Howling at the Moon cover art

Howling at the Moon

The Odyssey of a Monstrous Music Mogul in an Age of Excess

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Howling at the Moon

By: Walter Yetnikoff, David Ritz
Narrated by: Walter Yetnikoff
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About this listen

 Show biz memoir at its name-dropping, bridge-burning, profane best: the music industry’s most outspoken, outrageous, and phenomenally successful executive delivers a rollicking memoir of pop music’s heyday.

During the 1970s and '80s the music business was dominated by a few major labels and artists such as Michael Jackson, Bruce Springsteen, the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Billy Joel, Paul Simon, Barbra Streisand and James Taylor. They were all under contract to CBS Records, making it the most successful label of the era. And, as the company’s president, Walter Yetnikoff was the ruling monarch. He was also the most flamboyant, volatile and controversial personality to emerge from an industry and era defined by sex, drugs and debauchery.

Having risen from working-class Brooklyn and the legal department of CBS, Yetnikoff, who freely admitted to being tone deaf, was an unlikely label head. But he had an uncanny knack for fostering talent and intimidating rivals with his appalling behavior—usually fueled by an explosive combination of cocaine and alcohol. His tantrums, appetite for mind-altering substances and sexual exploits were legendary. In Japan to meet the Sony executives who acquired CBS during his tenure, Walter was assigned a minder who confined him to a hotel room. True to form, Walter raided the minibar, got blasted and, seeing no other means of escape, opened a hotel window and vented his rage by literally howling at the moon.

In Howling at the Moon, Yetnikoff traces his journey as he climbed the corporate mountain, danced on its summit and crashed and burned. We see how Walter became the father-confessor to Michael Jackson as the King of Pop reconstructed his face and agonized over his image while constructing Thriller (and how, after it won seven Grammies, Jackson made the preposterous demand that Walter take producer Quincy Jones’s name off the album); we see Walter, in maniacal pursuit of a contract, chase the Rolling Stones around the world and nearly come to blows with Mick Jagger in the process; we get the tale of how Walter and Marvin Gaye—fresh from the success of “Sexual Healing”—share the same woman, and of how Walter bonds with Bob Dylan because of their mutual Jewishness. At the same time we witness Yetnikoff’s clashes with Barry Diller, David Geffen, Tommy Mottola, Allen Grubman and a host of others. Seemingly, the more Yetnikoff feeds his cravings for power, sex, liquor and cocaine, the more profitable CBS becomes—from $485 million to well over $2 billion—until he finally succumbs, ironically, not to substances, but to a corporate coup. Reflecting on the sinister cycle that left his career in tatters and CBS flush with cash, Yetnikoff emerges with a hunger for redemption and a new reverence for his working-class Brooklyn roots.

Ruthlessly candid, uproariously hilarious and compulsively readable, Howling at the Moon is a blistering You’ll Never Eat Lunch in this Town Again of the music industry.©2004 Walter Yetnikoff with David Ritz; (P)2004 Random House Audio, a division of Random House, Inc. Business Aspects Entertainment & Celebrities History & Criticism Music Music Industry

Critic reviews

“A deliciously decadent read.” —People

“A dizzying ride on the turntable of life.”
—New York Times


“Few record-company heads have written autobiographies, and fewer still have penned ones as candid as Howling at the Moon . . . Yetnikoff knows what readers want.”
—Entertainment Weekly

“Brisk, uncensored and often hilarious . . . highly entertaining.”
—Kirkus Reviews

“An un-put-downable repository of A-list gossip and narco-fueled weirdness.”
—Blender
All stars
Most relevant
As others have stated this is faulty. After the book ends there are 4 more chapters that are random repeat chapters. Aside from the technical issues I enjoyed listening to the inside stories of the music industry in the 80’s and 90’s.

Needs a technical fix

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Evocative of the era, the business , the madness , the excitement and the man . A compelling and wild story and captivating read

Raw, authentic , fast paced and all true

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Excellent on all accounts. Only problem was that the chapters were garbled so chapter five was actually the last chapter. When there were still six seven and eight. All very
Confusing and not sure how it happened

First class read

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I read the book years ago and was looking forward to hearing Walter reading it. However my enjoyment was somewhat shortened at the point of chapter 5 of 8 when it turned into a review of the book and at chapter 6 the book started again at the beginning. Feeling a little short changed

Rather a short listen

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