Excerpt from Liberty Records by Michael "Doc Rock" Kelly

DEAN: Oh, that was called Dead Man's Curve / New Girl In School.

DOC ROCK: Except on some copies, it is switched around, with "New Girl" listed first. And on that version, the cover photo is pink and black instead of full color.

DEAN: Yes, the pink one was a quick version they got out. We tried to complain to Liberty about it, but that was really before the artist ever got any control over the cover art, which took many years to get. Then, when Liberty did have time, they put the color picture on, not because we wanted it, not because of artistic reasons 'cause they thought that it would sell more. Their market study showed that a color cover would sell 8.3%, or whatever, more copies that a black and white one.

DOC ROCK: So the black and white one was first?

DEAN: Yes, that was the quick one.

DOC ROCK: But why does it list "New Girl In School" first?

DEAN: Well, "Drag City" was a top 10 record, so get that LP out there with "Drag City" on it! Jan and I liked to always put out an LP with two hits on it instead of only one like most artists did. These people at Liberty said, "You already have 'Drag City' on there, so save 'Dead Man's Curve' and don't put it on that LP, save it for the next one!" But we told them that we wanted "Dead Man's Curve" on Drag City because it is relevant to that LP. We don't want to do another LP; we just finished this one. They gave in on that one, except didn't let us re-cut it. They didn't even know if it would be a hit anyway. If they'd known it was going to be a hit, they would never have put it on. They don't want you to be able to get the new song you just heard on the radio on an LP that is already out. They want to sell you another LP.

DOC ROCK: That was what happened to me, I ended up buying both.

DEAN: Thanks! So, Drag City came out, sells what it is going to sell. Then, the "Dead Man's Curve" single comes out, and it was a two-sided hit! They'd never had many two sided hits before at Liberty! No one had counted on the flip side, "New Girl in School." So, since we had already used "Dead Man's Curve" on the other LP, they said, "'New Girl in School, 'New Girl in School!' A New Title! Now, we can put out a new LP called New Girl in School and people who have Drag City with 'Dead Man's Curve' on it will be attracted to buy the new LP because it has a new hit in the title!" Our answer was that "Dead Man's Curve" was a hit, too. So, they added that to the title, but to management, it was a New Girl in School LP. They figured it was a residual thing, that most people would not even know that "Dead Man's Curve" was on the flip side.

DOC ROCK: But wasn't "Dead Man's Curve" bigger?

DEAN: Yes, but they felt that since "New Girl in School" was a top 20 hit, it would sell 150,000 LPs, which is a lotta LPs.

Later, when "Dead Man's Curve became a bigger hit, the LP was retitled.

 

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