Extraordinary rock 'n' roll photographer Henry Diltz joined Dave Schrader (email) to discuss photographing rock's biggest acts and how a $20 secondhand camera turned into a photographic career with album covers for The Doors, Crosby, Stills & Nash, The Lovin' Spoonful, and many more. "It just kind of happened," Diltz admitted about his stunning career photographing music icons. "The people I shot were my friends... they were fellow musicians, they were people in Laurel Canyon," he added.
Diltz, who has photographed legends including Jimi Hendrix, The Beatles, Bob Dylan, The Who, and Neil Young described his shooting style as informal and more like hanging out. "It's the unfamous part that I'm interested in, what makes them just like everybody else," he revealed. Diltz detailed what it was like shooting the Eagles in the desert, Crosby, Stills & Nash on a old couch in front of an abandoned house, and The Doors inside the transient Morrison Hotel, where they snuck in for a photo after the lobby was empty. According to Diltz, the back of the Morrison Hotel album cover featured a bar called Hard Rock Cafe which is where the now famous restaurant chain took its name. He also spoke about this work on The Monkees television series.
Boyce & Hart and The Monkees
In the first hour, the man who wrote the music that outsold The Beatles and The Rolling Stones in 1967, Bobby Hart, shared an exclusive glimpse into his life and career. Hart, who wrote songs with partner Tommy Boyce, recalled auditioning for the producers of The Monkees television show. "We had no idea how big it was going to be... it was ten times bigger than we even envisioned," he said. Hart recalled how he and Boyce lost control of the first recording session with the playful, high-energy members of The Monkees, prompting the duo to bring them in separately for future sessions. "Tommy and I decided early on that we didn't want to get too close to The Beatles' sound," Hart explained, noting they did try to emulate the Fab Four's album formula. Hart also spoke about this involvement in the Let Us Vote movement to lower the voting age to 18.