,753
It happened where people
were congregating.
599
00:41:26,788 --> 00:41:29,478
It became larger than life.
600
00:41:29,513 --> 00:41:33,872
And it all occurred within months
of the Woodstock festival,
601
00:41:33,907 --> 00:41:36,078
where everything had bloomed,
602
00:41:36,113 --> 00:41:40,753
and the sense of real possibility,
suddenly you were brought up short
at Altamont.
603
00:41:45,433 --> 00:41:48,198
There was a sense, in a way,
604
00:41:48,233 --> 00:41:51,593
like the discovery of AIDS,
that the party was ending.
605
00:41:56,872 --> 00:42:00,918
It was time, it seemed,
for the comedown.
606
00:42:00,953 --> 00:42:07,272
The new decade brought a shift
in the emotional landscape
of LA's emerging singer-songwriters,
607
00:42:07,307 --> 00:42:12,130
as the failure of the collective
gave way to the
power of the personal.
608
00:42:12,165 --> 00:42:16,918
Here's another really new one that
isn't quite finished, just for fun.
609
00:42:16,953 --> 00:42:22,632
I think, if you listen to the
material, you can see
how everyone was forever changed.
610
00:42:26,753 --> 00:42:32,512
In 1970, Joni Mitchell,
who two years earlier
had penned the theme to Woodstock,
611
00:42:32,547 --> 00:42:37,198
recorded a collection of
startlingly autobiographical songs.
612
00:42:37,233 --> 00:42:42,152
It was the basis of an album
that would become
the definitive statement
613
00:42:42,187 --> 00:42:44,433
of confessional songwriting.
614
00:42:45,993 --> 00:42:47,997
In my first week of college,
615
00:42:48,032 --> 00:42:50,678
she called and asked would I
come out to California
616
00:42:50,713 --> 00:42:55,033
to do some photos of her.
She was writing the songs for Blue.
617
00:42:55,068 --> 00:43:00,070
# I am on a lonely road
and I am travelling
618
00:43:00,105 --> 00:43:05,072
# Looking for the truth in men
and in me
619
00:43:05,107 --> 00:43:09,072
# Oh, my jealousy, my greed
620
00:43:09,107 --> 00:43:11,832
# They all unravel me
621
00:43:13,512 --> 00:43:17,118
# It undoes all the joy
that could be... #
622
00:43:17,153 --> 00:43:22,953
From a songwriting viewpoint,
most songwriters still
are in awe of that record.
623
00:43:28,673 --> 00:43:35,997
# Blue-ue-ue-ue-eu... #
624
00:43:36,032 --> 00:43:39,072
Blue is an overwhelming album.
625
00:43:39,107 --> 00:43:42,112
# There is a song for you too
626
00:43:42,147 --> 00:43:44,832
# Ink on a pin
627
00:43:46,112 --> 00:43:48,277
# Underneath the skin... #
628
00:43:48,312 --> 00:43:51,993
All of a sudden, there's this woman
writing about personal relationships
629
00:43:52,028 --> 00:43:55,010
on a very profound level,
630
00:43:55,045 --> 00:43:57,958
and it was deeply affecting.
631
00:43:57,993 --> 00:43:59,793
# Well, there's so many sinking now
632
00:43:59,828 --> 00:44:01,878
# You've gotta keep thinking
633
00:44:01,913 --> 00:44:05,312
# You can make it through these waves
634
00:44:05,347 --> 00:44:07,869
# Acid, booze and ass
635
00:44:07,904 --> 00:44:10,248
# Needles, guns and grass
636
00:44:10,283 --> 00:44:12,558
# Lots of laughs... #
637
00:44:12,593 --> 00:44:14,597
She changed the way I wrote,
638
00:44:14,632 --> 00:44:19,512
because I realised that it was OK
to talk about what was
happening in your heart,
639
00:44:19,547 --> 00:44:21,558
so that other people could go,
640
00:44:21,593 --> 00:44:26,352
"I know what you're saying.
It happened to me the other day."
Those kind of songs.
641
00:44:31,593 --> 00:44:34,238
A year after Joni Mitchell
released Blue,
642
00:44:34,273 --> 00:44:38,993
Neil Young, an equally
uncompromising singer-songwriter,
643
00:44:39,028 --> 00:44:40,433
produced a breakthrough record.
644
00:44:42,033 --> 00:44:45,273
Over the next 35 years,
his relentless soul-searching
645
00:44:45,308 --> 00:44:48,712
would underpin an unpredictable
musical journey.
646
00:44:50,793 --> 00:44:52,872
These guys will do anything
for a laugh.
647
00:44:55,984 --> 00:44:58,748
# I wanna live
648
00:44:58,783 --> 00:45:01,477
# I wanna give
649
00:45:01,512 --> 00:45:07,992
# I've been a miner for
a heart of gold... #
650
00:45:08,027 --> 00:45:09,997
Harvest was a huge success
651
00:45:10,032 --> 00:45:12,953
and it kind of put Neil on the map
in a very profound way.
652
00:45:12,988 --> 00:45:20,513
#..That keep me searching for
a heart of gold
653
00:45:20,548 --> 00:45:22,592
# And I'm getting old... #
654
00:45:24,232 --> 00:45:29,712
But immediately after, there were
some tragedies.
There was a roadie named Bruce Berry,
655
00:45:29,747 --> 00:45:34,477
and then there was Danny Whitten
from Crazy Horse,
656
00:45:34,512 --> 00:45:36,992
both of whom OD'd in
a short period of time, from heroin.
657
00:45:37,027 --> 00:45:39,829
#..I've been to Hollywood
658
00:45:39,864 --> 00:45:42,597
# I've been to Redwood
659
00:45:42,632 --> 00:45:48,558
# I crossed the ocean for
a heart of gold... #
660
00:45:48,593 --> 00:45:54,353
Neil, at the peak of his success
in the marketplace,
661
00:45:54,388 --> 00:45:56,238
exorcised all his demons,
662
00:45:56,273 --> 00:45:59,592
and that was Tonight's The Night,
which was,
663
00:45:59,627 --> 00:46:02,912
in some ways,
the most imperfect record he made.
664
00:46:02,947 --> 00:46:06,513
# Tonight's the night
665
00:46:08,392 --> 00:46:11,997
# Tonight's the night... #
666
00:46:12,032 --> 00:46:14,998
He was rebelling against production.
667
00:46:15,033 --> 00:46:18,398
He said, "I wanna make a record,
and I wanna do this live,
668
00:46:18,433 --> 00:46:22,272
"but I want people to hear it before
the band knows what they're doing."
669
00:46:22,307 --> 00:46:24,997
# Bruce Berry was a working man
670
00:46:25,032 --> 00:46:28,832
# He used to load
that Econoline van... #
671
00:46:28,867 --> 00:46:30,678
So we went on tour,
672
00:46:30,713 --> 00:46:34,792
and everyone expected that he would
play all the songs from Harvest.
673
00:46:34,827 --> 00:46:37,518
The Eagles were the opening act.
674
00:46:37,553 --> 00:46:40,772
The Eagles came out
and were fucking great.
675
00:46:40,807 --> 00:46:44,500
#..And sing this song
in a shaky voice
676
00:46:44,535 --> 00:46:48,193
# That was real as the day was long
677
00:46:49,593 --> 00:46:52,557
# Tonight's the night... #
678
00:46:52,592 --> 00:46:57,033
And then Neil came out and he
did the Tonight's The Night album
679
00:46:57,068 --> 00:46:58,798
from beginning to end.
680
00:46:58,833 --> 00:47:01,598
He would say,
"If you stick with this,
681
00:47:01,633 --> 00:47:05,033
"at the end I'll play songs that
you've heard before."
682
00:47:05,068 --> 00:47:08,433
And then, at the end,
he started the album over again!
683
00:47:10,032 --> 00:47:12,393
And that's when I knew I loved him.
684
00:47:12,428 --> 00:47:14,550
And the place emptied out.
685
00:47:14,585 --> 00:47:16,637
Pretty much every night!
686
00:47:16,672 --> 00:47:21,713
You know, it was fantastic.
I never saw anyone do that.
687
00:47:21,748 --> 00:47:23,598
It was just awesome.
688
00:47:23,633 --> 00:47:27,633
It was just the power of his
own belief and his own convictions,
689
00:47:27,668 --> 00:47:29,712
that he just didn't give a fuck.
690
00:47:29,747 --> 00:47:32,752
#..Tonight's the night
691
00:47:32,787 --> 00:47:34,233
# Whoa... #
692
00:47:41,792 --> 00:47:46,712
I guess I'm writing about
a part of me that
I don't know if I'll ever share.
693
00:47:46,747 --> 00:47:48,609
I don't know.
694
00:47:48,644 --> 00:47:50,437
It's just, um...
695
00:47:50,472 --> 00:47:53,193
I'm writing about, um...
696
00:47:54,552 --> 00:47:56,398
..the way I feel inside
697
00:47:56,433 --> 00:47:59,557
and no matter how many people
are around me...
698
00:47:59,592 --> 00:48:03,953
I keep talking about it,
all the things that go on inside me,
699
00:48:03,988 --> 00:48:05,313
and, um...
700
00:48:07,392 --> 00:48:09,752
I guess by talking about it,
it helps.
701
00:48:15,353 --> 00:48:17,993
Neil Young's low-fire rock'n'roll
702
00:48:18,028 --> 00:48:20,633
and Joni Mitchell's acoustic poetry
703
00:48:20,668 --> 00:48:22,998
sounded worlds apart,
704
00:48:23,033 --> 00:48:25,853
but they were both
serious, sensitive musicians
705
00:48:25,888 --> 00:48:28,638
whose songwriting
was intensely self-centred.
706
00:48:28,673 --> 00:48:33,637
They led a new generation of
ruthlessly single-minded artists
707
00:48:33,672 --> 00:48:39,473
and prompted a radical change
in the commercial strategy
of LA's music industry.
708
00:48:41,873 --> 00:48:44,438
In the early days of Warner Reprise,
709
00:48:44,473 --> 00:48:48,033
the label had signed artists
like Neil Young and Randy Newman
710
00:48:48,068 --> 00:48:49,598
and Joni Mitchell,
711
00:48:49,633 --> 00:48:53,632
and I think the label became aware
that those artists had a vision,
712
00:48:53,667 --> 00:48:57,238
and it wasn't just
a creative musical vision.
713
00:48:57,273 --> 00:49:02,393
It had to do with who they were
and how they were represented
and how they were perceived.
714
00:49:02,428 --> 00:49:05,797
Warner Reprise -
part of Warner Bros -
715
00:49:05,832 --> 00:49:10,252
and previously best-known as
Frank Sinatra's record company,
716
00:49:10,287 --> 00:49:14,672
was the first to gamble on
LA's uncompromising troubadours.
717
00:49:14,707 --> 00:49:16,913
It was a calculated risk.
718
00:49:16,948 --> 00:49:18,717
And it paid off.
719
00:49:18,752 --> 00:49:22,032
If you put out great records
by great artists,
720
00:49:22,067 --> 00:49:23,958
regardless of what they did,
721
00:49:23,993 --> 00:49:27,033
as long as you weren't getting hurt
too badly financially,
722
00:49:27,068 --> 00:49:29,992
that was a way of drawing
other artists.
723
00:49:30,027 --> 00:49:33,190
# Something in the way she moves
724
00:49:33,225 --> 00:49:36,353
# Or looks my way, she calls my name
725
00:49:37,593 --> 00:49:42,198
# That seems to leave
this troubled world behind... #
726
00:49:42,233 --> 00:49:47,552
I was in a band in New York for a
while, after I finished high school
727
00:49:47,587 --> 00:49:52,872
and, um...when that broke up,
I decided I'd like
to travel a little bit,
728
00:49:52,907 --> 00:49:56,517
so I went over to London and, um...
729
00:49:56,552 --> 00:50:00,232
I...I found it very difficult
to get work without having papers,
730
00:50:00,267 --> 00:50:04,890
so I decided instead
that I'd like to make a record.
731
00:50:04,925 --> 00:50:09,513
#..And if I am well you can tell
she's been with me now
732
00:50:09,548 --> 00:50:11,610
# She's been with me now
733
00:50:11,645 --> 00:50:14,319
# Quite a long, long time
734
00:50:14,354 --> 00:50:16,958
# And I feel fine... #
735
00:50:16,993 --> 00:50:21,997
I was here in California
and made a record deal for James
736
00:50:22,032 --> 00:50:26,033
with Warner Bros,
choosing Warner Bros because of the
cool people they had already,
737
00:50:26,068 --> 00:50:28,878
and because of the ads Stan Cornyn
wrote,
738
00:50:28,913 --> 00:50:31,478
which were the coolest album ads
we'd ever seen.
739
00:50:31,513 --> 00:50:36,072
James Taylor left Apple Records
to be on Warner Bros.
740
00:50:36,107 --> 00:50:39,070
Apple was as hip as it could be
741
00:50:39,105 --> 00:50:42,033
and he wanted to be on our label.
742
00:50:46,112 --> 00:50:48,873
This was Sweet Baby James.
This was amazing.
743
00:50:48,908 --> 00:50:53,033
# Well, there is a young cowboy
744
00:50:53,068 --> 00:50:54,993
# He lives on the range
745
00:50:56,433 --> 00:51:01,152
# His horse and his cattle
They're his only companions... #
746
00:51:01,187 --> 00:51:03,678
Sensitive lyrics,
747
00:51:03,713 --> 00:51:09,552
mellow music and the intriguing
suggestion of a tortured soul
748
00:51:09,587 --> 00:51:13,352
made James Taylor LA's latest exile
singer-songwriter
749
00:51:13,387 --> 00:51:15,592
a powerful artistic force.
750
00:51:17,153 --> 00:51:21,833
#..So goodnight
You moonlight ladies
751
00:51:21,868 --> 00:51:26,478
# Rock-a-bye
My Sweet Baby James... #
752
00:51:26,513 --> 00:51:32,313
Neither James nor I
have ever particularly liked
the mellow, um, application,
753
00:51:32,348 --> 00:51:33,797
nor sensitive,
754
00:51:33,832 --> 00:51:36,912
because he's not that mellow
and he's not that sensitive.
755
00:51:40,512 --> 00:51:47,033
But there is a contrast between
a certain mellowness, for want of
a better word, musically,
756
00:51:47,068 --> 00:51:50,033
with the fact that the lyrics
are pretty intense.
757
00:51:50,068 --> 00:51:52,278
#..Just yesterday morning
758
00:51:52,313 --> 00:51:55,077
# They let me know that you were gone
759
00:51:55,112 --> 00:52:00,233
# Susanne the plans we made
put an end to you
760
00:52:02,712 --> 00:52:05,317
# I walked out on a morning
761
00:52:05,352 --> 00:52:08,517
# And I wrote down this song... #
762
00:52:08,552 --> 00:52:11,632
There are lyrics about a friend
who killed herself
763
00:52:11,667 --> 00:52:14,850
and experiences in a mental hospital
and drugs,
764
00:52:14,885 --> 00:52:18,033
so the subject matter is not mellow
at all.
765
00:52:18,068 --> 00:52:19,912
#..I've seen fire and I've seen rain
766
00:52:21,192 --> 00:52:26,033
# I've seen sunny days that I thought
would never end... #
767
00:52:26,068 --> 00:52:28,313
He was a harder-core drug addict
than any of us.
768
00:52:28,348 --> 00:52:30,998
Sweet Baby James
was this fucking animal.
769
00:52:31,033 --> 00:52:35,392
He was a hippie junkie. And there was
something about that mentality
770
00:52:35,427 --> 00:52:40,272
that, somehow or other,
set him apart from everybody else.
771
00:52:40,307 --> 00:52:43,409
I remember saying to him one time,
"It's a good thing
772
00:52:43,444 --> 00:52:46,512
"you're a fucking folk guy.
If you were a rock'n'roller,
773
00:52:46,547 --> 00:52:48,558
"you'd have been dead years ago.
774
00:52:48,593 --> 00:52:53,593
"You can't behave like this
without someone killing you,
or killing yourself."
775
00:52:53,628 --> 00:52:58,117
#..Oh, I've seen fire
and I've seen rain... #
776
00:52:58,152 --> 00:53:03,558
Backed by musicians drawn
from a pool known as the LA Mafia,
777
00:53:03,593 --> 00:53:07,873
James Taylor's first West Coast
record stayed on the album charts
778
00:53:07,908 --> 00:53:09,278
for over 100 weeks,
779
00:53:09,313 --> 00:53:13,272
making the sensitive
singer-songwriter front-page news,
780
00:53:13,307 --> 00:53:16,037
and, in the same year,
781
00:53:16,072 --> 00:53:21,753
a fellow East Coast exile
released the most successful record
that LA had ever produced.
782
00:53:21,788 --> 00:53:26,832
I know that many of you
are admirers of James Taylor.
783
00:53:26,867 --> 00:53:28,398
I am myself.
784
00:53:28,433 --> 00:53:30,958
I'd like to get him out here
to help me.
785
00:53:30,993 --> 00:53:34,992
He was kind enough to volunteer,
so, come on, James!
786
00:53:37,472 --> 00:53:42,878
Carole King had made her name as
one half of Goffen And King,
787
00:53:42,913 --> 00:53:48,873
a prolific partnership at the
heart of New York's hit songwriting
factory, the Brill Building.
788
00:53:51,552 --> 00:53:54,993
But in LA, she would undergo
a radical re-invention.
789
00:53:55,028 --> 00:53:58,957
# So far away
790
00:53:58,992 --> 00:54:05,553
# Doesn't anybody stay in one place
any more...? #
791
00:54:06,713 --> 00:54:10,673
Carole King,
she played on Sweet Baby James,
792
00:54:10,708 --> 00:54:13,752
so Carole was a huge part of it.
793
00:54:13,787 --> 00:54:17,930
#..It doesn't help to know
794
00:54:17,965 --> 00:54:22,038
# You're just time away... #
795
00:54:22,073 --> 00:54:26,513
She wrote all the great songs
that we all grew up learning,
796
00:54:26,548 --> 00:54:31,032
from Up On The Roof to One Fine Day
to Natural Woman.
797
00:54:31,067 --> 00:54:33,757
I mean, she wrote everything.
798
00:54:33,792 --> 00:54:39,392
Carole King's transformation
from writer-for-hire
to introspective singer-songwriter
799
00:54:39,427 --> 00:54:43,552
exemplified the music industry's
shift from New York to LA,
800
00:54:43,587 --> 00:54:46,638
from Brill Building to
Laurel Canyon.
801
00:54:46,673 --> 00:54:51,833
#..One more song about
moving along the highway... #
802
00:54:54,553 --> 00:54:57,917
Tapestry spent a staggering 15 weeks
at number one,
803
00:54:57,952 --> 00:55:03,513
confirming LA as the natural
commercial and spiritual home for
a new kind of popular artist.
804
00:55:05,313 --> 00:55:08,693
I think it's fair to say that
Los Angeles had every intention
805
00:55:08,728 --> 00:55:12,073
of becoming the place to
bring that heightened individuality
806
00:55:12,108 --> 00:55:15,278
of the singer-songwriter
to the fore.
807
00:55:15,313 --> 00:55:19,513
We developed a thing out here called
"the heat behind the beat",
808
00:55:19,548 --> 00:55:23,713
and those were the attorneys
who made this whole thing possible.
809
00:55:23,748 --> 00:55:27,038
The idea of self-publishing,
for example.
810
00:55:27,073 --> 00:55:30,032
The new autonomies that were
available to the singer-songwriter.
811
00:55:30,067 --> 00:55:31,952
These things were codified
out here.
812
00:55:34,912 --> 00:55:36,517
By the end of 1971,
813
00:55:36,552 --> 00:55:41,072
LA was the centre of a
multi-million-dollar music business
814
00:55:41,107 --> 00:55:43,232
increasingly driven
by its songwriters...
815
00:55:45,152 --> 00:55:49,518
..and among the city's community of
self-absorbed artists,
816
00:55:49,553 --> 00:55:53,753
one young musician emerged as the
voice of the collective conscience.
817
00:55:53,788 --> 00:55:58,152
I remember I got an 8 x 10 glossy
of this really cute guy
818
00:55:58,187 --> 00:56:00,150
with a demo, and I thought,
819
00:56:00,185 --> 00:56:02,078
"Can't beat Bob Dylan."
820
00:56:02,113 --> 00:56:06,272
Then my secretary listened to it and
called me up the next day and said,
821
00:56:06,307 --> 00:56:09,593
"You ought to listen to that tape.
That guy is really good."
822
00:56:09,628 --> 00:56:12,353
# Jamaica was the lovely one
823
00:56:12,388 --> 00:56:15,037
# I played her well
824
00:56:15,072 --> 00:56:19,197
# As we lay in the tall grass
where the shadows fell... #
825
00:56:19,232 --> 00:56:23,673
Jackson Browne had moved the
short distance from Orange County
826
00:56:23,708 --> 00:56:25,593
to Los Angeles in 1966,
827
00:56:25,628 --> 00:56:27,997
aged just 17.
828
00:56:28,032 --> 00:56:31,553
He was soon a popular
and much-admired favourite
829
00:56:31,588 --> 00:56:35,110
of the Laurel Canyon community.
830
00:56:35,145 --> 00:56:38,597
#..Jamaica say you will... #
831
00:56:38,632 --> 00:56:44,172
There was a couple of years that
I had offers, but didn't
feel that I was really ready.
832
00:56:44,207 --> 00:56:49,713
I had it demonstrated to me
really early that it took
a lot of intention to make records,
833
00:56:49,748 --> 00:56:52,673
and that one couldn't
just drift into the studio
834
00:56:52,708 --> 00:56:56,557
like our legendary heroes did
835
00:56:56,592 --> 00:57:00,512
and sit down, and, for $250,
make your first masterpiece.
836
00:57:00,547 --> 00:57:04,433
I heard about Jackson through
a woman named Pamela Polland -
837
00:57:04,468 --> 00:57:07,317
P-O-L-L-A-N-D. Gentle soul.
838
00:57:07,352 --> 00:57:13,553
Pamela's in Hawaii.
When I found Pamela, Pamela said,
"If you think I'M good,
839
00:57:13,588 --> 00:57:15,753
"you ought to find Jackson Browne."
840
00:57:18,833 --> 00:57:21,873
Musically,
he was tremendously respected,
841
00:57:21,908 --> 00:57:23,557
and really a touchstone
842
00:57:23,592 --> 00:57:26,873
for a lot of the new genre of
singer-songwriter.
843
00:57:26,908 --> 00:57:30,233
# Well, I've been out working... #
844
00:57:32,072 --> 00:57:36,432
Confessional lyrics,
beautiful poetry, and wondering why
the world is so screwed up
845
00:57:36,467 --> 00:57:38,917
and why your life is screwed up.
846
00:57:38,952 --> 00:57:44,918
He's an incredibly important
seminal artist of our times.
847
00:57:44,953 --> 00:57:48,953
When Jackson wrote, "Please don't
confront me with my failures,
848
00:57:48,988 --> 00:57:51,770
"I've not forgotten them,"
849
00:57:51,805 --> 00:57:54,517
and he was only 17, you know!
850
00:57:54,552 --> 00:57:58,632
# Don't confront me with my failures
851
00:57:58,667 --> 00:58:02,797
# I had not forgotten them... #
852
00:58:02,832 --> 00:58:07,558
Good grief! You're writing like
you're a man of 60!
853
00:58:07,593 --> 00:58:12,633
"Don't confront me with my failures,
I've not forgotten them."
854
00:58:14,393 --> 00:58:15,952
Wonderful.
855
00:58:15,987 --> 00:58:17,477
Wonderful!
856
00:58:17,512 --> 00:58:22,792
Jackson Browne had the talent,
charisma and looks to be a star.
857
00:58:24,593 --> 00:58:28,277
What he didn't have
was a recording contract.
858
00:58:28,312 --> 00:58:33,672
David Geffen had been a manager and
an agent, and he'd been well-versed
in the different aspects of that...
859
00:58:33,707 --> 00:58:36,037
music business.
860
00:58:36,072 --> 00:58:40,113
I think he was going to put me
to Columbia or Atlantic.
861
00:58:40,148 --> 00:58:41,993
Suddenly, I decided...
862
00:58:42,028 --> 00:58:43,957
Hell, I'll do it!
863
00:58:43,992 --> 00:58:50,238
I went to see Ahmet Ertegun, played
the tapes and said, "You should sign
him. You'll make a lot of money."
864
00:58:50,273 --> 00:58:57,632
He said, "I have a lot of money. Why
don't you start a record company? You
could have a lot of money." So I did.
865
00:58:57,667 --> 00:59:01,392
We use independent producers,
or we let the artist produce
themselves. Whatever they want.
866
00:59:01,427 --> 00:59:03,598
It's a very artist-oriented company
867
00:59:03,633 --> 00:59:06,837
and whatever they want to do,
we support them.
868
00:59:06,872 --> 00:59:10,992
What I like the most were people
who sang their own songs.
869
00:59:11,027 --> 00:59:16,072
That's what they all had in common
at Asylum Records.
870
00:59:16,107 --> 00:59:18,850
That was the...gestalt of the day.
871
00:59:18,885 --> 00:59:21,558
He was also everybody's manager, too.
872
00:59:21,593 --> 00:59:24,197
Later, we had people grumbling about
conflict of interest
873
00:59:24,232 --> 00:59:31,032
but there was no conflict of interest
because I don't think he ever
charged any of us for management.
874
00:59:31,067 --> 00:59:32,197
He was our patron, you know.
875
00:59:32,232 --> 00:59:35,832
The medici.
The medici of rock'n'roll.
876
00:59:38,073 --> 00:59:40,517
# Doctor, my eyes have seen the years
877
00:59:40,552 --> 00:59:45,472
# And the slow parade of fears
without crying
878
00:59:45,507 --> 00:59:49,518
# Now, I want to understand... #
879
00:59:49,553 --> 00:59:53,052
Asylum's artist-driven ethos
was anathema
880
00:59:53,087 --> 00:59:56,517
to the conventions of the
music business,
881
00:59:56,552 --> 01:00:00,312
and Geffen's approach to A&R
was typically direct.
882
01:00:00,347 --> 01:00:04,038
David realised that other musicians
are very often
883
01:00:04,073 --> 01:00:08,473
an extremely important source for
finding out about new talent.
884
01:00:12,512 --> 01:00:16,517
Went over to his house,
played some songs to him. Yes.
885
01:00:16,552 --> 01:00:20,952
He knew that when Jackson told him
about John David Souther,
886
01:00:20,987 --> 01:00:25,353
or whichever order it happened in,
he really paid attention.
887
01:00:25,388 --> 01:00:28,357
I don't think that every record
that we make is a hit,
888
01:00:28,392 --> 01:00:33,593
or that every artist is going
to be a star, but I think
the music we put out is very valid.
889
01:00:33,628 --> 01:00:35,913
I thought, "Wow. This is just the
way you think it's gonna work.
890
01:00:35,948 --> 01:00:40,357
#..Doctor, my eyes... #
891
01:00:40,392 --> 01:00:45,552
If we believe in them, we'll
stick with them. We're not going to
drop an artist if they don't sell.
892
01:00:45,587 --> 01:00:50,169
#..For having learned how
not to cry... #
893
01:00:50,204 --> 01:00:54,717
Geffen's close relationship
with his acts
894
01:00:54,752 --> 01:01:00,552
led Asylum to to sign some of the
most talented, established
and interesting songwriters in LA.
895
01:01:02,232 --> 01:01:06,872
But just a year after its birth, its
solo artists would produce a band
896
01:01:06,907 --> 01:01:11,512
that would become one of the most
successful acts in music history.
897
01:01:28,072 --> 01:01:30,952
For any musician serious about
making the big time,
898
01:01:30,987 --> 01:01:33,198
LA was the only place to be,
899
01:01:33,233 --> 01:01:39,273
and by 1970, an new wave of artists
had followed the heroes
of the counterculture west.
900
01:01:39,308 --> 01:01:41,830
Among them were Glenn Frey,
901
01:01:41,865 --> 01:01:44,318
a guitar player from Detroit,
902
01:01:44,353 --> 01:01:48,353
and JD Souther,
a songwriter from Texas.
903
01:01:51,633 --> 01:01:54,118
Befriended by local hero
Jackson Browne,
904
01:01:54,153 --> 01:02:00,432
the three young troubadours found
cheap digs in a Mexican
neighbourhood near downtown LA,
905
01:02:00,467 --> 01:02:04,158
the unlikely setting for
another songwriting collective
906
01:02:04,193 --> 01:02:08,673
that would, once again, transform
the city's musical identity.
907
01:02:08,708 --> 01:02:14,033
# Like a bluebird with
its heart removed
908
01:02:14,068 --> 01:02:16,558
# Lonely as a train
909
01:02:16,593 --> 01:02:20,673
# I've run just as far
as I can run... #
910
01:02:20,708 --> 01:02:23,158
I moved to Echo Park
911
01:02:23,193 --> 01:02:27,273
and was instantly surrounded
by people coming up through this...
912
01:02:27,308 --> 01:02:30,990
beautiful cloud,
this merger of literature and music
913
01:02:31,025 --> 01:02:34,673
that seemed to take place around
acoustic guitars.
914
01:02:35,873 --> 01:02:40,552
#..You tell me how long, how long
915
01:02:40,587 --> 01:02:43,072
# Woman, will you weep...? #
916
01:02:43,673 --> 01:02:48,552
Glenn Frey and I roomed together
for a while, Jackson moved out,
I moved downstairs,
917
01:02:48,587 --> 01:02:52,998
Glenn moved out, Jackson and I
both got houses on Camrose Court,
918
01:02:53,033 --> 01:02:58,233
all writing in different
combinations with each other.
It was growing all the time.
919
01:02:58,268 --> 01:03:01,593
That was the little ball of dust
that became a tornado.
920
01:03:01,628 --> 01:03:04,158
# Oh, goodbye-bye, baby
921
01:03:04,193 --> 01:03:10,553
# Rock yourself to slee-ee-eep... #
922
01:03:14,433 --> 01:03:20,758
The Echo Park posse would provide
the songwriting basis for the
biggest band in LA's history.
923
01:03:20,793 --> 01:03:26,113
Their musical inspiration would
come from a raucous music club half
a mile west of the Sunset Strip.
924
01:03:31,353 --> 01:03:35,833
I mean, it was a heart of a scene
that encompassed James Taylor,
925
01:03:35,868 --> 01:03:40,552
Ry Cooder, Randy Newman, Little Feat,
926
01:03:40,587 --> 01:03:41,718
John David Souther...
927
01:03:41,753 --> 01:03:45,572
There was 20 or 30 people
that all became very good friends
928
01:03:45,607 --> 01:03:49,357
and would, on any given night,
go to the Troubadour bar
929
01:03:49,392 --> 01:03:54,877
and then drive a short distance
up into the canyons to party
at one or the other's houses
930
01:03:54,912 --> 01:04:00,632
and germinations of songs and love
affairs, and terminations
of love affairs, and deals were made
931
01:04:00,667 --> 01:04:03,553
within two or three miles of
the Sunset Strip.
932
01:04:06,032 --> 01:04:11,277
LA's singer-songwriters had emerged
from the folk tradition.
933
01:04:11,312 --> 01:04:16,553
At the Troubadour, they absorbed
another form or reassuringly
authentic American music.
934
01:04:21,352 --> 01:04:23,958
As the idealism of the '60s faded,
935
01:04:23,993 --> 01:04:29,393
country music would offer LA's
troubadours a new sense of identity.
936
01:04:29,428 --> 01:04:32,570
# You made me
937
01:04:32,605 --> 01:04:35,677
# Sweet and nice
938
01:04:35,712 --> 01:04:41,712
# But that won't keep you warm
at night
939
01:04:41,747 --> 01:04:44,317
# Cos I'm the one... #
940
01:04:44,352 --> 01:04:50,312
At the centre of LA's country
revival was a charismatic cowboy
called Gram Parsons.
941
01:04:50,347 --> 01:04:53,150
#..You're doing now
942
01:04:53,185 --> 01:04:55,918
# He may feel... #
943
01:04:55,953 --> 01:04:58,477
Country music was so horrible
944
01:04:58,512 --> 01:05:02,252
and you didn't even imagine
that you would dare listen to it,
945
01:05:02,287 --> 01:05:05,958
but he sat me down in his room,
took out his little record player
946
01:05:05,993 --> 01:05:12,193
and forced us to listen to
George Jones, Waylon Jennings,
Merle Haggard, and made us get it.
947
01:05:12,228 --> 01:05:17,430
#..I was right beside you then... #
948
01:05:17,465 --> 01:05:22,597
During a brief stint in the Byrds,
949
01:05:22,632 --> 01:05:27,592
and as a driving force
in the Flying Burrito Brothers,
950
01:05:27,627 --> 01:05:30,558
Parsons was just one of
a large pool of players
951
01:05:30,593 --> 01:05:32,833
infatuated with the
music and mythology of the West.
952
01:05:32,868 --> 01:05:35,112
Chris Hillman,
in the Burritos and the Byrds,
953
01:05:35,147 --> 01:05:37,433
he'd been a bluegrass
mandolin player,
954
01:05:37,468 --> 01:05:39,918
I'd been a bluegrass banjo player,
955
01:05:39,953 --> 01:05:42,478
Jerry Garcia had been
a bluegrass banjo player,
956
01:05:42,513 --> 01:05:45,753
so they were people who became
influential musicians
957
01:05:45,788 --> 01:05:47,958
in the late '60s, early '70s,
958
01:05:47,993 --> 01:05:51,833
who started out in folk but had been
off into the bluegrass thing as well.
959
01:05:57,753 --> 01:06:04,072
One of the most influential figures,
and the undisputed queen
of the Troubadour scene,
960
01:06:04,272 --> 01:06:06,513
was yet another exile in LA.
961
01:06:07,872 --> 01:06:10,318
I'm going to do a truck-driver's song
now.
962
01:06:10,353 --> 01:06:15,993
I live with a bunch of people I knew
from Tucson, on the beach, and we
started hanging round the Troubadour.
963
01:06:16,028 --> 01:06:19,597
It's responsible for the
entire music scene.
964
01:06:19,632 --> 01:06:24,672
This song was written by my friend
Lowell George from Little Feat,
and it's called Willin'.
965
01:06:26,113 --> 01:06:29,713
Of all the people responsible for
the country-rock revolution,
966
01:06:29,748 --> 01:06:33,313
maybe Linda Ronstadt is the one
that's overlooked the most,
967
01:06:33,348 --> 01:06:36,153
because she's a woman
and considered a pop artist.
968
01:06:37,872 --> 01:06:40,473
# I've been warped by the rain
969
01:06:40,508 --> 01:06:42,110
# Driven by the snow
970
01:06:42,145 --> 01:06:43,678
# I'm drunk and dirty
971
01:06:43,713 --> 01:06:47,352
# Don't you know that I'm still
972
01:06:48,672 --> 01:06:51,558
# Willin'... #
973
01:06:51,593 --> 01:06:54,598
Linda, in many respects, was
the glue that held this together,
974
01:06:54,633 --> 01:07:00,633
because she never was a
singer-songwriter - she has barely
written a song in her life -
975
01:07:00,668 --> 01:07:04,713
but Linda picked singers,
and songwriters in particular,
brilliantly.
976
01:07:04,748 --> 01:07:09,273
#..And I've been from Tucson
to Tucumcari
977
01:07:09,308 --> 01:07:14,078
# Tehachapi to Tonopah
978
01:07:14,113 --> 01:07:17,953
# Driven every kind of rig that's
ever been made... #
979
01:07:17,988 --> 01:07:20,512
She was the vehicle for JD Souther,
980
01:07:20,547 --> 01:07:22,237
for Warren Zevon,
981
01:07:22,272 --> 01:07:26,952
Karla Bonoff, Eric Kaz.
She introduced me to Willin',
by Lowell George.
982
01:07:26,987 --> 01:07:30,072
# And if you give me
983
01:07:31,912 --> 01:07:34,073
# Weed
984
01:07:35,272 --> 01:07:42,233
# Whites and wine... #
985
01:07:42,268 --> 01:07:44,077
In June 1971,
986
01:07:44,112 --> 01:07:46,957
Linda Ronstadt's boyfriend,
JD Souther,
987
01:07:46,992 --> 01:07:50,513
and his friend Glenn Frey
were in a country duo.
988
01:07:54,113 --> 01:07:57,278
But when JD decided to pursue
a solo career,
989
01:07:57,313 --> 01:08:02,312
it seemed that Frey, despite
being assigned to
David Geffen's Asylum Records,
990
01:08:02,347 --> 01:08:05,073
was out on a limb.
991
01:08:05,192 --> 01:08:06,637
By the end of the year,
992
01:08:06,672 --> 01:08:10,592
he was fronting what would become
LA's biggest band.
993
01:08:14,472 --> 01:08:17,812
Originally I told Glenn and JD
994
01:08:17,847 --> 01:08:21,117
that Glenn should form a band,
995
01:08:21,152 --> 01:08:24,432
that he wasn't strong enough as a
solo artist to go by himself.
996
01:08:24,467 --> 01:08:26,993
Glenn wanted a bigger thing,
more sound,
997
01:08:27,028 --> 01:08:28,438
and I wanted less,
998
01:08:28,473 --> 01:08:31,512
I wanted to be like Jackson
and just go play by myself.
999
01:08:31,547 --> 01:08:33,672
I had left the Flying Burrito
Brothers.
1000
01:08:33,707 --> 01:08:35,357
I'd hang out at the Troubadour,
1001
01:08:35,392 --> 01:08:39,478
and I'd run into Glenn Frey
and Don Henley.
1002
01:08:39,513 --> 01:08:43,473
I found Don from this band, Shiloh.
I heard them at the Troubadour.
1003
01:08:43,508 --> 01:08:47,037
Linda Ronstadt's producer,
John Boylan, was helping them.
1004
01:08:47,072 --> 01:08:50,432
He told them to get Randy Meisner
on bass, they thought that was
a good idea.
1005
01:08:53,232 --> 01:08:55,037
They were missing a guitar player.
1006
01:08:55,072 --> 01:08:57,312
We told them they should
get Bernie Leadon.
1007
01:08:57,347 --> 01:08:59,552
So I called Boylan
and he said, "Yeah."
1008
01:09:01,073 --> 01:09:03,598
So the original Eagles
were four people,
1009
01:09:03,633 --> 01:09:06,792
Glenn Frey, Don Henley,
myself and Randy Meisner.
1010
01:09:07,793 --> 01:09:08,793
It's serious!
1011
01:09:11,873 --> 01:09:14,073
I never doubted that they'd be big.
1012
01:09:15,112 --> 01:09:17,433
We wanted him to get us
on Atlantic Records,
1013
01:09:17,468 --> 01:09:19,597
he said, "Well,
I can probably do that
1014
01:09:19,632 --> 01:09:23,237
"or you can be the first band
on my new label, Asylum."
1015
01:09:23,272 --> 01:09:27,633
Then he was going to be our manager
AND our record company president -
1016
01:09:27,668 --> 01:09:29,677
obviously, there's a
conflict of interest there,
1017
01:09:29,712 --> 01:09:33,473
but we did it because we were sure
that David was going to succeed.
1018
01:09:39,513 --> 01:09:43,512
The Eagles, an unashamedly ambitious
band of country rockers,
1019
01:09:43,547 --> 01:09:45,238
seemed an incongruous addition
1020
01:09:45,273 --> 01:09:49,598
to Asylum's roster of earnest
singer-songwriters.
1021
01:09:49,633 --> 01:09:53,273
But after a brief apprenticeship as
Linda Ronstadt's backing band,
1022
01:09:53,308 --> 01:09:55,597
they made their first
public appearance
1023
01:09:55,632 --> 01:09:59,073
in a tiny art gallery
in Venice, California.
1024
01:09:59,108 --> 01:10:01,997
MUSIC: "Witchy Woman"
by the Eagles
1025
01:10:02,032 --> 01:10:07,233
The first time The Eagles played was
at an art opening for Boyd Elder,
1026
01:10:07,268 --> 01:10:08,513
our friend from Texas.
1027
01:10:11,352 --> 01:10:15,112
Joni Mitchell and Mama Cass
and David Geffen was there,
1028
01:10:15,147 --> 01:10:18,072
Ned Doheny there was, you know,
the whole gang.
1029
01:10:20,873 --> 01:10:24,932
Everybody was dancing on this wet
concrete floor with beer all over it,
1030
01:10:24,967 --> 01:10:28,992
and the Eagles were there playing
Witchy Woman over and over again.
1031
01:10:29,027 --> 01:10:33,597
# Woo-hoo, witchy woman
1032
01:10:33,632 --> 01:10:36,792
# See how high she flies... #
1033
01:10:36,827 --> 01:10:39,918
We only knew seven songs,
1034
01:10:39,953 --> 01:10:42,353
so we played the same
seven songs over and over.
1035
01:10:43,553 --> 01:10:46,632
#..She got the moon in her eye... #
1036
01:10:46,667 --> 01:10:48,753
It was fun. Joni was dancing.
1037
01:11:04,112 --> 01:11:06,992
They were the apex of
the California sound.
1038
01:11:07,027 --> 01:11:09,873
It expressed the sunshine
and the warmth,
1039
01:11:09,908 --> 01:11:11,473
they were the core of it.
1040
01:11:13,272 --> 01:11:18,153
A magical combination of people who
could create their material,
1041
01:11:18,188 --> 01:11:21,038
who could pick the best of
other people's material,
1042
01:11:21,073 --> 01:11:25,632
and roll it up again in one of those
very dusted musical packages.
1043
01:11:28,712 --> 01:11:30,672
# Well, I'm a-running down the road
1044
01:11:30,707 --> 01:11:32,597
# Trying to loosen my load... #
1045
01:11:32,632 --> 01:11:35,397
Helped by JD Souther
and Jackson Browne,
1046
01:11:35,432 --> 01:11:39,872
the Eagles wrote songs that would
become emblematic of '70s LA.
1047
01:11:41,273 --> 01:11:46,032
But not everybody was thrilled by
their carefully crafted brand of
country rock.
1048
01:11:46,067 --> 01:11:50,038
#..Take it easy... #
1049
01:11:50,073 --> 01:11:52,117
Their take on how to do it
1050
01:11:52,152 --> 01:11:55,233
is to reproduce the record
every time perfectly, note for note,
1051
01:11:55,268 --> 01:11:58,998
and it works for them, you know,
1052
01:11:59,033 --> 01:12:03,073
it makes a good show for the crowd,
but to me it's...
1053
01:12:05,032 --> 01:12:06,198
..boring.
1054
01:12:06,233 --> 01:12:11,077
#..Take it easy... #
1055
01:12:11,112 --> 01:12:13,518
They take no chances. Ever.
1056
01:12:13,553 --> 01:12:16,357
#..Well, I was standing on
a corner... #
1057
01:12:16,392 --> 01:12:19,992
The Eagles' reward for leaving
nothing to chance
1058
01:12:20,027 --> 01:12:23,592
was a hit album
and three number-one singles.
1059
01:12:23,627 --> 01:12:24,277
It started in the '60s.
1060
01:12:24,312 --> 01:12:26,993
We had a problem
with the word "commercial",
1061
01:12:27,028 --> 01:12:28,438
and everybody said,
1062
01:12:28,473 --> 01:12:31,597
"We don't want to be commercial."
1063
01:12:31,632 --> 01:12:34,512
Commercial was like the Monkees,
it's like the Turtles,
1064
01:12:34,547 --> 01:12:37,637
and commercial meant success.
1065
01:12:37,672 --> 01:12:41,393
For the sake of the audience,
you're the Monkees.
1066
01:12:41,428 --> 01:12:44,878
#..We may lose and we may win... #
1067
01:12:44,913 --> 01:12:48,118
When we got together,
we stated the intention -
1068
01:12:48,153 --> 01:12:53,433
this band is about doing really well,
becoming famous
and making a lot of money.
1069
01:12:53,468 --> 01:12:55,530
That was our goal.
1070
01:12:55,565 --> 01:12:57,558
#..Hey, yeah... #
1071
01:12:57,593 --> 01:13:01,913
It was a goal that they achieved
with their debut album,
1072
01:13:01,948 --> 01:13:06,233
confirming the denim-clad,
long-haired Western troubadour
1073
01:13:06,268 --> 01:13:11,072
as the new image of mainstream
commercial success.
1074
01:13:13,272 --> 01:13:17,232
The Eagles' next record was
once again was written and conceived
1075
01:13:17,267 --> 01:13:20,993
with the help of Jackson Browne
and JD Souther.
1076
01:13:25,673 --> 01:13:29,233
When Jackson turned 21, I gave him
The Album Of Gunfighters.
1077
01:13:29,268 --> 01:13:33,330
There were the bodies of
slain outlaws in it,
1078
01:13:33,365 --> 01:13:37,357
John Wesley Hardin's
shotgun-riddled body...
1079
01:13:37,392 --> 01:13:41,197
Underneath, you could read about
how all this happened,
1080
01:13:41,232 --> 01:13:46,993
and, in a way, it sort of became the
template for that Desperado record.
1081
01:13:48,633 --> 01:13:51,312
# They were Doolin
1082
01:13:51,347 --> 01:13:54,210
# Doolin-Dalton
1083
01:13:54,245 --> 01:13:57,038
# High or low
1084
01:13:57,073 --> 01:13:59,638
# It was the same... #
1085
01:13:59,673 --> 01:14:04,593
The notion of cowboys, you know,
those wild, taciturn heroes,
1086
01:14:04,628 --> 01:14:07,117
stepping into a saloon
1087
01:14:07,152 --> 01:14:10,233
and changing everyone's lives for
ever with a single shot or comment.
1088
01:14:10,268 --> 01:14:13,798
It's a mythological moment
that caught on.
1089
01:14:13,833 --> 01:14:17,673
On Desperado, the Eagles invented
a collective identity
1090
01:14:17,708 --> 01:14:20,992
directly inspired by
their country roots...
1091
01:14:21,027 --> 01:14:25,158
and by the ultimate
American fantasy.
1092
01:14:25,193 --> 01:14:29,438
As young guys 100 years ago,
rather than being
rock'n'roll guitar players,
1093
01:14:29,473 --> 01:14:36,673
they might well have been rock'n'roll
gunslingers - they would have been
carrying guns instead of guitars -
1094
01:14:36,708 --> 01:14:40,552
so we decided to do this
Western motif shoot
way out in the Malibu Hills.
1095
01:14:44,273 --> 01:14:47,038
It was almost like a time-warp
1096
01:14:47,073 --> 01:14:50,773
because it really did feel like we
were back in the 1800s.
1097
01:14:50,808 --> 01:14:54,440
It was so real. The guys would come
running down the street
1098
01:14:54,475 --> 01:14:58,073
with their guns blazing, and
the Eagles, and it was very heroic!
1099
01:15:02,993 --> 01:15:09,593
In the '60s, LA's singer-songwriters
had portrayed themselves as
heroes of the counterculture.
1100
01:15:12,153 --> 01:15:15,118
The Eagles had re-cast themselves
as fictional outlaws,
1101
01:15:15,153 --> 01:15:20,073
an escapism that marked a
timely disengagement from the
political world around them.
1102
01:15:21,632 --> 01:15:23,678
# I am an outlaw
1103
01:15:23,713 --> 01:15:25,757
# I was born an outlaw's son... #
1104
01:15:25,792 --> 01:15:30,353
There can be no whitewash...
at the Whitehouse.
1105
01:15:30,388 --> 01:15:32,833
'Richard Nixon as the President,'
1106
01:15:32,868 --> 01:15:35,610
valiums were on the rise.
1107
01:15:35,645 --> 01:15:38,317
People were taking downers
1108
01:15:38,352 --> 01:15:43,873
just to anaesthetise themselves
against the reality
of this rightist regime
1109
01:15:43,908 --> 01:15:49,050
that was going from
Vietnam to Cambodia with napalm.
1110
01:15:49,085 --> 01:15:54,192
#..A life upon the road
is the life of an outlaw... #
1111
01:15:54,227 --> 01:15:56,557
What that did to music
1112
01:15:56,592 --> 01:16:01,232
was, I think, for any person who
wanted to be a player and continue,
1113
01:16:01,267 --> 01:16:03,353
was to stop bitching.
1114
01:16:05,232 --> 01:16:06,958
To shut up.
1115
01:16:06,993 --> 01:16:11,072
What's in now is songs of
consolation that can be marketed
1116
01:16:11,107 --> 01:16:13,837
in the greater reality of
a Republican regime.
1117
01:16:13,872 --> 01:16:19,153
The songs were more handsome,
and a mile wide and an inch deep.
1118
01:16:19,188 --> 01:16:22,838
MUSIC: "Desperado" by the Eagles
1119
01:16:22,873 --> 01:16:27,012
But the Eagles' Western escapade
was a commercial flop.
1120
01:16:27,047 --> 01:16:31,152
They would be forced to rethink
their country roots
1121
01:16:31,187 --> 01:16:33,517
and re-invent their cowboy image.
1122
01:16:33,552 --> 01:16:36,753
And there was more bad news from
their record company.
1123
01:16:39,353 --> 01:16:43,113
Steve Ross, who ran Warners
in those days, came to me
1124
01:16:43,148 --> 01:16:45,637
and said that he wanted to buy it
1125
01:16:45,672 --> 01:16:49,398
and, uh, he offered me
$7 million for it,
1126
01:16:49,433 --> 01:16:53,558
which, at the time, seemed like
a staggering amount of money,
1127
01:16:53,593 --> 01:16:58,632
and I had watched Sonny and Cher
go from the biggest act
in the world to nothing,
1128
01:16:58,667 --> 01:17:01,157
and Otis Redding die
in a plane crash,
1129
01:17:01,192 --> 01:17:05,513
and I thought, "Jeez! $7 million!"
It was such a huge number.
1130
01:17:05,548 --> 01:17:07,393
It ended up being worth...
1131
01:17:09,992 --> 01:17:12,593
..so much more money than I
sold it for
1132
01:17:12,628 --> 01:17:14,558
but, you know, I'm doing OK!
1133
01:17:14,593 --> 01:17:17,512
Geffen and Roberts' management,
our management,
1134
01:17:17,547 --> 01:17:19,558
comes to us...and our record company,
1135
01:17:19,593 --> 01:17:23,717
and they say to us, "We've sold
Asylum Records to Warner Brothers,
1136
01:17:23,752 --> 01:17:30,113
"we're splitting up the management
company, you have to find new
management." We're, like, "What?!"
1137
01:17:31,313 --> 01:17:36,032
Geffen continued to manage
Asylum Records,
now owned by Warner Brothers,
1138
01:17:36,067 --> 01:17:40,632
but he would be forced to hand over
the Eagles' personal management
1139
01:17:40,667 --> 01:17:44,638
to another formidable hustler,
Irving Azoff.
1140
01:17:44,673 --> 01:17:48,873
The first thing I think Irving did
was turn around and sue Geffen
1141
01:17:48,908 --> 01:17:53,490
to get the Eagles' publishing
back from Warner Brothers Music.
1142
01:17:53,525 --> 01:17:58,073
You know, in success, people
feel like they're entitled to more,
1143
01:17:58,108 --> 01:18:00,837
forgetting that,
when they made these deals,
1144
01:18:00,872 --> 01:18:05,112
they had nothing
and nobody was interested in them.
1145
01:18:07,632 --> 01:18:12,598
When Warner Brothers merged Asylum
with Elektra Records,
1146
01:18:12,633 --> 01:18:15,412
another independent label
it had purchased two years earlier,
1147
01:18:15,447 --> 01:18:18,192
it signalled a shift in the tone of
LA's record business.
1148
01:18:19,793 --> 01:18:24,593
The change was that more and more
managers were coming to the party.
1149
01:18:24,628 --> 01:18:27,277
The lawyers were getting involved.
1150
01:18:27,312 --> 01:18:32,793
When it became more business
and less music...I left.
1151
01:18:34,312 --> 01:18:36,673
What's happening in the process,
1152
01:18:36,708 --> 01:18:39,078
which I served gladly,
1153
01:18:39,113 --> 01:18:41,078
is the corporatisation of rock.
1154
01:18:41,113 --> 01:18:44,453
I mean, the music died
around the middle '70s.
1155
01:18:44,488 --> 01:18:47,793
At least in terms of
everything that defined LA
1156
01:18:47,828 --> 01:18:49,797
a decade earlier.
1157
01:18:49,832 --> 01:18:52,913
If you go back to the Strip
in the late '60s,
1158
01:18:52,948 --> 01:18:55,877
there was a kind of
Utopian dimension,
1159
01:18:55,912 --> 01:19:01,153
and I guess we were so carried away
by that spirit
1160
01:19:01,188 --> 01:19:03,877
that people failed to see
how much of it
1161
01:19:03,912 --> 01:19:08,633
was also about carrying people
forward into Tower Records
1162
01:19:08,668 --> 01:19:11,950
or into a whole brave, new world
of consumption
1163
01:19:11,985 --> 01:19:15,233
in which rock'n'roll
was simply the soundtrack.
1164
01:19:15,268 --> 01:19:18,030
In an increasingly corporate
climate,
1165
01:19:18,065 --> 01:19:20,889
the social scene was also moving -
1166
01:19:20,924 --> 01:19:23,678
away from bars like the Troubadour
1167
01:19:23,713 --> 01:19:28,197
to a more exclusive class
of nightclub.
1168
01:19:28,232 --> 01:19:33,272
Among the clients that we had
was a guy named David Blue -
a friend of ours, Joni's, etc -
1169
01:19:33,307 --> 01:19:38,312
and we had booked all of our
biggest acts into the Troubadour
and I called Doug Weston
1170
01:19:38,347 --> 01:19:43,158
and asked him to put David Blue
in there, and he wouldn't do it.
1171
01:19:43,193 --> 01:19:47,393
I said, "I've given you Crosby,
Stills, Nash And Young, the Eagles,
Jackson Browne and Joni Mitchell,
1172
01:19:47,428 --> 01:19:50,553
"Linda Ronstadt, etc.
I want you to play David Blue."
1173
01:19:50,588 --> 01:19:53,038
He said, "I'm not
going to play David Blue."
1174
01:19:53,073 --> 01:19:56,993
I said, "If you don't
play David Blue, I'll start a club."
1175
01:19:57,028 --> 01:19:59,478
And he said,
"You think you can start a club?"
1176
01:19:59,513 --> 01:20:05,352
I said, "Yeah, I think I can start a
club, and if you don't put David Blue
in the Troubadour, I will."
1177
01:20:05,387 --> 01:20:07,833
And he said, "Fuck you, do it."
1178
01:20:07,868 --> 01:20:09,713
So we did.
1179
01:20:14,113 --> 01:20:18,678
The Roxy represented a new kind of
Sunset Strip venue
1180
01:20:18,713 --> 01:20:24,833
in which the Eagles and their
entourage found themselves
at the centre of an exclusive elite.
1181
01:20:24,868 --> 01:20:26,797
'All of a sudden,'
1182
01:20:26,832 --> 01:20:29,433
there was an awful lot of money,
1183
01:20:29,468 --> 01:20:32,557
a lot of celebrity,
1184
01:20:32,592 --> 01:20:35,752
a lot of, "You can come in here,
you can't."
1185
01:20:35,787 --> 01:20:37,917
# Eager for action
1186
01:20:37,952 --> 01:20:40,357
# Hot for the game... #
1187
01:20:40,392 --> 01:20:45,953
In their songwriting, the Eagles
had begun to chronicle the
mid-'70s hedonistic lifestyle
1188
01:20:45,988 --> 01:20:48,517
of which they were the
prime players.
1189
01:20:48,552 --> 01:20:50,877
The summer after the fourth album,
I left.
1190
01:20:50,912 --> 01:20:54,078
For a long time,
I felt I couldn't talk about it,
1191
01:20:54,113 --> 01:20:58,273
partly because it had to do with
my own personal drug use,
1192
01:20:58,308 --> 01:21:00,517
too much partying,
1193
01:21:00,552 --> 01:21:02,273
and I needed to get away from it.
1194
01:21:02,308 --> 01:21:03,958
And when I left,
1195
01:21:03,993 --> 01:21:09,432
the whole acoustic, bluegrass, folk,
acoustic guitar thing
1196
01:21:09,467 --> 01:21:10,957
went away.
1197
01:21:10,992 --> 01:21:13,518
#..Life in the fast lane
1198
01:21:13,553 --> 01:21:16,213
# Surely make you lose your mind
1199
01:21:16,248 --> 01:21:18,838
# Life in the fast lane... #
1200
01:21:18,873 --> 01:21:22,312
Bernie Leadon was replaced by
guitar hero Joe Walsh,
1201
01:21:22,347 --> 01:21:26,117
as the Eagles ditched their
acoustic roots,
1202
01:21:26,152 --> 01:21:29,392
and followed the musical drift
towards stadium rock.
1203
01:21:29,427 --> 01:21:32,598
Was there a point in the '70s
at which you realised
1204
01:21:32,633 --> 01:21:37,553
that many of your contemporaries
had become self-satisfied and smug
about their own positions?
1205
01:21:37,588 --> 01:21:42,472
I realised that about myself
but I didn't make any judgments
on the rest of 'em.
1206
01:21:44,152 --> 01:21:49,558
In 1974, Crosby, Stills, Nash
And Young embarked on a world tour,
1207
01:21:49,593 --> 01:21:55,152
the extravagance of which
clashed wildly with
the morality of their songs.
1208
01:21:55,187 --> 01:21:58,552
# You...who are on the road... #
1209
01:22:00,313 --> 01:22:02,232
#..Must have a code
1210
01:22:03,912 --> 01:22:06,353
# That you can live by... #
1211
01:22:07,793 --> 01:22:10,753
We had 85 people in the crew,
1212
01:22:10,788 --> 01:22:13,678
we had helicopters, jets,
1213
01:22:13,713 --> 01:22:16,793
limousines sat in front of the hotel
24 hours a day...
1214
01:22:16,828 --> 01:22:19,873
It was just an exercise in excess.
1215
01:22:20,872 --> 01:22:25,113
# Teach the children well
1216
01:22:26,152 --> 01:22:29,252
# Their father's hell
1217
01:22:29,287 --> 01:22:32,318
# Did slowly go by... #
1218
01:22:32,353 --> 01:22:35,412
You're top of
the charts, everybody loves you,
1219
01:22:35,447 --> 01:22:38,437
you've got enough women
to satisfy you for years,
1220
01:22:38,472 --> 01:22:42,312
you have enough money and
the ability to buy the best drugs,
1221
01:22:42,347 --> 01:22:44,392
and, you know, it takes over,
1222
01:22:44,427 --> 01:22:46,757
and it took over.
1223
01:22:46,792 --> 01:22:49,318
#..Don't you ever... #
1224
01:22:49,353 --> 01:22:55,113
From my perspective, these were
the guys that were talking
about freedom, about justice,
1225
01:22:55,148 --> 01:22:59,592
about respect for Mother Earth,
about getting back to the Garden.
1226
01:22:59,627 --> 01:23:02,712
It was very hard
to make sense of it all.
1227
01:23:02,747 --> 01:23:05,512
#..And know they love you... #
1228
01:23:06,713 --> 01:23:12,072
All of them represent, to me,
the liberal Hollywood concepts.
1229
01:23:12,107 --> 01:23:13,837
They favoured money
1230
01:23:13,872 --> 01:23:17,712
and they'd just forget that
sometimes,
1231
01:23:17,747 --> 01:23:21,117
that it walks this thin line.
1232
01:23:21,152 --> 01:23:25,492
But, ultimately, it was about
being successful.
1233
01:23:25,527 --> 01:23:29,832
By 1975, LA's once
politically conscious musicians
1234
01:23:29,867 --> 01:23:32,238
were consumed by cynicism,
1235
01:23:32,273 --> 01:23:37,113
a mood fuelled by a substance that
had replaced marijuana and acid
1236
01:23:37,148 --> 01:23:38,677
as Hollywood's drug of choice.
1237
01:23:38,712 --> 01:23:44,552
One of its earliest advocates and
biggest casualties was David Crosby.
1238
01:23:44,587 --> 01:23:50,638
David had bowls of it,
big wooden bowls of cocaine,
1239
01:23:50,673 --> 01:23:53,832
and he walked around stark naked,
with his pudgy little belly,
1240
01:23:53,867 --> 01:23:56,838
and it was different. It felt OK.
1241
01:23:56,873 --> 01:24:00,973
It felt all right in, like,
'69, '70.
1242
01:24:01,008 --> 01:24:05,073
It just...
slowly got pretty awful.
1243
01:24:05,108 --> 01:24:07,630
# You take Sally
1244
01:24:07,665 --> 01:24:10,117
# And I'll take Sue
1245
01:24:10,152 --> 01:24:13,153
# There ain't no difference
between the two
1246
01:24:13,188 --> 01:24:14,753
# Cocaine
1247
01:24:15,912 --> 01:24:18,152
# Running all round my brain... #
1248
01:24:19,473 --> 01:24:23,913
When we started doing cocaine
and heroin and speed,
1249
01:24:23,948 --> 01:24:25,512
as a generation...
1250
01:24:28,552 --> 01:24:34,512
..that essentially degraded
the original spirit that we had
1251
01:24:34,547 --> 01:24:37,593
in that group of people,
in California,
1252
01:24:37,628 --> 01:24:40,450
to a very low level...
1253
01:24:40,485 --> 01:24:43,237
# Mama, come here quick
1254
01:24:43,272 --> 01:24:47,793
# That old cocaine's 'bout to
make me sick
1255
01:24:47,828 --> 01:24:49,637
# Cocaine... #
1256
01:24:49,672 --> 01:24:53,953
..and the shift from one to
the other was a palpable thing.
1257
01:24:53,988 --> 01:24:56,112
You could feel it.
1258
01:24:57,432 --> 01:25:00,873
More greed, more anger,
more craziness,
1259
01:25:00,908 --> 01:25:02,352
more...
1260
01:25:03,633 --> 01:25:06,037
..darkness.
1261
01:25:06,072 --> 01:25:09,072
MUSIC: "Hotel California"
by the Eagles
1262
01:25:17,073 --> 01:25:19,278
In less than a decade,
1263
01:25:19,313 --> 01:25:24,672
collective optimism had given way to
a ruthlessly self-centred culture
1264
01:25:24,707 --> 01:25:29,633
and, in 1976, with an honesty
typical of LA's singer-songwriters,
1265
01:25:29,668 --> 01:25:33,238
the Eagles captured the mood with
an acerbic tribute
1266
01:25:33,273 --> 01:25:38,873
to a city whose appeal had proved
seductive long before the '70s.
1267
01:25:40,793 --> 01:25:43,813
The whole vision of
Hotel California -
1268
01:25:43,848 --> 01:25:46,798
finally,
the Pilgrims come to Paradise,
1269
01:25:46,833 --> 01:25:50,632
only to find a seedy broken-down
hotel on a boring ocean,
1270
01:25:50,667 --> 01:25:54,312
where people are all
thinking about suicide -
1271
01:25:54,347 --> 01:25:57,273
this is a fairly consistent vision.
1272
01:25:57,308 --> 01:26:00,512
# On a dark desert highway
1273
01:26:01,713 --> 01:26:03,652
# Cool wind in my hair... #
1274
01:26:03,687 --> 01:26:05,557
Remember, in the 1940s,
1275
01:26:05,592 --> 01:26:11,193
all the great stars, and half of
Bloomsbury, were in Los Angeles,
1276
01:26:11,228 --> 01:26:15,198
along with a whole generation of
American writers,
1277
01:26:15,233 --> 01:26:18,273
and they ended up rehearsing
every possible form of despair
and alienation,
1278
01:26:18,308 --> 01:26:20,570
every kind of delight and euphoria.
1279
01:26:20,605 --> 01:26:22,798
#..I had to stop for the night... #
1280
01:26:22,833 --> 01:26:26,393
Everybody can find
some part of Los Angeles
1281
01:26:26,428 --> 01:26:29,953
that can be the bearer
either of their dreams
1282
01:26:29,988 --> 01:26:31,518
or their nightmares.
1283
01:26:31,553 --> 01:26:33,277
#..I was thinking to myself
1284
01:26:33,312 --> 01:26:36,598
# This could be heaven
or this could be hell... #
1285
01:26:36,633 --> 01:26:41,232
So, in a way, the emotional landscape
that the rock generation lived in
1286
01:26:41,267 --> 01:26:46,638
was repeating what the writers
had gone through in the 1920s,
1287
01:26:46,673 --> 01:26:49,833
veering back and forth
between the land of sunshine
and the land de noir.
1288
01:26:49,868 --> 01:26:53,677
#..Welcome to the
Hotel California... #
1289
01:26:53,712 --> 01:26:58,272
The Eagles had evolved from
a generation of artists
1290
01:26:58,307 --> 01:27:02,797
whose determination to succeed
had brought them to LA,
1291
01:27:02,832 --> 01:27:10,193
and in the same year as
Hotel California, that ambition
reached its ultimate peak
1292
01:27:10,228 --> 01:27:12,277
when the Eagles released
another record
1293
01:27:12,312 --> 01:27:17,152
that marked the commercial climax
of a ten-year journey.
1294
01:27:18,073 --> 01:27:23,112
People always put out the
greatest hits albums
when the bands are in decline.
1295
01:27:23,147 --> 01:27:26,593
I wanted to put it out when they
were at their absolute peak.
1296
01:27:26,628 --> 01:27:30,078
That album is the
biggest-selling album of all time.
1297
01:27:30,113 --> 01:27:35,672
The sales of the Eagles'
greatest hits prompted the
invention of the platinum record.
1298
01:27:35,707 --> 01:27:40,312
It was the first in a long line
of multi-million-selling albums
1299
01:27:40,347 --> 01:27:43,758
commercially and musically inspired
by Los Angeles.
1300
01:27:43,793 --> 01:27:48,192
And it marked the end of a journey
in which the collective ambition
1301
01:27:48,227 --> 01:27:50,877
of a tight-knit
community of troubadours
1302
01:27:50,912 --> 01:27:56,153
had turned LA into the corporate
capital of the music world.
1303
01:27:57,352 --> 01:27:59,553
Don't miss it. Don't miss it.
1304
01:28:18,432 --> 01:28:21,873
# The King is gone
but he's not forgotten
1305
01:28:25,072 --> 01:28:29,192
# This is the story of
a Johnny Rotten
1306
01:28:33,072 --> 01:28:36,752
# It's better to burn out
1307
01:28:36,787 --> 01:28:39,113
# Than it is to rust
1308
01:28:41,152 --> 01:28:44,632
# He is gone
but he's not forgotten... #
1309
01:28:44,667 --> 01:28:48,113
Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd - 2007
108001
Can't find what you're looking for?
Get subtitles in any language from opensubtitles.com, and translate them here.