5 Questions with Andrew Loog Oldham, Ex-Rolling Stones Manager & Rock'n'Roll Pioneer
"Every generation finds a way to escape from the 9 to 5 suppression. "
I was ten years old when JFK was killed and the Beatles came to America. I was 14 when psychedelia came around. I was on the cusp of 15 when Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated and the cities burned, when Bobby Kennedy was cut down and we glimpsed the skull beneath the skin of contemporary history. I watched the possibility of hope rise in the west, over San Francisco and Berkeley and Los Angeles. I saw it set in the east, behind New York and Chicago and Washington. I know I’m not the only one who thinks about the sixties as chaos descends today.
One of the seminal figures of that era was Andrew Loog Oldham, who became manager of the Rolling Stones in 1963, at the age of 19. Memories are malleable, but it’s clear that Andrew can be credited with encouraging Jagger and Richards to write songs, which is a huge deal in itself. He’s also known for crafting the band’s roughish image to contrast it with that of the then-wholesome Beatles (who, in real life, were pretty probably rough themselves). He’s the author of two highly readable books about those years, and has a podcast as well.
I remember examining our early Rolling Stones albums like an archaeologist, trying to excavate a life better than the one I was living. The songwriters in the credits (M. Morganfield, for example) held clues. So did that rather exotic-sounding (to me) name, “Andrew Loog Oldham.” Oldham, who now lives in South America, was kind enough to answer five questions by email. Here are the questions and his replies.
Rock and roll (and music in general) used to drive youth culture in a way it doesn’t seem to anymore. If you agree, do you have any sense why that is?
Drugs – a great impact on our society for better and worse. I am one of the addicted brethren, so first I took the drugs and then they took me. The 97% of the population who do not graduate to excess fare better .... seemingly.
When I worked as a doorman in jazz clubs in 1960 there were two types of musicians: those who didn't (use) and those who did. At the same time homosexuality was against the law and prejudice was ripe, so to be a gay Jewish junkie was not the most productive club to be in. That's the world we were born into. Those were the foibles of the day.
The music was mostly naff [1] until America invaded: skiffle, trad jazz, all the safe music that was bestowed upon our withering selves. Drugs had not yet come into the global picture, neither had our music gone global when our gang of youth started making records.
Naff acts with brylcreemed hair, cheap crucifixes, manufactured wimpy versions of wimpy white American copies of great music by the likes of Little Richard, Fats Domino, Buddy Holly and early Elvis.
The money was not in records, it was on the road, much as it is today. Great live bands of the day had their time in the trenches getting as good as playing to 3 people as to 300 or 30,000. The world of factor X means you just get good at one song, you are taught the tricks to get you through that one song. Surely that's not dissimilar from where we all came in?
Music was the hope and the drug, until later it took centre stage along with expanded radio formats, birth control pills, disposable income, opinions, CND, long play records as the sales tool, and the idea that we would change the world.
Got any favorite young bands or performers?
Tom Misch, C. Tangana.
What would you say to a brilliant young musician starting today?
Write as much as you can before the shit starts to happen, coz you will never write the same away again from a penthouse.
Remember that great songs are not written, they are received. You are the conduit, the vessel. You have been blessed by original thought. Embrace that blessing and keep your feet on the street.
Do you follow politics? If so, what are some key issues that concern you?
I do, but I have never voted in any of the countries in which I’ve been able to. I think that you are already compromised if you are allowed to run. We have the same say in the goings on of today as we do in the will of the river.
Why don’t people seem to have as much fun anymore as we did back then? Is there a party still going on somewhere and I’m just not invited?
Before us it was sheetmusic, pianos in pubs, singalongs. Every generation finds a way to escape from the 9 to 5 suppression. Perhaps we have not been invited ..... perhaps we have had our share .... I don't like your question as it is based in a negative. I prefer the get on with it, get over it approach.
Those were the five questions. Once I got his replies I emailed back,
“I accept your chastisement over question 5 and negativity. Didn't mean it negatively! I'm not feeling left out of anything personally. I had my share and more of parties and what comes with them -- like you, I took them until they took me, enough that I gave up rec. drugs and alcohol completely a while back … What I really feel the absence of is joy. People are trying to change the world today, too, but you can't do that for very long without joy. Perhaps I should have used ‘celebration’ or some such word, but I've asked and you've answered so let the record stand.”
His reply, in full:
“Inner joy.”
[1] Definition, for those who don’t know: British, informal, meaning lacking in style or good taste.
Hm. I remember it as wanting to change the world and reinvent Lawrence of Arabia. My "naff."
Thank you so much for sharing both his insight as well as his. Andrew is quite the character and his advice for songwriting is spot on.