Look Who it Was Random video

My Life Inside the Rock & Roll Business | Danny Goldberg | Talks at Google

4,763 views · Published 31 October 2008 · 50:47 · Indexed 12 November 2026

Channel: Talks at Google · 2008 · Entertainment

Watch on YouTube

Author Danny Goldberg visits Google's San Francisco, CA, office to discuss his book "Bumping Into Geniuses: My Life Inside the Rock and Roll Business". This event took place October 7, 2008, as a part of the Authors@Google series.

Danny Goldberg has been a hugely influential figure in the world of rock and roll. He did PR for Led Zeppelin; he managed the career of Nirvana; he ran Atlantic Records, Mercury Records, and Warner Bros. Records; he launched Stevie Nickss solo career. In Bumping into Geniuses, Goldberg shares his stories about performers who represent a broad and powerful portion of the psychic real estate of the rock and roll kingdom: Patti Smith, Warren Zevon, Bruce Springsteen, KISS, Kurt Cobain and Nirvana, Hole, Stevie Nicks, Bonnie Raitt, Steve Earle, Led Zeppelin, and more.

But theres more to this story than just Goldbergs varied career. Its also a look at the industry itself: a business that was neither the romantic vehicle for self-expression that its most naive fans imagined, nor the purely crass money machine depicted by its most cynical critics. It was complex and chaotic—a mixture of art and commerce, idealism and selfishness—and sometimes, rocks most gifted and influential musicians were able to transcend it all.

More from this channel