{"id":973842,"date":"2019-12-03T11:13:35","date_gmt":"2019-12-03T18:13:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/?p=921230"},"modified":"2019-12-03T11:13:35","modified_gmt":"2019-12-03T18:13:35","slug":"that-time-joe-smith-sent-the-grateful-dead-a-letter-complaining-about-their-work-ethic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kfmu\/music-news\/that-time-joe-smith-sent-the-grateful-dead-a-letter-complaining-about-their-work-ethic\/","title":{"rendered":"That Time Joe Smith Sent the Grateful Dead a Letter Complaining About Their Work Ethic"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Music industry legend Joe Smith<\/a> was, to say the least, a hands-on guy. He wrote the Grateful Dead<\/a> a letter complaining about their work ethic. He sent the Eagles a rhyming dictionary so the extremely particular band could finally finish The Long Run<\/em>. He also had to cope with Van Morrison\u2019s temper, James Taylor\u2019s intense shyness and all manner of artist tantrums. Smith died<\/a> Monday at the age of 91, leaving a legacy of not only forging legendary record deals, but dealing with legendary egos.<\/p>\n

Smith worked his way up from promo man to president of Warner Brothers Records before becoming chairman of Elektra\/Asylum in 1975 and, later, president of Capitol-EMI in 1987. Some of his most colorful adventures were with the Grateful Dead, with whom he had a like-hate relationship \u2014 from the time he signed them to Warner Brothers in 1967 (when he was a vice president before his 1972 promotion to head) until they left the label in 1972.<\/p>\n

In 2012, I interviewed Smith about his time with the band for my Dead biography, So Many Roads<\/em>. Here\u2019s the longer, unedited version of that conversation.<\/p>\n

As an A&R man at Warner Brothers \u2014 which was known more for mainstream pop than rock in 1967 \u2014 what made you interested in the Dead?<\/strong>
Our record company [signed] Frank Sinatra and acts like that. We hadn\u2019t broken through into that new world, which wasn\u2019t broken through by anyone in any major way. We had to shift our focus, sign noisy bands and things like that.<\/p>\n

San Francisco appeared to be very hot. The Airplane had been the only band that busted through. I zeroed in on the Grateful Dead, for what reason I don\u2019t know. I\u2019d heard some demos and things like that. I knew what a spell they could cast up there and that\u2019s what we wanted to get involved with more than the music \u2014 the whole Grateful Dead thing.<\/p>\n

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Popular on Rolling Stone <\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

So we went up to San Francisco. [Influential local DJ] Tom Donahue was an amazing character, very charismatic. He was going to arrange something. I\u2019d never talked to the band or their lawyer.<\/p>\n

My wife and I were having dinner at Ernie\u2019s restaurant and Tom called and we went over to the Avalon Ballroom and it was a scene. No one my age had ever seen anything like that. People with painted bodies lying on the floor and smoking. And the light shows. And the band doing one of their 40-minute drone sets. It was kind of startling.<\/p>\n

Someone asked my wife to dance and I said, \u201cOh, no no no.\u201d<\/em> I sat her down with a security guy and went over to the table with the guys.<\/p>\n

They were so suspicious of anybody in the business world and I was wearing a Bank of America suit with a white shirt and tie. I\u2019d just been to a good restaurant. My wife was in pearls. We were out of place, but I could communicate with these guys. I\u2019d dealt with gangsters and crazy people up in Boston [where Smith first worked in the music business], so nothing could throw me.<\/p>\n

I said, \u201cLook, I can\u2019t say we\u2019ve been breaking through with this music. It\u2019s a major change in what\u2019s happening in music and it would be a major change at Warners. We\u2019ll have a marketing person and all that.\u201d<\/p>\n

And they bought it. So the adventure began!<\/p>\n

Legend has it that their contract included unlimited studio time.<\/strong>
Creative control was the hallmark of Warner Brothers. They knew Mo [Ostin] and I would not get involved in things like picking a single. So creative freedom was not a problem. And unlimited studio time wasn\u2019t a problem for their first album [1967\u2019s Grateful Dead<\/em>].<\/p>\n

But the name \u201cGrateful Dead\u201d terrified a lot of people in the office. They said, \u201cWhoa! Sounds like a spooky outfit.\u201d<\/p>\n

Did you socialize with the Dead?<\/strong>
I used to go up to their house in Haight-Ashbury. Owsley and all these women nursing children. That was a long way from my consciousness. I went to Yale, for Christ\u2019s sake.<\/p>\n

Was the band\u2019s drug use a concern to you?<\/strong>
No. It was the culture of San Francisco. I was in the Army and went to college. I said, \u201cNow, this is the way it is \u2014 accept it.\u201d I didn\u2019t want to get involved with it.<\/p>\n

It was a funny relationship. They always said I would never understand their music until I dropped some acid. And I said, \u201cNo! I will not eat or breathe around you!\u201d<\/p>\n

They were playing a club in New York on one of those 80-below-zero nights. After I went to dinner I went to the show and it was freezing and they were on a break, and Pigpen said, \u201cLet me get you some coffee.\u201d<\/p>\n

I said, \u201cNo, I\u2019ll get my own coffee.\u201d<\/p>\n

They once asked me, \u201cWhy don\u2019t you invite us to your house?\u201d<\/p>\n

I said, \u201cI don\u2019t want you on my street!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

We weren\u2019t best friends but we established a relationship. Garcia was a sensible, gentle guy. Bobby Weir, too. But I was dealing with lunatics, you have to understand. They drifted in and out of reality depending on the amount of acid they dropped at the time.<\/p>\n

It was, \u201cWe don\u2019t want ads.\u201d They wanted us to go up to [Golden Gate Park] and give out apples to the crowd. That was going to be the promotion.<\/p>\n

What do you recall of the problematic making of their second album, Anthem of the Sun<\/em>?<\/strong>
They made the first album. I wasn\u2019t thrilled with it. I said, \u201cWhatever\u2019s going on there isn\u2019t coming out on the record, so we\u2019ll do another one.\u201d<\/p>\n

They wanted Dave Hassinger to produce because he had worked with the Stones. [The experience] was terrible. They were so undisciplined.<\/p>\n

You\u2019re in the studio and the clock\u2019s running. If you want to do this at home, go home and fuck around. But don\u2019t do this at a recording session with all the equipment and engineers. Hassinger called me. I was in touch with him all the way. He was unhappy.<\/p>\n

They said, \u201cWe\u2019ll go to L.A. on a smoggy day and record 30 minutes of desert air and that will be the rhythm track.\u201d<\/p>\n

What?! They\u2019re all looking at me and I\u2019m said, \u201cThe union won\u2019t let that happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

During those sessions, you wrote a notorious letter to the band in which you chastised them and particularly singled out Phil Lesh: \u201cIt\u2019s apparent that nobody in your organization has enough influence over Phil Lesh to evoke anything resembling normal behavior.\u201d <\/strong>
He was so negative about everything. When I went to meet with the band, he tells me he was very sensitive. I had 60 artists to deal with. I had Frank Sinatra. I couldn\u2019t waste all that time with Phil Lesh!<\/p>\n

I wrote a letter saying \u201cYou guys are not welcome in my studio and you\u2019ve burned all your bridges in New York. So what\u2019s the story? This is not a game. Why are you screwing around?\u201d<\/p>\n

They sent the letter back with \u201cFuck You\u201d written on it. How did that make you feel?<\/strong>
I didn\u2019t give a shit. It was the first time I\u2019d ever written a letter like that to anyone. But they annoyed me so much. I\u2019m seeing them sell out arenas. Why can\u2019t I get something on tape that would carry through with that?<\/p>\n

Peter, Paul and Mary and Fleetwood Mac were difficult, but they knew they had to take care of business in the end.<\/p>\n

[In his memoir Searching for the Sound<\/em>, Lesh responded: \u201cThe right to unlimited studio time and artistic control were written into our contract, however; no matter how many phone calls and nasty letters we received, nothing was going to make us move any faster than was necessary to understand and control how our music was manipulated in the studio.\u201d]<\/p>\n

Did you ever consider dropping them?<\/strong>
Never.<\/p>\n

They ran out of money making the third album, Aoxomoxoa<\/em>, spending more than $180,00. Their managers at the time visited your office for more cash<\/strong>.
I was seething<\/em>. Frank would make six albums on what they spent. I said, \u201cYou sons of bitches, you\u2019re supposed to be able to control what\u2019s going on up there! Get out of my office!\u201d I chased them down the street. I said, \u201cDon\u2019t come back here!\u201d I was feisty.<\/p>\n

I realized they were different, but you got to get on the radio. We had no other methods. We had no MTV or anything else. The only exposure was on radio. The radio wasn\u2019t going to play a 10-minute cut.<\/p>\n

I said, \u201cIs it possible for you to play anything under five minutes? It would help if you could hum any<\/em> melody.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s when they did Workingman\u2019s Dead.<\/em> I had been on their back. That\u2019s when they came to my office and played it: \u201cHere<\/em> \u2014 what do you think?\u201d They wanted to prove they could do it.<\/p>\n

I was so pumped that I jumped up. I said, \u201cWow, you did it!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cUncle John\u2019s Band.\u201d \u201cCasey Jones.\u201d I love that song. One of my favorite songs of any genre is \u201cRipple.\u201d It\u2019s such a beautiful melody and Garcia\u2019s voice was so right for it. To me there were other bands that were better, but they had charisma and a reputation.<\/p>\n

Did you edit out the \u201cgoddamn\u201d in \u201cUncle John\u2019s Band\u201d when it was a single?<\/strong>
I guess we did. People were a lot more sensitive during that period.<\/p>\n

You also had to deal with Lenny Hart, Mickey\u2019s dad, when he was managing and then embezzling from them. <\/strong>
He was a con man and a hustler. He had the contract and I had the money. It was around $75,000, I think.<\/p>\n

Six months later I\u2019m with the band and they said, \u201cYou fucked us good. We got no money!\u201d<\/p>\n

When they sued Lenny, I was sitting outside the courtroom and I said, \u201cHow could you do that?\u201d<\/p>\n

He said, \u201cThe Lord has forgiven you. I hope the boys will.\u201d<\/p>\n

I said, \u201cThe Lord didn\u2019t lose 75 big ones.\u201d<\/p>\n

You were also working with them when they were busted in New Orleans in 1970.<\/strong>
I get a call that they were busted and their instruments were taken and they were all going to jail. I called Jim Garrison. He was the DA. I said, \u201cMr. Garrison, my name is Joe Smith and I\u2019m with Warner Brothers Records and we admire the way you administer the law in your parish. We wish we had that kind of thing in California. We\u2019d like to make a contribution to your re-election campaign fund.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said, \u201cThat\u2019s wonderful, Mr. Smith. What do you have in mind?\u201d<\/p>\n

I said, \u201c$50,000.\u201d His whole campaign probably cost $100,000.<\/p>\n

He said, \u201cThank you very much.\u201d<\/p>\n

I said, \u201cAnd by the way, you\u2019ve got some of my guys in your prison. And their instruments. They mean no harm. They\u2019re not a danger. I promise they won\u2019t come back. Just let them out of there.\u201d It helped him make that decision.<\/p>\n

Was that legal?<\/strong>
Of course not! And I love the song [sings a bit of \u201cTruckin\u2019\u201d].<\/p>\n

Talk about the infamous band meeting, complete with family and employees, when they announced they wanted to call their 1971 live album Skull Fuck<\/em>.<\/strong>
I said, \u201cYou worked so hard and you\u2019ve been out there and if we call it that, we\u2019ll only sell it in headshops and we won\u2019t get paid for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

I called retailers and the district attorney and they said, \u201carrests,\u201d and all this. I\u2019m there in the meeting and it\u2019s three of us against 500 of them.<\/p>\n

I was going to need a throat operation; I had nodes on my vocal cords. I didn\u2019t want to be talking with them for a long time. That\u2019s when I mentioned the retailers. And they agreed to let us call it Grateful Dead<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Another time they were on my case because I was going to Washington to testify about bootlegs. Garcia said, \u201cWhy are you getting so excited about that?\u201d<\/p>\n

We were at the Palladium in Hollywood and we went outside and saw five bootleg Dead albums. I said, \u201cYou\u2019re getting zero!\u201d They went crazy. They\u2019d never seen it like that. The guys had booths<\/em>.<\/p>\n

What did you make of Pigpen?<\/strong>
He was very enigmatic. A quiet guy. Nice young man. Very sincere. We had a couple of talks but I didn\u2019t know him well. I went to his funeral. I mostly dealt with Garcia, Lesh and Weir and later Mickey. We financed something for Mickey with all his percussion people. I said, \u201cYou can\u2019t dance to that, Mickey!\u201d<\/p>\n

They wound up leaving Warner in 1972.<\/strong>
They were not happy. They\u2019re never<\/em> happy. All of a sudden [at a meeting] you\u2019d hear a voice from someone sitting there: \u201cThere were no records in the store in Albany. My aunt lives there.\u201d<\/p>\n

They hated everybody. They hated me a little less. I never thought they loved me. I was the bad guy because I was from the company.<\/p>\n

We\u2019d run our course with them. They didn\u2019t want anything to do with us. They didn\u2019t want anything to do with anybody. [The band left to start its own short-lived label, Grateful Dead Records.] I made no effort to hold onto them. If James Taylor had said that, I\u2019d fight like crazy. But the Dead weren\u2019t that important to us, other than they\u2019d helped our image.<\/p>\n

To me, they were one of the two or three most important signings in all those years. It changed the nature and the opinion of the record company. We were out in front. We had the Fugs and Joni Mitchell and people like that. We became hip<\/em>. Whatever the word for \u201chip\u201d was.<\/p>\n

via:: Rolling Stone<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Music industry legend Joe Smith was, to say the least, a hands-on guy. He wrote the Grateful Dead a letter complaining about their work ethic. He sent the Eagles a rhyming dictionary so the extremely particular band could finally finish The Long Run. He also had to cope with Van Morrison\u2019s temper, James Taylor\u2019s intense […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[76],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-973842","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-music-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-14 08:08:55","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KFMU Solar Powered Radio","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kfmu","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kfmu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/973842","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kfmu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kfmu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kfmu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kfmu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=973842"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kfmu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/973842\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kfmu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=973842"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kfmu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=973842"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kfmu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=973842"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}