Was Badfinger's problem purely managerial?

one sad thing that Dan Mantovina does not hide in his book - the guys could be shockingly careless re money (like many music figures) and far too trusting in those 'business types' - they lacked any real financial guile and allowed themselves to be seduced by 'promises' of zillions

Tom had an idea things wern't so 'rosey' re his 'donkey being lured by the big carrot in the sky' pic idea on 'Ass'
- but then poor Tom sadly got himself into an appalling situation even 'post Polley' as is detailed in Dan's book (hiding and reduced to eating cat food to get by prior to 'doing a runner' from the USA when a dodgy promoter was after him... you can't believe what you are reading at times !)

- even poor Bob Jackson experienced the bad side of things and he only came in 'post Joey' right at the end of the main era !

even when they reformed in 1979 Mike Gibbins gave up all his session work to initially be a part of it...then was ousted ! (Mike said he regretted agreeing to it)

with Apple royalties stuck in limbo, Warners taking legal action and pulling WYWH off market just as initial sales were picking up, the band blocked from recording, ....it was a complete nightmare

they had committed themselves to mortgages, spent money that never came through etc...it really is a heartbreaking but cautionary tale - and IF they had hadn't made a few unwise choices re their own money etc they might have been in a stronger position to pull through

reading the book you DO begin to wonder if they or the band name actually had a curse on them

- I think a guy did say he'd do that to them for some early 'issue' too - it makes you wonder !!

 

Absolutely. They were never going to live up to the hype of being "the next Beatles" but I really would love to know where there music would've went after the fantastic Wish You Were Here. I remember reading that For some time Straight Up was the most requested out of print CD in Goldmine, I'm glad these reissues have made people discover the band's music, as that will live on forever.

 

Yes!

 

People's recollection of their success is different from mine. While I concede they never got HUGE, I heard their songs on the radio a LOT. Though I admit I wa rather young so my perception of things may have been affected by that.

 

Agree!
Working in a record store, I recall customers asking for their out of print albums, a greatest hit collection, and/or various hit singles (sometimes for jukebox play).

Only used albums and 45s were available at collectible prices.

It’s sad that Pete Ham and Tom Evans never enjoyed that renewed revival, increased exposure, and instantaneous availability of their music, in the Digital Era.

Not to mention the viable revenue and income, too.

 

It was Yoko what broke ‘em up!

 

Damn that Yoko....that's two bands, are there more?

 

It seems the recording of all their LP's was always being delayed, refused by the label, re-recorded, needed a new producer, needed to go out of tour, etc. It must have been really frustrating and led (I would think) to hasty decisions to "get things done". Of course having a manager who is a prick doesn't help. They probably needed somebody to step in as a mentor. Preferable a musician, preferably a Beatle, but when Apple closed shop, they were left to the sharks. Loved the band band during their heyday and still do. I was lucky to have seen the band in March 1974. Really wish I took pictures, I was 20 or so feet from the stage.

 

Aside from their management issues, I really think they were in too close an orbit with the Beatles. I was a kid when Come And Get It came out, and I remember many people thinking it WAS the Beatles. Then the next few hits that all sounded like they could have been on Revolver or Magical Mystery Tour. I just don't think they ever carved out an identity that was uniquely theirs.

 

I also think they never really regained their commercial footing after waiting 2 years to have ASS come out which is probably their worst album.

 

Much of that was their own fault though. As we already have already discussed, they weren't exactly the best judges regarding the management of their own careers or finances, and that applies for the artistic side as well, as most of Apple's decisions regarding the band's output have been proven to have been correct over time (one listen to Without You, or some of the early working versions of Straight Up material, shows that the band wasn't always the best judge of their own material).

As others have said, the band desperately neeeded a firm but caring hand who could have provided them with the guidance and focus necessary to survive in the ruthless world of the music business. Unfortunately, what they got was the exact opposite.

 

While as a fan you hate to be derogative in any way but putting an 'objective' hat on....

......they were at best rather gullible and naive re the business side of things - and somewhat too trusting even 'lazy' in leaving everything up to their managers and not really ever properly questioning things until it was too late and the money they had earned through all their hard work had all vanished...

it's happened to many other artists too of course - The Moody Blues first 'managers' did a runner with all the money from 'Go Now' in the UK after it topped the UK chart

it makes you realise while Brian Epstein had his limitations just how lucky The Beatles were to have him looking after them - Apple and their business disasters came after Brian's death...

Badfinger seemed to make some poor business moves besides Polley and not keeping a firmer grip on their earnings was a problem both before and after Polley not just down to his actions

easy to say 'if only' but you can't help wondering IF they had gone with another label than Apple - who let's face it besides The Beatles never really helped any other artist's careers much (James Taylor, Hot Chocolate etc all enjoyed success 'post Apple' ) - then maybe it might have worked out better for them as it always to me seems as if Badfinger were seen as just 'one of Mal's discoveries' at Apple ( - to be helped out from time to time - by Paul and George - when they were free) but NOT really that important an act of 'first division' status as such...

Apple clearly was not a well run concern and haemorraged money often on the most absurd things - as parodied in 'The Rutles' !

significant that girlfriend May Pang said John Lennon felt terribly guilty when Pete died feeling he could and should have done more for them...

just seeing how many artists prospered at Chris Blackwell's Island records - Cat Stevens, Free, Bad Company, Traffic, Fairport Convention, Steve Winwood (solo),

or Chrysalis records - Jethro Tull, Ten Years After, Procol Harum, Blondie etc maybe CBS, Elektra, Vertigo labels...

you can't help wondering if Badfinger could have got signed up by one of those labels, and been assigned a decent producer to both work WITH them not dictate to them, and look after them properly in the recording studio like say George Martin (Beatles), Tony Clarke (Moody Blues) etc how different Badfinger's story might have turned out...?

we can only guess

 

It was also basically in competition with the eponymous first album on WB, which was likewise not an exceptionally strong album. (One could probably make one terrific LP by combining the best tracks from both.) I think the change of labels and lack of promotion stalled whatever momentum they'd built up over the past couple of albums.

Also they were casualties of Allan Klein's efforts to clean up and streamline Apple. Klein was right to think that there was a lot of dead weight, but they threw out Baby Blue with the bathwater and drove Badfinger to another company. Apple Records was probably doomed either way, in which case they should have left sooner like James Taylor did. By the time the band decided to abandon ship, there were no lifeboats left.

 

Brian made some pretty serious mistakes, too. He could have gotten a far greater percentage of the money from films and licensed merchandise, but in his naivete and eagerness to promote the brand, he accepted lowball offers without significant negotiation.

 

Of course - especially re the two United Artist film deals - plus John and Paul's lousy royalties deal - but then for all his errors and limitations (he was out of his depth of course) at least he ensured they were never left with holes in their shoes or unable to pay their mortgage etc

re Badfinger I think they were 'moved' to Warners rather than decided to go
hence Pete's opening line in 'Apple of My Eye'

'I'm sorry but it's time to move away, tho' in my heart I really want to stay...'

I don't think the group ever had much say in it or where they went to...! (hence that donkey being lured by the big carrot in the sky on the cover of 'Ass' - again NOT an album title that would appeal to some buyers as it has another meaning of course)

Tom wanted to call the first Warners album; 'For Love Or Money' (note the cynical slant on it) - which was vetoed hence simply 'Badfinger' was the bland title of it

'Ass'' was delayed and delayed release...then it came out around the time of the new Warners album - a great marketing ploy !

if you deliberately wanted to 'ruin' the band's chances you could not have done it better..

later with both Apple and Warners releases off catalogue for many years the group were almost 'airbrushed out' of music history for a considerable time...

 

Pete's death doesn't even seem to get a mention in Cash Box or Record World and Billboard tried to cover it but left out the hanging part (probably by mistake): "Peter Ham, guitarist and singer with Badfinger, in the garage he had converted into a studio"

 

I recall a UK daily newspaper just had a small item saying 'the show was over' for Pete !

years later Tom got a similar small item in the daily paper saying he had taken his own life but not much more

A much bigger feature was devoted to one of the Royal family getting a new hat or something...

 

It's almost too sad to write about. One has to have the basic understanding of just how dishonest and greedy Polley was and how incompetent Bill Collins was before him. Case in point... Without You. Pete and Tom's biggest hit "given" to fellow musician and friend Harry Nilsson. A worldwide smash, multi-million seller that should have set up Tom and Pete for life. At the same time they also had their first international hit with No Matter What. Two million-selling songs in one year and they were broke? Almost dead-broke. It wasn't from lavish spending. They bought modest homes. They bought gear and studio equipment, not Lear Jets and castles in the sky. Two huge hits in one year and almost nothing to show for it? Pure greed on the management side and utter naivety on the bands' side.

So what happens next. George Harrison takes an active role with the band, Geoff Emerick and George, yes GEORGE Martin help out, yet the project sort of languishes and sessions go on for many months. George leaves the sessions to do Bangladesh, inviting the bad members to be in the band, but bizarrely doesn't give them even ONE song as a showcase. A very odd decision. Then again, Clapton didn't get a single solo song either... I'm guessing his drug issues were the biggest reason for that... but I'm fairly certain he could have done at least one. After two incredible shows, the Bangladesh project has its own problems. George spends months getting artist clearance rights from labels, producing the film and soundtrack and trying to deal with the rapid mental decline of Phil Spector. So he can't return to the sessions and the work with Emerick and Martin is all but abandoned or re-recorded. And even with all that drama they release, arguably, their finest album, Straight Up. Once again featuring a very successful self-penned single (Day After Day) and a follow up that was almost as successful, Baby Blue. The money woes get worse, not better.

Apple is sort of in their death throes and doesn't promote the album which sells decently (#31 Billboard), but not spectacularly. They tour constantly, but the pay isn't good. They spend more than they make and after Polley's cut they are deep in the red. They are constantly recording and playing live but their career is on hold for almost two full years. Apple can't release Ass. Warner's takes way too long to release the self-titled album and then they both appear around the same time. Zero promotion from Apple. Little promotion from Warner's. Both albums had some excellent tunes, but without promotion they were soon sitting in the cutout bins. The story just gets worse from here on. They STILL soldier on recording another album, considered by many to be their finest, Wish You Were Here. A great album with several top-tier songs that SHOULD have been released as singles. What was released? The perfect power pop Just A Chance? The bouncy, Know One Knows? The evocative and yearning Dennis? Nah, No, singles at all. Warner's Publishing dropped them because Polley hid advanced monies (money the band members never saw either). Then the album itself is pulled within the month and the desperation that had been creeping in started to get very serious indeed. Pete was despondent. He felt trapped by a 30,000 pound mortgage. Can you believe that? Such a small amount of money yet he couldn't pay his mortgage. He starting getting calls that ALL of his money was gone. Advances gone. Salary stopped. Publishing money held in escrow. The rest of the story is too painful to write about. Ron

 

90%- Stan Polley, 8% Joe and Kathy Molland, 2% Tom Evans.
Kathy just didn't know when to butt out, and Tommy was continually psychologically unbalanced. There must have been many stressful recording sessions. And they still created some incredible music !

 

Just about everything that could go wrong for this band went wrong for it.

It says a lot for the talent involved that they produced such a substantial body of work.

By the time they split, their genre of music was becoming unfashionable. Punk and New Wave would have scorched their earth.

 

The dissolution of Apple certainly was a huge part of it. I recently watched this old interview with James Taylor who stated Peter Asher advised him to get out of his Apple contract for non-payment and many other breaches of contract.

 

I think musically songs like 'Come And Get it' had rather pigeon holed them as a lighter 'pop' group as opposed to say 'No Matter What', 'Baby Blue' etc which were more 'power/pop' / Rock genre - hence to the wider public musically they wern't quite one thing or the other - a problem a number of established recording bands over 1969-73 etc had as music rather 'fractured' into 'pop' and 'Rock'

it didn't help that reviews in the UK music press at least were not always very charitable - even their glorious 'Day After Day' (certainly one of their finest moments on record) was glibly dismissed as;
'the whole thing reeks of Beatles'
- I recall being really 'miffed' when I read that !

hopefully the American music press was better towards them...

so at an awkward time at the end of the sixties re group musical direction - no co-incidence a number of top groups either disbanded or lost key frontmen at that time - Badfinger probably were unlucky in that they didn't beyond their hard core fans enjoy a wider public reception as some seemed to regard them as 'Beatles copyists' others saw them as a 'pop group relying on Paul' etc and others just felt they must be 'only a singles band'

'Magic Christian Music' being seen by some as a film soundtrack probably didn't help re their launch either...!

anyway, for general info this is an interesting link;



Pete's brother John Ham makes an interesting contribution

 

while on a happier note here's Pete's daughter Petera making her speech at the unveiling of a memorial to her Dad 'Master of Melody' Pete Ham in Swansea, Wales




interesting to note that on the 'Find A Grave' website the section re 'Tributes' for Stan Polley has had to be de-activated it states due to repeated 'mis-use' !

 

I just returned from a bike ride. I started "Daydreaming about Badfinger" (which I think would make a great song title). It occurred to me that if Hey, Mr. Manager just did the right thing and managed the band, the advance he stole would have paled in comparison to the proceeds that could have been generated from tour money and LP sales. Just the creative juices flow and $$ would have followed.

 

Thank you for that. Stockholm Syndrome is the most eloquent and accurate way I've heard to describe it.

There seems to be a sense that the entire band were clueless up until the end. But while it's true that Pete stoically and irrationally held onto the belief that Polley was on their side despite huge evidence to the contrary (there's your Stockholm Syndrome), the others did realize it in when WB initiated the lawsuit against them for allegedly embezzling the money from Badfinger Enterprises (turned out it was Polley).

Remember, Joey left the band and is not on Head First. That is because once Stan Poses (name alert, different person) sat him and Kathie down and laid out that the contract was a zero-sum deal, he paid dearly to get out of it, leaving him financially devastated (but ultimately better-off).

Tom left the band DURING the recording sessions for Wish You Were Here, rejoining only after he realized he didn't have the money to fly back to England and there was nothing else to do while stuck at Caribou ranch but play.

According to Mike Gibbins, the same day that Tom fully convinced Pete of what Polley was really doing he committed suicide. From ALL accounts Pete was a kind soul. His suicide note, which I will refrain from reprinting here, made it clear that he felt he didn't want to go on living in a world in which someone could do what Polley (specifically named) did to them, and more globally that he felt he couldn't trust people in general anymore.

Shortly before his suicide, the songs he wrote and demoed in his studio garage at that time were the songs of a broken man, devastated, nothing like the upbeat stuff for which he was known. He was in a terrible situation with the Fergie thing happening, Anne being pregnant and him having just bought a house with no money to pay for it. Once he was willing to open his eyes, it was what Stan Polley's actions represented to him (see above) seem to have been the straw that broke the proverbial camel's back.