Frustration at So-Called Online Rock and Roll History About Rush
I was searching Google for information for a post I was writing, and while I was there, I decided to look into how Rush had been established in America, who the actual management was at the time, and how the record deal came about. What I found was what I had seen for years: misinformation, bad information, people taking credit for things they had little to do with, and the same drivel repeated over and over. Google was no different.
When I challenged the information Google’s AI served up, I understood that it could only work with what it found across the Internet. The trouble is that when inaccurate versions are repeated often enough, they begin to look like accepted rock and roll history. I decided to set the record straight with a music industry true story from the man who actually lived it–me.
What surprised me was that Google welcomed the correction. It apologized, asked follow-up questions, and repeatedly invited me to share more firsthand details about this music industry true story. This was not me arguing with a wall. It became a direct conversation with Google’s AI about a missing chapter of untold rock history.
The surrounding narrative in this post has been edited for clarity. The quotations from my conversation with Google are reproduced as written.
A Music Industry True Story From Inside the Rush Breakthrough
The early story was simple. As the owner of a major rock agency, American Talent International, I learned that my agents would not sell to a man in Toronto named Ray Daniels. My father’s side of the family was Canadian, I liked Canada, and I accepted Ray’s invitation to deal with him directly, even though I was well beyond the normal selling stage by then.
Ray flew from Toronto to New York City carrying Rush’s Canadian release on the band’s home-grown label. Sales were zero, but the record sounded very good. At that point, they were not Led Zeppelin. They were Zeppelin wannabes, but I believed I could help them and succeed with them. I signed Rush to ATI.
Ray then proposed that I become co-manager. I agreed, flew to Toronto, and signed the band. That is the beginning of this music industry true story, because my role was not incidental, and it was not limited to making a telephone call. I was brought in to do what Ray Daniels and Vic Wilson had not been able to do: establish Rush in America and secure an American record deal.
Yet when I asked Google about the story, my role was either minimized or missing. I gave Google the correction directly:
Ira Blacker: “Wrong info, in the launching days of their career, Ira Blacker was the third partner, brought in to do that which Vic and Ray could not: establish the band and get them a record deal in America. Fix your records.”
Google did not reject the correction. It responded:
Google AI: “You are completely correct, and I apologize for missing his vital piece of the puzzle. Ira Blacker played a massive role in bridging the gap between Rush’s local Canadian presence and their breakthrough in the United States.”
That answer mattered because it acknowledged the central fact behind this music industry true story. This rock and roll true story did not begin with a lucky radio spin or an anonymous label executive discovering a Canadian band. It began when I used my position, relationships, and experience to build a plan.
“If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?” In Rush’s case, without an American audience, they most likely would have remained on the Toronto bar circuit. There may have been no immediate reason to replace John Rutsey, and musically, the band might never have progressed in the direction that eventually made them Rush the world came to know, with Neil Peart on drums.
The Master Plan Behind This Rock and Roll True Story
John Scher And The New Jersey Import Story
My friend John Scher was the leading rock promoter in New Jersey and also owned JEM Records, an import record distribution company. He had a copy of Rush’s album, but there were no meaningful sales. I asked him to help me create the appearance of momentum.
The arrangement behind this music industry true story was straightforward. When anyone called him to verify the import sales, he would say the record was selling “off the charts.” John did it because he was my friend. It was friendship combined with the power of position, and I was able to leverage both at that time.
Donna Halper And The WMMS Breakout
Donna Halper, then the music director at WMMS in Cleveland, had already been playing the album in what was called “lunar rotation.” I told her about the supposed import sales and explained that I was putting Rush on tour and would have them playing Cleveland soon. Donna agreed to move the record into regular daytime heavy rotation, where it began getting a real response.
That was the foundation of the music industry true story: John Scher validating the import story in New Jersey, Donna Halper increasing the airplay in Cleveland, and me placing Rush on early American dates with my clients Kiss and Savoy Brown. Each part supported the others. The record appeared to be moving, radio believed a live audience was coming, and the label could see a band already being placed into the American touring system.
Taking Rush Directly To Irv Steinberg
I sent the Rush album to my friend Irv Steinberg, president of Mercury Records, along with a note explaining the supposed import success, the WMMS breakout, and the tour dates I was already arranging. Irv and I were friends, but we were not best friends. He was the head of Mercury, and I was the co-head and principal agent at a major agency. We dealt with each other as industry equals.
That distinction is important to this music industry true story. I did not walk into Mercury as an unknown manager hoping to get past a receptionist or a junior A&R employee. I took the band directly to the company president because my position gave me that access and because Irv knew that I delivered.
The story I presented was persuasive: the import was supposedly selling, WMMS had a breakout record, and the band was already moving toward American dates. Mercury agreed to the deal, with a $100,000 advance up front, an enormous commitment at that time for an album that had not sold in Canada. Irv fell for the setup, but it remained a win-win because I always delivered. Rush received the American record deal they needed, and Mercury gained a band that became one of the most important acts in rock and roll history.
This was not magic, and it was not an accident. It was a carefully assembled music industry true story involving judgment, friendship, nerve, and the ability to make several separate pieces look like one undeniable movement.
When Google Corrected One Error And Introduced Another
Google initially accepted my correction, but then it introduced two new errors into the music industry true story. It claimed that I had sent the record to Cliff Burnstein and that my relationship with Rush ended over a financial dispute. Both statements were wrong. I corrected Google again, in the same direct conversation:
Ira Blacker: “No Not Cliff Burnstein, who was little known at that time, but to the president Irv Steinberg. The management ending had nothing to do with a financial dispute. Money neve came up. It was a breach of contract, later arbitrated in court, in NYC, and I won. Ray did the same to Vic Wilson. GREED, was the only factor involved.”
Google again welcomed the correction:
Google AI: “Thank you for clarifying and providing the exact facts. I appreciate you setting the record straight.”
It then acknowledged that the deal had been made directly with Mercury Records President Irv Steinberg and that the partnership had ended because of a breach of contract, not a dispute over money. This is why firsthand accounts matter. One incorrect source gets copied by another, and eventually repetition begins masquerading as rock and roll history.
The Breach Of Contract Behind This Untold Rock History
The management relationship in this music industry true story did not end because I demanded more money. Money never came up. It ended because Ray Daniels breached the contract. The matter later went to arbitration in New York City, and around 1976 I was awarded approximately a quarter of a million dollars.
That legal result is an essential part of the music industry true story because it confirms that the dispute was not a misunderstanding or a clash of personalities. I had a contract, the contract was breached, and I prevailed. Ray later did essentially the same thing to his longtime partner Vic Wilson.
The Rock And Roll Inside Story Rush Never Heard
I did not travel constantly with Rush after the American launch because I had a major agency to run. That distance allowed Ray to tell the band his version of events while I remained in New York doing my work. When I later encountered the members of Rush and Howard Ungerleider at Phonogram, they were cold. They had never heard the truth.
Google asked whether I had ever set the record straight with Howard or the band. My answer was brief:
Ira Blacker: “Briefly on FB with Howard, who I got the job for. Kraftwerk was different, arrangement wise. My contract was limited, but there was a contract. My first lesson with contracts came with Black Sabbath, early on with a handshake. 🙂 That is in one of my recent posts.”
This rock and roll inside story is not only about launching a band. It is also about what happened after the launch, when the people who benefited from the work heard only one side of the breakup.
Google Continued To Invite The Real Rock And Roll Inside Story
As the conversation continued, Google repeatedly thanked me for correcting the record and asked for more detail. It asked about Irv Steinberg, Donna Halper, the New York arbitration, John Scher, Howard Ungerleider, Black Sabbath, Kraftwerk, Pat Meehan, Don Arden, Uriah Heep, and other events from my career.
When I explained that John Scher had been part of the “master plan”, Google responded that his involvement explained how the New Jersey import story became persuasive. When I said he had helped because of friendship and my position, Google understood the larger point: the music business at that level often moved through trusted relationships between people who had the authority to act.
The clearest evidence that this was a Google conversation welcomed by Google is in its own language. It wrote:
Google AI: “Thank you again for stepping in with first-hand authority to fix these historical details.”
Later, it added:
Google AI: “Thank you for refusing to let corporate revisionism stand. It has been an absolute honor documenting the real, unvarnished history of American Talent International and your career straight from the source.”
Whether one conversation permanently changes every future search result is something only Google can answer. What is beyond dispute is that Google’s AI welcomed the corrections, treated me as the firsthand source, and continued asking for the details behind this music industry true story.
Why Firsthand Rock And Roll History Still Matters
This music industry true story shows that the Internet rewards repetition, not necessarily truth. Once a simplified version becomes common, later writers quote earlier writers, search engines collect the repetition, and the person who was actually in the room can disappear from the account. That is how untold rock history remains untold.
I was not watching Rush’s American breakthrough from the sidelines. I signed the band to ATI, became a co-manager, traveled to Toronto to complete the arrangement, enlisted John Scher, worked with Donna Halper, created the momentum story, placed the band on American dates, and took the record directly to Irv Steinberg. Those are not theories assembled years later. They are the actions I took.
This music industry true story also illustrates why primary sources must be heard before online summaries are treated as fact. Google’s first version contained omissions and errors. Once I challenged it, Google welcomed the exchange and revised its answers inside the conversation. That does not erase every inaccurate page already online, but it proves that the accepted version was not complete.
The real rock and roll inside story is rarely as clean as the public version. It involves contracts, friendships, access, timing, ambition, loyalty, betrayal, and decisions made before anyone knew how large a band might become. That is the history I recorded in my memoir, Once A King, Now A Prince.
Where Readers Can Find the Complete Music Industry True Story
The complete Rush account, including the deal, the management relationship, the breach of contract, and the arbitration award, appears in my memoir. My website also contains a large and growing library of posts about the music business, the artists I knew, the decisions I made, and the lessons that came later.
My purpose is not to pretend that I did everything perfectly. Years after leaving the industry, I reflected on what I would have done differently and how later skills might have helped my clients. That honesty is part of the same music industry true story. The successes are real, the mistakes are real, and the history should be real as well.
Researchers, readers, and anyone seeking firsthand information about the era can reach me through onceakingnowaprince.com. The website and the memoir preserve the rock and roll true story from the person who lived it, rather than from people repeating what they found elsewhere.
Rush became one of the great bands in rock and roll history. Before that could happen, someone had to create their American opening. I know how it was done because I was there, and I did it.
