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This month marks the third anniversary of legendary record producer Phil Spector, famous for his "wall of sound" recording technique, getting sentenced to prison for the murder of a Hollywood starlet.
Not much is known about the Hollywood starlet except, by dint of being a Hollywood starlet, we can safely assume she wasn’t into labels.
Unlike me, who is. Here’s one: MURDERER!
If Spector ever said to me, "Gee, I don’t wanna go to prison for the rest of my life," I’d say, "Oh, really? I see. Well, isn’t that interesting? Ooookaaaay. Well, I guess the question I would want to put to you, Mr. ‘I think I’ll murder’ is this: Why didn’t you think about that when you were murdering? Hmmmm? Hmmmm? I can’t HEEEEAR you! Hello? Earth to murderer! Come in, please!"
I guess cutting a couple hit records gives you the right to go around killing whomever you want. I guess I didn’t get that memo.
Crowned "a genius" by a handful of issues-laden "rock scribes" at Rolling Stone magazine who tend to obsess over pop ephemera in lieu of meaningful human interaction with real people, his "wall of sound" consisted primarily of having as many musicians as possible playing as loudly as possible the entire time.
We now know that was probably just a ruse to drown out the screams during a recording session.
If you listen closely to the fadeout on Oo Baby Oo by The Girl-Tones, you can hear someone saying, "Mr. Spector, please don’t shoot!"
If he had a nickel for every time he’s heard that.
You felt so bad for the horn player on Baby My Baby by The Girlettes.
"Geh oo gun ow mah mowf!" River Deep, Mountain High sessions, 1963.
One can only imagine the excitement of his fellow inmates to suddenly have such a celebrity in their midst.
"Omigod! Omigod! Is that who I think it is? Wall of sound, right? Omigod!"As they try to get him to sign their shivs.
"Omigod! He pioneered multi-tracking!"
"Omigod! He produced Leonard Cohen!"
Your average criminal loves the Adult Contemporary musical stylings of Leonard Cohen.
A more likely scenario is this: "Hi, I’m legendary record producer Phil Spector. I’ve worked with The Beatles."
"That’s great. Bend over."
"You know, I once had brunch with Mick Jagger."
"Really? Bend over."
"You know, I’ve received numerous accolades in the industry, have a number of Grammys and Gold Records, and have even been inducted into The Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame."
"Bend over."
You can imagine Spector’s cellmate, Mad Dog, singing this tune: "I met him on a Monday and my heart stood still…"
Da doo ron ron ron da doo ron ron.
"Somebody told me that his name was Phil…"
Da doo ron ron ron da doo ron ron.
—SHIFT
Lolz
unfunny.
I was playing the house of Blues in LA about 6 years ago and saw Spector and Dan Aykroyd (HOB owner) dining together – all friendly like. I found it odd that Aykroyd would associate with a man who obviously killed one of HIOS employees. She was long dead at that point and the trial had yet to happen. Dickweed.
I’m supposed to star in Specter’s movie biography, “Kill Phil”
“You know, I once had brunch with Mick Jagger.”
“Really? Bend over.”
Talk about deja vu!