From left: John Belushi, Meat Loaf, Steve Popovich and singer Karla DeVito
The record industry isn't exactly known for fostering integrity among its executives. Perhaps Hunter S. Thompson put it best: “The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side.”
But the late Steve Popovich, who died in June 2011 in Murfreesboro, was that rare record exec who cared more about artistry than dollar signs, and fought for what he believed in. At one time or another he was a VP at Columbia, Epic and Polygram Nashville, and he founded Cleveland International Records, where he put out an album called Bat Out of Hell by a guy named Meat Loaf — an artist no one else in the record industry wanted anything to do with. You know the rest of the story.
Well, most of the story, anyway. On May 5, Vintage Books/Random House will release of a new, expanded edition of Hit Men, Frederic Dannen's 1990 exposé of the seedy underbelly of the record industry. And this week, Billboard published this excerpt, titled "The Brutal 35-Year War Between Sony, Stephen Popovich and Meat Loaf." It's a fascinating look at the intrigue and legal turmoil behind Bat Out of Hell, involving several notorious characters, and it portrays Popovich as a man who wouldn't back down when Sony Music tried to reap the rewards of his hard work.
Here's an excerpt, with Meat Loaf recalling the struggle to get the record made:
One of the cruelest rejections came from Clive Davis, then president/CEO of Arista. Meat Loaf recalled what happened when he and Steinman tried to audition the songs in Davis' office, with [Jim] Steinman at the piano. "We sing maybe two songs; that's as far as we get and [Davis is] already shaking his head. 'What are you two doing?' He turns to me and he says, 'You're an actor. Actors don't make records. You're like Ethel Merman …'"He turns to Steinman and says, 'Do you know how to write a song?' " Meat Loaf wrote. "And then he starts really laying into Jim, 'Have you ever listened to pop music? Have you ever heard any rock'n'roll music? … You should go downstairs when you leave here … and buy some rock'n'roll records…' "
Popovich's son, Steve Popovich Jr., who figures prominently in the story, lives in Murfreesboro and works in various aspects of the music business.
The whole tale is pretty damn fascinating. Read it here.
