Althouse: "American Idol" seems to think it's doing Stephen Bishop a favor.

March 24, 2025

"American Idol" seems to think it's doing Stephen Bishop a favor.

I'd never heard of Stephen Bishop or his "On and On" song, but I found his wife's outrage interesting:

60 comments:

Dude1394 said...: This kept my attention for about 0.0005 seconds. :); 3/24/25, 9:18 AM
Iman said...: If it helps, Bishop was the crooner strumming a guitar who was singing “…I gave my love a chicken that had no bones…” to a comely Miss on the frat house stairs when Belushi took offense, grabbed the guitar and smashed it to pieces.; 3/24/25, 9:19 AM
RCOCEAN II said...: Yeah, I love how the Entertainment Industry tries to screw every nickel they can out of the consumer while at the same time paying any creator peanuts. They only time they spend big bucks is when purchase something from an approved source, aka one of their gang.

And contract was hilarious. It reminds me of the contract Ben Shapiro and his company wanted to give to Steven crowder, "Hey, want a few sheckels, here sign your life away to me".; 3/24/25, 9:24 AM
mccullough said...: Weepy 70s love song.; 3/24/25, 9:24 AM
RCOCEAN II said...: I'm all for creators getting compensated, my only beef is the lenght of the copyright. Everything should be out of copyright after 30-50 years - but y'know its all about Bribing Congress, not about what's right or constitutional.; 3/24/25, 9:26 AM
Heartless Aztec said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 3/24/25, 9:27 AM
AMDG said...: He wrote and performed the Animal House Theme. American idol should use that. Pure poetry.

Let me t-t-tell you 'bout some friends I know
They're kinda crazy but you'll dig the show
They can party 'till the break of dawn
at Delta Chi you can't go wrong
Otter, he's the ladies man
Every girl falls into his hands
Boon and Katy playing "Cat and Mouse"
and Mrs. Wormer, she's the queen of the
ANIMAL HOUSE
ANIMAL HOUSE
ANIMAL HOUSE

That Pinto he's a real swell guy
Clorette was jailbait but he gave her a try
Chip, Doug, and Greg, they're second to none
They studied under Attila the Hun
Mr. Jennings has got his wig on tight
Flouder's left shoe's always on his right
Babs and Mandy are having a pillow fight
With D-Day, Hoover, Otis Day and the Knights
DO THE BLUTO
Come on baby, dance with me
Maybe if we do the Bluto
We will get an "A" in lobotomy
DO THE BLUTO
DO THE BLUTO
DO THE BLUTO
DO THE BLUTO

Aw, come on!
Let me tell ya
Dean Wormer tried to shut us down
But he fell and he broke his crown
He didn't know about the Delta spunk
He came in handy when we were short a skunk
At the
ANIMAL HOUSE; 3/24/25, 9:28 AM
Heartless Aztec said...: It's a nice tune. Well arranged and competently recorded back in the day. $500 is bullshit. $5000 is still shit. $20,000 would be appropriate if everything Mrs Bishop listed is accurate. Think about it - a front row James Taylor seat is $2K-ish@50 seats. $20K is chump change. A real Scrooging to coin a term.; 3/24/25, 9:28 AM
Derve Swanson said...: The "rich" really don't see what's coming.
Smarter to keep the money circulating not to have hungry angry people gunning for you, but... they want it all, and still think they can have it. Imagine the world they are leaving their children... along with all that ill-gained cash.
This won't end well. America worked because we were NOT like Britain -- where they had poorhouses and locked people into an economic station for life.; 3/24/25, 9:34 AM
Aggie said...: It's a wild guess, but I think I know where he got his inspiration for 'On and On'......; 3/24/25, 9:41 AM
David53 said...: Are those natural eyebrows or is big and bold the latest style?; 3/24/25, 9:46 AM
rehajm said...: Yacht Rock is in in some in circles. Steven Bishop is one of the gods…

….and yes. Idol lawyers must believe they’re doing him a huge favor. Surprised they didn’t try to send a bill for using it…; 3/24/25, 9:46 AM
mezzrow said...: This is everything you needed to know about the music business. The lawyers would add the droit de seigneur for the A&R director if the artist was sufficiently comely.

I insult weasels by calling them entertainment lawyers.; 3/24/25, 9:46 AM
David53 said...: Never mind, Grok told me it’s been a thing since the 2010s. I’m so out of date.; 3/24/25, 9:50 AM
NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...: Well, to be honest; it wasn't that big of a hit song! Per Wikipedia it only made it to 11 on the Billboard Hot 100.

I find it more interesting that Stephen Bishop is 73 and his wife looks like she's about thirty.; 3/24/25, 9:51 AM
Ice Nine said...: So here's an idea, babe: Don't let them use it.

OK, anything else?; 3/24/25, 9:58 AM
Peachy said...: Used on "THE VIEW" - Gross! Don't let song be slimed!
Not enough F * C K - N O s.; 3/24/25, 10:00 AM
rehajm said...: He was so quick to say no I’m wondering who else asked him for a sync request? Anyone as big as the American Idol machine?; 3/24/25, 10:01 AM
Peachy said...: Lets guess who runs all this vapid TV bullcrap - exploiting in some cases - *actual talent.

That would be greedy capitalist democratics.; 3/24/25, 10:02 AM
Christopher said...: Interesting that Althouse never heard of it. I don't mean that as a dig, it's just that it was a major hit in 1974, and hung around for a long time afterward, at a time when hit radio stations played a very wide range of music rather than everything being fragmented into unknown numbers of channels.

It is an insulting offer, and as others said shows where the business is these days. Artists make peanuts from Spotify and the like.

I found it hard to believe but Weird Al said his 80 million Spotify streams in 2023 generated $12.; 3/24/25, 10:04 AM
Spiros Pappas said...: Why not say give me $5,000 instead?; 3/24/25, 10:14 AM
Temujin said...: Alright. A confession here. I'm a Stephen Bishop fan from way back. I guess the late 70s/early 80s. I know I bought his first 3 albums. And...I still have his second album, "Bish", on my Music playlist. I know, I know. There goes the old Temujin reputation.

But, I've long considered him among the most underrated songwriters and singers we had. I lost track of him years ago. didn't really follow him after that 3rd album. But...if you give him an objective view on the album 'Bish', you'll hear some arrangements and singing that is really outstanding. 80s-ish, yes, but outstanding. (listen to the arrangement- and guitar solo- in the song "Vagabond from Heaven").

'On and On' was a great song, but never covered by Bob Dylan.; 3/24/25, 10:17 AM
Derve Swanson said...: This story/tik tok appears to be six months old, anile! ;-); 3/24/25, 10:18 AM
Temujin said...: PS- I should have suggested an 'objective listen', not an objective view. I hate errors like that.; 3/24/25, 10:18 AM
Derve Swanson said...: You just learned of Jimmy Buffet's music a few years back too, right? ;-); 3/24/25, 10:18 AM
Ficta said...: I heard that song constantly when it was moving up the charts. I listened religiously to Casey Kasem every week. I haven't thought of it, much less heard it, for 40 years, at least. But I can still hum it and sing a good chunk of the lyrics. A very solid piece of polished 70s adult pop.; 3/24/25, 10:19 AM
Lazarus said...: She's not just his wife. She's also his manager. Is it suspicious that he's off-camera? Should we do a welfare check?

From the entertainment industry weasels' point of view, they aren't saying they will use the song in all those contexts. They are covering all the legal bases in case they do use it in one of those contexts. It's possible too that when "Idol" started back in 2002, the recording industry wasn't yet completely dead, and any song featured on the show might produce a healthy boost in album sales.; 3/24/25, 10:27 AM
boatbuilder said...: It looks like a standard form offer.

Why not counteroffer?--say $25K and no, you don't get all the rights except to use it on the show, and in reruns and ads.

Isn't this how commerce is supposed to work?; 3/24/25, 10:37 AM
Mike (MJB Wolf) said...: Consider also that some American Idol performances go on to have a life outside the show and if it gets Mr. Bishop repeated airplay or other clearance offers it might be worth it. Streaming killed the old industry compensation model. And selling recordings is not the path to success it used to be. Still if a performer has a hit with the song, especially internationally, then royalties will roll in again. It was quite a melancholy tune as I recall.; 3/24/25, 10:46 AM
Narr said...: Copyright: Vexing and Vexatious. Ask three experts, get four opinions.

I had to deal with publishers and broadcasters frequently, when they wanted to use some photo (usually, sometimes footage) that we had in our collections.

They sometimes--especially the media whippersnappers--wanted us to sign a 'hold harmless' clause in the license
agreement--that we guaranteed we owned the rights and would defend them in court if they got sued over copyright.

I enjoyed saying, "Nope, we're the State of Tennessee and we're not promising you anything for the pittance we charge."; 3/24/25, 10:52 AM
Yancey Ward said...: While I recognized the name instantly, I had to go listen to the song itself to remind me of what it was. It is one of those songs I recognize instantly on just the first bar but have probably never connected to the name of the artist in a permanent fashion. It is a song I hear on the radio fairly frequently, though.

I am more familiar with Bishop for his connection to Animal House, the song he did for the movie Tootsie which was a minor hit when I was high school, and the song he wrote for Phil Collins and Marilyn Martin, "Separate Lives".; 3/24/25, 10:55 AM
Narr said...: He was a one-hit wonder to me. I recognize the song but couldn't have told you who performed it.; 3/24/25, 10:55 AM
Iman said...: “On and On” is in the grand tradition of “Muskrat Love”, which should’ve resulted in the death penalty for both Bishop and Daryl Dragon.; 3/24/25, 10:59 AM
Art in LA said...: Wow, you never heard the song? It was a radio staple when I was a kid.

Maybe the pitch from the Idol folks was that people would start streaming/buying "On and On" after all of the promos that included it ... so many song resurrected/re-introduced by the show "Stranger Things".; 3/24/25, 11:00 AM
Reddington said...: Lot of indignation coming from a grave robber. He's 43 years older than her?; 3/24/25, 11:08 AM
gspencer said...: Stephen Bishop of Tootsie fame.; 3/24/25, 11:10 AM
Lem Vibe Banditory said...: “I'd never heard of Stephen Bishop…”

Stephen Bishop is a chess grandmaster.; 3/24/25, 11:16 AM
MadisonMan said...: Wow. It's a nice ear-wormy song. Down in Jamaica they've got, lots of pretty women...; 3/24/25, 11:17 AM
Christopher said...: Well, to be honest; it wasn't that big of a hit song! Per Wikipedia it only made it to 11 on the Billboard Hot 100.

It never topped the charts but it stayed there for, relatively, a very long time.

Like Temujin, I consider his best work exceptional.; 3/24/25, 11:21 AM
Lem Vibe Banditory said...: I thought I saw him in that. Confirmed. Stephen Bishop was in "Someone to Love" (1987)

Plot: "The film is a pseudo-documentary about a filmmaker who throws a Valentine's Day party at an old theater that is about to be demolished. The filmmaker invites numerous single friends, including his brother, the real estate agent who sold the theater to a developer who is going to build a modern shopping mall, to the party and then quizzes them on camera about their lives, failed relationships, intimacy issues, and loneliness."; 3/24/25, 11:28 AM
MadisonMan said...: It spent 28 weeks on the Top 100 chart. Most of Summer and Fall 1997. It fell off just as Billy Joel's first hit -- Just the Way you Are -- was starting up the chart.; 3/24/25, 11:30 AM
Dogma and Pony Show said...: Based on some quick, Grok-assisted research, Tarantino paid something like $5,000 to use "Stuck In The Middle With You" in Reservoir Dogs. Of course, that was a small, independent film whereas American Idol is seen and heard by millions. Mad Men paid something like $75,000 to use the Beach Boys' "I Just Wasn't Meant For These Times." Breaking Bad paid something like $50,000 to use Badfinger's "Baby Blue" in the finale. I would imagine Stephen's wife could get American Idol to pay a lot more than $500, but it seems unlikely the song would command a huge licensing fee.; 3/24/25, 11:33 AM
Earnest Prole said...: Her name’s Liz Kamlet and she was born roughly twenty years after Stephen Bishop’s “On and On” hit the radio in 1974. She works in the music business (“ten years of experience”) and has a podcast if you need to hear more of her.; 3/24/25, 11:53 AM
Wince said...: MadisonMan said...
It spent 28 weeks on the Top 100 chart. Most of Summer and Fall 1997.

1977?; 3/24/25, 12:04 PM
D.D. Driver said...: It really depends. I mean if someone sings part of the song in an audition: how much should you pay to air the clip? Why would you pay more than $500? If the songwriter won't go for it, just use a different clip. It's a cheesy 70s yacht rock ballad.

Holy age gap!; 3/24/25, 12:07 PM
X. P. Callahan said...: Stephen Bishop is the poster boy for what I call WM2: White Male Wimp Music.; 3/24/25, 12:12 PM
RCOCEAN II said...: Its interesting that people come out of the workwork to make excuses for the greedheads in the Entertainment Industry trying to squeeze every Goddamn penny out of someone when they have zillions of dollars. Who cares if they have to "cover their bases". cover they bases from what? What other thieves in the Entertainment Industry? All these contracts could be written on a napkin, if they weren't a bunch of crooks.

I say, fuck them and the horse they rode in on. And no I'm not "mad" or "Angry". Just full of contempt.; 3/24/25, 12:13 PM
Wilbur said...: I don't know any more about the music business than the average Wilbur, but it seems to me the appropriate response to Mr. Bishop's agent would be "OK, see you around", and then go get another song.

While music is not fungible, this is not the only song which evokes what the Idol TV producers want evoked. Shouldn't be too hard to strike an acceptable deal with somebody else.

Per Federal law, songs recorded or published in or before 1929 are now deemed in the public domain. A lotta good stuff available from then: Bert Williams, Bessie Smith, Jimmie Rodgers and Emmitt Miller just off the top of my head; 3/24/25, 12:18 PM
NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...: Dogma and Pony Show said...

Mad Men paid something like $75,000 to use the Beach Boys' "I Just Wasn't Meant For These Times."

I think they paid around $250K to use the Beatles "Tomorrow Never Knows".

I would expect that $500 might be the standard base offer unless you're someone like Paul McCartney, Jagger and Richards, or the Estate of Prince Rogers Nelson.; 3/24/25, 12:27 PM
Earnest Prole said...: If you’re a 72-year-old artist your highest interest would be introducing your timeless art to a new generation in a bid for immortality. Royalty calculations and negotiations would be the last thing on your mind.

If you’re a 32-year-old budding music-industry manager and world-class gold-digger, on the other hand . . .

This TikTok most resembles a hostage video. Has anyone set eyes on Stephen Bishop recently?; 3/24/25, 1:25 PM
MadisonMan said...: Yes, '77. Typo that I did not notice.; 3/24/25, 1:47 PM
WhoKnew said...: I'm another Stephen Bishop fan, and have been since "On and On" was on the radio. Sometimes, mellow music fits the mood I'm in and some of his later stuff sounds a little Bossa Nova, which is a style I love. I don't know if X.P. Callahan would dismiss that as "white boy wimp music" as well, maybe it gets a pass because t's Brazilian.; 3/24/25, 2:10 PM
tommyesq said...: Bishop in 2023 posted a 1 cent royalty check he had received from Paramount for use of one of his songs in a TV show, so maybe American Idol isn't so far off. Plus, does Bishop own the songwriting copyright or just the mechanical (first covers the song full stop, so alternate arrangements, muzak versions, etc while the second covers only the specific recorded performance - and American Idol version may be close enough to infringement the mechanical rights but might not)?; 3/24/25, 4:25 PM
IamDevo said...: I started into this post and was somewhat puzzled until I realized it wasn't about Elvin Bishop. Too bad. That would have been more interesting. And the music would have been superior.; 3/24/25, 4:29 PM
Iman said...: Bishop Sheen crooning “Danny Boy” would’ve been more interesting, IamDevo!; 3/24/25, 7:04 PM
JIM said...: Tom Petty and Lynyrd Skynyrd both wrote blistering songs about record companies.; 3/24/25, 7:58 PM
Hassayamper said...: Stephen Bishop is the Dan Fogelberg of James Taylors.; 3/24/25, 8:48 PM
Michele said...: On and on is a terrific yacht rock hit and like all great yachr rock songs it has a perfect second verse:

Poor old Jimmy sits alone in the moonlight. His woman left him for some other man.So he takes a ladder, steals the stars from the sky, puts on Sinatra and starts to cry.; 3/24/25, 10:15 PM
JAORE said...: Good gawd, just say, "No". If you feel the need, say, "Get the F outta here".
An offer made, an offer rejected. If ABC thought this was a VITAL part of their programming they would come back with a bigger (much bigger?) offer.
Perhaps ABC has alternate songs that they believe would do nearly as well.
But, no, play the victim, boo-hoo on the internet. That'll make the offers roll on in.; 3/25/25, 9:39 AM
Bitter Clinger said...: Can we discuss the real issue here, i.e., the scandalous age-gap between Stephen and Liz? It's practically statutory rape.; 3/25/25, 12:05 PM