Danny Fields

Definitely on chat rooms a couple of times.

I remember really well going to a, a Yahoo chat room in, in like 2000 with my friend and being like, "Hey, guys, I'm Danny Fields, teen Egyptologist.

Uh-

[laughs]

I think it was for the '97, um, class.

But the first one I went to was in '96, uh, thanks to Danny Fields, who at that time was, you know, he's just kind of the Zelig of rock and roll, big hero of mine, and was involved in a lot of my favorite bands, of course.

You know, Iggy, The Stooges, Ramones, uh, MC5, you know, all these bands.

But, um, anyway, he invited me to go along to, it was so incredible.

They played dozens of CBGB shows, gradually becoming one of the club's signature acts alongside Television, Patti Smith, Blondie, and the Talking Heads.

By 1974, the band's reputation had spread beyond the s- the small downtown scene, and Danny Fields, who was already an important figure in underground rock, became their manager, helping them get in front of Sire Records president Seymour Stein, whose label signed the band.

In early 1976, the Ramones recorded their first album at Plaza Sound Studios at Radio City Music Hall.

Craig Leon produced, and Tommy was heavily involved with shaping the record.

Yes.

At the Mercer, the Dolls were playing shows in something very close to drag as the house band for a crowd that was half, if not majority, gay, but the Dolls were, in the words of legendary promoter Danny Fields, "rabidly heterosexual." The Dolls were fluid at best-

Yeah

... and Danny Fields would know.

David Johansen in particular has been criticized for pretending to be gay for the sake of performance and, of course, just for plain fucking attention.

But to be fair, Johansen wasn't the only guy doing this in 1972.

I thought it was amazing.

At the end of the run, Danny Fields, who, you know, who is a legendary A&R and manager guy.

Yeah, we're walking up from the stage to get some food in the lobby and said, what did you think? And I said, they're the who of the 70s.

That's a great comparison.

Most clubs.

And he was very impressed.

And he said a nice, Danny, this was Danny Fields.

Yes.

And a few times I get them there.

But also, you know, I think Danny Fields is another great example.

Who

never, never talks.

this did not get any attention in the UK, and almost went unnoticed, though later in 1966, the Maureen Cleave interviews with all four of the members of the Beatles were offered by press officer Tony Barrow to Arthur Unger, editor-in-chief of Datebook magazine.

Datebook magazine was a liberal publication, and the managing editor at that point in time was Danny Fields.

who would later go on to become famous for his association with punk rock bands such as the MC5, the Stooges, and the Ramones.

Taken from an interview with Louder Sound in 2016, this is what Danny Fields had to say about the article.

My publisher at Datebook had bought Maureen Cleave's interviews with the Beatles from the Evening Standard and thought it might be a good idea to take these interviews and chop them up to use in the magazine.

So Danny Fields took some of the biggest quotes that he thought looked like headlines and There was one from Paul McCartney, which I will not repeat because it has a racial slur.

If you do find this quote online, please keep in mind that Paul McCartney is not racist at all.

Probably not the right terms to be using in 2026, but if anything, Paul was giving his opinions on America and how black people were treated at that point in time.

There was, like, an interest in this is-

Well, and then I, and then I brought it to Joey and Danny Fields.

Uh-huh.

Mary Harron had done the centerfold on The Ramones in the first issue, and, um, Danny Fields turned to me and said, "Legs, can I get you a beer?" And I, and, and, and Holmstrom, I...

'Cause when Holmstrom said, "Let's start a magazine," I said, "That's a stupid idea," you know? You know, "Why should, why would we?" He said, "Well, people will wanna hang out with us." 'Cause no one wanted to hang out with us.

He said, "Pe- and people will buy us drinks." And I thought, "Oh, okay.

And he ran into all these other people.

So I was interviewing Danny Fields.

I'd go over and it was that month in March when it snowed every other day.

They didn't plow the side streets.

They only plowed the uptown and downtown streets.

So I'd have to walk with my tape bag to the West Village to interview Danny Fields.

And I'd turn on, it was like going to therapy.

And I'd turn on the tape recorder and he'd talk for two hours, you know?