DBWI: Apple Corps fizzles out

[Garrett_Cartoonist]

I think it was something to the effect of Anderson and Wakeman were burnt out, Bruce Woolley and Geoffrey Downes of the were considered since the two bands had collaborated,notably on the Buggles' album Life. World. Yes. I think Downes might've been still in Asia at the time and there was some sort of weird mix-up in communications. Complete accident, they were looking to contact the lead singer of Asia, John Wetton, but someone heard "Get me the lead singer of Aha!" (It's been disputed who said it, but my money's on Ringo) and by sheer chance, they found a-ha, brought in Harket and Furuholmen, had Waaktaar do session work for some other bands working at Apple Corps, and kept Trevor Horn on production for the album. Anderson and Wakemen came back for the next album, but introducing the western world to Harket through Yes ended up doing great things for a-ha's debut album Hunting High and Low.

I imagine if it weren't for that, It's Always Sunny on TV wouldn't have used the similarly-titled single for their theme song and people's lasting impression of a-ha would've been like, I dunno, Take on Me. Don't get me wrong, the song is good, but I absolutely love The Sun Always Shines on TV and consider it a-ha's finest work.

I mean, it wasn't the weirdest line-up change in Yes history. Didn't they hire Vangelis to replace Rick Wakeman when he left before the Relayer sessions? I'm pretty certain they hired him because they remembered his work on Aphrodite's Child's album 666, which was a big hit for Apple a few years prior, right?

 

[More Than A Feeling]

Apple Records were true giants. Bowie, FM, Queen, Yes, BÖC. The list goes on. Maybe a Beatles breakup or one of them dying would have prevented it from growing. Obviously they went bankrupt in the financial crisis in 08 but there isn't really a way to get them out of business earlier besides the beginning.

 

[Garrett_Cartoonist]

Apple Records were true giants. Bowie, FM, Queen, Yes, BÖC. The list goes on. Maybe a Beatles breakup or one of them dying would have prevented it from growing. Obviously they went bankrupt in the financial crisis in 08 but there isn't really a way to get them out of business earlier besides the beginning.

Honestly it's a miracle they survived the bankruptcy mostly unscathed.

 

[Nivek]

Honestly it's a miracle they survived the bankruptcy mostly unscathed.

Their stock drives and support via digital rights sales allow them to survived even if they loss some of their catalogue to the giant Alphabet, still they keep the right most of their own songs and artist rather being poached by warner or sony

 

[Megafighter3]

You know what was a really weird signing for the label? Arthur Brown. Like, don't get me wrong, Arthur Brown is great, but his acid rock style clashed so hard against the Beatles and similar acts. Like, for a point of comparison, while Hey Jude was charted #1 on the billboard charts, Fire by The Crazy World of Arthur Brown was at #2.

But, they signed him just after the Crazy World had broken up and were able to secure the rights to release the Strangelands album before Brown created his next band, Kingdom Come. The band released three more albums over the early 70s; Kingdom Come, Galactic Zoo Dossier, and Journey.

 

[Garrett_Cartoonist]

You know what was a really weird signing for the label? Arthur Brown. Like, don't get me wrong, Arthur Brown is great, but his acid rock style clashed so hard against the Beatles and similar acts. Like, for a point of comparison, while Hey Jude was charted #1 on the billboard charts, Fire by The Crazy World of Arthur Brown was at #2.

But, they signed him just after the Crazy World had broken up and were able to secure the rights to release the Strangelands album before Brown created his next band, Kingdom Come. The band released three more albums over the early 70s; Kingdom Come, Galactic Zoo Dossier, and Journey.

I think his connection to Pete Townshend is what resulted in The Who's Track Records being absorbed into Apple

 

[Megafighter3]

I think his connection to Pete Townshend is what resulted in The Who's Track Records being absorbed into Apple

His connection to... Oh! Oh yeah, he was in the Tommy movie. I forgot about that. He also played Dr. Righteous on the Kilroy Was Here album, right? Like, it was ironic to hear Arthur "God of Hellfire" Brown play an overly moralist preacher man decrying the "evils of rock and roll" but Heavy Metal Poisoning still slaps.