Howling at the Moon: The Odyssey of a Monstrous Music Mogul in an Age of Excess

Walter Yetnikoff's "Howling at the Moon" is a great read. The author is stone-cold honest about his history - morphing from a poor kid in Brooklyn to Columbia Law graduate to "Jimmy Olsen greenhorn" in the music business to master business builder to *the* out-of-control legendary wildman of the music business to abrupt sobriety to betrayal, fall, a period in the wilderness and redemption. What a tale.Where else are you going to get insights on Michael Jackson, Billy Joel, Marvin Gaye and Mick Jagger mixed with equally eye-opening passages on Tom Wyman, Norio Ohga, Akio Morita and Bill Paley?The Paley passages are especially enlightening - the controlling, secretive builder of the Tiffany network and the wildman of CBS/Columbia records were as unlikely a pairing as you could imagine, but Paley appreciated Yetnikoff's undeniable ability to make money and, as Paley says upon taking his leave from CBS, "in this office, that did not go unnoticed."Despite Yetnikoff's well-documented demons, his track record in the business is unassaible: when he left, CBS/Columbia was still pulling in $450 million a year in *net* profits. True, Yetnikoff's successors had to deal with a more vexing set of assaults on the recorded music business model, but you need to give the guy his due.

For people who live in the central part of the country, Walter's lack of moral compass may put you off. Setting that aside, this guy has bravado. You can't help but want him on your team. He reminds me of a racier David Geffen. I stayed up VERY late reading it...so be prepared to play hooky the next day.

This could have been a tired collection of name-dropping and anecdotes, but it is not - Yetnikoff offers a gripping tale of driving in ultra-fast lane with no brakes.Many books of this type are reduced to sorry self-important ramblings because their esteemed authors take themselves too seriously and view "stories of their lives" as something approaching gospels. They want every word in their folios to be significant. Some of them are under impression that they did not simply live their lives but went from one revelation of supreme truth to another. Yetnikoff, meanwhile, is endearingly immune to all this. His story of excess and permanent alcohol-, drug- and sex-induced stupor is told in a relaxed and unassuming way.And, of course, famous names and their albums and songs really put this into the context of the era. I enjoyed every bit of the book.

My all-time favorite music business story involves a conversation between Walter Yetnikoff and David Geffen. It is a story that is both hysterically funny and, in its own way, appalling. I had considered it to be apocryphal but there it is, confirmed not once but twice, in HOWLING AT THE MOON, Walter Yetnikoff's autobiography.Yetnikoff joined CBS Records Group as legal counsel in 1961 when its primary label imprints were Columbia and Epic. If you rummage through your record collection you undoubtedly have discs bearing Columbia's red label (Johnny Mathis, Mitch Miller, The Byrds, Simon and Garfunkel, Dylan, Dylan, Dylan) and Epic's yellow one (The Dave Clark Five, The Yardbirds). He was by 1975 President of the CBS Record Group, having transformed it into one of the most successful record labels in music history. The deal Yetnikoff brokered between CBS Records and a Japanese company named Sony continues to influence the music industry for good and for ill to this very day. It also, in part, contributed to Yetnikoff's downfall. HOWLING AT THE MOON is the story of Yetnikoff's meteoric rise and fall, and personal resurrection. It doesn't matter if you have never cared a whit about how records are made or rarely get to the shelves of your favorite retailer --- this book is an absolute joy to read on every conceivable level.Yetnikoff brought about the success of CBS Records with a combination of brilliance and belligerence, uniting vision and business sense with a single-minded, obsessive pursuit of success. HOWLING AT THE MOON traces Yetnikoff's life, from his humble beginnings --- his family was what would now be called "working poor" --- to his ultimate, dazzling success. During the course of his first legal employment at a traditional law firm, he met a Harvard Law School graduate named Clive Davis, who chafed at the limitations that the firm imposed on him. Davis soon moved to Columbia Records and recruited Yetnikoff shortly thereafter. Yetnikoff found himself to be in his element at Columbia. Though it took him a while to find his sea legs, he soon became self-assured. An anecdotal meeting between Morris Levy (the real-life model for record mogul Herman "Hesh" Rabkin on The Sopranos) and Yetnikoff, wherein he diplomatically attempts to collect a debt on Columbia's behalf, demonstrates Yetnikoff's ability to engage in repartee, a talent that he honed to devastating, razor-like sharpness.Yetnikoff's success and excess rose in direct proportion. It is ironic that as his addictions increased --- and he could count coup on virtually every addiction known --- so too did Columbia's fortunes. HOWLING AT THE MOON is loaded with stories involving people you know of. Michael Jackson's descent into weirdness is chronicled here; while recent allegations regarding Jackson are not spoken of, Yetnikoff chronicles Jackson's metamorphosis from a good looking kid to a bizarre freak with a mixture of gentle abhorrence and genuine sympathy. James Taylor comes off su

I'll admit it. Kiss and tell books are just too juicy to pass on, and a reader can drown in all the name-dropping here.Walter Yetnikoff's first-person account of the development of CBS Records, and the zenith of the music biz are simply spellbinding. It's an easy and terrific read, a fascinating story, and great fun.WY takes no prisioners. He writes about Mick Jagger, Michael Jackson, James Taylor and Bruce Springsteen with an irreverence equal to what he tells of his own shortcomings.His contemporaries who shaped the music business are Clive Davis, David Geffin, Tommy Mottola and Ahmet Ertegun. None hides from WY's light of truth. He isn't mean-spirited, just brutally honest.Was excess in the rock 'n' roll industry of the 70's and early 80's a myth or fact? You decide:Drink? By the barrel.Drugs? Enough to float Columbia's economy.Sex? Hugh Hefner never had it so good.Money? Bill Gates and Ted Turner, for all they have, are duds when it comes to enjoying a lifestyle beyond decadence.WY knew he was living a fantasy and didn't deny himself any of the many and mind-boggling opportunities presented. Yeah, admit it. Who wouldn't want to live the life WY appears to have had during the good ol' days at CBS Records? WY was fortunate to have been there before Sony took over or the industry started being run by accountants who wouldn't know a hit record or fun if it crawled into bed with them.I can't really decide if it's accurate to credit WY for CBS Records' success. Perhaps he was just the right-type crazy when things went straight to the top. Either way, there's no disputing the company and entire music industry did reach its pinnacle on his watch, though.C'mon back Walter. The sorry excuse that's today's record business needs a straight double-shot of your brand of insanity. Rock is about rebellion and edge and attitude. What we now have is Justin, Brittany and Janet and yet nobody at the labels can understand why the industry is sucking.I'd love to see what the publisher and lawyers wouldn't let WY put in his book. Somehow, as wild he's Howling At The Moon, I bet this is the sanitized version of what he coulda given us.