June 22, 1979 Gusto music feature: Revisiting Could Be Wild

 

I continue to miss these guys. In their crazy way, they were genius.

June 22, 1979 

Could Be Wild turns one year old

“You break an artist any way you can,” Brue Moser is saying rather emphatically to some executive strategist at Arista Records in New York City via the Mickey Mouse telephone. “You can break Graham Parker with ‘I Want You Back.’ You’ll sell a million.”

         Moser’s beating this guy up on the phone because “I Want You Back” – the old Jackson Five hit – is on the neglected B side of Parker’s new single. Parker’s best bid yet for popular success and it’s relegated to the B side. Moser can’t stand it. He wants Arista to flip it over, make it the A side and go after the hit.

         But Arista’s not so inclined to see it that way. After all, they’ve already printed up umpteen thousands singles with “I Want You Back” on the B side. The song isn’t even included on Parker’s “Squeezing Out Sparks” album. And Arista’s already plugging the other side to radio stations.

         Besides, who’s Moser to be telling Arista Records what to do? He doesn’t work for Arista. He’s an independent promotion man, an outside consultant, a hired gun. In this case, he’s been hired by Graham Parker’s management.

         In the crazy business of getting records played on the radio and sold in the stores, it used to be that record labels arranged it all themselves. They either fielded their own team of promotion and sales reps or else plugged into big wholesalers like Transcontinent Record Sales, parent firm to Record Theater. But as radio stations tightened their playlists in the ‘70s, record companies started to look for something extra to give them a competitive edge. So did the acts themselves. Enter the independent promotion man.

         Moser went independent in 1978 after five years at Transcontinent, plugging records for various labels, Arista included. To make the jump, he teamed up with another Transcontinent graduate, merchandizing maven Doug Dombrowski. They named their company after Moser’s favorite catch phrase. The premise behind Could Be Wild Promotions was simple. They’d seen it work at Transcontinent. All you have to do is get a record into all the major radio stations between Cleveland and Boston, generate some excitement and you’ve got a hit.

         Moser and Dombrowski’s first successful application of this theory was the debut album by The Cars, as the shiny platinum album plaque on their wall attests. “We’re responsible for them being more than a Boston phenomenon,” Moser asserts.

         It was a case of promotion and merchandizing working hand in hand. Moser got local stations playing The Cars, while Dombrowski convinced the buyers at Transcontinent to take a sizable first order, so that the record would be in the stores awaiting the kids who liked it on the radio.

         Among Could Be Wild’s other first-year successes are George Thorogood and the Destroyers, Poco, Ian Matthews, the Pointer Sisters, Joe Cocker and Warren Zevon. Even where they didn’t generate a hit, they’ve had impact. Moser’s enthusiasm for King of Hearts’ “Close, but No Guitar” last fall has led to the re-release of the album. And success locally with rock singer-songwriter Benny Mardones – presented in a live studio concert on WBUF-FM – helped him get a new record label.

         For Graham Parker’s visit in May, they staged a Record Theater autograph party and a series of radio station visits, oversaw the concert and had a few pictures taken. Prominent among the other paraphernalia in Could Be Wild’s Elmwood Avenue headquarters is an autographed Parker poster. Dombrowski and Moser are still fans at heart.

         Indeed, the office resembles Moser’s old attic record room in his parents’ house on Buffalo’s East Side. It’s full of magazines, promotional souvenirs, deejay records and posters hung over posters. It adds up to a comfortable shambles and it comes complete with a dog that loves pizza.

         Nevertheless, Could Be Wild’s first year was anything but serene. There was Dombrowski’s auto accident, Moser’s wedding. There were hassles with the phone company and with accounts that wouldn’t pay their bills. There was their FM radio tipsheet – a hotline report on new albums – which flourished for a while, then stopped after a disagreement with WBLK’s Mickey Turntable, who published it along with her own AM radio tipsheet.

         “It was a question of credibility,” Moser says. “She wanted to put in things like Van McCoy. If people think I’m the one who’s recommending Van McCoy, they won’t even answer my phone calls.”

         There were negotiations for management of Spyro Gyra, which fell through. There were feuds, too, like the one with the city’s other independent record promotion team – a rivalry that’s simmered through the seasons.

         As they enter their second year, they’ve got a new management interest – a local band with a Jeff Beck-style guitarist called ASG, the Al Syms Group. A measure of their success with radio stations can be heard whenever WBUF plays “You Can’t Keep a Good Band Down” off the demonstration tape that Dombrowski produced for the group. A record deal is in the works.

         They’ve also gotten vindication from Arista Records. Moser finally went and summed up the case for Graham Parker in a one-page letter to Clive Davis, president of the label. Davis wrote back. Then this week Moser got the word. “Did you hear what Arista did?” he asks excitedly over the phone. “They’re going to flip the single. They’re going to go with ‘I Want You Back.’”

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IN THE PHOTO: One of those snapshots they took when Graham Parker was in town. From left, Doug Dombrowski, Irv Goldfarb of WGRQ-FM, Paul Bapst of Arista Records, Graham Parker and Bruce Moser.

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FOOTNOTE: Graham Parker's "Squeezing Out Sparks" album was one of his biggest successes, but none of the singles taken from it cracked the Billboard charts. "I Want You Back" did. Topped out at No. 103.

Bruce Moser and Doug Dombrowski, alas, are no longer with us. Bruce died in June 2020, Doug departed in November 2021. Graham Parker could use their help. His 2023 release, "Last Chance to Learn the Twist," did not even chart.