The music business died with Live Aid.<\/p>\n
We can debate when it was born, whether it was with Bill Haley, Little Richard or the Beatles, but it was truly done after that July day in 1985, which was a victory lap Woodstock could only dream of. This wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t just 400,000 on Max Yasgur\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s farm, the whole world was watching.<\/p>\n
And that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the way it used to be, when rock and roll ruled the world.<\/p>\n
The best rock documentary ever made is \u00e2\u20ac\u0153History Of The Eagles.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
The second best might be the first half of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Supermensch: The Legend of Shep Gordon.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Shep Gordon, who is that?<\/p>\n
That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just the point. The last time I saw him he and Alice Cooper were getting an award and Shep refused to make a speech, knowing his success was all about putting his acts first. If your manager is famous, telling you how great he is, you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve got the wrong one.<\/p>\n
And that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s wrong with this movie. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hagiography. Watching you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d think Shep Gordon is the nicest, most powerful person in the world, friendly with the Dalai Lama and screwing Sharon Stone. Then again, these are the kinds of myths created before Live Aid, when you sat at home, reading the magazines with your jaw dropped in awe, saying to yourself\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6I WANT TO GET ME SOME OF THAT!<\/p>\n
Which is why everybody moved to L.A. and Sweet Connie and the rest of the groupies wanted to get close. Because up through Live Aid, rock was where it was at.<\/p>\n
And that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s where the first half of this documentary is, before it devolves into chefs and actors and Hawaii and all the stuff we think we care about but really don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t, because rock music, when done right, is life itself. Actors play a role, rock stars are the role.<\/p>\n
So Shep graduates from the University of Buffalo. The media tells you you need to go to an Ivy, but neither Irving nor Geffen graduated from college, because what it takes to succeed is never taught in school, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s in your DNA, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s who you are.<\/p>\n
And Shep Gordon is a stoner graduating with a sociology degree who wants to save the world. But after ten minutes as a probation officer, he turns to rock and roll. No, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not true, he turns to dope dealing.<\/p>\n
The fact that it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s illegal? Everybody who made it in the rock era did something illegal.<\/p>\n
So he hooks up with Alice Cooper and\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n
They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re broke. They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re running out on the bill. Frank Zappa doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even want to put out their record.<\/p>\n
Obstacles, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s worse than \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Survivor\u00e2\u20ac\u009d making it in the music business.<\/p>\n
So Shep and the boys lie, cheat and steal, utilize leverage and luck to make it.<\/p>\n
They have a truck carrying a picture of Alice and his snake break down in Piccadilly Circus. They manipulate the media. And we bought it.<\/p>\n
Furthermore, they were breaking rules all the time, standing up to the label, oh how different it is today.<\/p>\n
They were flying by the seat of their pants, drinking and drugging, screwing and swallowing, having fun all the while.<\/p>\n
And what will you learn?<\/p>\n
The three rules of rock and roll.<\/p>\n
1. Get the money.<\/p>\n
2. Think about getting the money.<\/p>\n
3. Remember to always think about getting the money.<\/p>\n
That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s what a manager does.<\/p>\n
They don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t unpack so they can roll out quickly.<\/p>\n
They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve got a checklist because they can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think clearly.<\/p>\n
They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re flying private and meeting every famous person and if you didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want to be a rock star back when, you were deaf.<\/p>\n
No one wants to be a rock star today.<\/p>\n
Oh, there are the bankers and techies who call themselves that, but they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re not cool.<\/p>\n
And the people in music are only doing it their way if they think it will pay dividends. No one\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s got a backbone, at least no one with any talent and success.<\/p>\n
But as Shep says\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 If he does his job really well, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll probably kill you.<\/p>\n
Because being a rock star is hard work. Without a safety net. Hell, the bassist from the Atlanta Rhythm Section died the other day, Robert Nix is already six feet under, ever wonder why our rockers don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t live?<\/p>\n
So you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll watch this movie and buy it or if you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re sophisticated you won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t.<\/p>\n
Shep is convinced he saw Pablo Picasso, but the artist died years before.<\/p>\n
You see rockers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 memories are imperfect. And they know that fiction makes a better story than truth. Which is why most of what you read before Live Aid was half true or made up, it was part of the act, part of the magic.<\/p>\n
But after Live Aid\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n
MTV realized it was big business. They squeezed the original VJs out, they added a game show and scripted programming to hold viewers and garner advertising.<\/p>\n
But once upon a time, the music was enough.<\/p>\n
Because it drove the culture. It was where the kids who didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t fit in went to not only get rich, but change the world.<\/p>\n
At a price.<\/p>\n
The one price that is constantly emphasized in this film is Shep Gordon\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s personal life. Married twice, his first betrothal was annulled and the second fizzled when his wife refused to employ artificial means to have a child.<\/p>\n
And if you believe that, you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re wet behind the ears.<\/p>\n
You see Shep Gordon was fueled by the action, doing for others made him feel good. That drug left room for no one else, and still doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t. He surrounds himself with friends, but those friends go home to their spouses, he sleeps alone.<\/p>\n
So beware the life of famous stardom.<\/p>\n
Shep says fame doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t make you happy.<\/p>\n
But neither does wealth.<\/p>\n
They both just temporarily fill an endless hole.<\/p>\n
But we can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t stop watching. Those of us who color inside the lines, who are afraid to take a risk and marvel at those who do. Which is why we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re now enamored of extreme sports icons like Shaun White more than musicians.<\/p>\n
But once upon a time, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Rolling Stone\u00e2\u20ac\u009d was the Bible. You had to go to the gig to feel included. Youth drove the world, our parents weren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t wearing designer jeans, they were completely clueless.<\/p>\n
We ruled.<\/p>\n
Our musicians led.<\/p>\n
And not a single one made it without a manager, a handler, an entourage.<\/p>\n
Because being a good performer\/writer\/musician is one thing. Doing business is another.<\/p>\n
Was Shep Gordon the best ever? Is he as good as he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s portrayed in this movie?<\/p>\n
It doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t matter.<\/p>\n
What does is if you lived through this era, the early seventies, when Alice Cooper was the biggest band in the land, you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll see yourself in this movie, reading the rock rags, bothering your parents with the music, believing that inside the grooves of these records was truth and a path forward.<\/p>\n
If only those days would come back.<\/p>\n