The Verve’s first 2 albums were not very commercially successful, however, Urban Hymns, released in 1997, was a massive hit. Much of its success is due to their single “Bitter Sweet Symphony”.
With the release of Urban Hymns, The Verve knocked Oasis out of the #1 spot on the album charts in the UK. It spent a total of 12 weeks at the #1 spot and 124 weeks on the charts. Urban Hymns outsold Radiohead, Blur and Oasis, who all released albums in 1997.
“Single of the Year”
Released as the lead single from the album, “Bitter Sweet Symphony” wasn’t just the biggest song of the band’s career, but one of the biggest songs of the decade. It was nominated for a Grammy, while publications including NME and Rolling Stone named the song ‘single of the year’.
Considering “Bitter Sweet Symphony” was such a massive single, being a top 5 hit in the UK, a top 20 hit in the US and licensed heavily by advertisers, it should’ve made The Verve a lot of money, but it didn’t. In fact, the song became a nightmare for the band.
“It was only once we’d put strings on it that he started getting excited.” – Youth
The Verve frontman Richard Ashcroft almost threw the song away. It was producer Youth, who pushed to have the song included on the record. The song’s trademark orchestral arrangement was placed by Youth who would tell an interviewer, “This was certainly the most successful track I’ve done. I think Richard had actually cut a version with John Leckie but, by the time I came on board, he didn’t want to do the song. I persuaded him to have a go at cutting a version, but at first he wasn’t really into it. It was only once we’d put strings on it that he started getting excited.”
The Andrew Oldham Orchestra
While the string arrangement gave the song it’s signature sound, it became a legal nightmare for the band. It turned out the orchestral arrangement for “Bitter Sweet Symphony” was sampled from The Andrew Oldham Orchestra.
Andrew Oldham used to be the Rolling Stones’ manager. In reality, there was no Andrew Oldham Orchestra. It was just a name used for recordings made by Oldham who used a number of session musicians including the members of the Rolling Stones.
The sample The Verve used was actually a cover of the Rolling Stones’ song, “The Last Time” which was penned by members Mick Jagger and Keith Richards.
While The Verve had permission to sample The Andrew Oldham Orchestra’s recording, they didn’t have permission from The Rolling Stones, which the orchestral track was based on.
The Deal Gets Complicated
It’s important to note that the orchestral arrangement is not on the Rolling Stones’ version of the song and that’s where things got a little tricky. The copyright to the Rolling Stones’ song was owned by a company named ABKCO, which was run by a controversial businessman named Allen Klein, who was a ruthless negotiator.
Prior to The Verve releasing “Bitter Sweet Symphony”, the band negotiated a deal to use the six-note sample from The Andrew Oldham Orchestra’s recording of “The Last Time” with it’s copyright holder Decca Records. The band, however, didn’t get permission from the Rolling Stones for their song “The Last Time”.
By the time The Verve’s label EMI and Virgin realized their mistake and tried to get a licensing agreement from Klein — huge quantities of Urban Hymns CDs had already been manufactured and “Bitter Sweet Symphony” was already released as a single.
The Verve’s manager Jazz Summers called ABKCO and spoke with Klein who flat out said no to giving a licensing agreement. Klein didn’t believe in the idea of sampling.
Klein Licences “The Last Time”
In a last ditch effort, the head of The Verve’s label, Virgin Records flew out to New York to meet with Klein in person and played him the song. Klein knew the band and label were in a bind and agreed to license “The Last Time” under the condition that there was a 50/50 split for the song’s royalties.
Klein Sues For Plagiarism
As “Bitter Sweet Symphony” started to pick up steam and move higher up the charts, Klein would change his position and claim that The Verve sampled too much of “The Last Time” and sued the band for plagiarism.
The case would end up being settled out of court as The Verve didn’t want to spend thousands of dollars in a prolonged legal battle. The settlement included Mick Jagger and Keith Richards being listed as co-writers on the track along with Ashcroft. The band had to hand over 100% of their royalties to the pair as well.
By 2018, Ashcroft only made $1,000 off the song, which was paid to him as part of the settlement deal. Billboard would estimate that the song, to date, has made about $5 million in its lifetime due to radio airplay and licensing deals. If this whole debacle with the Rolling Stones hadn’t happened, Ashcroft would have likely made at least half of the $5 million.
“Best song Jagger and Richards have written in 20 years” – Richard Ashcroft
The Verve frontman would later quip that it was the “best song Jagger and Richards have written in 20 years”.
To make matters worse, The Verve had no control over how the song was to be used, so if companies wanted to license the track, The Verve didn’t have a say. When Nike asked to use the song, the band said no. Nike went to Allen Klein and licensed the song.
Legal Problems Continue for The Verve
The legal problems didn’t end there for The Verve as Andrew Oldham would end up suing the group for $1.7 million over unpaid royalties.
Perhaps the saddest part of this whole story was that Andrew Oldham never composed the original orchestral arrangement, it was a composer named David Whitaker who received no compensation for his work being sampled by The Verve.
“This May Be the Last Time”
Making this legal dispute even more complicated, “The Last Time” was actually inspired by a 1958 track called “This May Be the Last Time” by The Staple Singers.
Guitarist Keith Richards acknowledging the similarities telling an interviewer in 2003, “We came up with ‘The Last Time’, which was basically a re-adapting a traditional gospel song that had been sung by the Staple Singers, but luckily the song itself goes back into the mists of time.”
The Staple Singers didn’t get any compensation for “Bitter Sweet Symphony” either.
“If The Verve can write a better song, they can keep the money.” – Keith Richards
Did the Rolling Stones ever comment on the lawsuits, and settlement? Yes, they did. In 1999, Keith Richards was asked by Q magazine about whether the settlement was fair, “I’m out of whack here, this is serious lawyer shit. If The Verve can write a better song, they can keep the money.”
“…Mick Jagger and Keith Richards signed over all their publishing for ‘Bitter Sweet Symphony’, which was a truly kind and magnanimous thing for them to do.” – Richard Ashcroft
On May 23, 2019, Richard Ashcroft announced, “As of last month, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards signed over all their publishing for ‘Bitter Sweet Symphony’, which was a truly kind and magnanimous thing for them to do. I never had a personal beef with the Stones. They’ve always been the greatest rock and roll band in the world. It’s been a fantastic development. It’s life-affirming in a way.”
Why did the Rolling Stones all of a sudden have a sudden change of heart? It goes back to 2018.
Ashcroft was done with The Verve after their last breakup in 2009 and was now a solo artist. He had taken on new management and had new managers by the names of Steve Kutner and John Kennedy who knew their first job would be to settle the long standing dispute over “Bitter Sweet Symphony”.
Kennedy famously got another British band, The Stone Roses out of their terrible recording contract with Silvertone Records back in the 90’s.
“One Of The Toughest Deals In Music History.” – John Kennedy
Kennedy, who spoke to Stereogum, would claim that the out-of-court settlement the band reached with Klein was “one of the toughest deals in music history.” The management team had a difficult task ahead of them as a lot of Ashcroft’s previous managers had tried to work out a deal to handover the song to the frontman, but failed.
According to Kennedy, there were no legal options Ashcroft could take to get the song back because the settlement the band signed with Klein was “watertight.” The only way they could get the song back was to negotiate a deal, which is what they tried.
In 2009, Klein passed away and his son Jody Klein took over ABKCO. The first cold call Ashcroft’s managers made to Jody went unanswered, but they eventually ended up speaking and Jody suggested the pair speak to the Rolling Stones’ manager to escalate the matter.
A New Agreement Is Reached
A lunch meeting would be arranged with the Stones’ manager Joyce Smyth who met with Kennedy to discuss Ashcroft’s frustrations over the song. Smyth agreed to talk to her clients and they agreed to relinquish control over the song including songwriting credits and royalties. In addition, Jagger and Richards requested that ABKCO pay Ashcroft extra for all his troubles over the years.
The announcement of the song returning to Ashcroft was made at the Ivor Novello awards in London on May 23, where Ashcroft was honored for his contribution to British music. Later in 2018, Ashcroft would end up supporting the Stones on several dates of their tour.
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