Ben sheperd(soundgarden) broke and homeless

BrandonBass · #1 02-12-2011, 12:33 PM

http://www.artistdirect.com/nad/news...353422,00.html

After reading this little piece of news, I wonder how much do the top touring musicians earn at all. Granted Soundgarden was never as big as say guns n roses or motley crue, but they were still one of most popular grunge bands back in their time.

Jumbotron · #2 02-12-2011, 12:36 PM

Whoa.
They headlined Lollapalooza. You'd think that would set you up for some time.
I wonder if this is an effect of not making as much money as we'd think, or poor money management.

bombpop14 · #3 02-12-2011, 12:45 PM

Well....it's all about publishing.

If he was not included in the songwriting credits he probably only received a weekly salary on the road plus a tiny bit of the royalties from album sales/radio play (mechanicals).

Sucks to be the drummer or bass player if the principle songwriters don't include you in the publishing.

The famous example is the band Warrant, where the singer wrote all the songs made a ton of money while paying the rest of the guys 400 bucks a week.

But I'm not bitter.

Pilgrim · #4 02-12-2011, 12:57 PM

Yet another reason to have a degree and a profession you can fall back on.

FuManChu · #5 02-12-2011, 01:03 PM

A degree and a profession outside of music will help, but in this case it sounds like he probably needed a 12 step program more than anything to keep his life together. That sucks.

slowburnaz · #6 02-12-2011, 01:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bombpop14

Well....it's all about publishing.

If he was not included in the songwriting credits he probably only received a weekly salary on the road plus a tiny bit of the royalties from album sales/radio play (mechanicals).

Sucks to be the drummer or bass player if the principle songwriters don't include you in the publishing.

The famous example is the band Warrant, where the singer wrote all the songs made a ton of money while paying the rest of the guys 400 bucks a week.

But I'm not bitter.

I know that he was included on some credits at least for the "Down on the Upside" album.

I<34080 · #7 02-12-2011, 01:10 PM

The only single he wrote was Ty Cobb I believe, but he had credit on other songs. He did Desert Sessions too.
Plus what about the new Telephantasm release?

I'm thinking he didn't spend/save wisely.

Edit: It was a joke. He's not broke.

sikamikanico · #8 02-12-2011, 01:20 PM

Nicolas Berggruen is also homeless

bassic.science · #9 02-12-2011, 05:30 PM

Tragedy. I really liked Ben Shepherd and got to see him on the Superunknown tour. Soundgarden is very good live, I hope he gets his life back together.

Hoover · #10 02-12-2011, 05:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jumbotron

I wonder if this is an effect of not making as much money as we'd think, or poor money management.

I'd wager on the latter. (Oops, talk about poor money management!)

Keith Richards had a great quote years ago, something to the effect of "People think if you earn a million dollars a year you're a millionaire. But not if you spend more than a million dollars a year."

averagebluesman · #11 02-13-2011, 06:05 PM

Hold on a second. I'm a huge Soundgarden fan. Thayill is like a mix of Greg Ginn and Tony Iommi. Anyway I read the original interview in Spin and later Ben stated himself that the journalist strected the truth to a degree. He's broke and staying with friends but he says he's far from living on the street. BTW that black rain single kicked butt. I really dug it. Those guys really gel musically.

Stinsok · #12 02-13-2011, 06:09 PM

It probablly wasn't like someone coming into work and getting a layoff notice. At some point he should have realized that he needed to go another direction.

averagebluesman · #13 02-13-2011, 08:55 PM

Ben is a super creative guy. He wrote a lot of the music for Soundgarden. Look it up. I think he probably saw a lot of corrupt bullcrap going on and maybe he just kind of got off track. If he can get off the heavy drugs I'm sure he'll pull together. I mean Soundgarden, TAD, The Melvins, Alice in Chains came up with some great stuff. They were all incredibly unique. I'm personally not a big fan of Pearl Jam and Nirvana but the rest of the guys are really cool. I mean the Melvins are legendary. TAD was banned from MTV for being "too ugly" haha. You know your good when MTV calls you too ugly. Tad Doyle wrote choruses that just hooked you.

averagebluesman · #14 02-15-2011, 01:17 PM

I know there are some TAD fans on this forum becuase I've seen a Kurt Danielson appreciation thread. I think TAD should of been as popular as Nirvana but it was the other way around. Cobain himself said he had the best time when Nirvana was on the brink of success. TAD was on the brink of success but they never made it. Listen to the song Deliquent. When it goes into the reverby chorusy chorus it strikes a chord in the soul man. I know this is off topic but I just see that this thread is driftin away and I wanted to breathe some more life into it before it fades away much like the grunge fad.

slipitin · #15 02-15-2011, 01:32 PM

It was all overblown by the press (suprise!) Plus: 'poverty' is all relative, there's a lot more to the Ben Shepherd story which involves a number of other factors that can effect all of us at one time or another.

I always loved Ben for his sheer f-off-ness, I remember him saying in an interview that if he was not a working musician he would be a recluse living in the hills breeding wildcats and shooting anybody that came near them. I can relate to that.

His tone is sounding killer of recent, really punched up...as for SG I hope they can do better than Black Rain (kind of a parody of themselves which IMHO should have stayed on the BMF cutting room floor) and write a new album that follows where DOTU left off.

averagebluesman · #16 02-15-2011, 02:08 PM

Slipitin are you a black flag fan. Where's the question mark on my phone. I love Black Flag. You claim black rain of themselves that's because its an old song that they never released. I was stoked to see them play it on Conan. You live in England so I'm guessing that you don't really know what the vibe is in America right now. Let's just say I was stoked to hear black rain after hearing nothing but indie alt rock pop crap for 10 years.

slipitin · #17 02-15-2011, 02:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by averagebluesman

Slipitin are you a black flag fan. Where's the question mark on my phone. I love Black Flag. You claim black rain of themselves that's because its an old song that they never released. I was stoked to see them play it on Conan. You live in England so I'm guessing that you don't really know what the vibe is in America right now. Let's just say I was stoked to hear black rain after hearing nothing but indie alt rock pop crap for 10 years.

Yes brother I am a big fan of Black Flag. As for Soundgarden, who are my all time favourite band if I'm forced to choose...well, I'm just slightly sceptical that it was something unused from the Badmotorfinger sessions, you're right it's still ten times better than most stuff out there at the moment but I feel like it comes across like an over-polished 'idea' of SG. I didn't like the production on it, maybe that's it

...oh and I hated the video/guitar hero business and the whole Telephantasm cynical money making effort. I want the real band back, with a real new album. It's making me feel old having the whole 'who remembers' retrospective shows of their greatest hits.

averagebluesman · #18 02-15-2011, 02:37 PM

I agree the compilation album sucks. The songs are good but all that stuff has been heard before. Flipper came out with a new album that's fantastic. Why can't Soundgarden do the same. I heard they're thinking about making a live album. They should play music that they dig and put it out there. I mean if they try to sound like early 90's Soundgarden then its going to suck. I know Kim wanted DOTUS to sound heavier. I still love that album but I dig what he's saying. You seem like a cool dude slip. English people usually have good taste in tunes. Haha. That's a generalazation that I believe in. Do you listen to Black Sabbath. Those first five Sabbath albums changed my perspective on life. Incredible band. I still can't find the question mark on my phone.

slipitin · #19 02-15-2011, 03:08 PM

Yeah Sabbath can't be denied, love the Bill Ward jazz-feel-in-a-rock-context vibe, something that Cameron also drew on. DOTU was a funny one, took me ages to get into when it first came out, now I love it, very mature sounding and subtle. Have to say LTL and BMF are my faves from Soundgarden.

As for having good taste MOST ENGLISH PEOPLE DON'T, believe me!

But then I suppose MOST Americans don't either, but it's like Mike Watt says 'We don't dream by committee' I try to remember that when someone at work says they've never heard of Bad Brains but have I heard the new Lady Gaga tune...or think I'm getting all religious when I mention Ministry...

jaywa · #20 02-15-2011, 03:16 PM

From what I've seen and heard of the person in question, I think the people talking about the 12-step program are the most on point.

You can burn thru a lot of money in a hurry if you are feeding one or more addictions.

BTW why is this not in the Bassists topic?