Quote:
Originally Posted by sleepless child
I really thought things had changed during The Dance. I guess that was all about the money too.
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I wish I shared this view, but my impression was that pretty much everything they did after Tusk was about money and only money. Recording Mirage and Tango were reportedly MISERABLE and occurred after the solo careers were up and running. I can't imagine why they'd put themselves through that if not for money or contractural obligations relating to money. "Live" was only released because Mick was bankrupt, same goes with his tabloid autobiographies. Chris and John were confirmed conservatives (and BRITISH) so I can't imagine their reuniting for the Clinton performance was because of their passion for his campaign.
Everyone's careers were in the TANK by the time 1997 rolled around, so I'm sure The Dance (which was originally just going to be an MTV Unplugged episode) and the ensuing tour was attractive to all of them. I mean Christine was unhappy for the entire thing. I guess things (both money and personal relationships) went well enough for them to think Say You Will would be a less miserable experience (it wasn't) but you could argue a good bit of why they made that album was to ride off of the success of The Dance. Every tour after that has just been a Greatest Hits cash grab`(with the possible exception of Christine's return, I don't think that was motivated by money on her part).
As far as the solo albums, you could make an argument that Mick's albums were done out of his own weird passion but his financial issues at the time cast doubt on that. Christine was contracturally obligated to make her 1984 album, which is why she had Todd Sharp do half of it for her. In the Meantime was a passion project for sure though.
Lindsey's solo career is obviously for his love of the music, and I'd make the argument that Stevie's first two solo albums are the same way. They were vehicles for her to express herself more freely and get more of her songs out there (Jimmy Iovine's motivations are different story obvisouly). RAL is a sell out album for sure.
This isn't to say that all of these projects are just soulless cash grabs, they wouldn't have turned out as amazing as they did without all the other factors (their love of making music, wanting to express themselves creatively, playing so well off of each other etc). But I can't imagine a prime motivator other than money, why else would they make themselves so unhappy so often?
But you know what... that's okay. They're talented musicians and it's a business and it's a business I'm happy to indulge.