‘I come to bury the music executive, not to praise it.’ Andrew Hamilton chats to American comedian and Atlantic Records insider Dan Kennedy about the demise of the grey-suited music executive.
IF the Mama’s and the Papa’s told nightmares to children of free independent music - the villain of the tale would always look like Dan Kennedy. Picture the grey-suited music executives, full of glorious ambition, back stabbing his way to the top office on the New York skyline. Think greed, cocaine in club bathrooms and champagne in a hundred penthouse hot tubs. Imagine American Psycho or any number of roles played by Tom Cruise throughout the 1980s - meet the music executive. After basking in the very last embers of the surf rock scene in California, Dan Kennedy cut his musical teeth on the streets of Seattle in the 90s. Seattle in the 90’s meant one thing - grunge, and with bands like Nirvana, Soundgarden and Pearl Jam taking on the world he was an easy convert. But just how does an early 90s Seattle grunge fiend become a late 90s New York music executive? “Ya, I turned on a dime. The second that I realise that all the suits had remodelled kitchens and huge apartments I was ready to sell out. I was like, ‘who do I have to dress like to fit in around here? Where do I get one of those grey v-neck sweaters’,” he said.
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