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Old 05-24-2020, 10:17 PM
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brooklyndust brooklyndust is offline
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Default John Silva

Like I mentioned in the Anthology thread, I'm on a Beatles kick rick now and am watching their Anthology documentary from 1995. Anyways, there has always been a lot of information about their manager Brain Epstein and what he has done and how he helped the Beatles direction and success. Arguably, without Epstein, there might have never been the Beatles legacy that we have today.

This got me thinking about John Silva.

To quote Ad-Rock from the the New Yorker article in another thread

"We’ve known him and worked with him for thirty years now. They do all the actual work. Yauch wanted to do these Free Tibet concerts. He doesn’t know how to actually put on a concert. Do you know what I mean? [Silva] helped us not be corny."

I like to think I am pretty knowledgeable about Beastie Boys but I hardly know anything about Silva, what he has done or how he has helped shape the Beastie Boys career.

We know a lot about Russel Simmons and how he helped out earlier in their careers, but that only covered the first few years, where Silva has been with them for over 30 years. He is the hidden person behind the curtain.

Up until the Beastie Boys Documentary and a few interviews, I have never heard anything about him, nor know any stories. Maybe that's how he and the band wants it.

Does anyone know more info or stories about Silva and his possible influence?
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Old 05-25-2020, 10:22 AM
dave790 dave790 is offline
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Default Re: John Silva

I saw an interview with Dave Grohl where he said Silva had been a great manager for him for a long time, but I know little else.

What is this Anthology doc from 95 you speak of?



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Old 05-25-2020, 02:54 PM
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brooklyndust brooklyndust is offline
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Default Re: John Silva

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Originally Posted by dave790 View Post
I saw an interview with Dave Grohl where he said Silva had been a great manager for him for a long time, but I know little else.

What is this Anthology doc from 95 you speak of?
Yeah, Silva manages a few other of my favourite artists, most notably Beck and NIN.

The Beatles Anthology doc: https://archive.org/details/BeatlesA.../Episode+4.m4v
and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Be...ogy_(TV_series)

It came around 95 coinciding with their three anthology albums.
It was aired on ABC and then subsequent VHS and DVD releases.

In relation to Beastie Boys lore, I think the closest thing we have is the Beastiography that MTV did back in 1998: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WYnUWopb80

I just find it interesting. Brian Epstein was such an influential part to the Beatles and has been talked about in great length. And I guess we can say that Russel Simmons and Rick Rubin for Beastie Boys, with a plethora of stories about their influence and how they shaped the band's direction, but that was only one phase of their career, for the remain 30 it's been all John Silva. That's a huge missing piece of the band's story.

I wonder if he didn't have as much impact but then I read something like Ad-Rock's quote in the New Yorker interview and it makes me wonder how much influence and impact he had. Especially considering how much they evolved and changed styles over the years. Was it mostly them just doing their own thing or was there this unknown figure behind the curtain?

It would be really interesting to read an interview with Silva, his perspective, what he did and what it was like to work with the band.
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