A Weasel No More

Over the years, Knutson has also been involved in his share of creative decisions at Tommy Boy: He worked closely with 808 State and LFO, a pair of electronica precursors, and arranged for former members of Kraftwerk to contribute to a "Planet Rock" remix EP. But his biggest project of this type was Tommy Boy's Greatest Beats, which fell to him in part because of his longevity. "I've turned into the grand old man of Tommy Boy. I'm the only one who can remember all the records, because I had to ship them off--and I still have a huge amount of passion for them." He adds, "When I started putting it together, I did it in the obnoxious, nerdy record-collector way--making everything sequential and putting the influential records alongside the hit records. But when I got done and looked at it, it seemed really cold and boring. I didn't think it would appeal to anyone--not even me. So I went back and thought about it, and I realized that Tommy Boy's always been about upbeat party music that's really inclusive, and that's what I tried to put across. I chose all our biggest records from the charts and the stuff that reflected the legacy and put it together--and even though there are some really disparate things, I think it works really well."

With Greatest Beats completed, Knutson is once again focusing on sales; he's presently riding high with Everlast's "What It's Like," which is Tommy Boy's first-ever modern-rock chart-topper. And while he doesn't see himself ever moving back to Colorado (he's still stinging from the passage of the anti-gay Amendment 2 earlier in the Nineties), he considers himself a product of the state. "I've lived out here for fifteen years, but I'm still proud to be from the West," he says. "That's never going to change. And if the Broncos lose this weekend, it'll kill me.