She can show him the right path, but she can’t stop him from going down the wrong one.

Chapter 48

Chapter 48

It’s better to burn out

Than to fade away.

—“My My, Hey Hey (Out of the Blue)”

The trouble begins even before Phil Spector pulls out the gun.

John’s so pleased to be working with the legendary producer of Imagine again—on an oldies album this time—that he cedes total control to Spector, something he’s never done before. He also starts drinking in the recording studio, something he’s never done before, either, but Spector encourages it. Besides, who’s going to stop him? May? Hardly.

The mood in Spector’s LA studio couldn’t be more different from the one at the studio in London. Far from the serious, private affairs John’s used to—where even the presence of wives and girlfriends had been frowned upon—Spector holds open-door sessions at A&M Studios that double as parties, with alcohol and celebrity visitors flowing nonstop. The producer himself shows up in costumes—as a priest or surgeon or karate champion—and wears a gun in a shoulder holster.

“The guys were all drinking—and John was being one of the guys,” May says. “Everyone was as blitzed as he.”

“John was exercising all his bad habits, as were we all, including Phil,” admits drummer Jim Keltner. “The only problem with that was that Phil was the producer, and somebody had to be, you know, sane.”

Spector doesn’t inspire confidence on that front. Privately, John calls him “the Vampire.” May worries about the gun, but John assures her it’s just for show—until the night Spector pulls it out and shoots it into the ceiling.

Fellow producer Mark Hudson recalls, “Spector pulled out a large gun and started chasing John through the hallways. John was trying to laugh it off but it was horrible.”

“Listen, Phil, if you’re gonna kill me, kill me. But don’t fuck with me ears. I need ’em,” John deadpans.

When Spector later disappears with the recordings and can’t be found, it’s almost a relief.

*  *  *

Another notorious group John falls in with also includes vampires: the Hollywood Vampires.

“The original Hollywood Vampires was a drinking club, a last-man-standing kinda thing,” says the club president, Alice Cooper. “People started calling us the Hollywood Vampires because we’d never see daylight. We figured instead of drinking the blood of the vein, we were drinking the blood of the vine.”