Just because I have always been a fan of Smashed Gladys I thought I would post this…

Heavy metal has always been dominated men, even more so in the mid ’80s when Sally Cato was trying to make her mark on the hard rock scene with Smashed Gladys. Capturing the interest of Kiss’ Gene Simmons, Smashed Gladys seemed poised to smash through the stereotypical metal boundaries, but the ‘old white boy network’ that controlled the music business in the decadent ’80s wouldn’t let that happen. In this exclusive interview vocalist Sally Cato gives us a glimpse of what can go wrong in the world of music even when it appears the stars are already aligned.

Sleaze Roxx: Hello again Sally, thank you for taking the time to do this interview. I was wondering how many units the Social intercourse record sold?

Sally Cato: All I know is… the album was released on April 15 of that year and by July we had sold 70,000 units.

Sleaze Roxx: Was the record deal with Elektra good or did the band get screwed over?

Sally Cato Sleaze Roxx interview Sally Cato: That is a big question. There is a lot of detail in that answer… let me try. OK, when you go for a record deal you have to prove you have a following — which we did, possibly a bigger one that most of the unsigned competing NY and LA groups — with the exception of Poison, who were at about the same level as us, except that we already had a British album available. Next, you have to have someone represent you to the record companies… like an agent, manager or lawyer. We had a lawyer, who was hard working, but inexperienced. We knew all the big name agents in the metal world, and they all came to see us. Next, if a record company shows interest, you make a deal with them and at that time, now that you have a deal memo, you go out and get the best manager possible, one that makes the record company feel confident that they have enough clout and money to get you on the best tours, buy the most amount of radio support, etc.

Well, as a band, my partner and I wrote just about everything. The guys in the band dedicated every waking hour to humping gear, playing live and the whole nine yards. The business side I did pretty much alone. I got the lawyer, I got the agent, I made all the contacts, I dealt with the record company contacts and negotiations… and during this entire time I maintained relationships with all the big management companies. Two people were responsible for signing Smashed Gladys to Electra — the Vice President and the head of A&R. This was a pretty big deal. Both of these guys had some pretty heavyweight bands that they had signed.

Problem was, the president of the label, who had once signed some pretty huge acts, decided that he was not going to let us sign the deal UNTIL we had a manager. This was unheard of, especially since it was common knowledge that we were courting every manager in metal. By doing this he sent a huge message to the industry that read that he did not take us seriously. The money we got was standard for that time. I had already secured a great agent — he was the president of ICM — the largest agent in the world.

Next we had to choose a producer. They would not let us use the guy who did our first LP, they would not let us contact Mutt Lang, or any other decent producer. They, without asking for a reference at all from Poison, put us with the guy who produced their LP. We ended up having to fire him halfway through the project, and then Electra found out that Poison had locked him out of the studio for their LP and had virtually produced the album themselves… and because of legal contractual obligations, they had to put his name on the record.

Then we had to tour — and this is where it gets unreal. At the time of our record release, there were not many stadium tours out yet. Guns N’Roses was with Iron Maiden and that was about it. So they sent us out to headline in medium sized venues until a stadium slot came up. After three months of touring we came home, and that night our agent called to say that since Guns N’Roses were now touring with Aerosmith that the Iron Maiden opening slot was open, and that we were going to be taken to Florida to start opening for them in two days. Of course we went through the roof. It was perfect! At the same time we were told that Poison were getting ready to tour and were looking for an opening act as well.

Sally Cato Sleaze Roxx interview At about 3:30 that day we got a call from Elektra saying that the president would not support the Iron Maiden tour and that we would not be going out again to support our album. We had already started to take Poison up on their interest in us as an opener when we discovered that Elektra had blown that for us too. The president of the label was not going to let us succeed simply because I was a female… this was made clear. Now think about it, has there ever been a female heavy metal performer who has made it to the size of say Steven Tyler, Axl Rose or Bon Scott? No… and the old white boy network who controlled things back then were going to make sure it stayed that way. It’s just fine though, because we have more female performers now than there have ever been — and they come in shapes and styles that never even existed before. Look at Pink for example. Yay!

So we walked into the president’s office and demanded that if they could not behave like professionals that they release us from our recording contract immediately. This took about a week… getting our publishing back though, took three years.

Read the Rest via Sleaze Roxx: Sally Cato Interview.