Post artists that were blacklisted/Blackballed

Yes it did change things for them. the death threats and fan backlash contributed to their decision to not tour again. The simple version is, they couldn't play their new songs on stage but the hassles on the '66 tour in the US (which included a non-sellout at Shea Stadium) plus the flap in the Philippines were also big turn-offs to hitting the road.

 

The Colonel foolishly blacklisted Elvis himself as a strategy to gain leverage in negotiating a new deal with RCA. No. 1 - he could have gotten Elvis out of getting drafted No. 2 - he could have gotten him some special entertainment racket in the army. No. 3 - even with his regular deployment to Germany, they could have flown the band over and recorded on weekends. Elvis was basically working a 9 to 5 job. But the Colonel made sure there were no masters left as they trickled out during that 2 year period.

 

Milli Vanilli was just outright fraud,where's the blacklist?

 

That's not blacklisting, that's just horrible management

 

Conductor Wilhelm Furtwängler is a special case. He was one of the biggest stars among conductors during a time when that meant something. From the 1930s through the 1950s, he was the primary conductor of both the Berlin Philharmonic and the Vienna Philharmonic, the world's leading orchestras of the time. He was famous for his Wagner. Naturally this drew the attention of Europe's most famous Wagner fan, the ruler of that Conductor's country. Furtwängler was no fan of Der Führer's social policies but being a fan of his own skin found himself between a rock and a hard place. Feeling like somebody sane had to stay behind, Furtwängler hung on with quite a few fascinating early tape recordings of his concerts documented on LPs and CDs. Furtwängler had to head for the hills right after leading the Vienna Philharmonic in Brahms Second Symphony in the summer of 1945* when word got through the pipeline that the Maestro was now considered a liability. Probably word got through to upper management concerning the conductor's expediting of Jewish members of the Vienna Philharmonic out of Germany. In any case, after being de-Nazified, whatever that means, Furtwängler found himself completely blacklisted in the U.S.A., just prior to attempting to assume a Guest Conducting stint with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

*One of those documented concerts, with the fastest performance of the finale you'll ever hear.

 

Rapper Sister Souljah was a member of Public Enemy and had just released a solo album when he said in 1992 ...

"If Black people kill Black people every day, why not have a week and kill white people?".

Bill Clinton blasted her for it and her music career ended.

 

What about it? I said I can't hum any 2004 to date Janet songs from memory - post all the clips you want, but that doesn't change the fact that none of them stayed with me.

I bought all those albums and played them at least a dozen times each - and I've seen Janet live on all the tours over that span - but the music left me totally cold. I don't think her 2004-date work was anywhere near as good as her earlier material - and even the "All For You" album showed a decline...

Woulda coulda shoulda - the fact remains Janet's not had legit hits since the "All For You" era...

 

Well, that's not really "blacklisting". Making bad management choices isn't the same as a concerted effort by outside parties to prevent you from working/getting played.

Honestly, a lot of the posts here have used a really loose definition of "blacklisting"...

 

Yes I agree, that is why I posted it!

 

I agree, that is why I was pointing it out about Elvis. he actually could have recorded every night in Germany. He lived off the base!

 

The funny part is that the music was blacklisted, and it was the same music it was before.

 

Yeah so they weren't very smart then.

 

The term "blacklist" doesn't apply to this situation with Elvis. He wasn't banned from the airwaves. He wasn't prevented from making records. He chose not to record new material during his time in the Army, on the advice of the Colonel. But he did backlog enough material prior to going in that RCA was able to release "new" Elvis singles throughout 1959. Whether the strategy was a good one or not is debatable. It arguably did create demand and excitement prior to his discharge that would not have been there otherwise, and I don't see how it hurt his career in any significant way.

 

I'd question whether it was even terrible management. Going into the Army made Elvis personally unhappy, but I don't see how it hurt his career substantially (if at all). I guess one could argue that there were some potential lost record sales via material he hypothetically could have recorded in 1959, but he did release "new" material during that year so it's not like it was a year in which he didn't sell any records. He sold a lot of compilations and backlog material that year.

 

Pearl Jam were ramrodded after their stand against Ticket Bastard for gouging concert goers

 

More accurately, it's a price you pay when you dabble in politics that contradict the opinions of your core audience. By contrast, dabbling in politics that panders to your audience can be a great career move.

 

my band was asked to open for GG Allin back in about 1995...I was terrified and we ended up passing...I heard he chucked poop at the crowd and I was out...the suicide pack kinda weirded me out too

haha

we did open for the Mentors which was also interesting but not as scary

 

The reaction to the Dixie Chicks was shameful. Just shameful.

I get sick every time I hear about it.

 

They had a decent run.

 

No--not being aware of the politics around you may make you ignorant of the circumstances around you but it doesn't make you stupid.

 

That's a far cry from what happened at Blue Note with Sony giving us a fish tank loaded with .25 cassette singles and .50 CD singles (plus boxes of cleans) of Carey's "One Sweet Day" to keep it at #1 as long as possible. We got lectures from the Sony rep to "scan everything", and we did In typical Blue Note fashion, we were scanning the UPC for "Gangsta's Paradise" instead of the latest by Mrs. Mottola, and sent back the cleans to Alliance for credit.

As for blackballed artists....

Ruben Blades, Cat "Yusef" Stevens (post Satanic Verses) , and Sinead O' Connor.

 

This is my thinking as well. If anyone ever deserved being ostracized it was her. Making detrimental remarks about other peoples religions being unacceptable should be basic common sense for entertainers.

 

Paul Robeson

 

Never said they were stupid, ignorant=not smart, they made a bad business decision, not smart.

 

Sinead falls into the "Dixie Chicks" camp, definitely. A bunch of douchebags making a big deal over nothing. (And in both cases - especially after Sinead explained why she did it - both artists were probably right! )