Beach Boys and Glee

[Bicyclerider]

Have any Beach boys songs been used on Glee, and if not, why not?  I would think an all Beach boys episode would be a necessity considering all the lesser talents that have been featured on the show.

[Shady]

Stamos said the shows produces and the BB's people couldn't agree on a price.

Same thing happened with The Beach Boys and the new GTA game.

[guitarfool2002]

Yet they had a Beatles theme this season and The Beatles are notorious for charging exorbitant sums to license and use their music. Remember Mad Men used "Tomorrow Never Knows" in the final scene of an episode? Apparently one of the largest sums ever charged and paid to use a recording in a TV show.

Maybe Glee paid the Beatles fee because it's the Beatles. Who knows.

And is John Stamos now the official spokesman for the Beach Boys? 

[Emdeeh]

Wait -- this thread is NOT about Murry's sister/Mike's mother?


 

[c-man]

Wait -- this thread is NOT about Murry's sister/Mike's mother?


 

Ha ha!  Good one!

[runnersdialzero]

Remember Mad Men used "Tomorrow Never Knows" in the final scene of an episode? Apparently one of the largest sums ever charged and paid to use a recording in a TV show.

This is some of the dumbest sh*t ever.

[Rocky Raccoon]

Thank god the Beach Boys have not been violated by Glee.

[smilethebeachboysloveyou]

Thank god the Beach Boys have not been violated by Glee.

I'm surprised no one said this until the seventh post.

[Dove Nested Towers]

Thank god the Beach Boys have not been violated by Glee.

Hear, hear.

[guitarfool2002]

Remember Mad Men used "Tomorrow Never Knows" in the final scene of an episode? Apparently one of the largest sums ever charged and paid to use a recording in a TV show.

This is some of the dumbest sh*t ever.

What? Or should that be...why?

Here's the backstory. Cost them apparently $250,000 US. Notice the last line. It's about the Beach Boys...and LSD! (horrors...)

In most cases, “Mad Men” is bound by the history of the era in which it takes place. But on Sunday night, a new episode of that 1960s period drama that concluded with the Beatles song “Tomorrow Never Knows” appears to have made some history of its own, marking a rare instance in which a song written and recorded by that band has been licensed for use on a television series.

“It was always my feeling that the show lacked a certain authenticity because we never could have an actual master recording of the Beatles performing,” Matthew Weiner, the creator and show runner of “Mad Men,” said in a telephone interview on Monday. “Not just someone singing their song or a version of their song, but them, doing a song in the show. It always felt to me like a flaw. Because they are the band, probably, of the 20th century.”

As with most transactions that involve the Beatles, that usage did not come cheap. According to two people briefed on the deal, who were not authorized to speak publicly about it, Lionsgate, the studio that produces “Mad Men,” paid about $250,000 for the recording and publishing rights to the song. That is an appropriately high price, several music and advertising executives say, since many major pop songs can be licensed for less than $100,000.

Mr. Weiner declined to discuss the licensing costs, but said: “Whatever people think, this is not about money. It never is. They are concerned about their legacy and their artistic impact.”

Covers of Beatles songs turn up in various media, but the band’s own recordings are rarely heard on television or in films. The surviving Beatles and their heirs are known to be very picky licensors, turning down almost every request.

Aside from songs that have been played in the occasional commercial or the Beatles cartoon series that was shown on ABC in the 1960s, the use of “Tomorrow Never Knows” on “Mad Men” is probably one of the only times that a Beatles track has been used in a TV show, music and advertising executives say.

Jeff Jones, the head of Apple Corps, the Beatles’ company, wrote in an e-mail on Monday that it was the first such license in the five years he has been with the group, although he said he could not be sure about earlier uses that predate his time at the company. Mr. Weiner said he was told that it was the only time a Beatles song has been in a television show, other than the band’s live performances.

Near the end of the “Mad Men” episode, titled “Lady Lazarus” and written by Mr. Weiner, the advertising executive Don Draper (played by Jon Hamm) finds himself struggling to understand youth culture and is given a copy of the Beatles album “Revolver,” a new release in the summer of 1966.

But instead of starting his listening experience with the album’s acerbic lead-off track, “Taxman,” Draper instead skips to its final — and, shall we say, more experimental — song, “Tomorrow Never Knows,” contemplating it for a few puzzled moments before he shuts it off. (That psychedelic song, with its signature percussion loops and distorted John Lennon vocals, also plays over the closing credits of the episode.)

Mr. Weiner said he had been trying “for a few years” to get different Beatles songs onto “Mad Men,” but had been rejected by Apple Corps in the past.

To win the company’s approval in this case, Mr. Weiner said, “I had to do a couple things that I don’t like doing, which is share my story line and share my pages.” He added that he received the approval from Apple Corps last fall, about a month before filming started on the episode.

“It was hard,” Mr. Weiner said, “because I had to, writing-wise, commit to the story that I thought was worthy of this incredible opportunity. The thing about that song in particular was, the Beatles are, throughout their intense existence, constantly pushing the envelope, and I really wanted to show how far ahead of the culture they were. That song to me is revolutionary, as is that album.” (Asked what he would have done if Apple Corps had once again said no, Mr. Weiner replied: “I don’t know. I would have changed the story.”)

Though “Lady Lazarus” has its own story line about the difficulty — if not impossibility — of getting the Beatles to license their songs for television, Mr. Weiner said the use of “Tomorrow Never Knows” was not meant to be self-referential or self-congratulatory.

“Even people who are not in the clearances and rights business were struck by the fact that that was actually the Beatles,” he said. “You just get the satisfaction of knowing that was not an imitation and it’s that recording.”

(Another bit of Beatles trivia referenced in the episode: “September in the Rain,” the Wedgewoods track that Draper and his colleagues contemplate as a substitute for an authentic Fab Four tune, is one of 15 songs the Beatles performed at a 1962 audition for Decca Records. That label turned them down, the Beatles signed with Parlophone, and the rest is twisting, shouting, walrus-identifying history.)

Despite the assumption of some audience members that “Mad Men” had broken its music-licensing budget for the season on this one song, Mr. Weiner said this was not the case.

“You cannot buy your way into these things,” he said. “In my heart, I operate in a realistic world because I’m producing a TV show. I never, ever think about that — ‘Oh, let’s not have a song here so I can save some money.’”

Mr. Weiner pointed to another “Mad Men” episode from earlier this season, in which a Beach Boys song is played during a character’s LSD trip. “No one ever asked, ‘What does it cost to have that song?’ ” he said. “You think that that’s free?”

[runnersdialzero]

I read almost none of that. No one should charge a quarter of a million dollars to put part of a song on television. Well-meaning, hard-working all around good people are starving to death and someone else is charging a quarter of a million to use part of a song for a television show. "Appropriately priced" my tits.

[guitarfool2002]

I read almost none of that. No one should charge a quarter of a million dollars to put part of a song on television. Well-meaning, hard-working all around good people are starving to death and someone else is charging a quarter of a million to use part of a song for a television show. "Appropriately priced" my tits.

That same quarter million might buy the rights to Hello Kitty's left ear and a few whiskers if you wanted to license the character for commercial use.  

[the professor]

I like Glee (most teachers like shows about teaching), and the BB are a natural for it, and I often wondered why it never worked out. But this whole bit about lawyers, money and business getting in the way of beauty and art is very surprising to me and certainly uncharacteristic in the BB world. Luckily something like that never got in the group's way.

[runnersdialzero]

I read almost none of that. No one should charge a quarter of a million dollars to put part of a song on television. Well-meaning, hard-working all around good people are starving to death and someone else is charging a quarter of a million to use part of a song for a television show. "Appropriately priced" my tits.

That same quarter million might buy the rights to Hello Kitty's left ear and a few whiskers if you wanted to license the character for commercial use.  

... okay, whom should I be contacting about this?

[guitarfool2002]

I like Glee (most teachers like shows about teaching), and the BB are a natural for it, and I often wondered why it never worked out. But this whole bit about lawyers, money and business getting in the way of beauty and art is very surprising to me and certainly uncharacteristic in the BB world. Luckily something like that never got in the group's way.

Uncharacteristic indeed!     And the Mad Men enterprise seems to have a more open checkbook so they paid whatever the fee was for "I Just Wasn't Made For These Times" and it became one of the most talked-about scenes of that season.

[guitarfool2002]

I read almost none of that. No one should charge a quarter of a million dollars to put part of a song on television. Well-meaning, hard-working all around good people are starving to death and someone else is charging a quarter of a million to use part of a song for a television show. "Appropriately priced" my tits.

That same quarter million might buy the rights to Hello Kitty's left ear and a few whiskers if you wanted to license the character for commercial use.  

... okay, whom should I be contacting about this?

Contacting about licensing the ear and whiskers, or to lodge a complaint against the cost to use someone's art in a commercial venture? 

[chrs_mrgn]

Remember Mad Men used "Tomorrow Never Knows" in the final scene of an episode? Apparently one of the largest sums ever charged and paid to use a recording in a TV show.

This is some of the dumbest sh*t ever.

But it was really a great use of the song.

[Robbie Mac]

I read almost none of that. No one should charge a quarter of a million dollars to put part of a song on television. Well-meaning, hard-working all around good people are starving to death and someone else is charging a quarter of a million to use part of a song for a television show. "Appropriately priced" my tits.

Spoken by someone who has never been paid for something they have created.

[Gertie J.]

thats runners for you

[wantsomecorn]

Mr. Weiner said he was told that it was the only time a Beatles song has been in a television show, other than the band’s live performances.

BS. Off the top of my head I know they used "Paperback Writer" in Doctor Who (the first episode of The Evil of the Daleks, to be specific) and also found an article that lists a couple more as well.

[guitarfool2002]

Mr. Weiner said he was told that it was the only time a Beatles song has been in a television show, other than the band’s live performances.

BS. Off the top of my head I know they used "Paperback Writer" in Doctor Who (the first episode of The Evil of the Daleks, to be specific) and also found an article that lists a couple more as well.

Very cool info! Thanks for posting that link, too. It seems Mr. Weiner in the interview is mistaken. Noted.

Neat to see at that link a reference to WKRP In Cincinnati, a terrific show. You know Al Kooper was involved in the music heard on that show? I actually had an email conversation with him about that, and the disappointment was that the songs used in the original runs of the episodes was specifically chosen to match the storylines and plots of the episodes. When they went into syndication and for future rereleases of the episodes, they replaced the original songs heard with "cheaper" alternatives, and all the care that went into choosing the right songs for the scenes was thrown away in the name of economics.

I'm hoping as Mad Men passes into history like WKRP did, they don't replace the pure art of using Dylan's "Don't Think Twice" or "I Just Wasn't Made For These Times" to make a great scene even more emotionally crushing with a cheaper musical option.

[Niko]

thats runners for you

How was your vacation?

[runnersdialzero]

I read almost none of that. No one should charge a quarter of a million dollars to put part of a song on television. Well-meaning, hard-working all around good people are starving to death and someone else is charging a quarter of a million to use part of a song for a television show. "Appropriately priced" my tits.

Spoken by someone who has never been paid for something they have created.

Think again, Chuckie.

I'm not sure why it matters anyway. Please do try to explain. Either way, that is completely fucked, especially in the context I've given. No one involved with the recording of "Tomorrow Never Knows" needs more money, especially a fucking quarter of a million dollars. This is especially true of the vile, empty-headed suits who probably see some (not all) of the larger cuts of it. But no, go ahead and continue to defend this kind of thought process from, of all people, the music industry, because they're totally worth defending in cases like this.

[Jonathan Blum]

Mr. Weiner said he was told that it was the only time a Beatles song has been in a television show, other than the band’s live performances.

BS. Off the top of my head I know they used "Paperback Writer" in Doctor Who (the first episode of The Evil of the Daleks, to be specific) and also found an article that lists a couple more as well.

Probably he means since the first time since Apple started actively policing the rights in the '80s, after the infamous Nike ad used "Revolution".

Back in the actual '60s, when licensing a song to a TV show was basically a one-time deal rather than something which would be repeated in perpetuity, they were more willing to sign deals for the use of their recordings; that's how their various Doctor Who appearances happened.  However, those deals didn't cover the VHS or DVD releases -- that's why all three were removed from US releases of the stories (though in recent years at least for the UK releases they've reinstated the Beatles tracks in "Remembrance of the Daleks" and "The Chase").

The conspicuous exceptions were "The Prisoner" featuring "All You Need Is Love" in its finale, and "UFO" using "Get Back" -- as far as I can tell, these have always remained in circulation with the Beatles tracks on them, so the licensing deal must have been very different.  Why?  Well, part of it might be that both shows were produced through ITC, owned by Lew Grade -- who also owned Northern Songs starting in 1969...

Cheers,
Jon Blum

[Bicyclerider]

If any of you have seen "This is 40" there's a scene where Graham Parker talks excitedly about getting one of his songs on Glee and how much money it's going to bring him.  Funny movie by the way.  That's what made me think of why the Beach Boys haven't been licensed for Glee.  There isn't just the money for licensing of the songs - which are not the master recordings as in the Beatles on Mad Men - but the Glee versions are sold on itunes and then songwriting/publishing monies go to the songwriters, i.e. Brian and Mike/Asher etc.  It can be lucrative, why not do it?  Plus it can prompt increased sales of the originals.