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Missing Those Labels
I've been buying lots of CDs lately, even though I once said I would hold out and play cassette tapes and my vinyl record collection till I died. Once I gave up on that ridiculous notion my CD collection grew quickly. And in the last year, it has almost doubled again.
I've trying to keep up with the latest contemporary artists, including John Mayer, Jack Johnson, Amos Lee, Daniel Powter, James Blunt, Paolo Nutini, Kid Rock, Uncle Kracker, Nickelback, Pretty Ricky, Akon, Ludacris, and a youngster from Texas named Kelly Miller.
The other day while I was shuffling through my CD collection it occured to me that I had no idea what record labels any of these artists performed for. One of my favorite features of my old 45 rpm record collection is the bright array of record labels each recording company had. The record labels were like works of art. The colors and design of the record label sometimes attracted your attention and they looked great lined up in a jukebox.
Do you remember the design of the Sun Record label? Those were Elvis's first recordings and, when I started buying 45s, Jerry Lee Lewis was the star of Sun Records, with the bright yellow block-style SUN and, as I recall it, a maroon background.
Elvis switched over to RCA, the record label with the dog Nipper staring at a Victrola. My first 45-rpm purchase was at Les Spofford's The Record Center and it was "Good Golly, Miss Molly" by Little Richard, who recorded for the Specialty Label, which featured a black-and-yellow design.
In the Sixties Atlantic Records had many stars, including Sonny & Cher. Their record label was red and black. In fact, the aforementioned Paola Nutini records for Atlantic Records, but you'd never know it unless you really searched for it on his CD.
Coral Records were orange, Chess records were blue and Columbia records were orange with white lettering.
Some record labels were much more artistic. For example, Motown Records were blue with a little road map of the Detroit area. Also, the Reprise record label had a steamboat, Capitol records had the dome of the United State Senate and Elektra records had a caterpiller. As a kid, I knew them all. It was its own art form in those days. I miss that from today's CDs.
Comments
Hate to break the news to you, but, yes, you're very late to the CD bandwagon. CD sales have been drastically declining since the advent of MP3 downloads about 1998-9. My last CD purchased was Usher 8701 in 2001. I, like most of the younger generation, get my music by "other means" ( I will not elaborate on that).
In terms of record labels, there are really only 4 large record labels that control the music industry: EMI, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group, and Warner music Group. What has become a trend of late is smaller artist owned record labels branching off from one of the big 4. Examples are Jive, J records, Def Jam, Bad Boy, Aftermath to name a few. Some are more recognizable than others but I do agree that record labels in general have become more obscure. The artists themselves have become higher profiles then the actual record label they represent.
(Foxy's note: Thanks, Mark T, for the update about this. We old guys still think in terms of vinyl 45rpm records sometimes, so it's interesting to get a perspective from a "young feller.")
Posted by: Mark T. | April 10, 2007 3:09 AM
Foxy,
I, too, have thousands of 45s from the 70s and 80s. Once in a while I play some on a 30 year old Panasonic stereo.
I bought most of them at the old Record Giant store in the P+C Plaza for two reasons. One was the lowest price in town.The second was because of the good looking owner Coleen Bisso. I'm guessing there were many other lads like myself in the 70s who dropped in to "browse" when she was working.
Craig Mathews
Posted by: Craig Mathews | April 7, 2007 7:04 AM
I was just having a similar conversation with a co-worker who still has a “hi-fi” in his office complete with a record player, cassette player, and 8-track. I thought that was neat. I hadn’t seen an 8-track player in 20+ years.
We were talking how we don’t even buy CD’s anymore. You can go online to any number of ‘music services’ and select specific songs! No more buying an album, tape, or CD for the purpose of getting a couple of good songs and having 10 so-so songs. Then you can place the music on your i-Pod, MP3 player, burn it to a CD, load it on a thumb-drive, put in your car, or bring it to the office and put it on your computer! It’s just so awesome how we can now have our music, the specific music we want, with us wherever we go.
Ahhh, modern technology!
(Foxy's note: You mean my new CD collection is almost outdated already?)
Posted by: Kern | April 6, 2007 12:24 PM
Hey, you wanna rock it? Try a little Barrence Whitfield & the Savages. Better yet, if you ever get the chance go see them live - now that's a show. But you Have to stand right up front - they play in clubs. I used to go hear them live @ a club in Salem, Massachusetts - Jason's I think - when I lived in NH. But that was 20 years ago now.
Becky Leonard! Congratulations - I just saw your book on Barnes & Noble and I'm going to buy it for my daughter. It's been a life's dream of mine to write a book - maybe in retirement. You go, girl.
Posted by: Miney Rowlson | April 6, 2007 7:51 AM