WHEN DOVES FLEW

Warner Bros. was the mother lode—by far the best company pound for pound, with excellent executive talent and the smartest promo strategist of the era in Russ Thyret.

In terms of style, Thyret was the diametric opposite of Ienner, his closest counterpart in terms of career apogee; he was a super-gentleman, statesmanlike and the most loyal exec I’ve ever met—he loved Mo and Lenny and would do anything to carry out their wishes.

They had more hits than anyone else by a mile, and Thyret went on to become chairman (1995-2001) after Mo and Lenny left the company, succeeding Danny Goldberg, and he passionately perpetuated their legacy.

Thyret dubbed his weekly marketing meetings “Korea” because they lasted so long, like that unwinnable war. He was rumored to have won the California lottery not once but twice, and although neither payday was mammoth, those two windfalls must have given him some financial independence. He loved the horses, fishing and his great Labrador Retriever.

For these future captains of industry and their fellow gunslingers who ran roughshod over the landscape of the Wild West four decades ago, the phrase “sex and drugs and rock & roll” defined both a lifestyle and a way of doing business. Some of the worst offenders cleaned up their acts and got back to work; others weren’t so lucky. In any case, we haven’t seen anything remotely like those crazy times—or the people who made them so—during subsequent eras in the music biz, and chances are we never will again.

...Read Part One, The Italian Job

…Read Part Two, Tookie, Raymo, Polly & the Crazies

...Read Part Three, Saints & Sinners