History ExecutiveMeddling / Music

** Famously, George Martin refused to let Ringo Starr -- who had just replaced Pete Best as the band's drummer -- play in the recording of the band's first single "Love Me Do"; having disapproved of Best's drumming, he wasn't willing to trust Starr blindly and they recorded the album with a session drummer, Starr reduced to shaking a tambourine. Martin later relented and let Starr record a version with the band, which later went on their first album.
*** Nope... the Ringo version was released as a single, while the Andy White version is on the album.

* When the independent label Grass Records got sold, the new owners wanted to focus more on bands that would produce hit singles, they wanted The Wrens to sign a bigger contract and start recording much more commercial material: When they refused, not only were they dropped, but the two albums they'd made for the label were deleted. The Wrens did eventually find a new label and their first two albums would get reissued - Grass Records, meanwhile, turned into Wind-up Records, and did well for themselves by signing {{Creed}}.

** Devo 2.0 was essentially a pre-teen {{Devo}} cover band marketed by Disney with a fair deal of input from Devo themselves. A lot of the original songs had substantially rewritten lyrics due to executive meddling. Some were pretty reasonable things like excising a repeated reference to a gun in "Big Mess" or changing "Girl U Want" into "Boy U Want" and making it about an innocent crush rather than lust. Other changes were a little weirder -- in one interview Jerry Casale said "That's Good" lost the couplet "Life's a bee without the buzz / it's going good 'til you get stung" because of InformedObscenity. Apparently someone took that lyric to mean "Life is a bitch when you're not high, so make sure that you don't get caught with drugs by the police".

* {{Nellie McKay}} suffered from executive meddling with her first record label. She wanted to record a double album, but the label insisted on a shorter release. She was eventually allowed to record a double album provided she fronted her own money for the production. She has since started her own record label.

* Nellie McKay suffered from executive meddling with her first record label. She wanted to record a double album, but the label insisted on a shorter release. She was eventually allowed to record a double album provided she fronted her own money for the production. She has since started her own record label.

-->"The reason songs and pieces acquired separately titled sections, like 'The Return Of The Fire Witch' and 'The Dance Of The Puppets', was so the group would get paid full publishing royalties on our American record sales."

** Similarly, Black Sabbath's ''Paranoid was supposed to be named "War Pigs". It was changed by studio execs at the last minute because they didn't want to offend supporters of the Vietnam War. ''Vol. 4'' was going to be titled "Snowblind," but also was changed at the last moment due to the title being a cocaine reference -- on the back cover they managed to [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar sneak by a thank you to "the great COKE-cola company" though]].

** I don't think it was because they were 'filler'. It was actually because the execs decided that said songs were too controversial as there was a big panic over whether punk would make people rebel against the government, and obviously songs like Cheat and Deny were not really in keeping with what they wanted people to think of them, they probably considered 48 Hours and Protex Blue to be drug references, and the single version of White Riot replaces the album version to be more marketable. It is puzzling that Jail Guitar Doors was included as the band reluctantly recorded it as a B Side. It also annoys people that that I Fought The Law is included because it was recorded after their second album, by which time their style was starting to change.
** Their second album "Give Em Enough Rope" was released with a completely different font on the cover and the title of the last track "All The Young Punks (New Boots And Contacts) was changed to "That's No Way To Spend Your Youth", which is a really blatant change by the execs as its nothing like what The Clash would title a song.

** Similarly, Black Sabbath's album "Paranoid" was supposed to be named "War Pigs". It was changed by studio execs at the last minute because they didn't want to offend supporters of the Vietnam War. ''Vol. 4'' was going to be titled ''Snowblind'', but also was changed at the last moment due to the title being a cocaine reference -- on the back cover they managed to [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar sneak by a thank you to "the great COKE-cola company" though]].

** Similarly, some long songs on KingCrimson's earlier albums have "sub-headings" in their titles; for example, "The Court of the Crimson King including The Return of the Fire Witch and The March of the Puppets". According to Robert Fripp:

* TheMarsVolta sort of dealt with this on ''Frances The Mute'': They weren't expressly forbidden to make the "Cassandra Gemini" suite one [[EpicRocking thirty minute track]], but ''were'' told that if they did, they'd only be paid for an EP, since it only had five tracks (despite the fact that it was a 76 minute album). Thus, the CD version of the album has the piece separated into 8 tracks, with track breaks that don't even correspond with the five subtitles given on the tracklisting. The version sold by [=iTunes=] and other online retailers still has it formatted as one track though, as does the vinyl version of the album.

* ElectricSix ended up reluctantly covering {{Queen}}'s "Radio Ga Ga" on ''Señor Smoke'' because the record company wanted them to use it as a single. Perhaps not coincidentally, it's the only cover song the band has ever released.

* LizPhair suffered heavily from this, having run out of money during the recording of her self-titled 2003 album. The execs refused to release her album unless she worked with writers know as The Matrix (no, not ''[[TheMatrix that]]'' one), which produced her [[BlackSheepHit biggest Billboard hit]], Why Can't I?, which sounds almost nothing like the works that made her famous, and got her a 0.0 from Pitchfork.

* Upon hearing TheClash's debut self-titled album, the suits at their American record label decided it had too much filler, and decided to remove 5 songs and replace them with some of the band's British singles like "Complete Control" and "White Man in Hammersmith Palias". It is almost universally agreed by critics that this actually vastly improved the album, though some also note that adding in the mostly mid-tempo and more polished singles dilutes the UK version's ThreeChordsAndTheTruth feel a bit.

* Big Boi of {{Outkast}} fame was to release his first solo album ''Sir Lucius Leftfoot: The Son of Chico Dusty'' as early as late 2008, however, Jive Records wasn't so sure the album would be able to sell. After having Big Boi rework the album once, and setting a 2009 release date, Jive once again decided they didn't like the album, telling Big Boi that his album was a "piece of art, and we don't know how to market that." Things took a turn for the worst when the executives suggested to Big Boi that he should make his own version of LilWayne's "Lollipop" so that they could sell the album. Big Boi packed up his things and left for DefJam. To make things worse, Jive decided they won't let him carry over any tracks he did with group-member Andre 3000 to put on the album....so he's leaking them.

* Big Boi of {{Outkast}} fame was to release his first solo album ''Sir Lucius Leftfoot: The Son of Chico Dusty'' as early as late 2008, however, Jive Records wasn't so sure the album would be able to sell. After having Big Boi rework the album once, and setting a 2009 release date, Jive once again decided they didn't like the album, telling Big Boi that his album was a "piece of art, and we don't know how to market that." Things took a turn for the worst when the executives suggested to Big Boi that he should make his own version of LilWayne's "Lollipop" so that they could sell the album. Big Boi packed up his things and left for DefJam. To make things worse, Jive decided they won't let him carry over any tracks he did with group-member Andre 3000 to put on the album....so he's leaking them.


ProfessionalWrestling
* Soon after {{Kayfabe}}!{{Vince McMahon}} was blown up in a fiery limo explosion, confirmation came that USANetwork executives told the {{WWE}} to perform a murder storyline, much to the consternation of the writing staff, Vince himself, and [[WallBanger half the fanbase]]. This made them look like idiots, morons, and every other epithet in the book when news of [[RealLifeWritesThePlot Chris Benoit's murder-suicide]] hit the airwaves a few weeks later.
** Among other things USA has been pressuring WWE into: more celebrity involvement and 3-hour ''MondayNightRAW'' broadcasts.
*** The 'E did however work the celebrity involvement into some genuinely amusing moments (such as JohnCena being beaten by Kevin ''flippin''' Federline, [=Steve-O=] being legitimately beaten for laughing during his match, and Donald Trump causing [=Vince McMahon=]'s infamous "bald moment").
** Of course, Vince himself is the source of much ExecutiveMeddling in the {{WWE}}, such as when he canceled "The Blonde Bytch Project", a Blair Witch parody that was to star Stevie Richards and the Blue Meanie, on the grounds that ''he'' had never seen the movie, and therefore assumed nobody else had either.
*** He did the same thing to Paul Burchill because he had never seen ''{{Pirates of the Caribbean}}'' and assumed that a pirate should be a {{Heel}}. Later, he placed him into an incest gimmick character. That went about as well as could be expected -- the storyline never really developed, and Burchill vanished fairly quickly.
**** This was at least Vince's ''fourth'' attempt to do an incest storyline. His first attempt was to portray Ken Shamrock and his (kayfabe) sister Ryan Shamrock in an incestuous relationship (Ken refused). Then, when Stephanie [=McMahon=] became pregnant, Vince suggested that ''he'' be the on-screen father. When Steph vetoed that, Vince suggested her brother Shane be the father instead. ''Both'' Steph ''and'' Shane nixed that one. Most recently was the repackaging of Paul Burchill and Katie Lea as implied incestuous siblings. Given that Vince suffered both physical and sexual abuse as a child, most fans are of the opinion that he urgently needs therapy. They just wish it could be done in a quiet office instead of on live TV.
**** Vince [=McMahon=] wasn't the only one to try an incest storyline in the WWE, however. Former head writer VinceRusso fought hard to get Beaver Cleavage, a hypersexual take on ''{{Leave It to Beaver}}'', on the air. It lasted about two weeks before Vince [=McMahon=] himself [[EvenEvilHasStandards pulled the plug]].
**** The storyline was done in by yet more ExecutiveMeddling. [=WWE=] embraced the PG rating for all their television programming around the time Burchill and Katie Lea started appearing on-screen. The incest storyline was one of the first things to be nixed, leaving both with nothing to do before being moved over to the [=ECW=] brand.
*** [[{{Squick}} Katie Vick]]. (Vince's own DVD has other members of the [=WWE=] saying how unfunny it was.)
** Soon before [=WWE=]'s [=ECW=] brand got underway, there were Internet reports that the Sci-Fi Channel had been trying to shoehorn sci-fi elements into this wrestling show. Cue "The Zombie" and other characters [[WriterRevolt being soundly beaten by the Sandman]] upon the show's airing.
** And of course, there was Muhammed Hassan. This could be looked at as Executive Meddling on both sides, as Vince chose to still air Hassan's "terrorist attack" on the Undertaker the same day that real terrorists bombed [[TheLondonUnderground London's subway.]] {{UPN}}'s subsequent edict that Hassan would never appear on the network again forced Vince to not only remove the character, but possibly re-book the main events at two pay-per-views.
* The Montréal Screwjob. Arguably, one of the most notorious cases of Executive Meddling in WWE history. [[YourMileageMayVary How justified or effective it was]] relies a great deal on whether you believe Bret Hart's or Shawn Michaels version of the story, but as last-minute swerves go, it was a doozy.
* It must be said that Vince is often the source of positive Executive Meddling. The reason the Attitude Era did so well was because Vince was there to filter out Ferrera and VinceRusso's bad ideas.
* One rumor floating around about the WWE right now is not so much executive meddling as much as TENURED Meddling. Some are arguing that younger talent is being buried so the older wrestlers (The Undertaker and Triple H especially) can milk the last few years of their careers for all they're worth. Some of it's minor (no one on the roster can have gear that looks like the Undertaker's.) However, some of it's more serious (some have argued that Triple H forced Chris Masters to keep doing the Masterlock Challenge, long after it stopped being entertaining [as if it ever was.]) People are wondering why guys like Evan Bourne and Shelton Benjamin got nowhere fast in WWE, and many think it's this.
** Raul D. Rice [[http://moodspins.com/2003/04/13/60202/ went into great detail]] to show just how much Executive Meddling TripleH did in the WWE, a few years ago.
** And yet Taker has received nowhere near as much flak for this, even though he's also helping hold back talent in the ''women's'' division by having the WWE keep that belt on his girlfriend Michelle Mccool. This might be even more {{egregious}} because it buried the much more talented, popular and ''experienced'' Mickie James. Beth Phoenix may have been spared this only due to her ACL injury, so now they've taken to burying Melina.