This is a really good interview with John Seabrook, author of new book on pop songwriting, Max, Stargate, etc. http://www.vox.com/2015/10/7/9465815/max-martin-john-seabrook?utm_campaign=vox&utm_content=chorus&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter
Thanks, I loved that interview! Interesting that he did talk with Max Martin but Max wouldn't go on the record.
I liked the video at the end about Taylor Swift's "Style".
Thanks for the interview. I want that book they're speaking about.
Kotecha, says Seabrook, "is a very smart guy and has a good head on his shoulders. You can see that he's the type of personality that Max likes. I think with Dr Luke maybe opposites have helped them in their creativity but I don't think they're very much alike. Luke's money-oriented and wants as much as he can get, and even though I'm sure Max has more than he could spend, he doesn't seem obsessed with the money part of it."
With Luke you sort of wondered what was going on when you weren't there – he presented himself to me as a guy who'd left his party days behind him. Then the whole Kesha thing happened. That casts a bit of a pall over the end of the book. There is definitely a dark side to this, and it's maybe cast a pall over Luke's songwriting operation too. I think he's maybe become even more paranoid than he was before, but I don't know. I never got chance to talk to him about it. There are very few basic standards of conduct, and it all seems to be about hustle and connections. I think it's because it emerged from this fairly naked ripping off of black artists by white label people, but there was a lot of open criminality in the salad days of the industry and I feel that that's always been part of the DNA.
Davis also had to force Clarkson to put Since U Been Gone on her album – she hated working with Martin and Dr Luke. A hit is one thing, concludes Seabrook, surveying the ranks of American Idol winners, but it still takes an old-school record boss with golden ears really to steer a career.
While the record industry goes through such epic disruption, massive hits are needed more than ever – hence the excitement about the forthcoming Adele album – which means that people like Martin are crucial to its survival. While other songwriters also finally succumb to the urge to express themselves in less commercial (ie tuneful) ways, Martin has remained resolutely faithful to pop, updating his sound as collaborators come and go, but always insisting on the maximum melodic bang for a listener's buck.
Two parts of Seabrook's book seem particularly illuminating about Martin's work ethic. Towards the end, Dr Luke says that Martin loves the mind-numbingly boring task of comping together a vocal: "He'll do it for hours". Much earlier, Seabrook evokes the scene at Cheiron as PoP is dying, with Martin and his team making six songs in 10 days with Britney Spears, including her first four singles, and her A&R man Steve Lunt. "In spite of the emotional strain he was under, Max appeared to Lunt to be 'totally on his game' during the Britney sessions, though Lunt did notice tears in his eyes from time to time."
http://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/nov/04/john-seabrook-song-machine-review-pop-music (http://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/nov/04/john-seabrook-song-machine-review-pop-music)
BTW, the book is now available in Sweden....can't tell from this article whether it's translated or not though.
http://mobil.dn.se/kultur-noje/sa-skapas-poppiga-hitlatar/
Cool, ordering now. Not translated. Cheaper than my "Recording the Beatles" book, that was $100 + shipping.
If someone wants to read this book I can send. DM your email. x (https://vk.com/doc79583008_512814536)