New Decade, New Talent
Throughout the ‘80s, his talent-finders brought in multi-platinum artists, like Cher, Aerosmith, Guns N’ Roses, and Nirvana. Along the way, he managed to upset and alienate the very Reprise/Asylum artists (like Young, Mitchell, Henley) – who had brought him such success in the ‘70s.
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Any notion that he would recreate the “boutique” ambience of Asylum in the new decade was quickly dispelled when Young’s and Mitchell’s albums failed to sell. “David started feeling real pressure,” Elliot Roberts recalls. “[He felt] that he wasn’t as good as Mo.”