Manager, producer, head of a record
label are some of the things Marty Thau did in his life so far. You
might call him a rock and roll romantic or a visionary. Hardly anyone
else was more involved and had more influence in the development of
the emerging New York music scene of the early seventies as well as
the New Wave scene in the USA than Marty Thau.Although it was often the others who where covered with glory, it was the visionary Marty Thau who acted behind the scene and helped them on the road to success. He was the one who discovered the New York Dolls, who managed them and helped them to get their first record deal. Thau also produced the Ramones and Blondie's first demos who later reached world fame. Other bands like Suicide, Richard Hell & The Voidoids, The Real Kids and the Fleshtones followed. They all became international cult bands in the course of time and inspired many other younger groups to keep up the rock and roll spirit. At the Punk! Kongress Marty Thau will talk about his experiences in the music business and the early days of the New York punk era. When Marty Thau encountered the "rebirth of rock and roll" in 1972, watching the New York Dolls perform, he could already look back on ten years of experience in the music business. By supporting the Dolls he helped to give birth to a baby called Punk. After studying Marketing and Communication Arts at the New York University Marty Thau worked for the renowned Billboard Magazine, for Cameo Parkway Records (1966) and later he was a very successful executive promoter for Buddah Records in New York (1967). The label was famous for churning out the bubblegum teen pop of the early seventies. 1970 he becomes a partner at Inherit Productions, one of the most successful production companies in the music industry. They had John Cale, Van Morrison and Miriam Makeba and many others under their contract. Just by chance he saw the New York Dolls playing at their legendary concert at the Mercer Arts Center in Greenwich Village. After that he was convinced that he had to take those future punks under his wing. This was a daring venture. At the time people where into bombast rock and never ending guitar solos. An outrageous dragged-up look with dirty Stones-Riff-O-Rama and a shock attitude wasn't really en vogue. It was as if Thau could smell what was yet to come. And he made it possible for those men in drags to get a record deal with Mercury. Two albums where the result of this fruitful cooperation with the "Lipstick Killers" around Johnny Thunders and David Johansen, and the basis of their cult status, before they submerged into a chaos of booze and dope, just like their album title predicted: Too much, too soon! Martin Thau is frustrated by his job as a band manager. In 1975 he meets a young band from Queens and again he is infected with the rock and roll virus. He produces their first demo, which leads to a record deal with Sire Records and builds the foundation of an international career of the legendary Ramones. The rest is history. Together with Craig Leon and Richard Gottehrer (with whom he starts Instant, the production company) he produces Blondie's first album and another 7". And the same thing that happened with the Ramones happen with Blondie, it puts them on the road to international success. In 1977 Marty Thau founds Red Star Records as one of the first indipendent/alternative labels in post hippy America. He publishes the first releases of the Fleshtones, the Real Kids and Suicide. They where no commercial success at taht time, but they where ahead of their time and later became role models for many younger bands. After all these years, Suicide's career is still ongoing. Today Marty Thau, a proud father and grandfather, resides in Virginia, where he gives out licenses from his Red Star back catalogue, writes theater plays and does web logging with Tres Producers. Currently he is working on a screen play about the raucous seventies of New York Punk. |
|
ALTERNATIVE TV IGOR BASIN MICHAEL "PANKOW" BOEHLKE BOONARAAAS! BOY FROM BRAZIL SEZGIN BOYNIK BUZZCOCKS CHEETAH CHROME CZD DEAN DIRG RONALD GALENZA HENRYK GERICKE THOMAS GROETZ DICK HEBDIGE ALFRED HILSBERG STEWART HOME SIEGFRIED KALUS THE KIDS THOMAS LAU MARLENE MARDER MALCOLM MCLAREN LEGS MCNEIL PADELUUN BERT PAPENFUSS MARK PERRY HARRY RAG ROCKET FROM THE TOMBS SEDLMEIR ANDY SHERNOFF MARTY THAU TOKYO SEX DESTRUCTION VIVA L'AMERICAN DEATH RAY MUSIC |