History ExecutiveMeddling / Music

** Following ''Union'' 's failure, Yes' new label tried to reunite the [=YesWest=] lineup for ''Talk'', hoping for ''Music/NineOhOneTwoFive''-type sales, but the label did not promote the album as it was folding at the time.

UsefulNotes/KMart and UsefulNotes/{{Walmart}} refused to sell ''Music/InUtero'' until new packaging that listed the track "Rape Me" as "Waif Me" was created. The cover art, which features anatomical drawings of a naked woman, was also changed. The only reason Kurt Cobain agreed to the changes was because when he was a kid, his family was poor and he was only able to buy music from Kmart or Walmart since there wasn't a record store in his hometown, and he empathised with kids in the same situation.
** {{Averted}} on ''Music/{{Nevermind|Album}}''. Executives wanted to censor the cover famously featuring a naked baby, but the only form of censorship Cobain would agree to was a sticker covering the penis that read "If you’re offended by this, you must be a closet pedophile". The executives backed down.
** "You Know You're Right" was this for a '''long''' while back in the day. Dave and Krist garnered in a lawsuit with Courtney Love due to their interest in releasing the song in a box set but Love argued the song would be wasted in a box set. The song was eventually released in a greatest hits compilation simply entitled ''Nirvana'' as an agreement between Love and Dave/Krist, although a box set of the band ''was'' released a few years later under the name ''With the Lights Out''.

** {{Averted}} on ''Music/{{Nevermind}}''. Executives wanted to censor the cover famously featuring a naked baby, but the only form of censorship Cobain would agree to was a sticker covering the penis that read "If you’re offended by this, you must be a closet pedophile". The executives backed down.

* Music/{{Ween}}'s live compilation ''Paintin' the Town Brown'' was intended to be the first release by the band's vanity label Chocodog, which would be pressed in limited quantities and sold exclusively through an e-commerce site run by the band. Instead of capturing what a typical show was like, it was meant to compile unusual performances their diehard fans might be interested in hearing (e.g. unreleased or rarely performed songs, performances from a lineup that was specifically formed to promote their country album ''13 Golden Country Greats'', and even [[EpicRocking two thirty minute jams]]). Their label, Elektra, then took the album out of the band's hands and released it themselves. Thus, what was only meant to be heard by a small amount of fans received a much wider release and became their first official LiveAlbum.

* Nazareth's song "Hair of the Dog" was originally named "Son of a Bitch", but A&M Records asked the band to change the IntentionallyAwkwardTitle - hence the new punny one, given it sounds like [[ExpospeakGag "Heir of the Dog"]]. Strange that the song's lyrics remained untouched.

* Record executives at Chrysalis Records capitalized on the "sexy rocker chick" persona Music/PatBenatar cultivated in the early 1980's, along with the success she had with hard rock feminist anthems like "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" and "Heartbreaker". Unknown to Pat or her bandmates, they published an ad for her ''Crimes of Passion'' album using the front cover of her album, but with her tank top airbrushed off to make it look like she was topless. This infuriated Pat, who already [[CastingCouch had to deflect passes from chauvinistic radio DJs who offered to promote her music more often if she'd sleep with them]]. This was, of course, during the days when females in rock were less common than nowadays, and few if any had full control over their careers and images. Pat and her lead guitarist husband Neil Giraldo took control of all aspects of her career from then on, and attempted to subvert her rocker chick persona by releasing the album ''Get Nervous'' with her in a straitjacket in a padded cell with frizzy hair, streaked makeup and wild eyes. Her success continued when she against went against her management's wishes and released the experimental, synth-heavy album ''Tropico'', featuring the Number One PowerBallad "We Belong".

* Music/{{Motorhead}} was originally signed to United Artists and recorded what was supposed to be their debut album in the winter of 1975 - '76. UA was not convinced that the record had any commercial potential, and shelved its release; Phil Taylor, Motörhead's drummer at the time, even claims that the band kept getting barraged with excuses when they pressed the company about the delays. In December of 1976, they recorded a single for Stiff Records, but was halted by UA, despite the fact that UA wasn't doing jack squat to promote them. Motörhead might have broken up then and there, but the rise of PunkRock and the NewWaveOfBritishHeavyMetal proved favorable to the band's fortunes and were given an offer from Ted Carroll of Chiswick Records to let them record their self-titled debut, which consisted of rerecorded versions of the songs from the UA sessions.

** This is common with ProgressiveRock acts because their songs are frequently [[EpicRocking so long]]. It's a major reason that Music/{{Genesis|Band}}' "Music/SuppersReady" (22:54) has seven movements, or Caravan's "Nine Feet Underground" (22:45) has eight.
* Music/NellieMcKay suffered from executive meddling with her first record label, Columbia. She wanted to release ''Get Away from Me'' as a double album, but the label insisted on a shorter release. The label's reasoning was that the songs on ''Get Away from Me'' could all fit on one CD, while [=McKay=] wanted to release the songs as a DistinctDoubleAlbum to emulate turning a vinyl record over. After convincing them with a humorous [=PowerPoint=] slideshow, she was allowed to release it as she intended, provided she fronted her own money for the production. She has since started her own record label.

* Eels were forced by their record label into licensing "Mr E's Beautiful Blues" for ''Road Trip'', as well as doing a video for it that alternated between [[VideoFullOfFilmClips clips from the movie]] and scenes of vocalist E driving a van with most of the main cast as passengers. In his autobiography ''Things the Grandchlidren Should Know'', E stated that while he'd already licensed songs for movies in the past, he was none too happy to have his music associated with "a frat boy movie" - for him the only enjoyable part of making the video was a brief scene where he pretended to beat up the cast members. They also forced him to include the track on the album ''Daisies of the Galaxy.'' E felt like the song didn't fit the tone of the album, so he got his revenge by including it only as a hidden bonus track at the end.

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* Music/BlackSabbath:
** ''Seventh Star'' was supposed to be guitarist Tony Iommi's first solo album, but pressure from his record label forced him to bill it as an album by "Black Sabbath featuring Tony Iommi."
** Similarly, Black Sabbath's ''Music/{{Paranoid|Album}}'' album was supposed to be named ''War Pigs''. It was changed by studio execs at the last minute because the song "Paranoid" had become a surprise hit, and because they felt the title could be interpreted as a reference to UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar.
** ''Vol. 4'' was going to be titled "Snowblind," but also was changed at the last moment due to the title being a cocaine reference. Additionally, the song "Snowblind" had to be re-recorded because of record company objections: In the original recording, every verse ended on a shout of "Cocaine!", but this was toned down to a single whisper of the word after the first verse [[note]] the whole song is about using cocaine, it's just that the rest of the lyrics are a little less blatant than that[[/note]] - Whenever the band played the song live, they still included the "cocaine!" shouts. On the back cover of ''Vol 4'', they managed to sneak by a thank you to "the great COKE-cola company" though.
* Music/{{Heart|Band}}, after they signed on with Creator/CapitolRecords. Their last two records (''Private Audition'' and ''Passionworks'') had sold poorly, so Capitol revamped them to give them a "glam-metal" look and "arena-rock" sound, downplaying the folk and acoustic elements of some of their earlier music, as well as using outside writers to write songs for them. The moves worked, and the band scored a major comeback in 1985, as their self-titled record had five hit singles (four made the top 10) and sold very well.
* Music/FrankZappa suffered this during his early Mothers of Invention days. First of all, their name was changed from "The Mothers" because it was a slang term for "motherfuckers". ''Music/WereOnlyInItForTheMoney'' suffered the most: the ''Music/SgtPeppersLonelyHeartsClubBand''-parodying cover was relegated to the inner sleeve, even though Zappa had called Music/TheBeatles beforehand and gotten their approval. "Harry You're a Beast" had the verse "don't come in me" censored, as was the line "I will love the police as they kick the shit out of me" from "Who Needs the Peace Corps?". "Hot Poop" was their way of subverting censorship: taking the verse "Better look around before you say you don't care/Shut your fucking mouth 'bout the length of my hair/how would you survive/if you were alive/shitty little person?" from "Mother People" and backmasking it. Even then, some editions have edited versions of "Hot Poop", in which the word "fucking" is snipped out entirely.
* Berry Gordy and Creator/{{Motown}} were infamous for denying artistic freedom to their acts and interfering every step of the way. Two well-known defiance stories: Music/StevieWonder threatened to leave Motown when his contract expired unless he got artistic freedom and improved royalties. Gordy initially rejected Music/MarvinGaye's song "What's Going On" as a single, but Marvin went on strike until Gordy agreed to release it. It was a #2 hit and led to demand for a similar album, which became his magnum opus ''Music/WhatsGoingOn''.
* Like many musicians, Trent Reznor (Music/NineInchNails) has had his share of disagreements with his record label, but the release of ''Music/YearZero'' brought with it new and exciting forms of ExecutiveMeddling. Trent's viral marketing/Alternate Reality Game promoting the album was largely an independent effort between him and 42 Entertainment (yes, the company that made the ARG/ILoveBees ARG for ''VideoGame/{{Halo 2}}''), where he purposely leaked tracks to the public; the RIAA reacted by prosecuting some of the people who posted these online. Additionally, Trent wanted to surprise the fans by pressing the CD with special thermal material that would make the disc a different color when it was removed from a heat-producing CD player; unfortunately, the marketing team got word of this and decided to advertise it as a special feature of the album, which spoiled the surprise. "Thermally reactive disc that changes color when you touch it!" The thermal material has a bit more executive meddling to it, as they also hiked up the overseas price of the album by $10 because of it, despite the fact that it cost almost nothing, and Trent paid the money for it out of his own pocket. This is commonly accepted to have been the final straw leading up to his going independent.
* Tony Wilson's Creator/FactoryRecords became known for a complete lack of Meddling, or sometimes Meddling that made things ''more'' bizarre than the artists would have liked. For instance, the album sleeve for ''Return of the Durutti Column'' by The Durutti Column was made out of sandpaper, "to destroy all your other records from the inside". They also went ahead with releasing Music/JoyDivision's ''Music/{{Closer}}'' with the planned tombstone cover, despite the whole [[DiedDuringProduction lead singer suicide thing]].
* Music/JethroTull frontman Ian Anderson recorded a solo album in 1980, which featured Tull guitarist Martin Barre, new Tull bassist [[Music/FairportConvention Dave Pegg]], an unknown American drummer named Mark Craney, and "special guest" keyboardist/electric violinist Eddie Jobson of Music/RoxyMusic. Tull's label, Creator/ChrysalisRecords, was going through financial troubles at the time, so they asked Ian to release it as a new Tull album to raise sales. The album was called ''A'', [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin as the tape boxes for Ian's album were marked "A" for "Anderson"]], and it led inadvertently to the sacking of three longtime Tull members. [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks Some Tull fans were not pleased]] with the synthesizer sounds on the album, meant to be a break from Tull's folk-rock sound, nor the line-up changes, and a [[SnapBack slightly more traditional sound]] was used for the band's follow-up, ''The Broadsword And The Beast''. Anderson's true solo debut, the very electronic ''Walk Into Light'', came out in 1983.
* An almost certainly positive example comes from an Creator/RCARecords executive to replace the cover of Music/ChuckBerry's "Round and Round" on Music/DavidBowie's ''[[Music/TheRiseAndFallOfZiggyStardustAndTheSpidersFromMars Ziggy Stardust]]'' album. Is this where "It Ain't Easy" comes from? No, that was already going to be on there... in fact, the two were going to play back-to-back between "Moonage Daydream" and "Lady Stardust." That's right. ExecutiveMeddling is responsible for "Starman," which turned out to be Bowie's BreakthroughHit.
* The Chad Mitchell Trio encountered this when attempting to release their version of "[[Music/BobDylan Blowin' In The Wind]]" as a single. An executive at their record company balked at this, saying that there had [[NeverSayDie never been a hit song with the word 'deaths' in it]]. The song could remain on the album, but a single release was out of the question. Later on, Music/PeterPaulAndMary's recording of the song became a huge hit. The Chad Mitchell Trio, meanwhile, changed record companies, and their only mainstream hit after this was "The Marvelous Toy", which still receives airplay on radio during the Christmas season.
* Music/TheClash:
** Upon hearing their 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 Palais". 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. Another reason was because the execs decided 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.
* Music/{{Blur}}:
** Their single "Popscene" -- now recognized as one of the first true Britpop singles -- failed so poorly on the UK single charts that their label, Food Records, told the band to scrap their entire second album and write new songs including one surefire hit single. Upon hearing ''this'' version, the label told them to go back ''again'' and write another single-worthy song, this time targeted to American audiences. The resulting album was the critically adored ''Modern Life Is Rubbish'' and the two singles were "For Tomorrow" and "Chemical World", which remain two of their most critically acclaimed and popular songs.
** Upon hearing their album ''Music/{{Parklife}}'', David Balfe, the head of Food Records, proclaimed it to be "single-proof" and "unreleasable". The band and every other executive on the board believed that this would be ''the'' album of 1994. Balfe thought that the album would bomb so horribly that shortly before its release he sold the label to SBK Records and retired to the British countryside. The album [[AndYouThoughtItWouldFail sold fantastically and made Blur massive stars in the UK]]. The band later satirized Balfe's decision with the first single from their next album, "Country House".
** Even Blur's name kind of stems from executive meddling: The band started out billing themselves as Seymour (intended as a ShoutOut to the J.D. Sallinger story ''Seymour: An Introduction''). Food Records wanted to sign the band, but disliked their name and asked them to pick from a label-selected list of band names, one of which was Blur.
* Music/WeirdAlYankovic:
** In yet another example of Executive Meddling winding up to have positive endpoint, Music/JamesBlunt gave 'Weird' Al permission to do a parody of "You're Beautiful". But after "You're Pitiful" was recorded, the executives at Creator/AtlanticRecords -- Blunt's label -- told Al he couldn't release the song on his next album because they feared it would turn Blunt into "a one hit wonder" (Ironically, he has not had a Billboard Top 40 appearance in the US since). So instead he released it for free online, and performs it in concert. Part of said performance is wearing an "Atlantic Records Sucks" t-shirt. Yet, this still left his next record a bit short. Al went back to the recording studio and recorded "Do I Creep You Out" and "White and Nerdy". When released as a single, the latter song became the biggest hit in Al's three-decade-long career (and its video also takes a shot at the case, when he edits Website/{{Wikipedia}}'s entry for Atlantic Records...).
** A less positive example was Al's label's insistence that ''Music/DareToBeStupid'' have a Music/CyndiLauper parody. Al disliked the resulting song ("Girls Just Want to Have Lunch"), and decided against including it on ''The Food Album''. One obvious factor about "Girls Just Want to Have Lunch" is that Al sings it as gratingly and sarcastically as possible.
** Also on ''Dare'', he was ordered to include a CoverVersion, so he did the theme to ''WesternAnimation/GeorgeOfTheJungle''.
** ''The Food Album'' (along with ''The TV Album'') were also both the result of executives wanting compilation albums. Although Weird Al didn't like the idea of ''The Food Album'', he preferred it to the executive's original idea, ''Al Unplugged'', which would have been a compilation of his songs, remixed to remove the electric instruments.
** Another case of WriterRevolt due to Executive Meddling was "Christmas at Ground Zero", as the label kept insisting he write a "Christmas-y" song for the holiday season. [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor They eventually regretted it]].
* CountryMusic band Music/{{Lonestar}} originally recorded conventional late-90s "neotraditional" country, but after changing producers to Dann Huff, they had a massive crossover between 1999 and 2000 with the poppy PowerBallad "Amazed". Then in 2001, they had another pop crossover with another sentimental pop ballad, "I'm Already There". Naturally, their then-label BNA Records pressured them to record more songs with [[LoudnessWar Huff's trademark over-the-top production]], increasingly MelismaticVocals from frontman Richie [=McDonald=], and [[SweetnessAversion overly family-friendly lyrics]] -- which worked-short term but gradually saw diminishing returns come their 2004 album ''Let's Be Us Again''. Lead guitarist Michael Britt told Creator/{{CMT}}, "They started putting out a bunch of family-type songs. I think that really pigeonholed us. The majority of the band didn't really want to continue doing that same thing." BNA eventually dropped them due to plummeting record sales, and [=McDonald=] quit in 2007 before turning in 2011.
* {{Music/Nirvana}}:
** Kmart and Walmart refused to sell ''Music/InUtero'' until new packaging that listed the track "Rape Me" as "Waif Me" was created. The cover art, which features anatomical drawings of a naked woman, was also changed. The only reason Kurt Cobain agreed to the changes was because when he was a kid, his family was poor and he was only able to buy music from Kmart or Walmart since there wasn't a record store in his hometown, and he empathised with kids in the same situation.

* Music/{{Heart|Band}}, after they signed on with Capitol Records. Their last two records (''Private Audition'' and ''Passionworks'') had sold poorly, so Capitol revamped them to give them a "glam-metal" look and "arena-rock" sound, downplaying the folk and acoustic elements of some of their earlier music, as well as using outside writers to write songs for them. The moves worked, and the band scored a major comeback in 1985, as their self-titled record had five hit singles (four made the top 10) and sold very well.

* After For Squirrels' lead singer John Vigliatura and bassist Bill White died in an automobile accident, the remaining members of the band formed a new project called Subrosa, releasing the album ''Never Bet The Devil Your Head''; For Squirrels' major label debut, ''Example'', was successful enough that the label wanted them to keep using the For Squirrels name and release the album as a followup, which the band weren't comfortable with under the circumstances. As a compromise, they released the album as Subrosa, but allowed a sticker reading "formerly For Squirrels" to appear on the packaging.

* After For Squirrels' lead singer John Vigliatura and bassist Bill White died in an automobile accident, the remaining members of the band formed a new project called Subrosa, releasing the album ''Never Bet The Devil Your Head''; For Squirrels' major label debut, ''Example'', was successful enough that the label wanted them to keep using the name and release the album as a followup, which the band weren't comfortable with under the circumstances. As a compromise, they released the album as Subrosa, but allowed a sticker reading "formerly For Squirrels" to appear on the packaging.

* 'Til Tuesday's single "Voices Carry" was originally written from a man's point of view - Aimee Mann's lyrics were inspired by a male friend's troubled relationship, so the subject of the song was addressed with female pronouns. Their label saw potential for a hit, but were wary of the song being read as being about a closeted lesbian relationship, so ultimately male pronouns were used instead.

* When the independent label Grass Records got sold, the new owners wanted to focus more on bands that would produce hit singles, so they wanted indie rockers The Wrens, their most popular band at the time, 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 Music/{{Creed}}, Music/{{Seether}} and Music/{{Evanescence}}. A pun-based TakeThat showed up in The Wrens' later single "Everyone Chooses Sides": "Green grasses fade from where you wind up".

* Music/{{Devo}}'s record label insisted that the "Post-Post Modern Man" video feature a Playboy model. Band member and director Jerry Casale found a tongue in cheek way to work her into the video concept he already had in mind -- instead of just Devo getting lost driving through the desert, it became Devo getting lost driving through the desert while an increasingly miffed model waited all day for their return. Then, when the video didn't get picked up by MTV, the label decided the song itself was too electronic-based to appeal to a 90's audience. Thus, a different video, parodying home shopping channel programming, was made for a different mix of the song without the band's involvement.
** Devo 2.0 was essentially a pre-teen {{Music/Devo}} cover band marketed by Disney with a fair deal of input from Devo themselves, who mostly went along with the idea [[ItAmusedMe because it they thought it was just the right kind of ridiculous]]. 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 completely inoffensive couplet "Life's a bee without the buzz / it's going good 'til you get stung" because someone was convinced they were trying to get a drug reference past the censors. Apparently, one of the higher ups interpreted those lyrics as "hip-hop slang" meaning something like "Life is a bitch when you're not high, so make sure that you don't get caught with drugs by the police".

* Another positive example happened to Music/AlStewart while he was preparing to put out an album intended to drop in 1976. For close to a decade, he had been working on a song that he called "Foot of the Stage", inspired by the story of Tony Hancock, a British comedian who was a star in the '50s and '60s before committing suicide. His label, CBS Records, liked the music, but believed the song wouldn't make a splash in the US, seeing that Hancock was virtually unknown outside the UK. Stewart took the advice, but was suffering from writer's block. At the time, his then-girlfriend was reading a book on Vietnamese astrology, which gave the new song its title. Then, he was looking for something to watch on TV and stumbled across ''Film/{{Casablanca}}'', and decided to incorporate the names of two of its main actors, Creator/HumphreyBogart and Creator/PeterLorre, in the lyrics. The end result, "Year of the Cat", became the {{title track}} of said album, hit the US Top 10 and was his only UK Top 40 single, and remains a classic rock staple to this day.

* Another positive example happened to Music/AlStewart while he was preparing to put out an album intended to drop in 1976. For close to a decade, he had been working on a song that he called "Foot of the Stage", inspired by the story of Tony Hancock, a British comedian who was a star in the '50s and '60s before committing suicide. His label, CBS Records, liked the music, but believed the song wouldn't make a splash in the US, seeing that Hancock was virtually unknown outside the UK. Stewart took the advice, but was suffering from writer's block. At the time, his then-girlfriend was reading a book on Vietnamese astrology, which gave the new song its title. Then, he was looking for something to watch on TV and stumbled across ''Film/{{Casablanca}}'', and decided to incorporate the names of two of its main actors, Creator/HumnphreyBogart and Creator/PeterLorre, in the lyrics. The end result, "Year of the Cat", became the {{title track}} of said album, hit the US Top 10 and was his only UK Top 40 single, and remains a classic rock staple to this day.

** Following ''Union'' 's failure, Yes' new label tried to reunite the [=YesWest=] lineup for ''Talk'', hoping for ''Music/NoneOhOneTwoFive''-type sales, but the label did not promote the album as it was folding at the time.

* Studio executives tried to do this with Music/{{Rush}}, after the less than stellar sales of their third album, ''Caress of Steel''. The label wanted shorter songs, with more ready to release singles. The band, [[{{Determinator}} sticking to their guns]], recorded and released ''2112'' instead, which went on to become their breakthrough album.

* In 2012, Clear Channel (now Creator/iHeartMedia) signed deals with various country music artists to spam their songs on their stations for a day to force them into really high debuts on ''Billboard'' (unlike most other genres, the country music charts are determined only from airplay — at least until October, when the existing airplay chart was split off, and the "main" chart began including non-country airplay and downloads like the Hot 100). The first song to get the Clear Channel treatment was Music/KennyChesney and Music/TimMcGraw's duet "Feel Like a Rock Star", which debuted at #13 (the second-highest debut ''ever'' in the chart's history). However, the song absolutely bombed at radio, peaking at #11 a mere six weeks later. The tactic has continued largely unabated ever since, to hit-and-miss results -- some [=iHeartMedia=] deals are for songs that would've ascended the charts more traditionally. It's especially frustrating for chart watchers, as the inflated debuts are usually followed by a massive decline in chart positioning on the following week before the song starts to rebound, although sometimes even ''that'' doesn't happen -- "21" by Music/HunterHayes spent nearly its entire chart run struggling to return to its debut position (and eventual peak) at [[{{irony}} #21]], and Music/{{Sugarland}}'s "Still the Same" never re-entered the Top 40 after its debut at #26, due in part to the charts stagnating over the holiday season and thus negating any buzz for new single releases). In addition to inflated debuts for established artists, their "On the Verge" program often pumps up debuts for up-and-coming artists, which more often than not leads to the artist having a FollowUpFailure and becoming a OneHitWonder (Cam and Tucker Beathard being two big examples -- the latter never even got to issue an album!) while others, such as Luke Combs and Music/MarenMorris, have been able to establish hit-making careers anyway.

* A case from the 18th century: Mozart's ''Don Giovanni'' contains a deeply sad and lyrical soprano aria, which out of the blue ends in 9½ bars of the most spectacular virtuoso ''coloratura'' imaginable. It seems like a hastily-tacked on display of virtuosity, and was condemned by critics as early as Berlioz as a crime against art. The reason is probably that the [[ExecutiveMeddling opera director demanded a virtuoso cadenza]] for his ''prima donna''.

* Positive ExecutiveMeddling rescued Music/SimonAndGarfunkel's career. After their first, all-acoustic album ''Wednesday Morning, 3 AM'' tanked hard upon its 1964 release, the duo split and Music/PaulSimon moved to England. During this hiatus, the song "The Sounds of Silence" (note the plural) became popular among radio stations in Florida, while in general Music/TheByrds had become popular as [[TropeCodifier the pioneers of folk-rock]], scoring hits with electric covers of Music/BobDylan songs. In June 1965, producer Tom Wilson borrowed Dylan's backing band and had them overdub electric guitar, bass and drums over the original recording. The resulting single, "The ''Sound'' of Silence", entered the charts and became the duo's first #1 single. Simon accordingly returned to the USA and reunited with Garfunkel to resume their career.

* Music/{{Aerosmith}}'s "Janie's Got A Gun" originally contained the line "He raped an itty bitty baby", but Creator/GeffenRecords requested that Steven Tyler change it to "He jacked an itty bitty baby." Tyler sings the former lyric in live performances, however.

* Another case of executive meddling gone right: Music/TomPetty was persuaded by his producer Jimmy Iovine to re-record "Don't Do Me Like That," a song he had earlier recorded with his former band Mudcrutch, for his album ''Damn the Torpedoes''. It became one of the biggest singles of his career.

* Nazareth's song "Hair of the Dog" was originally named "Son of a Bitch," but A&M Records asked the band to change the IntentionallyAwkwardTitle - hence the new punny one, given it sounds like [[ExpospeakGag "Heir of the Dog"]]. Strange that the song's lyrics remained untouched.

* In 1994, MCA re-tooled country trio [=McBride=] & the Ride, which originally consisted of LeadBassist Terry [=McBride=], drummer Billy Thomas, and guitarist Ray Herndon. [=McBride=] was relieved of his bassist duties, while the other two members were kicked out and replaced by a different lineup: Randy Frazier (bass), Keith Edwards (drums), Kenny Vaughan (guitar), Gary Morse (steel guitar) and Jeff Roach (keyboards). The band was also renamed Terry [=McBride=] & the Ride. Vaughan and Roach were quickly (less than a year) replaced by Bob Britt and Rick Gerken before MCA released the band's only "Terry [=McBride=] & the Ride" album. Even worse, [=McBride=] and Morse were the only band members who played on it, with studio musicians filling out the ranks! The album went nowhere and the band broke up.
* In 2012, Clear Channel (now [=iHeartMedia=]) signed deals with various country music artists to spam their songs on their stations for a day to force them into really high debuts on ''Billboard'' (unlike most other genres, the country music charts are determined only from airplay — at least until October, when the existing airplay chart was split off, and the "main" chart began including non-country airplay and downloads like the Hot 100). The first song to get the Clear Channel treatment was Music/KennyChesney and Music/TimMcGraw's duet "Feel Like a Rock Star", which debuted at #13 (the second-highest debut ''ever'' in the chart's history). However, the song absolutely bombed at radio, peaking at #11 a mere six weeks later. The tactic has continued largely unabated ever since, to hit-and-miss results -- some [=iHeartMedia=] deals are for songs that would've ascended the charts more traditionally. It's especially frustrating for chart watchers, as the inflated debuts are usually followed by a massive decline in chart positioning on the following week before the song starts to rebound, although sometimes even ''that'' doesn't happen -- "21" by Music/HunterHayes spent nearly its entire chart run struggling to return to its debut position (and eventual peak) at [[{{irony}} #21]], and Music/{{Sugarland}}'s "Still the Same" never re-entered the Top 40 after its debut at #26, due in part to the charts stagnating over the holiday season and thus negating any buzz for new single releases). In addition to inflated debuts for established artists, their "On the Verge" program often pumps up debuts for up-and-coming artists, which more often than not leads to the artist having a FollowUpFailure and becoming a OneHitWonder (Cam and Tucker Beathard being two big examples -- the latter never even got to issue an album!) while others, such as Luke Combs and Music/MarenMorris, have been able to establish hit-making careers anyway.

** Following ''Union'' 's failure, Yes' new label tried to reunite the [=YesWest=] lineup for ''Talk'', hoping for ''90125''-type sales, but the label did not promote the album as it was folding at the time.

** Michelle seems to be going through the same phase right now with her current album, ''West Coast Time''. Once again, the lead single, "Loud Music," was released in June of 2011, promo copies of the album (this time only six tracks, despite the album being full-length) were sent to radio stations, and a release date was scheduled for September 2011. At the end of 2012 there was no word on the album. Michelle has stated on Twitter that she has no idea when the album will be released, but began uploading songs from the album (including all six songs sent to radio stations) onto her Soundcloud account in August 2012, stated that she "finally figured out how to get new music to you guys and get back on the road" in October. ''West Coast Time'' was finally stated for release in Spring 2013, but no sign of it remained. It wasn't until ''Hopeless Romantic'' arrived nearly ''seven years later'' that she finally was able to officially release new music.

* Like many musicians, Trent Reznor (Music/NineInchNails) has had his share of disagreements with his record label, but the release of ''Year Zero'' brought with it new and exciting forms of ExecutiveMeddling. Trent's viral marketing/Alternate Reality Game promoting the album was largely an independent effort between him and 42 Entertainment (yes, the company that made the ARG/ILoveBees ARG for ''VideoGame/{{Halo 2}}''), where he purposely leaked tracks to the public; the RIAA reacted by prosecuting some of the people who posted these online. Additionally, Trent wanted to surprise the fans by pressing the CD with special thermal material that would make the disc a different color when it was removed from a heat-producing CD player; unfortunately, the marketing team got word of this and decided to advertise it as a special feature of the album, which spoiled the surprise. "Thermally reactive disc that changes color when you touch it!" The thermal material has a bit more executive meddling to it, as they also hiked up the overseas price of the album by $10 because of it, despite the fact that it cost almost nothing, and Trent paid the money for it out of his own pocket. This is commonly accepted to have been the final straw leading up to his going independent.

* Music/{{Live}}'s Chad Taylor [[https://web.archive.org/web/20110708022822/http://allthingschadtaylor.blogspot.com/2010/07/answer-to-question.html had plenty to complain]] about what transpired once their label Radioactive Records folded into MCA/Universal. The label pushed for a more commercial vein in the eventual album ''V'', even choosing "Simple Creed" as a single only because it had a rapper. Director Rob Cohen decided to add their song “Deep Enough” to the intro of ''Film/TheFastAndTheFurious'', the studio offered to shoot a video on the set, the label shot it down. The producers of ''Film/TheMummyReturns'' ask if Live could make a song for the credits, and the label only accepted to make a music video for "Forever May Not Be Long Enough", not issue a single - making the band basically an invisible presence in two box office hits. And even as “Overcome" was becoming an airplay hit for helping the nation cope with healing after 9\11, there was still no support from MCA. This all led to a severe energy drain, to the point he considered suicide while on tour.

* Century Media tried to promote Music/{{AnnekeVanGiersbergen}} from Music/TheGathering as a femme fatale during the late 90s, just like many singers of female-fronted gothic metal bands who were portrayed as sex symbols in photo-shoots, promotional material and concerts. This left Anneke uncomfortable. The band then switched sound, abandoning metal in favor of a more atmospheric sound rooted in alternative / progressive rock, and the label totally neglected any form of support, to the point that the band risked to dissolve in 2000. Thankfully, the Dutch decided to form their own record label Psychonaut Records and continue their path, taking creative control over how their music is marketed and distributed. Century Media still capitalized by releasing the ''In Motion'' DVD without band permission.

* The Guess Who came by their name via executive meddling, albeit indirectly: They were going by the name Chad Allan & the Expressions when the label decided to credit their 1965 single, "Shakin' All Over", to Guess Who? as a marketing ploy - the idea being that speculation over the song actually being a pseudonymous recording by more famous musicians would fuel sales and radio play. Whether or not the gimmick actually helped, "Shakin' All Over" ended up being their first hit, and [=DJs=] kept announcing the song as being by Guess Who even after the ruse ended, so they effectively had to change their name.

* Stabbing Westward were primarily an IndustrialMetal[=/=]AlternativeMetal band, but their 2001 SelfTitledAlbum, [[NewSoundAlbum did away with most of the heavier and more "industrial" elements]] in favor of melodic, mid-tempo AlternativeRock. Lead vocalist Christopher Hall initially downplayed it by saying they'd always been more melodic than typical industrial metal acts, and had just stopped trying to hide that element of their sound as much, but would later say this was due to the band being under new management - the original demos for the album were darker and heavier, but their manager rallied the band to a poppier sound to sell more records (against the majority of members' wishes), had their guitarist replaced with a new member who had much more of a BritPop / GlamRock playing style, and even kicked Hall out of the recording studio for two weeks. Ironically, it ended up being one of their worst-selling albums, which led to the band breaking up and not releasing another full album until 21 years later.

* Century Media tried to promote Music/{{AnnekeVanGiersbergen}} from Music/{{TheGathering}} as a femme fatale during the late 90s, just like many singers of female-fronted gothic metal bands who were portrayed as sex symbols in photo-shoots, promotional material and concerts. This left Anneke uncomfortable. The band then switched sound, abandoning metal in favor of a more atmospheric sound rooted in alternative / progressive rock, and the label totally neglected any form of support, to the point that the band risked to dissolve in 2000. Thankfully, the Dutch decided to form their own record label Psychonaut Records and continue their path, taking creative control over how their music is marketed and distributed. Century Media still capitalized by releasing the ''In Motion'' DVD without band permission.