Andrew Loog Oldham, who is best known for being the Rolling Stones' manager from 1963 to 1967, is getting inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
in a ceremony that will take place on April 10, 2014, at Barclays
Center in New York City's Brooklyn borough. But Oldham say that he's
boycotting the ceremony because he feels disrespected by how his
induction is being handled. In an emailed statement published by the Los Angeles Times on April 7, 2014, Oldham explained why he's snubbing the ceremony.
In 2014, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ceremony is once again open to the public through ticket sales. HBO will premiere an edited version of the show on May 31, 2014.
The other Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees in 2014 are Kiss, Nirvana, Cat Stevens, Daryl Hall and John Oates, Linda Ronstadt, Peter Gabriel, the E Street Band and Brian Epstein, who was the Beatles' manager until his death in 1967.
Oldham and the late Epstein are getting the Ahmet Ertegun Award (for non-performers), while the E Street Band (Bruce Springsteen's band) will be given the Award for Musical Excellence (formerly known as the Sidemen category). The other inductees are part of the Performers category.
Peter Asher, a music producer and personal manager, will give the speech to induct Oldham and Epstein. Asher has a stronger connection to the Beatles than he does to the Rolling Stones, since he used to be part of the 1960s pop duo Peter & Gordon, which had a few hits written by Beatles members Paul McCartney and John Lennon. Asher later became the head of A&R of the Beatles' Apple Records in the company's early years. McCartney also used to date Peter Asher's sister Jane for a few years in the 1960s.
Here is Oldham's statement to the Los Angeles Times about why he's boycotting his induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame:
In reality, the Rolling Stones and the Beatles were friendly rivals, with members of both groups sometimes working together. And as many tell-all books and articles have revealed, the Beatles behind the scenes were not as "squeaky clean" as their image.
Oldham, who produced many of the Rolling Stones' early recordings, was fired by the band over musical differences and conflicts over the Rolling Stones' career plans. The Rolling Stones then hired Allen Klein as their manager, and they would later battle with Klein for years over legal and financial issues. Klein's ABKCO company owns most of the copyrights of Rolling Stones songs from 1960s and early 1970s. Klein (who died in 2009) replaced Epstein as the Beatles' manager until the Beatles broke up in 1970. The Beatles would also battle with Klein over legal and financial issues.
Oldham has written several books, including memoirs about his time with the Rolling Stones and other experiences he's had in the music business.
In 2014, he won a Grammy Award for Best Historical Album for being a producer of the Rolling Stones box set "Charlie Is My Darling - Ireland 1965," the soundtrack to the documentary film of the same title. Oldham is also a producer of the movie.
In 2012, Oldham did numerous promotions for "Charlie Is My Darling - Ireland 1965," including attending the movie's premiere at the New York Film Festival and doing a Q&A conducted by Dave Grohl on DirecTV's Audience Network "Something to Talk About" series.
"The Charlie Is My Darling" soundtrack, DVD, Blu-ray and deluxe box set were released by ABKCO on Nov. 6, 2012.
In an October 2012 Q&A in New York City following a screening of "Charlie Is My Darling - Ireland 1965," Oldham said that if he were still the manager of the Rolling Stones, he would have advise them to have an on-stage hologram of the late Brian Jones (who died in 1969) as part of the Rolling Stones' 50th anniversary tour. Oldham also said that former Rolling Stones bassist Bill Wyman and former Rolling Stones guitarist Mick Taylor should be part of the tour.
Oldham said, "My advice? Try and get Bill Wyman to join you. Get a hologram ... so you can zoom Brian [Jones] in there. Mick Taylor can probably get there himself. Brian, for sure [on the tour]. Right?
"And then go to America, play one album, get comfortable, do the show ... play the cities, do an album for a week. It would be a bit of history, as opposed to, oh you know, 'Here we are. You're in walkers; we're not yet.' I think it could be 'nail it to the floor of America.' Bill and Brian are the essence of it."
Wyman was an on-stage guest at the Rolling Stones' 50th anniversary concerts in London in 2012, but Wyman later complained to the media that he wasn't given enough songs to play at the anniversary shows, so it is very unlikely that he will be invited to perform with the Rolling Stones again anytime soon. Taylor, however, has been a guest on all of the Rolling Stones' "50 and Counting" anniversary concerts in 2012 and 2013, and it has been announced that Taylor will continue to be a guest on the Rolling Stones "14 on Fire" tour in 2014. The Rolling Stones wisely steered clear of the idea to have Jones as a hologram.
The Rolling Stones were inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989. Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood, who was in the Faces before he joined the Rolling Stones, was inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Faces in 2012.
Artists eligible for induction in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame are required to have released their first recording at least 25 years before the induction ceremony. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has made an effort to make the annual induction ceremony more inclusive to the general public, including televising the ceremony, opening up the voting to the public, moving the ceremony from a hotel to an arena, and selling tickets to the ceremony to the public instead of it being an invitation-only event.
In 2014, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ceremony is once again open to the public through ticket sales. HBO will premiere an edited version of the show on May 31, 2014.
The other Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees in 2014 are Kiss, Nirvana, Cat Stevens, Daryl Hall and John Oates, Linda Ronstadt, Peter Gabriel, the E Street Band and Brian Epstein, who was the Beatles' manager until his death in 1967.
Oldham and the late Epstein are getting the Ahmet Ertegun Award (for non-performers), while the E Street Band (Bruce Springsteen's band) will be given the Award for Musical Excellence (formerly known as the Sidemen category). The other inductees are part of the Performers category.
Peter Asher, a music producer and personal manager, will give the speech to induct Oldham and Epstein. Asher has a stronger connection to the Beatles than he does to the Rolling Stones, since he used to be part of the 1960s pop duo Peter & Gordon, which had a few hits written by Beatles members Paul McCartney and John Lennon. Asher later became the head of A&R of the Beatles' Apple Records in the company's early years. McCartney also used to date Peter Asher's sister Jane for a few years in the 1960s.
Here is Oldham's statement to the Los Angeles Times about why he's boycotting his induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame:
“I do feel, as much as I was initially [pleased] to be inducted, that with what the HoF/HBO has become that any manager/producer inducted, if he is not allowed to have pertinent music related to his career played — as both Quincy Jones and Lou Adler had last year — then he is reduced to appearing like those accountants who appear at the Oscars, Grammys, or Tonys to assure us that nothing was rigged. Both Brian and I did dreams — the acts did the business.Oldham is credited with creating the PR image that the Rolling Stones had in the 1960s of being the "anti-Beatles" and for coining the phrase "Would you let your daughter marry a Rolling Stone?" The idea was to present the Rolling Stones as the more rebellious, "cooler" alternative to the Beatles, who had an image that was more obedient and clean-cut.
“Whether Peter Asher is appropriate or not to induct me is beside the point. I found it uninvitational to be told by a HoF lady worker that Peter would be inducting BOTH myself and Brian Epstein. I know from my inter-reactions with previous inductees that ... there has always been some spirit of discussion as to securing an appropriate, connected party to handle such a personal moment.
"[My] concern [was] that, whilst without Brian Epstein securing a recording contract for the Beatles none of us would be having this conversation, by having both Brian (whom I worked for doing PR for the Beatles until I met the Rolling Stones) and myself squeezed into one ‘British Invasion managers class of '64’ segment, that would seem to be failing to address the reason we are being inducted: our artists.
“I think the honor is in the work and … so with all these factors….. no input, no discussion, just an attitude of ‘show up, smile, read your speech and enjoy the evening,’ … I decided it was not for me and at the beginning of last month I wrote the HoF that I would not be attending.
“I did not go into detail, I just said ‘due to circumstances...’ . They just wrote back and asked for an address to send the trophy. It is a long way from the Waldorf-Astoria [hotel in New York, where the induction ceremonies began in 1986] and I do understand that the HoF has to dance to a new beat to survive but it's hardly rock 'n’ roll. Who knows? Maybe they also forgot to tell me that Susan Boyle is flying in to sing ‘Wild Horses.'"
In reality, the Rolling Stones and the Beatles were friendly rivals, with members of both groups sometimes working together. And as many tell-all books and articles have revealed, the Beatles behind the scenes were not as "squeaky clean" as their image.
Oldham, who produced many of the Rolling Stones' early recordings, was fired by the band over musical differences and conflicts over the Rolling Stones' career plans. The Rolling Stones then hired Allen Klein as their manager, and they would later battle with Klein for years over legal and financial issues. Klein's ABKCO company owns most of the copyrights of Rolling Stones songs from 1960s and early 1970s. Klein (who died in 2009) replaced Epstein as the Beatles' manager until the Beatles broke up in 1970. The Beatles would also battle with Klein over legal and financial issues.
Oldham has written several books, including memoirs about his time with the Rolling Stones and other experiences he's had in the music business.
In 2014, he won a Grammy Award for Best Historical Album for being a producer of the Rolling Stones box set "Charlie Is My Darling - Ireland 1965," the soundtrack to the documentary film of the same title. Oldham is also a producer of the movie.
In 2012, Oldham did numerous promotions for "Charlie Is My Darling - Ireland 1965," including attending the movie's premiere at the New York Film Festival and doing a Q&A conducted by Dave Grohl on DirecTV's Audience Network "Something to Talk About" series.
"The Charlie Is My Darling" soundtrack, DVD, Blu-ray and deluxe box set were released by ABKCO on Nov. 6, 2012.
In an October 2012 Q&A in New York City following a screening of "Charlie Is My Darling - Ireland 1965," Oldham said that if he were still the manager of the Rolling Stones, he would have advise them to have an on-stage hologram of the late Brian Jones (who died in 1969) as part of the Rolling Stones' 50th anniversary tour. Oldham also said that former Rolling Stones bassist Bill Wyman and former Rolling Stones guitarist Mick Taylor should be part of the tour.
Oldham said, "My advice? Try and get Bill Wyman to join you. Get a hologram ... so you can zoom Brian [Jones] in there. Mick Taylor can probably get there himself. Brian, for sure [on the tour]. Right?
"And then go to America, play one album, get comfortable, do the show ... play the cities, do an album for a week. It would be a bit of history, as opposed to, oh you know, 'Here we are. You're in walkers; we're not yet.' I think it could be 'nail it to the floor of America.' Bill and Brian are the essence of it."
Wyman was an on-stage guest at the Rolling Stones' 50th anniversary concerts in London in 2012, but Wyman later complained to the media that he wasn't given enough songs to play at the anniversary shows, so it is very unlikely that he will be invited to perform with the Rolling Stones again anytime soon. Taylor, however, has been a guest on all of the Rolling Stones' "50 and Counting" anniversary concerts in 2012 and 2013, and it has been announced that Taylor will continue to be a guest on the Rolling Stones "14 on Fire" tour in 2014. The Rolling Stones wisely steered clear of the idea to have Jones as a hologram.
The Rolling Stones were inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989. Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood, who was in the Faces before he joined the Rolling Stones, was inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Faces in 2012.
Artists eligible for induction in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame are required to have released their first recording at least 25 years before the induction ceremony. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has made an effort to make the annual induction ceremony more inclusive to the general public, including televising the ceremony, opening up the voting to the public, moving the ceremony from a hotel to an arena, and selling tickets to the ceremony to the public instead of it being an invitation-only event.
