 Record company executive Irving Azoff participated in the making of the film as executive producer, but he disowned it before release and asked that his name be removed from the credits, a request which Universal agreed to.Azoff said the film was "not an authentic representation of the music business" and that the studio reneged on its promise to allow him creative control over it, particularly regarding selections of music.Janet Maslin of "The New York Times" wrote that the film "turns into a preposterously self-serving variation on 1960s' themes" and that the central problem in the plot "is certainly a real one, for rock radio stations everywhere.