STARPOLISH: Were there artists on that roster that made you think, "Well they're doing well by them, they can probably do well by us," or was it more the guy you met there and sort of the vibe of the company?
SHELLEY: I think it was the vibe of the company. There weren't a whole lot of people of our type on major labels at that time.
RANALDO: There were hardly any.
SHELLEY: They were doing really well with Guns and Roses, but it's not like we saw ourselves as following in their footsteps at all, but it was like, "Well this kind of a different rock band, and they're doing crazy business with it."
RANALDO: They seemed most receptive to allowing us to continue as we were, you know? There was the least amount of controlling forces from the record company's side. We wanted, obviously, because of our history, to be completely in control, and they seemed very receptive to that; they seemed most receptive to wanting us for who we really were. Although we talked to a lot of different people at the time; we had dinner with Ahmet Ertegan from Atlantic, and all different kinds of people. And all the labels were to some degree very similar, so it made it a hard choice. But something just gave Geffen the edge in our opinions.
SHELLEY: I guess we're lucky that we went where we did go and it was sort of a good choice, because even though Geffen has had its own ups and downs, we're still on the label, where there've been so many labels that have disappeared or consolidated. And that's even happened to Geffen, but it seems to have its own identity right now, at least. When we were on the independent labels — that was a great thing and a really wonderful music scene to be a part of, but there were always limitations. We were always sort of striking further than the labels were able to.
STARPOLISH: Do you mean sonically?
SHELLEY: Business-wise. For example, we were traveling all over the world but our records weren't getting all over the world. So the main goal of being on a major label was that we would go to a town and play a show and if a kid liked us, he could go buy our record in the shop. Not to any fault of the independent labels, but often when you were on an independent label, in a lot of towns you would end up in an import bin, and your records would be twice as much as a record on Warner Brothers or something. So there were just these limitations to being on an independent, and as a band we were pushing to be where we wanted to be.
Article comments
1 - dave
the closing song on Washing Machine is Diamond SEA!!! not STAR!!! if your going to write a review get your facts straight!!!!!!
2 - POO
UR BAND IS THE BEST !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
3 - _sheccid_
is my favourite band!! it's great i love them, kim gordon you are so fucking pretty, i lover her xD
4 - HW Saxton
Never heard of the band:"Fuck You All!".
Are they a punk band or what?
5 - sydney
they're a post-punk band... garage-rock sort of experimental indie band. Almost leaders of the indie rock movement in America over the late 80's and early 90's.
They mix alot of experimental noise and soundscapes, sometimes, with catchy melodies.
6 - HW Saxton
Sydney, I was responding in jest to the
way the comment above mine was phrased.
I'm aware of who Sonic Youth are,as well
as Wasted Youth,Reagan Youth & Big Youth
as well.Sarcasm,does not carry well over
the Internet sometimes.Thanx.
7 - Jon Bob
Dave told you, and this is serious, really. If you do intend to redeem yourself or cover this mistake up, you should fix the whole damn paragraph, because it was Moore who did the vocals on DIAMOND SEA. Gordon (Kim) is a female, and for the 19 minutes of this spectacular track you obviously never heard, its easy to tell that thurston is not a female singing. Kim plays great bass on this track by the way, you should know (sarcasm). You dissed my favorite band, now i'm gonna find you like jay and silent bob and kick your ass!
8 - Jon Bob
Thanks for doing the SY piece, though. They're totally cool, and barring that 3rd paragraph i have no complaint. I can forgive, but we can only hope that they will be so merciful and not destroy you, thats right becuz they buy and sell people like you all the time, they'll probably cook you for breakfast and let the leftovers spoil in the fridge when they're not even thinking about you cuz theyre too busy on the road rocking and being totally cool. I'll leave you alone now, i'm sure you've got some homework and studying to do .