# Phil Spector dead **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** celebrity-death\ **Created:** [January 17, 2021, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phil-spector-dead/930741 "2021-01-17T17:22:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2021, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phil-spector-dead/930741/1 "2021-01-17T17:22:35Z")
Phil Spector is dead at 81. > **[Phil Spector: Pop producer jailed for murder dies at 81](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-55697979)** > > Spector, who was jailed for killing actress Lana Clarkson, transformed pop music with his "wall of sound". ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2021, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phil-spector-dead/930741/2 "2021-01-17T17:28:01Z")
Can we call him a genius now without feeling icky? ---
**Author:** ![CoconutPete](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coconutpete/32/5294_2.png) [@CoconutPete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CoconutPete)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2021, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phil-spector-dead/930741/3 "2021-01-17T17:30:46Z")
Talented guy too bad he was a nut job and killed somebody. [![](https://pagesix.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2014/09/philspector.jpg?quality=80&strip=all&w=680&h=356&crop=1) ](https://pagesix.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2014/09/philspector.jpg?quality=80&strip=all&w=680&h=356&crop=1) ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2021, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phil-spector-dead/930741/4 "2021-01-17T17:32:23Z")
I hope someone cancels his $2 million check to Trump for a pardon. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2021, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phil-spector-dead/930741/5 "2021-01-17T17:33:13Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > Can we call him a genius now without feeling icky? I don’t know. It’s my understanding he was always kind of a creepy guy. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2021, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phil-spector-dead/930741/6 "2021-01-17T17:44:25Z")
Famous now for his “Wall of Sod”… ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2021, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phil-spector-dead/930741/7 "2021-01-17T17:49:30Z")
A talented sociopath. ---
**Author:** ![whitetho](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whitetho/32/1059_2.png) [@whitetho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whitetho)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2021, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phil-spector-dead/930741/8 "2021-01-17T17:56:54Z")
For some reason radio stations refused to play this song that he produced: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/CA4bw7tIPNs/hqdefault.jpg "The Crystals - (Let's Dance) The Screw - Part 1") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CA4bw7tIPNs) ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2021, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phil-spector-dead/930741/9 "2021-01-17T17:58:02Z")
A few glory years and then a long life better left unsaid. Unfortunately, not an unusual arc for supertalented artists. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2021, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phil-spector-dead/930741/10 "2021-01-17T18:29:25Z")
“California Health Care Facility inmate Phillip Spector was pronounced deceased of natural causes at 6:35 p.m. on Saturday, January 16, 2021, at an outside hospital.” I didn’t know natural causes was even on the list of possibilities. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2021, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phil-spector-dead/930741/11 "2021-01-17T18:34:35Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > A talented sociopath. There are a lot of them about. I don’t wish anyone dead but I am optimistically putting Roman Polanski in my 2021 dead pool. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2021, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phil-spector-dead/930741/12 "2021-01-17T18:43:40Z")
He was a brilliant producer and arranger at one point, no doubt, but he was a vile, manipulative excuse for a human being for much (if not all) of his life, and I, too, have a hard time mourning his death. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2021, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phil-spector-dead/930741/13 "2021-01-17T18:47:12Z")
And after around ‘68 or ‘69 he wasn’t really that great of a producer. John Lennon, George Harrison, the Ramones, etc. all succeed despite him, not because of him. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2021, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phil-spector-dead/930741/14 "2021-01-17T18:48:28Z")
He died from COVID, according to Wikipedia. Rereading the story of the murder, it’s astonishing that by putting up $1 million in bail he got to go free for _four years_ between the murder and his first trial. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2021, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phil-spector-dead/930741/15 "2021-01-17T18:51:35Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > And after around ‘68 or ‘69 he wasn’t really that great of a producer. John Lennon, George Harrison, the Ramones, etc. all succeed despite him, not because of him. How much does a “producer” typically influence a song or album? I’m not sure what the actual role of a music producer is. I guess I had previously thought it was like a movie producer (more of a money thing than a creative thing). ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2021, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phil-spector-dead/930741/16 "2021-01-17T18:53:52Z")
> [@Procrustus](#): > > I guess I had previously thought it was like a movie producer I think it’s closer to a movie _director_, in terms of direct oversight of the creative & technical process. Or a combination of the director & producer roles in a movie. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2021, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phil-spector-dead/930741/17 "2021-01-17T18:54:43Z")
> [@Procrustus](#): > > How much does a “producer” typically influence a song or album? I’m not sure what the actual role of a music producer is. I guess I had previously thought it was like a movie producer (more of a money thing than a creative thing). Record producers typically have a lot of creative input, and are usually deeply involved in the recording and mixing of an album, working hand in hand with the musicians through the process. Musicians often choose to work with particular producers due to their reputations, or specific styles that they have. In Spector’s case, he was apparently a control freak (among his many other awful personality traits), and demanded complete control over the entire process. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2021, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phil-spector-dead/930741/18 "2021-01-17T18:56:18Z")
In Spector’s early days it meant arranging and mixing the music without having to negotiate the finished product with the artists at all. Of course he couldn’t do that with a former Beatle or almost any post-1970 artist. ---
**Author:** ![TiberiusNeroClaudius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f04885/32.png) [@TiberiusNeroClaudius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TiberiusNeroClaudius)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2021, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phil-spector-dead/930741/19 "2021-01-17T19:05:58Z")
There was also this Goffin-King song > **[He Hit Me (And It Felt Like a Kiss)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/He_Hit_Me_(And_It_Felt_Like_a_Kiss))** > > Pages for logged out editors learn more > > "He Hit Me (And It Felt Like a Kiss)" is a song written by Gerry Goffin and Carole King for girl group the Crystals under the guidance of Phil Spector in 1962. Goffin and King wrote the song after discovering that their babysitter and singer "Little Eva" Boyd was being regularly beaten by her boyfriend. When they inquired why she tolerated such treatment, Eva replied, with complete sincerity, that her boyfriend's actions were motivated by his love... Producing the Ramones “End of the Century “ album, he had Johnny Ramone play one chord, listen to it for 90 minutes and then have Johnny play the same chord again so he could listen to it again. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2021, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phil-spector-dead/930741/20 "2021-01-17T19:14:04Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > it’s astonishing that by putting up $1 million in bail he got to go free for _four years_ between the murder and his first trial. I believe this falls under the legal thesis of “different rules for the rich.” Stranger [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phil-spector-dead/930741.md?page=2)