Starz were a criminally unappreciated rock band from the mid 70's who should have been huge, but, due to several reasons, were not. They were managed by Bill Aucoin (of Kiss fame), and opened for some of the biggest acts of the 70's. Famous rockers such as Poison, Bon Jovi, Nikki Sixx and Lars Ulrich still cite Starz as a primary influence, yet they never caught on, despite supporting the likes of Kiss (naturally), Aerosmith, Ted Nugent, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Foghat and Blue Öyster Cult.  According to the band, and in particular Richie Ranno, Capitol Records was to blame for their commercial failure.  “Those jerk-offs,” said Ranno, “They were on the other side of the country. And by the time the first album came out, which wasn’t long afterwards, all the executives responsible for signing us had left. Michael was such an amazing frontman, we could win over an arena of 20,000 people who’d never heard of us. But Capitol had no vision for a hard rock band like Starz.”  Dube adds “We’d be blowing everyone away on a nightly basis, but Capitol’s inability to get product into the stores put us in a very precarious place.”  Finally, Lead singer Smith stated “Kiss were making so much money, our management were starting to see Starz almost as this thing on the side, If we were to take off, then that would be great, but if not then we could just be a tax write-off.”

 

So there you have it...Starz became a tax write-off.