It ain’t all that common, really, but there’s a fair number of bands with a similar backstory.

When Kansas got signed…
In 1974, Kansas had one shot to impress a record producer. The meeting was set in the tiny town of Ellinwood, Kansas – population around 800. They needed a full house. So they came up with a simple plan: offer free beer to everyone who came to the show. The room was packed. The energy was electric. And the producer (Don Kirshner) was impressed enough to sign them to a record deal.

A little free beer, a lot of loud music, and a career that was just getting started. Kirshner financed the band out of his own pocket through four albums. When they released ‘Carry on wayward son’, they finally hit gold and the rest is history. A version of the band still tours to this day…

Kinda reminds me just a smidge of a certain hit song from Ye Aulden Thymes.

Back when the BPs were on Miami-based Teen Rebel Records, I remember the owner/proprietor/sole employee of said label giving us the low-down on the inner workings of major-label A&R departments (Artists and Repertoire, ie the folks whose job it is to go out to shows; evaluate unsigned artists and/or their commercial potential, if any; and, ideally, arrange recording contracts for the likelier prospects).

According to our boy Teen Rebel Tony, A&R staff could be broken down into two basic types:

1. Those who have “the power of NO” (which is pretty much every single one of any given label’s employees)
2. The exalted few endowed with “the power of YES,” by which Tony meant those authorized to sign an artist entirely on their own initiative, without ever having to beg permission in advance or ask forgiveness later from anybody…well, at least until several of those independently-signed recording artists end up A) bombing badly with their first three (3) releases; B) slaughtering each other in the recording studio over some random, unfathomable dispute; C) becoming crackheads; or D) are caught in bed with one or more same-sex children

In plain words, then, the Category Twos are in effect the only folks in A&R who truly matter.

99 times out of a hundred, the “power of NO” types would notify you well in advance, with inordinate pridefulness and braggadocio, that they’d be coming to check out your show at Club Shithole on such and such a date. Said notification enabled them to luxuriate in feeling like Big Shots whom the band, the supporting act, the venue staff, and basically all and sundry within a five-mile radius would want to suck up to, buy drinks for, introduce their hot girlfriends to, shamelessly flatter, and other such-like industry inanities.

These useless pustules to be compared/contrasted to the “power of YES” people, who disdain to give any kind of notice at all, to anybody, of anything. In fact, you’d usually never even know they were in the joint unless/until they A) approached you after the show; B) introduced themselves and explained who they worked for, in what capacity and why they’d come; and C) expressed at least some interest, albeit slight, in offering you a contract with the label they work for.

Ironically enough, it’s the latter category of A&R rep, rather than the former, that the smart performer with knowledge and experience in such matters will be interested in schmoozing, flattering, and buying cocktails for. Tony also called these the “power of the pen” people—a somewhat more apt and directly descriptive appellation of who they are and what they do, perhaps.

In sum, then, the “power of NO” kids are basically popinjays, pricks, and douchetools. The “power of YES” guys, on the other hand, are professionals who take their roles, their industry, and their artists seriously, with no use for fumble-fucking around, preening, posturing, or obnoxious self-indulgence. Said pros are the crucial first step in the long, wearying slog of getting the music recorded, packaged, and released into the wider world—where it will then stumble or soar on wings the A&R rep provides.

A&R people are in the main unacknowledged and unheralded, even wholly unknown to the world outside of the music biz. Even so, they’re nonetheless bona fide heroes for all that, at least to those of us on the “talent” side of the business.

Understand: this is the old, traditional music industry we’re speaking of here. What with internet sales, streaming, and downloads dominating everything these days, the once-untrammeled power of the major labels such as Sony, Columbia, Epic, Atlantic, &c has diminished greatly, as have their profits, influence, and credibility. Which, if you think about it, would in turn make the job of the Category 2 A&R guy tougher than it’s ever been before.

Over lo, these many years, I’ve personally known far too many of the Cat One types, as well as far too few examples from Cat Two. It’s been years and years since I moved in those circles, alas; I can only wonder what became of them all, and where they are today.