Don Kirshner
American music publisherWikipedia
14
MENTIONS
10
EPISODES
10
PODCASTS
Search complete. 14 mentions across 10 episodes found for "Don Kirshner".
Oct 27, 2026
Andrew RichHOST
You're one of those late night music variety shows for back in the day.
Andrew RichHOST
Um, kind of like Don Kirshner's rock concert or the old great whistle test.
Andrew RichHOST
And, it's, an insane performance because they just play the song faster.
Andrew RichHOST
Like, they go through the whole thing at, like, 1.5 speed.
Ron CholfinGUEST
What did I know? She started me piano lessons at five and I was in, I discovered guitars and all that kind of stuff at around 10.
Ron CholfinGUEST
I remember watching um, in concert and Don Kirshner's rock concert and all that kind of stuff.
Ron CholfinGUEST
Yeah.
Ron CholfinGUEST
And, uh, growing up and, and took the classical lessons, did that for years and years and years and years.
SchatzHOST
Old...
SchatzHOST
Clips of Don Kirshner's rock concert with them on the show.
SchatzHOST
Oh, no shit.
SchatzHOST
So cool.
SchatzHOST
So cool.
SchatzHOST
From like 75 and then 77 and 78, they played Xanadu on Don Kirshner's rock concert.
SchatzHOST
Fire out, man.
Chaz CharlesHOST
Yeah.
John SiuntresHOST
And he goes, "Oh my God." He goes, you know, "That was the...
John SiuntresHOST
like, one of the greatest marketing tools." And as you likely know, uh, Don Kirshner was the producer of The Archies', uh, songs, and originally he gave Sugar, Sugar to The Monkees, and they rejected it.
Ed CattoGUEST
Right.
John SiuntresHOST
Because at that point, they wanted to do their own music.
John SiuntresHOST
But he had him, you know, as he always would do, multi-track his voice so he would do all the harmonies, and Sugar, Sugar became a huge hit, and they literally would play ...
John SiuntresHOST
the cartoon of The Archies playing and stuff, and it was, you know, before MTV and before music videos, you would see The Archies.
John SiuntresHOST
And Don Kirshner was right, it was a, it was a number one hit.
Ed CattoGUEST
Yeah.
Brian KaremHOST
I, I don't think-
Glenn KirschnerGUEST
Or Don Kirshner's rock concert.
Brian KaremHOST
Yeah, there you go.
Glenn KirschnerGUEST
Uncle Don.
JesseHOST
They worked in the famous Brill Building.
JesseHOST
Their music publisher was Don Kirshner, who later became a huge rock promoter.
JesseHOST
Don Kirshner's Rock Concert, one of the big live music shows of the '70s on TV.
JesseHOST
And their job was to pump out songs for other groups to record.
JesseHOST
And I don't know if Chains was originally written with them in mind, but before The Cookies recorded their version, it was originally submitted to heroes of Lennon and McCartney, The Everly Brothers.
Barry MannSOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
Despite
Frank OstHOST
his success as a singer, Mann chose to channel his creativity into songwriting, forming a prolific partnership with Cynthia Weil, a lyricist he met while both were staff songwriters at Don Kirshner and Al Nevin's company, Al Don Music, just around the block from the famous Brill Building.
Frank OstHOST
They married in 1961 and began writing not just ballads but up-tempo rockers.
Frank OstHOST
Here are just a few of their better-known songs.
Alison ArngrimHOST
Gary Milder was absolutely everywhere.
Alison ArngrimHOST
And he was, like, the stand-up host person on Don Kirshner's rock concert, which was, like, before there was MTV, which shows like that.
Alison ArngrimHOST
And my dad was the manager for the Village Idiots that were the sketch group, brilliant, the sketch comedy group at Don Kirshner's.
Alison ArngrimHOST
So he's, like, Gary Mildred.
Alison ArngrimHOST
Yeah, and then he did, he totally remembered seeing my dad.
CherieHOST
Right.
CherieHOST
And this created a lot of conflict between the group and Don Kirshner, who wanted to continue to use the session musicians.
CherieHOST
Well,
MichelleHOST
I wonder why.
Mac MaloneyHOST
And they complained so much.
Mac MaloneyHOST
Don Kirshner is the guy's name.
Mac MaloneyHOST
They complained so much about not being able to play their own instruments and so on.
Mac MaloneyHOST
They revolted.