Hollywood Shack Job

by Harvey Kubernik

Published 1 December 2006
For over thirty years Harvey Kubernik has been actively involved in the music scene in Los Angeles as a studio musician, record producer, and reporter. Here, he shares insiders' accounts of the compromises and 'deals' behind the fusion of creativity and commerce in the making of cultural commodities. Kubernik begins in the 1950s when rock 'n' roll made its first appearance in movies with artists like Chuck Berry or Little Richard, moves through the 1960s with the Beatles' 'A Hard Day's Night', when people began to realise the commercial potential of soundtracks, to 'Easy Rider', which took individual singles, most already released, and created a new soundtrack. Over the course of thirty-one interviews he covers nearly six decades of music in movies and television, bringing the story up to 2006.