Levee Posted January 18, 2011 Share Posted January 18, 2011 Kirshner, the veteran music mogul who shepherded the work of monstrously talented young songwriters to the top of the pop charts in the 1960s, launched the career of the Monkees, then made his face familiar to millions of rock fans as impresario of his late-night live-music TV series in the 1970s, died Monday of heart failure in Boca Raton, Fla., where he had lived for several years, his family members said. He was 76."Don Kirshner's Rock Concert" brought the biggest names in rock and pop music in the 1970s to television in "Rock Concert" in live performances instead of the usual lip-synced sessions that often characterized rock music on television. Each week Kirshner, in his distinctive Bronx accent, dryly introduced acts, including the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Sly & the Family Stone, Devo and countless others over its nine-year run. His monotone style led to a famous parody that musician and bandleader Paul Shaffer delivered a number of times on "Saturday Night Live." He helped dream up the Monkees, a fabricated pop-rock quartet designed to emulate much of the appeal of the Beatles for weekly viewers of the group's TV show, which also yielded a string of hit singles and albums. But the group members' struggles to inject their own musical sensibilities into the show led to a famous battle over creative control with Kirshner. Guitarist and songwriter Michael Nesmith famously put his fist through the wall of Kirshner's bungalow during one of the more heated sessions. "Donny was there with his attorney," Monkees drummer and singer Micky Dolenz told the Washington Post in 2004, "basically presenting us with this money and saying, in so many words, 'Why don't you shut up and cash the check?' And that's not the sort of thing you said to Mike Nesmith at the time. To be honest, I couldn't have cared less. I was 20 years old, making money. But Mike led this revolt, and out of camaraderie, we all went along." The Monkees won, and eventually Kirshner was fired from his role with the group. He went on to form the Archies, one of pop's quintessential bubblegum acts targeting teen and preteen fans. The Archies logged four weeks at No. 1 in 1969 with their effervescent hit "Sugar, Sugar." Even before the Monkees got started in 1965, Kirshner was already a music business heavyweight, having helped get a career going for his friend Bobby Darin, then starting a music publishing company that hired rising songwriters, including Neil Diamond, Neil Sedaka and the teams of Gerry Goffin and Carole King and Cynthia Weil and Barry Mann. Those writers crafted dozens of pop hits in the early to mid-'60s, many of them since lauded as classics of the Brill Building era. After "Don Kirshner's Rock Concert" ended its run in the early 1980s, supplanted in some respects by the new kid on the block, MTV, Kirshner went into virtual retirement and moved to Florida, where he lived for decades in seclusion with his wife. A series of bad business deals led him to file for bankruptcy in 2000. He also periodically expressed his disappointment that he was never inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as its many nonperformer honorees. "I don't want to sound like sour grapes," he said in 2004, "but I believe I should have been one of the first three or first five inducted. Seriously. I mean, they've got people in there that I trained, and I'm not in? It bothers me, on principle." Kirshner is survived by his wife of 50 years, Sheila, children Ricky and Daryn and five grandchildren. Services are pending. -- Randy Lewis More at Pop & Hiss, The Times' music blog, and later at latimes.com/obituaries. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leddy Posted January 19, 2011 Share Posted January 19, 2011 R.I.P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danelectro59 Posted January 19, 2011 Share Posted January 19, 2011 Sad news to hear. Don Kirshner was a man some people found easy to dislike. But like other music moguls, his contributions and achievements far outweigh the negatives. I loved Rock Concert and for that alone, I salute the man and wish him well on journey, wherever it may take him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beetleron Posted January 19, 2011 Share Posted January 19, 2011 zep were never on "rock concert" though best i can recall is like REO speedwagon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rock N' Rollin' Man Posted January 19, 2011 Share Posted January 19, 2011 ^ Black Sabbath were on it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMX7-KhDxGQ R.I.P. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigzepfan Posted January 19, 2011 Share Posted January 19, 2011 Sad day for the rock and roll world. Don bought music to us that noone else would. A true pioneer in the history of rock and roll. Will never forget as a kid watching Don Kirchner's Rock Concert. Finally a show that rocks. No pop, no country no soultrain, no Bullshit. Finally the music I like. and you are right Don, the RRHOF sucks ass. or should we just call it the music hall of fame and get it over with. RIP sir. You will always be remembered. For those about to rock, we salute U. Here's a partial list of performers on his show(from Wikipedia): ABBA The Allman Brothers Band Argent Bad Company Badfinger Bachman-Turner Overdrive Black Sabbath Brownsville Station Joan Baez Bee Gees Pat Benatar Black Oak Arkansas Blood, Sweat & Tears Blue Öyster Cult Brooklyn Dreams David Bowie The Byrds Harry Chapin Cheap Trick Alice Cooper Jim Croce Devo Dixie Dregs The Doobie Brothers Eagles Earth, Wind & Fire Edgar Winter Group Electric Light Orchestra Bryan Ferry Fleetwood Mac Foghat Rory Gallagher Golden Earring The Guess Who George Harrison The Hollies James Gang Billy Joel Journey James Gang Kansas B. B. King KISS Gladys Knight and the Pips Lynyrd Skynyrd Mahavishnu Orchestra Mahogany Rush Melissa Manchester Manfred Mann's Earth Band Frank Marino Don McLean Molly Hatchet Montrose Ted Nugent New York Dolls Ohio Players Outlaws The Police Billy Preston Prince & The Revolution Ramones Lou Rawls Helen Reddy The Rolling Stones Linda Ronstadt Todd Rundgren Rush Rose Royce Santana The Sex Pistols Seals & Crofts Sensational Alex Harvey Band Slade Sly & the Family Stone Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes Sylvester Sparks The Stampeders Steely Dan Steve Miller Band Cat Stevens Marc Bolan and T.Rex Ike & Tina Turner UFO Uriah Heep Village People Joe Walsh [(Bay City Rollers)] Walter Murphy War Weather Report Wishbone Ash Stevie Wonder that is one amazing list of talent!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beetleron Posted January 19, 2011 Share Posted January 19, 2011 yeh......was on very late saturday nights here (12:30 i think) ...was always cool to watch.........introduced me to a lot of bands back then REO speedwagon actually wasn't bad.....the chubby dude on guitar could crank at the time Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maven2blue Posted January 19, 2011 Share Posted January 19, 2011 I saw KISS for the first time on Rock Concert. My brother and I were amazed. Times sure have changed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Northstar Posted February 29, 2012 Share Posted February 29, 2012 Well yesterday I dug up some old Magazines with some Zep stuff in them, which would have been the reason for me buying them. I came across a Led Zeppelin quiz in a magazine and one of the questions was "What early 70's television show provided Zeppelin with thier first American TV exposure?"...and the answer was Don Kirshners Rock Concert. Now I have read quite a few interviews about Zep throughout the years and was under the impression that Peter Grant would not allow them to do TV shows in the 70's. So I went to the website donkirshner.com and low and behold Led Zeppelin are on the list of bands that had performed on the show. Luckily you could clik on the name Led Zeppelin to find out the details of thier performance on the show. IT turns out that they did not perform live, but instead, gave the show permission to air footage from Zeppelin's 1976 film The Song Remains The Same. The footage was aired on September, 29, 1976. It was a real good show, as I do remember watching it when I was alot younger. There was no lip syncing and it had a who's who of rock acts at the time. If you have some time take a look at donkirshner.com just to check out the very impressive list of bands that performed on the show from 1973 to 1981. Rest in peace Don you did a great job. Northstar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dazedcat Posted February 29, 2012 Share Posted February 29, 2012 Rock Concert was a very big deal for the times, very sorry to hear he passed away. Well that's two prominent people in music passing today (Davy Jones the other) , and this usually comes in threes. I won't wonder who's next. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Northstar Posted February 29, 2012 Share Posted February 29, 2012 I didn't mean to mislead you Dazedcat, or anyone else for that matter, but Don Kirshner actually passed away January 17, 2011. I in fact had no idea that he had passed away until I added to this thread about Zep's contribution to his show Rock Concert. I also had no idea that Davy Jones passed away today,... strange thing is Don Kirshner had quite alot to do with the music that the Monkee's did. Rest in peace Davy Jones. Northstar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jahfin Posted February 29, 2012 Share Posted February 29, 2012 I also had no idea that Davy Jones passed away today, I posted about it earlier today in the Monkees thread. Don Kirshner's Rock Concert, In Concert and The Midnight Special were virtually the only places on television back in the 70s that gave any significant amount of coverage to rock n' roll. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dazedcat Posted March 1, 2012 Share Posted March 1, 2012 I didn't mean to mislead you Dazedcat, or anyone else for that matter, but Don Kirshner actually passed away January 17, 2011. I in fact had no idea that he had passed away until I added to this thread about Zep's contribution to his show Rock Concert. I also had no idea that Davy Jones passed away today,... strange thing is Don Kirshner had quite alot to do with the music that the Monkee's did. Rest in peace Davy Jones. Northstar. Oh, ok I had no idea he passed until I read this thread. Thanks for the post anyway, his Rock Concert used to mean something back in the day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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