AND FROM OUR BELIEVE IT OR DON’T...

AND FROM OUR BELIEVE IT OR DON’T DEPT.: No one in the record industry has bigger ideas than Warner Bros. creative marketing chief Jeff Ayeroff. Unfortunately, no one has a bigger mouth either. Ayeroff’s mouth was on display in the current issue of Rolling Stone, where the label’s marketing and video wizard took credit for the success of virtually every artist who’s become a star at Warners since--well--since Ayeroff arrived there in 1983. (Sample quote: “Why aren’t there more Woody Allens?” Ayeroff asked. “ ‘Cause there’s only one Woody Allen. There’s only one person who has my perspective. You’d have to grow another one.”)

No one at Warners has questioned Ayeroff’s considerable talents--he has been largely responsible for breaking a-ha, broadening the appeal of the Talking Heads and revamping ZZ Top’s image. But Ayeroff’s remarks, which also pointedly ignored the accomplishments of the late Bob Regehr, for many years the top creative force at Warners, caused an uproar at the label. No one at Warners, including Ayeroff, would comment on the record, but according to several sources there, Ayeroff was asked to apologize and won’t be giving interviews in the near future. As one label insider put it: “You can expect to see Jeff checking his ego at the door for quite a while.”