Courtesy of Henry Diltz.
Happy New Year everyone Today marks singer/songwriter and guitarist extraordinaire Stephen Stills’ 69th birthday. Cameron has interviewed and profiled Stephen quite a few times over the years with Rolling Stone, Crawdaddy and Creem magazines. Both as a solo artist and as part of Crosby, Stills, Nash (and Young). Check them out below:
Photo by Michael Ochs Archives, Getty Images
We’ve got a brand new Journalism addition to the site today as Cameron profiles the rock group Boston in this lengthy interview for Rolling Stone. Boston was on top of the world and dominating the charts and sales, but feeling the sting of being a critical after thought. Topics include the bands history and the pressure on founder/leader/perfectionist Tom Scholtz to deliver their sophomore album…
Boston: The Band From the Platinum Basement
THE PHONE RANG AT SIX IN THE morning, early in 1975.
Twenty-eight-year-old recordman Paul Ahern grumbled into the receiver: “Who the fuck is this? This better be good!’ “It’s McKenzie. You gotta hear this, PA….”
As employees in Warner-Elektra-Atlantic’s regional office several years earlier, Charlie McKenzie and Paul Ahern were the young lions of Boston-area promotion. McKenzie had the ear, Ahern the rap. They became buddies with all the jocks and, one golden month in 1972, broke Yes and the J. Geils Band and placed thirteen company singles and album cuts on the Top Thirty playlist of Bostons WRKO. They had dreamed of finding the band that would take them off the street and make them “the idle rich,” but their era passed. Ahern moved to L.A. for a better job with Asylum Records. McKenzie left WEA but continued to work for other record companies in Boston. And he hung on to the dream…. You gotta hear this,” he was saying that early morning” in ’75. “Local guy, Tom Scholz … the group has no name. The whole tape is like this!”
Cameron shared his Greatest Rock Movies Ever with Premiere magazine back in March, 2004. With recent docs like The Swell Season and new films such as Inside Llewyn Davis coming out soon, it might be time to revisit, but let’s check it out.
Gary Lewis and the Playboys
Cameron shares some personal stories on how he learned about sex for the October, 1975 issue of Rolling Stone. You’ll recognized a few of these anecdotes as they made their way into Almost Famous.
How I Learned About Sex
About What?
Cameron and Marc Bolan. Photo courtesy of Neal Preston
Today marks the anniversary of Marc Bolan’s death. The T. Rex singer was lost in a car accident back on September 16, 1977. We’d like to honor him with this Cameron penned interview from the July, 1973 issue of Creem magazine. As usual, the 20th Century Boy was his outspoken self and never shy or afraid to share his feelings.
Cameron shared his #1 Album of All Time in the December 2003 issue of Rolling Stone. BTW, Cameron loves the mono and the stereo version as long as he gets to listen…
My Number One – Pet Sounds – The Beach Boys
I was thirteen, and I wanted to buy a Jackson 5 cassette. The knowing geek behind the counter shook his head and advised me to get Pet Soundsinstead. Desperate for his cool-guy validation, I bought it. It sounded weird, introverted, not that melodic. And what about that cover? Odd-looking guys dressed like Elizabethan-period accountants feeding animals at the zoo? I thought the album sucked and I stashed it in a drawer. Within a year, Linda Alvarado (not her real name) savagely broke my heart. For some fateful reason, I gave Pet Sounds another chance. Suddenly, music was more than just confection. Those strange guys feeding animals at the zoo understood; even the music sounded like I felt. When you find songs so personal that they feel like someone’s been reading your diary, you tend to study the album credits to find out who the hell wrote this stuff. And that leads you to the heartbreaking genius of Brian Wilson. Pet Sounds is the high-water mark of songwriting and production so meticulously rendered that you ache hearing these songs; they’re filled with secret cries for help disguised in baroque and candy-coated harmonies, the sound of Brian Wilson’s universe coming together and falling apart. The album was a flop in its day, unappreciated in a world addicted to Wilson’s Beach Boys hits. Just three years ago, it finally went platinum. For me, Pet Sounds is a souvenir, a masterwork, an underdog story and a record that takes you gently by the lapels and says, “Here’s what it feels like to be alive.”
Courtesy of Rolling Stone #937 – Cameron Crowe – December 11, 2003
Here’s a blast from the past. This is Cameron’s least promising interview openers as told for The Book of Rock Lists. Enjoy!
THE LEAST PROMISING INTERVIEW OPENERS CAMERON CROWE HAS ENCOUNTERED
1. “This gun is loaded.” – Buddy Miles
2. “Let’s do it in the bar.” – Stephen Stills
3. “Hold on, aren’t you the one who called me the Liberace of Rock?” – Elton John
4. “You’re too young to grasp my complete musical scope.” – Steve Miller
5. “I changed my mind.” – Pete Townshend
6. “We don’t believe in tape recorders.” – ZZ Top
7. “Is there any way you can write nice things about me without talking to me per se?” – Richard Dreyfuss
8. “There’s nobody here except a few ghosts and I don’t care. Let’s rap.” – Bob Weir
9. “I think I just saw a body drop right outside that window. Did you just see a body drop? Let’s go outside and see. I know I saw a body drop.” – David Bowie
Courtesy of The Book of Rock Lists – Dave Marsh/James Bernard – Fireside/Simon & Schuster
We are back today with a new addition to the site. This is Cameron’s 1976 Peter Frampton Rolling Stone cover story entitled, Year of the Face.
