London Calling The Untold Story Of British Pop Music - Master of Puppets

Episode 4. Britain's rock managers, with their largely theatrical background, were flamboyant in a way that baffled their secretive American counterparts. But, as they blundered and bludgeoned their way across the world's stages, these flashy impresarios ended up defining many of the rules of the modern music business. A rich post-war palette of gangsters, impresarios and Jewish homosexuals, these people were pioneers, they learning by their mistakes - like the disastrous Beatles merchandising deal that Brian Epstein struck - but without the belief, stubbornness and casual violence of Peter Grant, who upgraded the artist/promoter profit split on Led Zeppelin's 1972 tour from 50/50 to 90/10, every act touring America (including the homegrown ones) would be making a fraction of the money they now do from ticket sales. The amazing tales of ingenuity, visionary marketing and pure gangsterism are legion, and the influence these people have had on the culture remains, to the average music fan, an untold story. In this episode we reveal the truth about the real star makers of the music industry, with expert witnesses including notorious rock managers Andrew Loog Oldham, Simon Napier-Bell and Miles Copeland, as well as legendary rock critic Jon Savage.