MALLINation

It’s hard to write anything called an “appreciation” for Allen Klein, as he was more a creature to be feared, reckoned with, and noted for historical significance than appreciated. Klein, who died of complications from Alzheimer’s over the July 4th weekend, is one of the great characters (some might say villains) of music history. He was a guy who, in the guise of the defender of the artist, stood up to the record companies to deliver “full accounting” and unheard of sums of money to the artists he managed like The Rolling Stones, The Animals, and Sam Cooke.

On the other hand, each one of those artists found their recorded material had become the property of a little record company called ABKCO – Allen B. Klein Company.

The Stones were one of the few groups who learned the painful lesson of losing their 60s masterpieces well, starting their own label after 1971 and ensuring that they would own all of their post-Klein masters, as well as suing the man himself and settling for an undisclosed sum in the mid-80s. Keith Richard’s would later famously describe the loss of their early catalog as “the price of an education.”

Klein also holds the dubious distinction of being a contributing factor to the breakup of The Beatles. As the greatest band of the 60s began to unravel after the death of their original manager Brain Epstein, Paul McCartney turned to his then-girlfriend Linda Eastman. Her brother John was a prominent entertainment attorney and Paul pressured the other Beatles to allow him to clean up their increasingly tangled business affairs. Not one to be dictated to, John Lennon retorted by bringing in Klein, who had been angling for an entree to the biggest group in the world. George Harrison would end up siding with Lennon and the rift between the rival factions proved to be fatal.

In the end Klein would end up managing Lennon and Harrison for several years post-breakup, and eventually went on the film production as well as acquiring the entire catalog of Phil Spector’s defunct Philles label in the 1980s.

As a special tribute, here are two clips from the George Harrison produced Beatles satire The Rutles featuring John Belushi as the Allen Klein stand-in Ron Decline. Also note the current junior Senator from Minnesota in a cameo.