Peter Frampton has revealed the impressive career achievement that “scared the shit out of” him.
It was 1976 when Frampton finally broke through as a solo success on the back of his electrifying live double album, Frampton Comes Alive. During a recent appearance on The Bob Lefsetz Podcast, the guitarist recalled conversations with his manager, Dee Anthony, which took place as Comes Alive was climbing the charts.
“Dee made two phone calls to me,” Frampton explained. “One, I was totally ecstatic about and the second one scared the shit out of me.”
READ MORE: How Peter Frampton Finally Hit With ‘Frampton Comes Alive’
The first, joyous moment came when the manager told Frampton his album had reached No. 1. “Then it seemed like the next day — but I’m sure it was a couple of months later — he called me again and said, you’ve just broken Carol King’s Tapestry sales record. You’re now the biggest ever selling record in America and Canada.”
While most artists would be over the moon to hear such news, Frampton’s reaction was quite different.
“The pit of my stomach just fell out,” the rocker admitted. “I didn’t want to know that. I didn’t want to be the biggest. I would have preferred it was at number two. I’d have preferred that it didn’t sell as much as Tapestry because now the spotlight is on me. Like myself, I’m putting the spotlight on me. It’s now made it so much more difficult to come up with another album. I did not want to.”
Frampton Went Against His Gut on Follow-up Album
Frampton was pressured to quickly release another album to capitalize on the success of Comes Alive. Conversely, the rocker wanted to take his time and create something he was proud of.
“The Eagles don’t dash into the studio every five minutes,” Frampton noted. “They’ve had a handful of studio records as opposed to what you think they’ve had, but they don’t go near the studio until they’ve got you know, ten number one hits because the reason is they can’t stand each other, so they better have some good music to go in there.”
READ MORE: Why Peter Frampton’s ‘I’m in You’ Was Doomed to Fail
“I went against my gut,” Frampton continued, explaining why he caved to pressure and released I’m in You in 1977. The LP initially sold well before cratering. “It [was] horrible,” the guitarist admitted, though not unexpected. “I’ve got to be honest: It’s not as if I didn’t know that was going to happen, because I didn’t like what I just put out.”
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Gallery Credit: UCR Staff
