George Harrison Didn’t Consider ‘Cloud Nine’ His Comeback Because He Didn’t Consider Himself a ‘Fully-Fledged Showbiz Star’: ‘It’s a Bit of a Joke’
George Harrison thought it was funny that people called 1987’s Cloud Nine his comeback album. He didn’t go anywhere. George still made music; he just didn’t release it because he was sick of the record company and fans’ demands for hits.
Besides, George couldn’t call Cloud Nine a comeback album because he didn’t see himself as a “fully-fledged showbiz star.”
The former Beatle took a break from music in the early 1980s because he was sick of competing and promoting
George never pursued a solo career. He only released All Things Must Pass as a reaction to leaving The Beatles. He had to release his stockpile of songs to move forward. When the triple album did well, George continued releasing music. However, in the late 1970s and early 1980s, George realized the record companies wanted more from him.
They wanted music that all sounded the same, that followed the same formula. Once MTV arrived, they wanted music videos and lots of promotion. It was all a pointless competition for hits, and George had never been competitive.
During a 1987 interview, The Today Show asked George how he felt about putting a record into the marketplace. George replied, “Putting it out into the marketplace is always strange for me because I’ve never really been that competitive, you know?
“You won’t find me in one of your 16-minute videos dancing about shaking my fists. You know I just can’t do that kind of thing.”
All George wanted to do in his haphazard career was release music. If the fans liked it, then he’d continue. All the extra stuff was just a diversion, and it complicated things for his simple way of life.
He told Entertainment Tonight, “I keep thinking that when I’ve made the record and mixed it and presented it to the record label, that that’s the end of my job, but it isn’t,” George said.
George told Guitar Player all the promotion was why he stopped releasing music between 1982’s Gone Troppo and 1987’s Cloud Nine.
“Just all this marketing thing-how everything has to be a certain way, otherwise you don’t have a chance of getting it on the radio,” he said. “I got tired of writing songs and making records and then finding out that nobody ever got to hear it-unless I wanted to go and do me video and all that. At that point I just got tired of it-after 20-odd years of doing it.”
In 1979, George told Rolling Stone the issue with promotion and competing in the record business was ego. It was a diversion. He satisfied his ego long ago.
“Really, it comes down to ego,” he said. “You have to have a big ego in order to keep plodding on being in the public eye… But most of my ego desires as far as being famous and successful were fulfilled a long time ago.
“I still enjoy writing a tune and enjoy in a way making a record. But I hate that whole thing of when you put it out, you become a part of the overall framework of the business. And I was a bit bored with that. If I write a tune and people think it’s nice then that’s fine by me; but I hate having to compete and promote the thing.
“I really don’t like promotion… What you find is that you have a hit and suddenly everybody’s knocking on your door and bugging you again. I enjoy being low profile and having a peaceful sort of life.”
George Harrison said 1987’s ‘Cloud Nine’ wasn’t a comeback album because he wasn’t a star
By 1986, George’s views of the record business mellowed. He would agree to music videos and press tours, but he wanted to make the album he wanted, Cloud Nine. George got a co-producer who understood him as an artist, Jeff Lynne, and they recorded good old-fashioned rock ‘n’ roll using real instruments and very few machines, which had become so popular in 1980s music.
During a 1987 interview, The Journal pointed out that Cloud Nine wasn’t a “second coming.” George found the “fuss” over his “so-called return somewhat embarrassing.” He didn’t think he was important enough in the music industry to warrant such a fuss from fans. Only big-name artists got comebacks.
“It’s a bit of a joke, the idea of a comeback, you know,” George said. “Especially to me. I don’t know, because I don’t really see myself as a fully-fledged showbiz star anyway like that. That side of it’s always been a bit of a joke to me.
“Although, I know people who are still desperate to be as famous today as they were last month or a year ago or something. I think it’s sort of a bit sad. I remember once, about 10 years ago, Ringo said to me, ‘I’ve got ta have a No. 1 record!’ And I said, ‘No, you don’t.’ I said, ‘You’re No. 1. You’re the No. 1. Doesn’t matter about what you’re doing with your records.'”
George said ‘Cloud Nine’ wasn’t his comeback because he never really left the music business
During a 1987 interview with Warner Bros., George said there was no pressure making Cloud Nine because he didn’t tell his record company he was making it.
“I didn’t have to do any album,” George said, “and so it was no pressure until I got maybe three quarters into it and then I was saying OK, then I’d played it to Warners.”
George said he wasn’t nervous about bringing the album to the record company. “You see, I know people think in terms of, ‘He’s making a comeback.’ You know, but I’m not making a comeback. I’ve always been around like you say, doing this, doing that, making movies, on different shows, TV shows,” George said.
“I’ve done a few little things. So I don’t feel like I’m making a comeback. I’m making a comeback into the eye of the public maybe by doing these videos or interviews specifically this time for the album, but I’ve never been anywhere and I’m not going anywhere. Just been here all the time.”
George didn’t think Cloud Nine was his comeback album because he never took his career seriously. He didn’t even think he had a career exactly.
George just wanted to write and record music for his own benefit and jam with his friends until dawn. If he decided to release an album, it was up to him.
