There are all kinds of accounts of the career of media icon Dick Clark pro and con.
Among the cons are those of his involvement in the notorious "payola" scandals as well as a documentary titled THE WAGES OF SPIN.
Now I'm pretty sure, for the most part, Clark was essentially a pretty decent person
...but the music business has always had a notorious reputation for being quite "cut-throat", and as successful as Dick Clark was (for a non-musician/non-singer) with his involvement in it I'm sure at some point he had to have been "forced to" resort to a few "tricks" to keep himself on top as well as "keep certain parties satisfied".
To be completely straight-laced in a profession---which is, by it's own definition, dependent on ostentatious gimmickry as well as on hyperbolic imagerism and assorted favoritisms and all other manners of "mediatory politics"---one would easily be subjecting themselves to being viewed as being "too naive" and liable to be taken advantage of themselves in some way.
It's no trade secret that Clark was an entrepreneuring genius with good instincts and very knowledgeable and worldly.
He would do whatever he had to in order to make his career and projects work to his advantage, even when it meant resorting to a few what's-considered-unsavory-tactics.
...it's one of the "necessary evils" of being successful and of "making one's mark" in the world.
Politicians do those sort of things all the time to get where they're at.
I don't think it reflects on the overall personality or character of the person-in-question. It's just the way the "systems" work.
If one has a special talent or aptitude in certain areas and with them the potential for accomplishing or creating certain projects, one should never just let such potentials merely go-to-waste
...and Dick Clark was a very proud person with a profound level of self-preservation. He was "wired" to succeed---that was simply his in-born nature.
In a classic case of "the ends justifies the means" one should consider what is was Clark ACCOMPLISHED by what all he's done in the span of his long media career
...and, maybe, just be "forgiving" of whatever occasional underhandednesses he may have engaged in.
Let's also not forget a lot of his contemporaries engaged in unscrupulous acts from time-to-time themselves as well---who knows, some maybe worse than whatever it was Clark himself is guilty of.
Hell, what about even the local radio DJs themselves during the 1950s and '60s?
How often did THEY have to "espouse the virtues of" certain brands of chewing gum and soda pop, or some other kind of junk food?
...and did they feel the slightest bit "guilty" about, essentially, peddling garbage to impressionable underaged listeners for the purpose of furthering the profits of whatever station they worked at so as to ensure their continued employment there?
To summarize:
Dick Clark's legend will always live on, no matter what! And that, ultimately, will end up being all that matters.
Among the cons are those of his involvement in the notorious "payola" scandals as well as a documentary titled THE WAGES OF SPIN.
Now I'm pretty sure, for the most part, Clark was essentially a pretty decent person
...but the music business has always had a notorious reputation for being quite "cut-throat", and as successful as Dick Clark was (for a non-musician/non-singer) with his involvement in it I'm sure at some point he had to have been "forced to" resort to a few "tricks" to keep himself on top as well as "keep certain parties satisfied".
To be completely straight-laced in a profession---which is, by it's own definition, dependent on ostentatious gimmickry as well as on hyperbolic imagerism and assorted favoritisms and all other manners of "mediatory politics"---one would easily be subjecting themselves to being viewed as being "too naive" and liable to be taken advantage of themselves in some way.
It's no trade secret that Clark was an entrepreneuring genius with good instincts and very knowledgeable and worldly.
He would do whatever he had to in order to make his career and projects work to his advantage, even when it meant resorting to a few what's-considered-unsavory-tactics.
...it's one of the "necessary evils" of being successful and of "making one's mark" in the world.
Politicians do those sort of things all the time to get where they're at.
I don't think it reflects on the overall personality or character of the person-in-question. It's just the way the "systems" work.
If one has a special talent or aptitude in certain areas and with them the potential for accomplishing or creating certain projects, one should never just let such potentials merely go-to-waste
...and Dick Clark was a very proud person with a profound level of self-preservation. He was "wired" to succeed---that was simply his in-born nature.
In a classic case of "the ends justifies the means" one should consider what is was Clark ACCOMPLISHED by what all he's done in the span of his long media career
...and, maybe, just be "forgiving" of whatever occasional underhandednesses he may have engaged in.
Let's also not forget a lot of his contemporaries engaged in unscrupulous acts from time-to-time themselves as well---who knows, some maybe worse than whatever it was Clark himself is guilty of.
Hell, what about even the local radio DJs themselves during the 1950s and '60s?
How often did THEY have to "espouse the virtues of" certain brands of chewing gum and soda pop, or some other kind of junk food?
...and did they feel the slightest bit "guilty" about, essentially, peddling garbage to impressionable underaged listeners for the purpose of furthering the profits of whatever station they worked at so as to ensure their continued employment there?
To summarize:
Dick Clark's legend will always live on, no matter what! And that, ultimately, will end up being all that matters.
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