The Questlove Show - QLS Classic: Herb Alpert

Episode Date: August 12, 2024

Jazz musician, songwriter and co-founder of A&M records Herb Alpert talks about the art of the trumpet, writing hits with Sam Cooke, the secret to outselling The Beatles and how he really feels about getting sampled by Biggie. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me. Clifford Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, my basketball and college football journey, or my career in sports media.

Well, now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifers Show. This is a place for raw, unfills of conversations with athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. So let's get to it. Listen to The Clivert Show on the I-Hard Radio app,

Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok podcast network on TikTok. I'm Daniel Alarcon, and this is my friend. This is much more famous than I am. I wouldn't go that far. But I'm John Green, co-host of the podcast The Away End with my old friend Daniel. On our podcast, The Away End, we'll share with you the magic of international football, all leading up to the 2026 World Cup.

Together, we'll find out why, of all the unimportant things, football, soccer, is the most important. Listen to the away end with Daniel Alarcon and. John Green on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, I'm Dr. Maya Shunker, a cognitive scientist and hosts of the podcast, a slight change of plans, a show about who we are and who we become when life makes other plans. I wish that I hadn't resisted for so long the need to change. We have to be willing to live with a kind of uncertainty that none of us likes. You can have opinions.

You can have like a strong stance. And then there's your body having its own program. Listen to a slight change of plans on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Questlove Supreme is a production of IHeart Radio. This classic episode was produced by the team at Pandora. This is Sugar Steve. And on this week's Quest Love Supreme Classic, jazz musician, songwriter, and co-founder of A&M Records, Herb Alford talks about the art of the trumpet, writing hits with Sam Cook,

the secret to outselling the Beatles and how he really feels about getting sampled by Biggie, originally released October 4th, 2017. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome. Welcome to a very special one-on-one tradition of Questlove Supreme. Well, sort of. One-on-one. Well, you're here, too. Circus Steve's always here.

You know, one of the great things about one of my many jobs that I have is the interaction I get to have with an endless parade of musicians and artists that come to the Tonight Show. So kind of off the cuff and spur of the moment, I thought it would. I'd be remiss if I did not. Behoove. You like Behoove. No, that's why I said remiss instead of behoove. Okay, well, either way. I'm changing my style. I'm Steve.

That, you know, if I didn't have an in-depth conversation with, I mean, to say Renaissance man is almost cliche at this point. I guess if you, like, do three things well, or four things well, you're a Renaissance man. Hey, I can chew gum, too. Yeah, okay. Now he's a Renaissance man. Okay. Tell me the world's greatest gum chew. of all time.

Please welcome to a very Questlove Supreme Special Mr. Herb Alpert. Well, thank you very much. Hey, what a round of applause. Thank you. Just a more golf clap. How are you today?

I'm feeling good. You're good. I guess as of this recording, you're in New York doing a residency at... Right. Yeah, we play at the Cafe Carlisle. This is our fifth time there. Okay. I enjoy it.

It's fun. You know, this is a small little group of people. I think the room holds about 90 people. And it's really up close and personal. In the 60s, I used to play for, you know, the height of the Tijuana Brass. We were playing for like 20,000 people at the big arenas. I was going to say, what do you prefer, like, the intimate setting or, like, the...

Actually, I prefer a room that has a good sound with an intimate setting. You know, that's the best. In the old days, it was like you never really got a feeling of the audience. They were just way out there someplace. And that was the days, you know, when people smoke so you could see people light up cigarettes. For the most part, you don't see that anymore. But I like the intimate setting.

It's more fun. So I had to say after discovering your music when I was a child, I had a father that had a very extensive record collection. I'm sure that I'm not alone in which I thought you were naturally of Mexican descent. So did I for a while. No, I used to go to bullfights in Tijuana in the springtime.

For about three years, I did before I decided I don't like bullfighting anymore. But, you know, that was an experience for me. And I never heard mariachi music, but I heard this brass band in the stands that kind of knocked me out because they would like introduce all the events of a bullfight. You know, like before the bull would come out, they'd come up with the, ba-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-d-d-d-d-d-bang, the bull shows up, you know. And then another fanfare for the Matador and the picadors. So it was kind of exciting, you know, and I tried to translate that feeling into a song.

And I had a good melody from a friend of mine. And that became the Lonely Bull. And that record we released, that was the first record released on A&M, 1962. And it took off like a rocket ship, so it was a good feeling. So can I assume that before 1962, in American culture, sort of the mariachi sound or even the sound of Mexican music wasn't fully developed yet as far as, I mean, how popular was it at the time? Like, was it introduced to you because you specifically went to these bullfights?

I'm not sure you know it kind of just morphed into me I was you know I like Cal Jader and Predisprado Machito and those type

Latin groups I remember seeing one time Machito here in New York and it was a real eye opener for me because I got there early the band was on the stand Machito didn't arrive yet

and the band was very loosey-goosey They were playing some stuff that was really kind of straggling along. You know, everyone kind of not in the groove of things. Then Machito came out with a cowbell. I mean, bang, bang, bang, bang. And all of a sudden, everybody was... Everybody came alive.

Yeah, everybody came alive at the right time. It was beautiful. So, I mean, I've had several experiences where it really hit me that it's not what you do. It's the way how you do it. And that's the way I've been operating. True. I can agree with you. Can you agree, Steve? I do agree with that. That's the way how you do it. Well, as far as your musical development, your childhood, how old were you when you first picked up a trumpet?

Well, I had this great experience in my grammar school, and there was a music appreciation class. I don't know if they call it a music appreciation class, but it was a class talking about. music and there was a table filled with various instruments. I happened to pick up the trumpet because I liked the feeling of it. I was very small and the trumpets seemed to fit my hand and I tried to make a sound out of it which I couldn't do. I was just blowing hot air into it and that didn't work. But when I finally made sound out of the instrument and started working on it, I realized that it was talking for me because I was very shy as a kid. I'm basically an interesting. introvert, but more so then.

All musicians are, I think. Well, you know, it's, yeah, I guess one of those things. I've met a lot of great musicians in my days now, but yeah, I was, so anyways, the trumpet was talking for me. It was saying things that I couldn't get out of my mouth. So it's been a great friend for me through the years, and I've learned a lot from it. We've had our ups and downs, like all musicians do.

musicians do. Jumping forward, Dizzy Gillespie was a friend of mine, and Dizzy used to say, you know, the closer I get, the farther it looks. Okay. Well, how, first of all, what type of, what trumpet do you play? Like, I don't know there are different types of saxophones, altos, and super, but. Yeah, it's a regular B-flat trumpet. You know, I've had different models through the years, and all, I played all the Tijuana

brass. records on a Chicago Bench trumpet. But it's not the trumpet. You know, I ran into a huge problem playing the instrument around 1970, going through a divorce, and I don't know how my body wasn't feeling good, and I was not mentally in good shape. And I had a real problem. It was a struggle to play the instrument. I was stuttering through the horn.

I was like, I couldn't get the note out in time. Really? Right. So I took some time off and then I started studying with a teacher here in New York, Carmine Caruso. And he was known as the troubleshooter. You know, he could teach brass instrument. He could teach any instrument. Never played the trumpet, but he taught the trumpet. He taught trumpet players from all over the country and all over the world. And he used to tell me, man, it's not the trumpet. The trumpet is just a piece of plumbing. So you were essentially playing a piece of plumbing. Yeah, that was his description of the instrument. So a piece of plumbing, man, you're the instrument. It doesn't matter what kind of mouthpiece you use or kind of a trumpet you're playing. You know, the sound is inside you.

And that's, you know, the sound I've always tried to make. You know, I went through a period of thinking, well, man, can I play like Clifford Brown? Heck no. You know, that guy was a genius beyond, you know? And then Miles and Louis Armstrong and all those great players. I was thinking, well, I was trying to imitate them for a while. And then I realized, who wants to hear that? They've already done it.

So I was looking for my own voice. Well, I think you found it because I'll probably say that next to Miles Davis, I could probably tell Dizzy Gillespie's tone in about, if you'd give me about 20 seconds. I know. And maybe a tour. Like, there's certain. Freddie Herbert.

Yeah, there's certain trumpet players in which you could tell instantly, but with you, you have such a distinctive tone and voice with your playing that even yesterday, of course, like, we all get very nervous when our heroes come to play with us.

And, you know, rule number one is like, we try not to freak out in front of you. So the quieter, the quieter the roots are when rehearsing, like, You best believe we're on our cell phone like, oh, my fucking, you know, that's everything. I enjoyed playing with you guys, but I had the supreme compliment from Miles. Miles said, you hear three notes, and you know it's heard about. So it's, I mean, that's...

Well, I want to know, how much practice did it take, as far as your craft is concerned, before you knew, okay, this is my lane and stay in it. And I know that, you know, were you ever tempted, like, for me as a drummer, I guess I've made my mark playing flat footed. When I was young, Bernard Purdy once told me, he says, dude, I keep food on the table with the two and the four. You want to keep food on the table or you want to like, do you look mono? You know, because drummers are, or musicians always want to flex and let other musicians know,

I got more technique than you and that sort of other thing. Sure. But I followed his advice. And he's like, yo, if you just do the two and a four, that will last forever like a good tuxedo. Well, yeah, that's true to a degree. But, I mean, you have to be authentic. You know, you have to be real. I don't think you can fake that.

You have to do something that you're passionate about. And if it's two and four you're passionate about, great. Go ahead. But during the time period in which, like, you know, Miles is. pushing the boundaries with, you know, in a silent way and bitches brew and all this stuff. Are you thinking like, damn, like, I got to catch up or, you know, or for you, it's just like. No, I wasn't thinking about that. I wasn't really thinking about making hit records.

I mean, that's jumping forward. But, you know, I was drafted in the Army out of, I went to University of Southern California for about a year. And I really didn't take to college. I just didn't have that feel yet. But I was drafted in the Army, and he sent me to, oh, well, first off, I told them that the only thing I know how to do is play the trumpet, you know. I said, and I lied a bit. I played with Dizzy and I played with, you know, Count Basie, and I gave him the whole story. Anyway, I was a trumpet player, and that was by M.O. So they sent me to band school in Fort Knox, Kentucky. And there were like about ten trumpet players there. And these guys were all better than me.

And I was coming from a situation where I was the number one trumpet player in my school and all these gigs in Los Angeles. And I realized that these guys could play higher, faster, louder, read better. The jazz was for the most part, I mean, not all of them, but most of them, you know, were just pretty darn good. And I thought, if I'm ever going to make it as a professional musician, I have to come up with my own style, my own voice. And that's what I started pursuing. I heard this record by the guitar player, How High the Moon?

Les Paul. And so Les Paul was layering his guitar on these tracks. And I tried doing that at home. I had two tape machines, but believe it or not, I'm saying two tape machines. You know, when I started, are you sitting? I had a WebCore wire recorder. It was a wire recorder.

A wire recorder. A wire recorder. This is pre-tape. Yeah, it was pre-tape. It was like, you know, if you wanted to make an edit, you needed a soldering iron. Anyway, so I got the tape machines. I got the Ampex mono machine, and I had two of those. And I used to go from one machine to the other, layering the trumpet. And all of a sudden, ah, that's a nice sound.

That was the Tijuana, the genesis of the Tijuana Brass sound. And that happened. You're stacking the horns. And when I hit on it, it felt like right. And then, you know, came the Lonely Bull. And this record, you know, it was a big hit record. And I got this letter from a lady in Germany. I chuckled when I first read it.

But she said, dear Mr. Opper, thank you. for sending me on this vicarious trip to Tijuana, which made me think, wow, that music was so visual for her. It transported her. And I said, well, that's the music that I really like to make. Make music that takes you someplace. You know, opposed to elevator music, which is, it's music, it's not bad, it's not good, it's just there.

You know, you don't go out the elevator whistling anything. But it wasn't invented at the time. What's that? It wasn't invented at the time. So, you know, I don't consider elevator music to be like a four-letter word. No, no, no, it's cool. But I think it's ubiquitous. Like, okay, like it's beyond your home stereo, beyond your headphones, beyond your car,

which is like the three places that people mostly listen to music. You know, when your music is in supermarkets and in dentist office and that sort of thing, then it's like it's in another dimension. Right. So anyways, that letter. are kind of stuck home. And of course, you know, we haven't talked about it, but I learned a heck of a lot from Sam Cook.

You know, I've worked with Sam. We brought a song together. Sam and I and Lou Adler, we wrote, Don't know much about history. Don't know much trigonometry. We wrote that song. And Sam was a... Wait, you're singing you...

Wonderful World. Wonderful. Yeah, with Sam and Lou Adler. I did not know this. Well, hey. I didn't know he was the less ball of the trumpet, like the first one to over it. So you're saying you were the first or one of the first to layer trumpet? I don't know if I was the first, but that was the sound.

You know, that was the start of the Tijuana Brass sound. But I learned a lot from Sam. Sam had a really unique style. He came out of the gospel field. He was with the solsters, as you know. And Lou Adler and I were partners. and it was right after we were hired by Keene Records as staff riders, and it was right after Sam had that big record of You Send Me.

And we became friends with Sam, who was an extraordinary guy. I mean, he used to oozed talent. He used to walk around with a notebook filled with lyrics. One day he came up to me and said, Herbie, what do you think of this lyric? and he opened his notebook and I was looking at it thinking myself, just to myself,

man, this is corny. This is really corny. I said, how's the song? What does it sound like? He picked up his guitar, started singing this song. And I was thinking, holy moly, man.

He turned this corny lyric into something magical because of his authenticity, his intent, his passion, where he put the notes, how we put the melody together with the notes, the rhythm, the feel. And that was just a real big aha for me.

That was the, you know, it ain't what you do, it's the way how you do it feeling moment. There's also like a simplicity to Sam Cook's lyrics and his singing style. So did you pick, is that part of what you picked up from him sort of that keep it simple? No, I don't think he thought about keeping it simple. I think he thought about being authentic.

I mean, he was doing the follow-up to you send me, and he was singing, I love you for sentimental reasons. And the owner of the company kind of dabbled as a piano player, but not professionally. And we were in the recording, a booth listening to the playback of one of the takes, and the owner goes up to Sam and says, Sam, you know, here in bar 12 and bar 18. and bar 44.

You can put in a whoa-wo. Yeah, that's what... An ad lib or something. Yeah, I mean, that's the one that was kind of the hook of the U-S.N-me thing. Right. And Sam looked at him and said,

Jack? And his name wasn't Jack. Right. He says, you can't just put in a whoa-wo. Whenever you want, man, you've got to feel it. And that was Sam. You know, he was...

Feeling an emotion. He was totally into it. You know, he was a... I loved him. That's amazing. So is that what you ended up looking for to skip forward in bands and artists that you were signing? Is that that specific thing that you're talking about right now?

Well, I learned from him that... I'll give you another example of him. He was... he started... He was the first artist to have his own record label called Sarr. Do you remember that? Yeah. And he was auditioning this artist from... the Caribbean, beautiful looking guy, green eyes,

came in with a little stool to put his foot on whilst he was plucking his guitar. And I was looking at him while he was singing, thinking, man, this guy is great. This guy really has something magical. And Sam looked at me, he said, and I was in the control room, and this guy was out in the studio. And he came in, he said, what do you think of this guy? I said, well, I think he's pretty good.

Do you think I should sign him? I said, I think so. he says well do me a favor turn your back on them and listen to him for five minutes so i turned the chair around and all of a sudden i didn't receive anything the guy wasn't talking to me and so at that moment i realized that hmm there's there's something to learn and sam you know didn't sign the guy and he's he told me that you know it's not about how you can razzle dazzle somebody with your looks or with your movement. You know, it's just, it's, it's, does it, does it touch you or does it not touch you, you know?

Oh, if only Sam knew 60 years from now. Well, you know, yeah. That's the complete opposite. Well, you're absolutely right, but man, it changed with, you know, computers and. He needs a video and. Yeah, the music videos. And, yeah, if you can razzle dazzle somebody as a dancer and as a, you know, Well, now it's like singing and talent really, I'm not even being sarcastic or bitter sounding.

Like I think it's maybe even 15% of the factor and it's more about your personality. Yeah. There's an artist out now that currently has the number one song and their whole appeal basically rides on their, them going on Instagram live. like they're so charismatic as a person that it makes you cheer for them. And they have like serious marginal talent. But even I find myself cheering for marginal talent now in 2017, which is sad. Yeah, well, yeah, I agree with you. There's a different, that was a different time though when I'm talking about it.

And then Sam taught me how to close my eyes and listen to the artist. And that's what I did with A&M when you asked me about auditioning certain artists. I would always go in there with my eyes closed and hear the music and make a judgment on that. I mean, there was an artist. I want to mention her name, but she called me. She was an A&M artist. And she said she had this single that was a smash, man. You can't miss with this thing.

This was beautiful. She was in the studio, and she begged me to come by and listen to it. So I did. Walked in the studio, closed my eyes, sat down on the couch. I said, okay, play it. They played this thing. And I couldn't find any part of my body to move. You know, I couldn't find my toe to tap or anything, you know.

So there's no goosebumps. There was zero goosebumps. And then I finally opened my eyes. And the artist and the engineer and the producer, they were dancing around the room. Man, they were just having the best time. And I just did not get it at all. And so, well, that's always been my measure, you know, If it gets in me, then I'm good at that.

Can I take one while, guess? Yeah. Rita Kulich? No. Okay, no. No, not Rita. Okay. I liked Rita.

You know, Rita was part of the group that Mad Dogs in English. Yeah. Yeah, that was a pretty amazing moment for me, too. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me. Cliver Taylor the 4th.

You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite

athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast. It's a space.

for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So, if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right what you need to be. Listen to The Clifford Show on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok.

I'm John Green. You may know me as the author of The Fault and Our Stars, and now I guess also is the co-host of the Away End, a brand new world soccer podcast. I'm Daniel Alarcon, a writer and journalist, and John and I have known each other since we were kids. My first World Cup was Mexico 86. I was nine years old.

I watched every game, and I fell in love. On our new podcast, The Away End, we'll share with you the magic of international football, all leading up to the 2026 World Cup. For us, soccer... Football is a story we've shared for over 30 years since Daniel was the star player on our high school soccer team. Very debatable.

And I was there. most loyal and sometimes only fan. I love this game. I love its history, its hope, its heartbreak, and above all, it's beauty. Together, we'll find out why, of all the unimportant things,

football, soccer, is the most important. Listen to the away end with Daniel Alarcon and John Green on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. If you're watching the latest season of the Real Housewives of Atlanta,

you already know, there's a lot to break down. Georgia accusing Kelly of sleeping with a merry man. They holding Kay Michelle back from fighting Drew. Pinky has financial issues. I like the bougie style of Housewives show. I think it looks like it's going to be interesting. On the podcast, Reality with the King, I, Carlos King,

recap the biggest moments from your favorite reality shows, including the Real Housewives franchise, the drama, the alliances, and the team everybody's talking about. As an executive producer in reality television, I'm not just watching it. I understand the game. As somebody who creates shows, I'll even say this.

At the end of the day, when people are at home, they want entertainment. To hear this and more, listen to Reality with the King on the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

I would like you to at least explain to me. I guess the perception of California musicians and I mean, I'm putting you kind of in the jazz genre. I don't know if, do you consider yourself a jazz artist or an instrumentalist? I think I'm an improvisational artist. So falls into jazz. Well, see, that's a whole long discussion because I think jazz needs a renaissance. It needs a revision. Miles had it. You know, Miles kind of took it forward. He, I think he understood the genre just about probably better than any

other jazz musician. You know, he would, I don't know, he was involved in the melodies, in the feel, and always choosing the right musicians to play with. And I think we need that. I think the day of playing the song and then everybody taking a chorus and then playing the song again, I think that's old hat. Well, I'm only asking because like the perception of, I guess the perception of the New York musician snobbery, which, you know,

New York is considered a cool and cold and not as laid back as California. So thus, it's sort of the perception that you have to suffer for your art or it's a gritty, you have to come from a gritty environment for your art, whereas, you know, you look at these California musicians. And I know that New Yorkers sort of look down on them. Like, was there, as far as like the perception of your contemporaries at the time? Like, were you mixing it up with Chet Baker or, you know, the California instrumentalist of the time period of the late 50s? Oh, definitely. Yeah, no, but I was in high school.

Chet was playing with the quartet with Jerry Mulligan at a place called The Hague. And I used to go there to see them in high school. And it was a great experience. Obviously, you know, there was no piano, just bass drums and Chet. Jerry Mulligan, and the four of them just made some music that was very, very avant-garde and beautiful at the time. And I remember when they wanted to take a break, Jerry Mulligan would get up to the microphone and say, shortly. That's it, just shortly.

Cut to the chase. Yeah. Just shortly. So about the Tijuana Brass, can I assume that, that was just the wrecking crew in name only? Or was there a point where you actually... Like on record, that has to be the record crew because it was so clean sounding.

Right. Well, up through the whipped cream and other delights album, that was not all the wrecking crew, but it was definitely Hal Blaine on drums. Carol Kay, sometimes on bass and guitar. Mainly bass. Yeah, I used musicians of my choice, and that's how it started, because, you know, I had this idea of how I wanted the record to sound, and I knew the musicians in town, so. But when it came to reproducing that live?

Yeah, well, after the whipped cream and other Delic Sound, I got an actual group together, and it was always different. It always gave me a feeling like, it's not quite the sound that I made on record, but it's okay. I had a great drummer, Nick Soroli. And I went to the musicians that I found, I went to their strength, instead of trying to give them something

that they couldn't do. I tried to see what they could do really well, and the music kind of took a turn from that point on. What were your audiences looking like at the time period? Wow. When the Tijuana Brass really hit after the whipped cream album, it was young and old. It was a basic. I had this experience in Seattle, Washington. We were playing there with the new group. And my partner, Jerry Moss, I recorded a record called Third Man Theme. He loved it. And on B-side was a taste of honey. So in Seattle, Washington, at the Edgewater Inn, every time I played Taste of Funny, the audience went wild.

I mean, they loved it for some reason, and sometimes I played it twice in a row. And I called Jerry. I was going to say it's only two minutes, so how would you? Well, I mean, you know, they liked it so much. Let's hear it again. So I called Jerry, I said, man, you're on the wrong side. It's Taste of Funny.

He says, ah, man, you can't, he says, it's not a good radio song. It stops in the middle twice and slows down and you can't, you know, it wasn't suited for radio. I said, look at, man, there's a focus group up here. And I'm telling you, it stays the funny. Let's try it. So we eventually turned it over. And that's the record that really opened the door for the Tijuana Brass.

Because after that, then we started performing in all the major shows. You know, Ed Sullivan and Dean Martin and Andy Williams and Danny Kaye. all those big shows wanted us. So from that point on, we were sailing. So let's bring in Jerry Moss. How did you two meet? Well, we met, my story is we met him in New York. I met him in New York.

His story is he met me in Los Angeles. Lou Adler and I did a record that was a huge monster here in New York called Alleyoop. And our friend, Ted, mutual friend, Ted, Fagan was the head promotion man, Madison Records. Okay. And he went to school with Jerry, and he introduced me to Jerry. And Jerry was a promotion man. He was just getting going, but he had a great feel for records and a great field for people.

He's a real, you know, he's a real person. And we got together in Los Angeles, started talking about producing a couple records. He wanted to do a record with an actor, friend of his. And I had this record that I was fooling around with called Tell It to the Birds that I was singing on. And we put out, Tell It to the Birds, and we put out this record that he wanted to put out. And Tell It to the Birds started popping up. It started happening in San Francisco and Los Angeles. And we turned it over to Dot Records for distribution.

They gave us, I think, $500 for that plus a percent. percentage. And with that money, we recorded The Lonely Bull, which was an offshoot of, you know, my visits to Tijuana. And I played it for a disc jockey friend. B. Mitchell Reed was a friend of mine that was, he was the number one jock in Los Angeles. And I played the demo for him before it was released, and he said, where's the hook? I said, what do you mean the hook? He says, you know, you need a hook. I said, man, this is an instrumental. This is not a vocal. He says, you know, think about a hook. And that's when I called Ted Keeps at Liberty Records, who was the head engineer. And he had this tape of 30,000 people screaming, OLA, at a bullfight.

And he gave it to me to use. And that was the thing I used right in the front of the lonely bull. and that was the suppose of hook and that cladopolded the record, man, it took off and it took off in, it broke in San Francisco. And there was a disc jockey Jim Lang who was also on the dating game,

who was the emcee of that for a while. And he broke that record. And I went up to San Francisco to thank him, you know. I walked into the control room and I introduced myself. He was excited, and I said, man, I want to thank you for playing that record. Thank you so much.

He looked at me, he says, I wouldn't have played it if I didn't like it. And from that point on, I never thanked a jock for playing the record. I thought that was a very appropriate thing to say, you know. I would hope to think that they like the record. That's why they're playing it. Wow. So, wait, well, you mentioned Lou Adler, which I'm thinking because you two went down similar paths.

And I know that eventually did a distribution thing or associated something with his label. But did you two never discuss starting a partnership together like starting your own label

at one point? Not a label. We were partners. You know, we wrote, you know, Lou dated my ex-wife. Oh boy. No sound effects.

This is a sound effect for Questlove Supreme. But that's, That's how I met Luke. He was married to, after that, he was married to my ex-wife's girlfriend. Damn, Lou? And we became friends. We're very, I love the guy. I mean, we're very close. And we started, he wrote poetry, and I wrote some melodies to his poetry. And we took around these demos after making demos records. And this one, well, we took. took this demo to specialty records in 1957 or so. Sonny Bono was the head A&R guy, specialty records at the time.

And so he listened to our records, and he said, I want to be honest with you guys. I think you guys ought to get out of the business. What? But we like Sonny. He was an interesting character. That's cold, though. Yeah. That was cold. That was a cold thing to tell anyone. I'd never do that. Even at A&M when I'd interview and audition groups, and I'd tell them, if I didn't get it, I say, look at man, just because I ain't receiving anything, don't mean you ain't sending something. So don't give up. Do whatever you're passionate about doing.

Anyway, so when I got this job, I told you before, I was writers for Keen Records. And that's how we met saying. Sam Cooke and Bidabin, bit of boom, a lot of things happened from that point. Because of his, because of his New York Association, have you ever done anything in the Brill Building at all or considered going to? No, but, you know, all those writers, those great writers, you know, Bert Bachr, Rec recorded for us and Carol King and all those, I know they came out of that place. and Jerry Lieber and Stoller. I knew those guys. Jerry Lieber went to the same high school I went to. He was a couple years ahead of me, but he was an extraordinary guy.

He was very innovative, you know, that record of, There Goes My Baby, by the Drifters. It was his idea to put strings on. That was before anybody had put a string section on a record. and the story of him dancing around the studio kind of telling the string players what he wanted to hear was very vivid

and those guys obviously made some wonderful, wonderful records together. So how easy or challenging was it to form your own label because you know, I mean today

it's so do it your yourself, people can make a complete album on their laptop, very little resources, and the quality is just as good as spending, you know, an entire budget in the studio. But, you know, why did you not consider like, oh, maybe we should take this to Columbia or maybe we should take this to, you know, Mercury or something, like an established label? Because I tend to think. that to be a creative is just hard enough. Now you've got to be a creative person and you got to be a businessman. Right. Well, lucky for me, you know, I'm not a businessman and my partner, Jerry Moss was, is. But it's still your business, though. I'm sure that you guys have to have like a

50-50 kind of like, okay, I got to make some decisions and come to meetings and shake you. Oh, yeah, definitely. But I had this major experience. See, I recorded for RCA Victor before ANM Records. I recorded for them for about a year and a half, maybe two years. And I filed everything I didn't like about how they treated me. You know, I was a number to them. I wasn't a Herb Alpert. I was 38251, take three, you know, that type of guy.

And in this recording facility they had that was very ice cold. It was, you know, white on white on white, on white. And then in the control room, it was no different. It was a cold place. And I was listening to a playback of one of the songs I did. And I wanted to push up the bass channel because I needed more bass on the sound. And I went over to the board and I lifted the bass up and with the pot. And the engineer slapped my hand.

Get out of your, Steve. Wow. No. Wait, I'm allowed to do that. No, you're not allowed to smack people, Steve. And, you know, he said, don't ever touch this board again. This is a union house and blah, blah, blah, and yeah, yeah, yeah. And so I filed all that thinking, like, man, shouldn't a record business company shouldn't revolve around the artist, you know, and that's what I tried to do at A&M.

A&M was a really peaceful company and we were thinking about the artist and had this well you know when the lonely bull happened our distributors around the country said why don't you guys take the money and run you know you got lucky

with this Tijuana brass thing your close proximity to Tijuana and it's not going to happen again like that's an instrumental the instrumentals don't happen that often and then So that gave us father for trying to hang on to it, see how long we could hang on. And they wanted a Lonely Bull album, which we gave them, and that sold well.

So we tried to hang on to it as long as we could, and we started recording a couple other artists. And the big aha for me, and this was the moment that I realized that A&M was going to be successful. We signed Waylon Jennings. Waylon was living in Phoenix, Arizona, and he was – he played with Buddy House. and he was for some lucky reason he didn't get on that airplane. But I used to fly down to Phoenix. We signed him to a four-year contractor. He used to fly down there and record him.

And he really wanted to be a country artist. And I did a record with him called Four Strong Winds. That was excellent. It was really at a good feel. he got this call from Chad Atkins who heard that record and made some overtures to Whalen which he probably shouldn't have done

because Whelan was under contract to us but he said when Whelan gets free he'd like to talk to him Whelan told me about that and at that point I wanted to take Wayland just a little more pop Whelan wanted to be a country artist So he was all excited about Chad Atkins calling because Chad Atkins was the Messiah of country music at that time. He was the ANR head of RCA Victor.

And so we talked it over, I talked it over with my partner, Jerry, and we decided to let Waylon out of his contract so he could go with Chet. And we had about three more years on his contract. And I remember the day that we signed his release and I looked at Jerry, I said, this guy's going to be a big star. And Jerry said, yeah, I think so too.

And we let them out. And I thought from that point out, man, if we could be that honest, that authentic and that caring for our artists, we were going to do okay. Who was the first artist you guys signed outside of releasing your own music?

Well, there were a couple artists. One was George McCr. who was the bass singer with the Pilgrim Travelers. Okay. And that was like the number one gospel group in the country, which I learned a lot from, by the way, just thinking back on that as you mentioned that, because I used to watch them record.

And it was just the five guys with George McCurn, who called himself Upie. He was singing bass. And just a guy playing snare with brushes. No big deal. no big back beat, you know, no two and four slamming at you. And these guys would just make you feel like, wow, this unrelenting time zone that these guys were in and the feeling and the energy that they had, it was just like swinging, swinging hard.

And I thought from that point, man, you don't need all that stuff to make a good feel. It has to just, all the musicians have to gel together in a common cause. Right. You know what I mean? Okay, so George McCurn was one. We had a group called the Kenjillaires. It was a vocal group. Didn't do very well, but they had a nice sound.

And then Wayland came along. Yeah, but the Tijuana Brass was, we were kind of supporting A&M along until around 1960, seven or eight, we signed a group called the We Five. You were on my mind. It became number one record. And then 66, well, in 66 we signed Brazil 66, Sergio Mendez in Brazil, 66. That was a big one for us because they had a really unique sound. We auditioned them.

and I remember walking in this room and hearing this hybrid sound of Brazilian, classical jazz, Brazilian jazz, American jazz, pop. It had that whole thing. And then my wife, Lonnie, was the lead singer. I lost my mind when I realized that I think she was promoting her book. And when she mentioned that, and then it finally hit me that, oh, my God, she's one of the female voices of Brazil's 66. Yeah, she was not one of the one of the female voices. She was the singer.

Yeah, I doubled her. I got that. I puppet the Tijuana Brass Twist on her on Sergio's thing because they had another girl. There were two girls. Yeah. And one girl was very beautiful. Right. But she was not a recording artist.

You know, she just had that sound. And when I heard Lonnie's. So your wife was that voice. Yeah, she had that voice. And that was her sound on, you know, Mashkinada, Fu on the Hill and all those early records that I produced with Sergio. What was the question? Well, no, I'm just going through your initial roster of A&M. Oh, okay.

Dealing with those artists. And I guess in the 70s. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me. Clifford Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football,

or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast.

It's a space for honest conversations, stories, that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So, if you've ever supported me, or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast.

And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. I'm John Green. You may know me as the author of The Fultonar Stars, and now I guess also is the co-host of the Away End, a brand new world soccer podcast. I'm Daniel Alarcon, a writer and journalist, and John and I have known each other since we were kids. My first World Cup was Mexico 86. I was nine years old. I watched every game and I fell in love.

On our new podcast, the away end, we'll share with you the magic of international football, all leading up to the 2026 World Cup. For us, soccer, football, is a story we've shared for over 30 years since Daniel was the star player on our high school soccer team. Very debatable. And I was there most loyal and sometimes only. fan. I love this game. I love its history, its hope, its heartbreak, and above all, it's beauty. Together, we'll find out why, of all the unimportant things, football, soccer, is the most important. Listen to the away end with Daniel Auer Kohn and John Green on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. If you're watching the latest season of the Real Housewives of Atlanta, you already know there's a lot to break down.

Georgia accusing Kelly of sleeping with a merry man. They holding Kay Michelle back from fighting Drew. Pinky has financial issues. I like the bougie style of Housewives show. I think it looks like it's going to be interesting. On the podcast, Reality with the King, I, Carlos King, recap the biggest moments from your favorite reality shows, including the Real Housewives franchise. The drama, the alliances, and the team everybody's talking about. As an executive producer in reality television, I'm not just watching.

it, I understand the game. As somebody who creates shows, I'll even say this. At the end of the day, when people are at home, they want entertainment. To hear this and more, listen to Reality with the King on the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

or wherever you get your podcast. Well, wait, we're getting awfully close to CTI. Yes. Let's not skip CTI. Yeah, and Quincy. Well, Quincy, man. Quincy is Quincy. he's a unique character

yeah he's one of those guys you know you don't have to you don't see him for eight 10 months a year or three and you're like old buddies right from the get-go he's he has a magnetic personality he's brilliant he has 18 balls going up in the air

at the same time and they're all worthwhile they're all doing something interesting we had the we had the fortune of recording our show at the former A&M Studios, which is now Jim Henson Studios, which I guess was formerly the Charlie Chaplin Studios.

You know, even now, past, I'm sure that anyone that goes through there, that has had some sort of history there, there's a feeling that you get in that environment when the gate's closed and you're just inside of that world in that environment. So the entire A&M operations was inside of, of the former Chapman Studios.

Like, that's where, as far as the studio was concerned and the offices, everything was in the environment. Well, not in the early days. The early days, it was in my garage. I mean, that's where we started. Oh, yeah, I know. And then we had an office on Sunset Boulevard for a while that was, you know, a little modest place.

But then we bought the studios, I think 19, I don't remember the year. How did you avoid the, the ugly, side of the business because I know that to be an upstart to get your stuff played I know there's a lot of handshaking kissing babies politicking uh grease and palms I know that you know the the the element what's the the New York guy used to have roulette records um Morris levy yeah like how do you how do you deal with people that see like you like, oh, getting success in, hey, I like a piece of that, or, you know, that, because, I mean, you guys were essentially always an independent label. Right. Yeah. Well, I personally sidestepped all that stuff,

but how can you when people are like, hey, you know, let me, let me bring my, my, my wife's things, and let me get a piece of the, like, again, you have to be a business person also. Like, how, how do you avoid, how do you avoid that, especially when the late 60s and the early 70s was so, record labels were so corrupted. I mean, you didn't hear about that with your label. You didn't hear that with Mo Austin at Warner's, but, you know, definitely I know that a lot of those mom and pop labels that were trying to get the status of a CBS or a Mercury, you know, there's a lot of grime that they had to avoid and how do you sidestep yeah well i never got involved personally i heard about it but uh it wasn't something that interested interested me and i i wasn't good at that

you know i didn't i just know about trying to be me you know it's it's tough enough just to be yourself you know and work in that world i'm an artist you know i'm 85% in the right side of my brain. I paint, scope, make music, and I'm a lucky guy. So I always, you know, when we, A&M started growing and we had these business meetings every Thursday with lawyers and accountants and all that. Man, my eyes would glass over. That would just like, holy moly, man, this ain't me. So I kind of found a way to, you know, get out of that thing because it was, it would dig into my creativity. So on the business, and what was your role?

Did you look for new artists? Did you listen to tapes? Jerry, this brother and sister act that we got to sign, man. Their harmonies are really crazy. They're called the carpenters. We got to do it. Like, how do you convince?

I didn't have to convince anybody when I signed the carpenters because I loved them, period. There's no, you know, we didn't have a committee. It was just my office was right next to Jerry's. I just said, you know, I'm signing these kids.

You know, they were great. But I used the Sam Cooke method with them. You know, I heard this tape, put it on in my office, and it closed my eyes, and it felt like Karen's voice was coming right out at me and sitting next to me on the couch. I said, I've got to meet this girl. You know, she has this very interesting voice, and she didn't think of herself as a singer. She was a drummer. and a pretty darn good drummer too.

So sign them and luck be having. When you heard those tapes, were those harmonies hitting you like the way that the final product was? Oh yeah. No, there was something there because Richard, and it wasn't just Karen, it was the combination of the two of them. Richard Carpenter is a very creative guy. He has great taste in songs,

and he was great with him. choral harmonies and he was very instrumental in their success but in 1970 you know they had a couple records that didn't do great and people in my own company were saying man man why'd just sign these guys i mean that was the rumble i was hearing you know they're little too cute they're little they don't fit on on radio blah blah blah so people thought they were like more bubble gummy yeah bubble gummy music adult uh-huh and so uh then i gave them close to you I had that song, that Bert Backwreck and Hal David wrote. And they recorded it, and I didn't like the recording.

Karen was playing drums. And they recorded it again. That wasn't it. I said, we need more, umph. We need, you know, let's get them guys, let's get the wrecking crew. So Hal Blaine came in, and Joe Osborne was on bass, and they made that record. That record, I remember after they finished it, I played it for Bert over the phone, and he flipped out.

And that record was a monster. And then, of course, after all the same people in my company that were saying, why'd you sign those guys? All of a sudden thought I was a genius. Christmas bonus time, right? Did you give Bert Beckerac his, were you the start of his? Because I know he wrote this guys in love with you, correct? Yeah, he wrote this guys in love with you with how. David.

How David. Yeah, and that was their first number one record, which was really interesting, man. I was their first. So that started the ball rolling for it? Well, not for them. No, no. They had the Humpteen hits before that,

but that was the first number one. Yeah, no, they have all sorts of records that were beautiful. I mean, they're really, Bert is a very, very unusual artist. You know, he has his own voice, his own style. You can't really second-guess.

his melodies. They just kind of take you someplace and there's a logic to it, but only he knows how to get there. What means you decide to sing one? This guy's in love with you? Well, it was a television show we were doing for NBC and the director, Jack Ailey Jr. asked me to try and sing a song, because he was tired of photographing me with the trumpet in my mouth. So I called Bert and asked him if there was a song that he starts whistling in the shower or maybe a song he recorded but didn't like the recording. Anyways, he sent me, This Girls in Love with you, that he recorded with Dionne Warwick. And I liked the song a lot, but the gender had to be changed because it was written.

and for her called Hal David, flew to New York. He was living in New York at the time, and I was there while he was changing the lyric, and I asked him the same question as I was leaving his house, and he sent me close to you, and I was going to use that as the follow-up to this guy's in love with you, which was Zoom to number one. In two weeks, that record was number one after the television show hit.

And so I recorded close to you. I had a pretty good recording. And the engineer, who was a friend of mine, Larry Levine, I said, listening to the playback, I thought it was good. I said, Larry, tell me the truth. What do you think? He says, man, you sound terrible singing this song. He says, that blunt honest with you?

Yeah, well, he was a friend. How many namesayers are in your life, man? No, that's good. Well, I'm not saying your life should be full with yes-bin, but. Oh, look it. I like to have people around me that give me the truth. Was he right? Well, I think he was right, although I still liked the record.

But I put it away. I didn't, you know, I got gun shy. Wow. So in 1970, when the carpenters had a couple records out there that didn't happen, then I gave Richard close to you. And that was the start of their monstrous career. Because, I mean, that man, once that door opened for the carpenters, It was like, watch out, man.

It happened all over the world. It was fantastic. Okay, so what was your relationship like? How did the Creed Taylor Association come to be? Well, Creed, in my opinion, Creed is one of the most, he was one of the great jazz producers, I think, of all time.

He just had a field for what to do with West and do, you know, he made some extraordinary records with Bill Evans and he just had a feel for how to market them, how to package it. You know, they packaged the record properly and he sequenced it properly. I think he knew what to do. That record he made with the organ player. Jimmy Smith. Jimmy Smith.

That's one of my favorite records, you know, the one he did with Walk on the wild side and I don't know he was just uh he was looking for a different distribution deal and we were honored to have him because uh I I just love him as a producer were you guys not worried well because you guys had a lot of distribution deals were you guys not worried at all about I don't know if branding was still a thing the way it is now like people want to have their branding set now and in motion make that front and center before even the product but

you know was there any fear that because I didn't even know like I know I guess now that I'm an adult that you know like tapestry is A&M related even though it was on Luz album and all those Cheats and Chong records

I listened to. Well it was on Ode Ode records yeah but you know but I'm just saying that was there any fear of like the label not being up in front and you having these other subsidiary labels under you? No, I don't think we ever thought about that. We were just putting out good music.

You know, my partner, Jerry, had the same feeling I have about music. We try to make, you know, in the early days when we started in 62, you know, there were a lot of record companies operating out of the trunks of their car. And a lot of companies would, you know, get one-hit record, and then they make an album with fillers. You know, they'd have the hit record, and they have a bunch of junkie records, you know, that are part of it. Yeah, just things that were just economically good to do, I guess.

I don't know, but we never wanted to do that. We wanted to, you know, give the public a fair shot and make music that we would purchase ourselves. And then when the Lonely Bull and the Teo Ranabras started happening, we hired a guy that was working at the pressing plant and turned into be our quality control person. So all the records and all the masters that came out of A&M were really as clean as they could be.

So we weren't thinking about how much money we could make, how much good music could we put out there and still be honest and make a good living doing it. That's what we were pursuing. How big was the staff once you guys got to the Chaplain Studios? Well, at the Chaplain Studios, we had 33 people at that time. Okay. Started with the two, then there were three, five, ten, you know, and all of a sudden it got way out of hand, you know, towards the end.

I didn't know anybody in the company. In the beginning, you knew everybody by name and... Well, in the beginning it was just Jerry myself, you know, that we'd make all the decisions. Who was your... if you can recall, who was, like, your star A&R? Who was the A&R guy that, like, just brought you, like, your top five favorite acts to the label? Like, who was the one guy that you could depend on? Well, you know, there were some guys in London that did really well when we got...

Okay, here we go. Squeeze. Well, squeeze, yeah. Yeah. But then... So you're saying that there was an A&M division in London? Well, yeah, because that would explain. Yeah, the police and Joe Cocker and, okay. Yeah, well, we had Super Tramp, which they were huge in Europe.

So all the British associated A&M acts were signed and... Right. When did you guys expand past? Yeah, okay, that was around 1969, I believe, you know, when Jerry, you know, thought that, you know, our image at the time was kind of easy listening. kind of cool music. And he wanted to, you know, jump into the... The frying pan.

Yeah, the real stuff. The stuff that was happening, you know, a little more edgy. And that's when Joe Cocker and Mad Dogs and Englishmen got going. And that was the first time I was kind of indoctrinated

into that type of music because I was not a stuffed shirt, but, you know, I came up through the classical field. And then I was making my own music and I remember walking into the sound stage when Cocker and Leon Russell was playing piano and they had two drummers and Rita Coolidge and the singers were doing the thing with,

they were rehearsing for an upcoming tour. I remember walking into the sound stage to listen to them and I had my eyes closed, you know, the way I usually do. It was open enough to see where I was going to sit. I sat on the sound on the stage, and all of a sudden Joe started singing, and I got goosebumps. I said, wow, that's a sound. And I opened my eyes, and Joe was gyrating like he was playing guitar or something, you know, as he was singing and totally into it. And I said, I like that.

So from that point on, the door opened for me for rock and roll and that other type of music. So you always kept that Sam Cook theater. of I got to hear it first before I see it, before I open my eyes and see what's... Definitely. I use that. I always had, yeah, there was a female group that was floating around New York. I can't remember their name, but they, all the record companies supposedly were interested in signing them.

And so I flew to New York, and I think they were Basil, they were playing at one of that, those gloves basal I don't oregano yeah okay sweet basil

yeah that's where they were playing and so I walked in there and had my eyes closed and kind of open enough to see where the seed was and I sat down

started listening to them and zero man zero came out I didn't get them at all I finally opened my eyes in these chicks with tattoos and they were playing stuff that was like loud

certainly give them credit for that but I didn't get it so I didn't have no interest in signing them and actually I don't think they even signed to another later I was going to say who they wind up being I don't think they signed so yeah no I use that approach I think that's that's the one and it got harder and harder

because you know like when MTV came along and like we talked about before, you know, you see these guys dancing like wizards and, you know, that, all of a sudden, people started listening with their eyes and that was a whole other groove, you know? A win is a win. A win is a win.

I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me, Cliver Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators,

and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast. It's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So, if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to The Clifford Show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. I'm John Green. You may know me as the author of The Fultonar Stars, and now I guess also is the co-host of the Away End, a brand new world soccer podcast. I'm Daniel Alarcon, a writer and journalist, and John and I have known each other since we were kids. My first World Cup was Mexico 86. I was nine years old. I watched every game, and I fell in love. On our new podcast, The Away End, we'll share with you the magic of international football, all leading up to the 2026 World Cup. For us, soccer, football, is a story we've shared for over 30 years since Daniel was the star player on our high school soccer team. Very debatable. And I was there most loyal and sometimes only. I love this game. I love its history, its hope, its heartbreak, and above all, its beauty.

Together, we'll find out why, of all the unimportant things, football, soccer, is the most important. Listen to the away end with Daniel Alarcon and John Green on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. If you're watching the latest season of the Real Housewives of Atlanta, you already know there's a lot to break down. and Kelly of sleeping with a merry man. They holding Kay Michelle back from fighting Drew. Pinky has financial issues. I like the bougie style of Housewives show. I think it looks like it's going to be interesting.

On the podcast, Reality with the King, I, Carlos King, recap the biggest moments from your favorite reality shows, including the Real Housewives franchise, the drama, the alliances, and the team everybody's talking about. As an executive producer in reality television, I'm not just watching it. I understand the game.

As somebody who creates shows, I'll even say this. At the end of the day, when people are at home, they want entertainment. To hear this and more, listen to Reality with the King on the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. It should be noted, especially for our listeners that aren't that familiar. You kind of were the, not the impetus, but a lot of those promotional videos, for our listeners out there, if your band had international hits and they weren't able to travel to certain countries at the snap of, you know, in a snap and get there immediately, that was the initial reasons why promotional performances were used. for those artists. So say if the lonely bull or Taste of Honey

is really hidden in chili or in Japan and you can't get there immediately to tour, you would send a promotional clip of you playing and then they would play them on these particular shows, hence the idea of early videos.

But your performance videos, at least you know, all the ones that I, that I binged on YouTube, they had concepts to them. Like, you are kind of the purveyor of the music video. Well, you got to think it through. You can't just throw something in there.

You know, we've had an artist that didn't want to do music videos. It was Joe Jackson, who had the number one record, you know, and not a particularly good-looking guy, or he couldn't dance and he couldn't, you know, didn't have his, He's interesting, though. He's good-looking, come on. I'm saying that probably from his point of view, you know, I think, and he just didn't think it would be appropriate for him to do a music video,

which he never did. And then you got, you know, artists like Janet Jackson, who, like, she had it, you know. She didn't get by on Michael's talent. Janet had something, you know, she had her own magic. And it seems like these artists, is that could dance had an upper hand because if they could dance really well, they could swing.

They always put the songs in the proper groove. And they always made you feel good, you know. You know, now that I think about it, even beyond the Tijuana brass videos and whatnot, your videos for particularly when not, you know,

when I was coming up as a teenager, you know, BET was playing the mess out of Keep Your Eye on Me and with Diamonds. It's weird, though. I love the fact that I wonder now that as an adult, was it important to you to have such a heavy anti-drug message? Because even with Keep Your Eye on Me with the plane going by and just see the drugs. Yeah, that's kind of an ugly thing right there that happened, you know. no no i know but like it actually and even in the diamonds video some some stoner kid comes up to you and you're like just say no to drugs kid and i'm like were you imagining that like some 13 year old kid in philadelphia is looking like okay her papa i'll just say no he told me to stop smoking outside just an hour ago I swear God.

He did. He did. No, but my point was that watching a string of your videos, they kind of pressed push the envelope. Even though you did the putting on the Ritz video, which I think was like a one camera take thing.

Yeah, one, at six takes, but one camera. So are these ideas coming from you that, like, I know you're saying that, you know, it shouldn't be visual, should be audio, like the the musicality should give you goosebumps and that's what sells you, which I agree

with you. But you can't also discount the fact that you've kind of went the extra miles and a lot of your videos way above what people were going through at that time you know, with visuals. Like

even with the whipped cream album cover, like you had to know that visuals play an important role with it. And I can't believe I skipped the whipped cream album. Yes, that goes without saying the whipped cream album was mighty influential in so many ways. It sold six million units, and that's the reason why he sold more records than the Beatles in 1960s. How many units did just the cover sell for it? Well, I mean, the album sold $14 million, but I mean the cover.

It wasn't hard to get all that whipped cream on that girl? Well, well. I meant in the record stores. Was it seen as risque? Well, at the time it seemed risque, but obviously. But looking at it now, it looks like she's wearing a wedding dress. Yeah, well, then she's wearing shaving cream, by the way. And she was three months pregnant, by the way.

And by the way, this guy comes up to me like a month and a half after that record was released. He says, man, this is the greatest album cover I've ever seen. I love the girl. I love the concept. The whipped cream. blah blah. I said, thank you so much. What about the music? He says, I haven't had a chance to listen to it. You know, so that's... Who's the girl?

Dolores Erickson. She was a professional model. She's so beautiful. Yeah, she's beautiful. Yes, she was. Now I see where the Ohio players got their inspiration for the honey album. Yeah. So I guess the roots need to make an album called sugar. just keeping with sweet snacks. I think Stanley Torrentine has the sugar category covered. CTI, Chia. Yeah, I know.

Can you give us more CTI stories like. Gula Matari is, I mean, wow. Was that done at A&M studios? Yeah, I believe so. All Quincy's CTI stuff was done there. Quincy was on A&M. Quincy wasn't on CTI. Yeah, but yeah.

Do you mean the very early? The AMCTI stuff like that. I guess I can assume that because of the proximity of the Brothers Johnson and Billy Preston's band and then winding up on A&M via with Quincy is some sort of A&M connection

as well. But I mean, at what point are you able to kind of back away as the A in Alpert and Moss and just let it run on its own? Like, are you driving in the car one day and you hear Starberry Letter 23? And you're like, oh, cool. Oh, that's all my label. No, we didn't give up. We were always there.

You know, Jerry and I made the major decisions together. The everyday nuts and bolts I was not a part of, but the overall brush stroke of the company and the feeling and the artist that came through, yeah, we were there. Yeah, but we had a Tommy Lapuma was producing records for us, who got his start with us. I was going to say, who was the, did you guys have a house system where you had your house producers and your house engineers to engineer that sound?

Yeah, we had our own recording facilities. So, you know, we made those state-of-the-art. We had the best equipment and great acoustics. And, you know, like I said, I had that experience at RCA Victor that the studio was cold. So I was very intent on making our recording facilities very user-friendly colors and feel. I think when you walk into a studio,

like the studio we're in right now, you know darn well the sound is good in here. It has that feeling. Incidentally, we're at Electric Lady Studios in New York City, the House of Hendricks. So we wanted to make sure if we had that vibe. And I think the artists appreciate that. In Studio B, I put in this huge crystal, like 800-pound crystal embedded in the wall. And a lot of artists would come in there and like,

It's still there. Well, he took his when he left. I took the monster out. And they replaced the. And they replaced it? Yeah, they put a different one in there, yeah. Okay. Yeah.

And, you know, artists would come in there even if they weren't recording in that particular studio. They'd stand in front of that crystal. It'd be like they're at the wailing wall in Jerusalem, you know. It's energy. When Shaka Khan walked in that studio with us, she acknowledged that, you know. Sure. The energy of the crystal. So I know that as an artist, there's one particular project I wanted to talk to you about.

Synchronicity? No, man. I'm talking about Herb's own career. You did an album with Hugh Massacela. Yeah, really. And I believe 77. Soul Train is one of my all-time favorite shows. And kind of the thing that I've done as an adult is collect every aspect.

episode. So seeing you kind of make the, the quote, Graceland move before Paul Simon did, was very interesting, especially in 1977 when people's eyes. And, you know, you had South African artists and, you know, world artists with you on this project. What was your intent, was your intent to bring attention to or relief to those artists from South Africa that? Not really. You know, I just liked, I liked Hugh. I liked the way he played. And when we talked, he felt that the music I was making was kind of similar to the groove

of what they do, you know, not necessarily all the rhythm stuff, but that there was a compatible sound. And so we record it together. And I think that one record we did, man, I think is great. Skokian. Yeah. It happens, man. And there's, you know, we had great musicians.

And Lettambulu was singing in the background with my wife, Lonnie. And I had this great guitar player from the Caribbean, Freddie, who was, you know, a groove machine. and a couple other guitar players, I can't think of their names right now, but Freddie used to, every morning I'd come in when we were doing the album, I said, Freddie, how you feeling?

He'd say, everything is everything. And he'd say that every day. But, no, I loved working with you. We traveled, we did concerts together, and had a great time. It was always, you know, you know, fresh. It was always lively.

You did one studio album, one live album? We did exactly that, yeah. Yeah. Studio album came first, and we recorded our concerts, and they're both good. They're both good albums. And some unusual players, Guangwa from Botswana, was playing trombone, and, man, this guy sounded like a wild element, elephant.

Man, he just had a whole different concept for playing jazz. So it was really, it was fun playing with them. I enjoyed it. I'd be remiss if we didn't mention also Billy Preston recording for the label. Of course, you know, Steve and I are, we can go on and on about the artists that have been on the label. I'm also forgetting that the sex. Sex pistols at one point one, on A&M. I want to know, I do want to know what that week was like.

but who are your just in your general you're starting five who are the five artists that you're like I'm so proud that I've had them on the label I'll tell you who comes to mind first is Kat Stevens You talk about Kat a little bit?

What about him? Cat was just a real talent I mean he just had he oozed talent He was him in a guitar, his passion He was something special of course the police those three guys for me one two three it sounded like seven eight guys an army sound like an army and i remember seeing it at the whiskey go go in l.a and thinking wow that's a good

sound and then sting was jumping around the stage like he was on a pogo stick and they were all fine musicians really good musicians And, of course, when Sting went off by himself, you know, that was a whole other dimension. Because Sting is a brilliant guy and a very sensitive, emotional, and good guy, you know. So he would be one, let's see. Of course, Sergio Mendez and Brazil 66, of course, and Bert Bachrach. Janet Jackson, of course, there's so many artists that it would be hard to nail down my top five. Right. Squeeze would be probably in the top five.

I'm trying to make it. He's such a squeeze fan. I'm a big squeeze fan. Yeah. Okay. No, there's Super Tramp. There was Frampton. There was... Yeah, well, Frampton's another guy, man. This guy, you know, he was really a good-looking kid when, you know, he recorded,

Oh, baby, I love you, he. Right. That thing. But he was one hell of a good guy. guitar player. The guy could really play. And then, you know, he had that look and he was a really good artist and a gentleman. I mean, I tried to surround myself with artists that really had a nice vibe. I can't, I couldn't hang with the sex pistols. I mean, that was just something that was going against my grain. Who, whose idea was it to introduce? I mean, you do acknowledge that they're

culturally relevant. Oh, yeah. But, you know, whose idea was it to sign them and whose idea was it to drop them two weeks later? Well, I guess it came out of the office in London, but the... Okay. The... Like, do you... Are you... Because I can't think of any artists that you have that have been controversial.

But did you not see that the controversy of offending the world could be a thing that can also move units and as long as they're talking about this, that's all it matters. No, I didn't care about that stuff. It's, uh, I didn't like the energy that they brought to our lot to tell you the truth. I passed that on, but, uh, no, I didn't, I don't, I don't get that. That, that doesn't work for me. Yeah, this is crazy. Has there any been an artist that you were in pursuit of that you almost had?

Yeah. That who, who's like your, your three regrets? Like, ah, I really wish I had them more. Well, the number one would be the Beatles. You had a chance to sign the Beatles? Shit. Oh, excuse me. Yeah, you can say that and I'll say it too.

Shit. What? Yeah, well, you know, everyone had a chance because they were like going around to get some distribution deal, blah, blah, blah. So anyways, I don't know if we had a door into them, but yeah, I think they were available around that time we started. Okay, so, yeah, Prince. What? I heard those tapes. I said, man, let's sign this guy.

There is something happening here. And my partner had lunch with him and his manager. And he told me that he was like, didn't have any charisma. That he was like very quiet and very reserved. He didn't think. Then all of a sudden, you know, people were offering them all sorts of money, and Warner Brothers offered him, you know, $8 zillion. So we passed on them, but I knew this guy was going to be an artist.

He was an artist. Wow, based on charisma, because I would think that if you're eccentric, when you see a centric artist, then that to me is the sign of they're going to make it. Because I don't know any artist that's just all that compatible. If you show me a compatible, friendly artist, I'll show you someone that's not at the top of there. Yeah, no, I agree with you. But, you know, the people were thinking. throwing around these big companies, big corporations, you know, we were just a, we were just a

partnership. And you throw around a couple million bucks to an artist and you make a mistake, hey, you're in trouble. You're in trouble. So that was a lot of us did you have a chance with. Well, I think most of the other artists all worked out. You know, we had some great jazz artists, Stan Gets recorded for us, Paul Desmond, Jerry Mulligan, Willie Bobo. Of course, Wes Montgomery was on CTI. Wes was, you know, he was something special, you know, that sound of his. You know, I thought it was like, wow, what a magical sound, you know. I was doing this television show, and Wes was on the show.

I was the emcee, and I was waiting for Wes to come in for the rehearsal, wondering, you know, what he used as a setup. Well, he came in with a little fender guitar. amplifier that was all, it was small. It was, you know, filled with cobwebs in the back, was dusty and funky, and he plugged in and bang, there was there was that magic sound. So there again, you know, it's all, the sound comes from inside, the artist, it's not the instrument. It's that sound that they want to hear, and that's the sound comes out. So in 80 when you, well, 79, when you did Rise, which, you know, brought you back to the forefront.

Were you surprised at all by the success of it and in the reception? This, Rise was recorded live in the studio. I played the horn every doing the track. I'm sorry. I'm laughing at one reason. I'm sorry. Whenever that breakdown happens. Yeah.

I'm a DJ. and my monitor speaker's a loud as hell. So, of course, you know when that breakdown happens and you guys are laughing at each other in the background. Yeah, that was added, obviously. I always look at my MC guy because I think he's... I'm always looking at him like, why are you talking on the microphone? And he's like, that's not me, that's the record.

And it happens every time I spend that record. Yeah, well, it's a really, really good record. And when I was, I think it was the third take, listening to the playback in the studio and I got goosebumps. I said, wow, this could be a big record. This has something. And I remember walking up behind Julius Wector

who was playing Marimba on the cut. I said, man, what do you think, Julius? He says, I don't dig it. What's wrong with it? The naysayers. Yeah, you know, he said, you know, he couldn't handle that boom, boom, boom, four to the floor, you know, that bothered him.

He thought you were trying to go too much disco? I don't think he, you know, what I learned from Sam Cook was to be an audience to my music. I don't, when I'm recording, I don't listen to the trumpet player. I don't listen to anything, but the overall feeling. If the overall feeling strikes me, I'm in. If the overall feeling doesn't strike me, I try to do something to make it work. but Rise had that feeling. I don't know.

There was something about it. And, you know, it didn't start out like that. My nephew, Randy Badass Albert, wrote it with the... He's the drummer, right? No, he's not a musician. He wrote it with Andy Armour. And they wanted to do it as a disco. It was originally at 120 beats per minute.

And I said, wait a minute, no, man, this is a nice melody. Let's slow it down. and we finally slowed it down to 100 piece per minute. I said, you know, every now and then people want to dance together. Maybe this is the chance because I just didn't want to make disco music. Very wise moves on your choice. How did you feel about Biggie's resurgence of it? Well, you know, obviously it was a good record and it was a huge record,

but I'm not crazy about people taking your stuff. I think it just shows that they don't have the creative do something themselves. Yeah, but, you know, Yeah, I mean, there's a generation of... Yeah, absolutely. Rise will now last forever in people's memories. Yeah, no, I love it. I love the checks that come in from that, too.

A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me, Cliver Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way,

this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment. And the next, we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast. It's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told,

and for people who are chasing something bigger. So if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to The Clifford Show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. I'm John Green.

You may know me as the author of The Fault and Our Stars, and now I guess also as the co-host of the Away End, a brand new world soccer podcast. I'm Daniel Alarcon, a writer and journalist. And John and I have known each other since we were kids. My first World Cup was Mexico 86. I was nine years old. I watched every game and I fell in love.

On our new podcast, The Away End, we'll share with you the magic of international football, all leading up to the 2026 World Cup. For us, soccer, football, is a story we've shared for over 30 years since Daniel was the star player on our high school soccer team. Very debatable. And I was their most loyal and sometimes only fan. I love this game. I love its history, it's hope, it's hard.

heartbreak, and above all, it's beauty. Together, we'll find out why, of all the unimportant things, football, soccer, is the most important. Listen to the away end with Daniel Alarcon and John Green on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. On a recent episode of the podcast Money and Wealth with John Hobriant, I sit down with Tiffany the budgetista Aliche to talk about what it really takes to take control of your money. What would that look like in our families if everyone was able to. to pass on wealth to the people when they're no longer here. We break down budgeting, financial discipline, and how to build real wealth, starting with the mindset shifts.

Too many of us were never, ever taught. Financial education is not always about, like, I'm going to get rich. That's great. It's about creating an atmosphere for you to be able to take care of yourself and leave a strong financial legacy for your family. If you've ever felt you didn't get the memo on. money, this conversation is for you to hear more. Listen to Money and Wealth with John O'Brien from the Black Effect Network on the

I'd Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. I got to say that of your entire songbook, Route 101, is I will probably go on record and say, and I've never done this, that's probably my first. favorite song of all time. I'll give you some other ones to think about, but Root Roll 1 is good. I did that album with Juan Carlos Calderon, famous

Spanish composer, arranger, overall good guy, rest his soul. He passed about four or five years ago. And Jose Quintana, the two of us produced that record. And Root 1 in 1 is definitely a good one, but if you listen to,

there are a couple other ones on there. Well, I love the whole Fandango record. Yeah, the Fandangle. But it's just, I felt that was a return to your element. Did you, because of the groove-based stuff of the Beyond record and I forgot what came out in 81,

the album after Beyond. But it was, Fandango was sort of like a return to form or... Yeah, no, it was a good one. And Route 101, it is one of my favorite. songs as well. But I was all set to do a world tour with that, and then I got hepatitis, and that all put the kibosh on it. So that record didn't receive the attention that it could

have. But there are some other records that I did. I think I don't have to think about that. Since you've labeled that as your favorite. Well, it's just, for me, it's... He knows about 55 million songs, so that's saying something. Well, I'll tell you the record we were doing last night that we didn't really do the whole thing, but rotation. If you listen to that one, rotations are really good. It's a good feel. Well, all your stuff is good feeling. Actually, well, there was an album you made in 85 that all I know is that when you promoted it on Soul Train, you had a young Lenny Kravitz on keyboards. back when he was Romeo Blue. Yeah, that's how I knew him as Romeo.

He used to rehearsing our studio C. And he was introduced to me as Romeo. And I thought of him as Romeo, talented guy. Was he ever part of your touring group, or he just did that promotional appearance on Soul Train? No, he just did that. Okay. Because I was going to say, when the drummer introduced himself,

he said, yeah, I'm da-da-da-da-da-bad ass. And I was like, wait, did he just curse on Soul Train? So that's why I was trying to make the connection. Oh, yeah. If your drummer was badass. With Jam and Lewis and Keep Your Eye on Me. Well, those guys were really original. They really had a flair for picking out the right song, the right grooves.

And when I flew to Minneapolis to record, they said they had this great song for me. And they played the song. And I said, well, what's the title? They said, sausage. I said, no, man. I don't think so. Sausage. Yeah, well, that was keep your eye on me.

That was the original title they had was sausage. Working title. But these guys are good. You know, they have a great sense of humor. I was doing this interview for one of the news channels, and the phone rang in the studio, and Jimmy picked it up. said Sinatra

well tell him I'm busy I'm working with Herb Albert right now will you tell us Sinatra I'll call him but you know oh man that was kind of cool I also love the way that you guys kind of

did the Janet Jackson trick on the Diamonds video yeah I always wanted to know I guess I would have to ask her how easy is it to say no to your boss I think she was doing she was someplace else in the world but uh right it all worked out it was kind of a fun thing to do i enjoyed it because i was waiting for it because i swore that was her in the limousine

the way that was lit yeah well the little kid that turns out to be an eight-year-old kid so in in 80 okay in 89 you guys decided to sell the label at what point like how did you well i was into selling a 49 percent that's what i was into selling a 49 percent that's what I wanted to do and then keep 51 and keep control of the company. They kept upping the ante, you know, and it reached a point where I thought, hmm, maybe it's time. You know, the internet was coming. The internet was making noise. I'm not saying that I saw what was going to happen with file sharing, but there was something about it that said, hmm, maybe the time is right. So when they finally made this nice offer and they wanted to buy the whole company, we agreed.

I'll tell you what the interesting part of that whole thing was. Jerry and I started the company in 1962 on a handshake. We never signed any contract together. Millions of dollars went through the doors in various ways, and we ended up signing over to Polydor, and that was the first time we ever signed a contract together. And we concluded with a big hug, and Jerry's still one of my dear friends. That's good.

Yeah. So you're trying to figure out a way for us to... To see all the company, Steve? Oh, no, no, no. Anyway, well, Herb, I thank you very much for sharing your story on Questlove Supreme. There's so much... There's more. There's part two. Yeah, we got to do a part two.

I have one more question. Okay. What does your record collection look like? It's not very extensive, you know, because... Are you asking for that CTI? No, I'm just curious. I'm just curious, a man like this. You know, I have a few...

I have some classical music that I like a lot. I'm crazy about Ravel. You know, deafness and Chloe is one of the things that I love to listen to when I feel a little down. The fourth movement knocks me down, knocks me out. You know, I love Miles like all other musicians. Charlie Parker was the guy. He was on another planet. He was doing things that will resonate for years to come. I love Paul Desmond. Jerry Mulligan was a dear friend of mine. Stan Gets and I were like brothers. Stan was a guy that I really, really, really, really, really, really had a feel for it because he was, he always just said, I never played a note that I didn't mean.

I love that about musicians. And we were so close. He said, he wanted to give me lessons. No, I asked him. I said, how about giving me some bebop lessons? I never played with Charlie Parker and Coltrane and all those guys you played with it. And he said, sure.

So I'm in my studio with Stan and said, do you think I should work on these 251 chords in every key, which is page one of, Berkeley School of Music and all the other, you know, Manhattan School, that's what they teach, you know, that's just basic. You think I should work on those in all keys? They're two five-one cards. He said, what's that? Which was like a real, man, these guys didn't think like that. They were playing from another point of view. They were looking at music from another angle. and the music school

tried to break it down what these great jazz musicians were doing so it was let's see there's another part of that Stan story I wanted to tell you oh yeah so I mean yeah so he gave me some lessons

and we talked about jazz and his approach I said well tell me that you what are you thinking about when you're playing because I did this record with him there's a beautiful record I did called Apasianado

and one of the songs was a waltz for Stan and he played this thing it was gorgeous and I said what do you think about when you're playing something like that

he says well I think about that I'm front of the wailing wall in Jerusalem and I'm davening I'm davening I mean this guy was he was fabulous

man. He had an extraordinary life. He was, you know, went through all the drugs imaginable to man. And then the last four years of his life, he was on macrobiotics and he had cancer. And, you know, so he had kind of a split personality when he was all, when he was on drugs. And one of the musicians, it was either Al Cohn or Zoot Sims when they asked him, you know, what was Stan like? And he said, he was the best bunch of guys I've ever. permit. But I loved him. He was beautiful. He was a real, real good friend. Well, okay, in closing, we had to say that you have a new album out. Yeah. Music Volume 1, I believe. And hopefully there will be a Christmas album coming to. Well, there is a Christmas album. It's called The Christmas Wish,

and it's with orchestra and choir. And it's darn good, if I must say so myself. Well, you're Her Balder, the best gum chew of all time. No, you know, something. I think, if you don't believe in what you're doing, why should anyone else believe in what you're doing? Those are wise words. Well, on behalf of Sugar Steve and the missing alumni of Questlove Supreme, this is Questlove signing off.

Thank you for listening. Thank you, Herb Alpert. Pleasure. Again, thank you for coming to the show. And I will see you guys on the next. Go around, only on Pandora. Questlove Supreme is a production of I-Heart Radio. This classic episode was

produced by the team at Pandora. For more podcasts from IHeart Radio, visit the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me,

Clifford Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, my basketball and college football journey, or my career in sports media. Well, now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, the Clifers Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated.

So let's get to it. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeard Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok's podcast network on TikTok. I'm Daniel Alarcon, and this is my friend, is much more famous than I am. I wouldn't go that far, but I'm John Green, co-host of the podcast The Away End with my old friend Daniel. On our podcast, The Away End, we'll share with you the magic of international football. up to the 2026 World Cup. Together, we'll find out why, of all the unimportant things, football, soccer, is the most important.

Listen to the away end with Daniel Auerkone and John Green on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is Amy Rovock alongside T.J. Holmes from the Amy and T.J. podcast. And there is so much news, information, commentary coming at you all day and from all over the place. What's fact? What's fake? And sometimes. What the F? So let's cut the crap, okay? Follow the Amy and T.J podcast, a one-stop news and pop culture shop to get you caught up and on with your day.

And listen to Amy and T.J. on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.