Annals of Record Company Shit-Weasels (An Occasional Series): Special "When Philistines Walked the Earth" Edition

And speaking of The Kinks, as we were Wednesday, here's some Kinks music (and the story behind it) you may not know, but should.

Let's start with the music. From their 1991 EP Did Ya on Sony, please enjoy the winsome title track....

...and a killer live version of the band's 60s classic "Gotta Move."

And now for the story. As I said, you probably don't know either of those tracks (and the EP they derive from). For this dubious distinction, we have one person to thank -- then head of Sony Records Tommy Mottola, aka Mr. Mariah Carey.

What happened was The Kinks got signed to Sony prior to Mottola assuming the reins of the company; all of a sudden Grunge happened, and the totally-respectful-of-artists Mottola basically told his subordinates -- who the fuck is responsible for these over the hill/past their sell date/dinosaurs being on my label? Oh, and by the way, we'll promote this Kinks EP and anything else these fossils give us on the same day that frozen yogurt goes on sale in hell.

Consequently, nobody except the tiny group of rock critics who'd already received Did Ya in the mail ever heard it, and the Kinks were dropped by Sony soon after delivering a complete new album that Sony was obliged to release for legal/contractual reasons.

But don't worry, the story has a happy ending. Head Kink Ray Davies eventually got knighted, and his band are not only still with us, but back in the studio recording new music.

As for Mottola, he died soon after shafting the group, friendless and alone, of a terrible and painful lingering disease.

Actually, no -- the motherfucker is still alive, well, and obscenely wealthy. But a boy can dream, can't he? 😎

PS: Mottola did exactly the same thing to the great Willie Nile and his 1991 masterpiece Places I Have Never Been...

...but I'll tell you that story on Monday, along with some happier Willie news. 😎😎

In the meantime -- have a great weekend, everybody!!!