It’s hard to think of a modern-day record label whose exploits will eventually require a 6.2kg photo book to cover in full. Then again, you don’t get labels like Capitol any more. A music enterprise set up in 1942 by three dudes in a movie town, Capitol survived and thrived almost in spite of itself. It’s still in business today, and like all those labels with a rich history, it’s a very different beast to the one whose releases soundtracked previous decades.
The way Barney Hoskyns tells it in a series of essays in the lavishnew Taschen book 75 Years of Capitol Records, the label was set up largely to make a point. Singer-songwriter Johnny Mercer was unhappy with the distribution of his records, so Music City record shop owner Glenn Wallichs suggested he set up a label and then offered Hollywood producer BG DeSylva a piece of the action.
The trio met at Hollywood restaurant Luceys, DeSylva ponied up $10,000 for a 30 per cent cut and Liberty Records was born. The entrepreneurs discovered that name was taken, and Mercer’s wife came up with the alternative name Capitol Records.
It was a success, more or less, right out the gate, scoring hits such as Freddie Slack Orchestra's Cow Cow Boogie, Paul Whiteman's Travellin' Light (with Billie Holiday on backing vocals) and Johnny Mercer's Strip Poker. It signed acts such as Bozo the Clown (former whiskey salesman and professional clown Pinto Colvig), Peggy Lee, Tennessee Ernie Ford, Miles Davis, Nat King Cole and the awesome Yma Sumac, and made merry with recordings from Broadway musicals.
In 1952, Frank Sinatra arrived at Capitol. A series of disasters in his personal and professional life meant the post-war bobbysox heart-throb was now perceived as a has-been. Capitol took him and transformed him into a singer of wounded, scarred, dark bar-room ballads and packaged him as a swinging alpha male.
Hangers-on
Albums such as In the Wee Small Hours, Songs for Lovers and Only the Lonely were masterpieces and clicked with millions. There are photos throughout 75 Years of Capitol Records of Ol' Blue Eyes in those glory days, including a great one where he's having his dinner surrounded by well wishers and hangers-on with names like Toots. Sadly, you don't get that many guys called Toots in the music business any more.
1955 was a important year for the label. For a start, it opened a landmark office in Los Angeles – the Capitol Tower was the world’s first circular office building and was built to resemble a stack of records on a turntable. Despite the fact the sales topped $20 million, the bulk of the company was sold to EMI for a bargain $8.5m.
That hook-up came in handy in the 1960s when EMI had The Beatles, who were seeking a US home. That decade also saw Capitol score huge success with The Beach Boys, The Band, Merle Haggard and Steve Miller. In the 1970s and 1980s, it was the likes of Pink Floyd, Kraftwerk, Tina Turner and Duran Duran who kept the money rolling in.
These days, thanks to the major-label musical chairs of recent years, Capitol is in the Universal tent. It survived the tortuous years, when clueless venture capital firm Terra Firma ran the label thanks to “the three Cs” of country, Christian and catalogue.
The 75-year-old Capitol now oversees such subsidiaries as Blue Note, Harvest and Motown, and is home to such stars as Sam Smith, Katy Perry and Lady Antebellum.
In common with most labels in the 21st century, it’s a far cry from the glorious freewheeling days of old. Still and all, the three lads who set things up in 1942 wouldn’t recognise the place.
