Many of us would like to have swapped
places with Catherine Lincoln (she worked for Capitol Records
from 1987 through 1993). For the second half of that time
she was the person at Capitol Records who would deal directly
with Beastie Boys when it came to issues regarding upcoming
releases. "Most of my relationship with them consisted
of me nagging Mike D, for
finished mixes, artwork, artwork approvals and the like,
for which they were always late." With the average
time between new Beastie Boys releases increasing from three
years to four, we can all sympathize with how frustrating
it can be to wait for a finished product from the band.
"I was just starting at Capitol
when Paul's
Boutique was being recorded. I heard "Eggman"
first, in an earlier form. Of course (at the time) we thought
it was done when we heard it, but they tweaked it again,
and again, and again." We can only imagine what it
must have been like to be Catherine Lincoln working at Capitol
Records when Paul's Boutique was released and then
sold only a disappointing 500,000 units compared the mulit-platinum
success of Licensed
to Ill. It is only now that people are finally starting
to give Paul's Boutique the recognition it deserved
over ten years ago. "I was so disgusted with the way
that record was worked, they totally forgot to market the
record to the true fan base, their management at the time
convinced The Beasties that until the label scored a major
breakthrough at commercial radio, (this in the days when
no rock station would play rap, and no rap station would
play music by white folks, even though many rap artists
had been stealing ideas off the first album for years) the
band would not tour. The biggest mistake they made in their
careers." The label ignored my begging for a budget
to work the record to indie retail and the like. I don't
think the boys even did any press that wasn't national or
mainstream. After I became the product manager I tried to
get some interest in "Looking down the barrel of a
gun", but no one wanted to deal with a record that
was over two years old."
If you collect Beastie Boys records,
you are somewhat indebted to Lincoln for her push that got
Check
Your Head released on vinyl. "I am not sure
that all the players would agree, but I remember being the
driving force behind album and promo vinyl. I can't recall
but one person that was encouraging the vinyl release. I
also insisted we release a lot of promo play copies, even
before Check Your Head was released, I was told at
the end of the project that Check Your Head had more
different radio and retail promotional releases than any
other artist in the history of Capitol Records. That is
a distinction I am very proud of.
Back in 1992, Catherine Lincoln found
herself on tour with the Beastie Boys in Florida. It was
there that she made the mistake of offering to buy Ricky
Powell a drink. Following that incident, both band and
Ricky Powell took every opportunity they could to joke about
it with her. Ricky went so far as to mention Lincoln's innocent
drink offer to concert audiences in Florida during his opening
comedy routines. "St. Petersburg is where I offered
Ricky a drink, and that is where the joke started. I think
they wanted Ricky to believe I had a crush on him. The joke
lasted only through the Florida dates of that tour, as far
I know. I'm sure it was for my benefit only, and he dropped
it when it didn't get any laughs except from the road crew."
If you have seen the 1992 interview that Much Music did
with the Beastie Boys, you may recall them joking about
Ricky's relationship with Lincoln, when they were asked
how things were between them and their new label.
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