The Jazz.com Blog
May 27, 2008 · 10 comments
Capitol Records and the Golden Age of Pop Music
At the mid-point of the 20th century, pop music was in ascendancy, and no record label understood the new sound better than Capitol. Capitol's 1950s roster featured Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Dean Martin, Judy Garland, Nancy Wilson, Dinah Shore, the Kingston Trio, June Christy, the Four Freshmen and Peggy Lee, among others. Those aren't just names . . . they literally define a sound and a generation. Perhaps even a way of life.
Few labels have ever been more in touch with the musical tastes of an era. Some look back on this period as a Golden Age. Others denounce it as a low point in American commercial music, an era of mindless sentimental tunes, mercifully terminated by the later rise of rock and soul and other more vibrant styles. But whether you loved it or loathed it, Capitol defined it. This label represented the early 1950s pop sensibility in its glossiest and most stylized form.
But Capitol's glory years would pass all too soon. The English company EMI acquired 96% of the Capitol's stock in 1955, putting an end to the reign of the savvy West Coast musical minds who had guided the label since its inception. Capitol had been founded by songwriter Johnny Mercer, along with fellow tunesmith Buddy DeSylva and retailer Glenn Wallichs. (As a teenager, I spent many hours browsing through the lavish inventory at Wallich's now defunct Hollywood music store.) But in later years a far different cast of characters would be calling the shots. The three founders would hardly recognize Capitol as it exists today.
Although Capitol would eventually prove to be a tremendous financial success, the business was built first and foremost on love and respect for the music "I've got this idea of starting a record company," Mercer had told his golfing buddies Harold Arlen and Bobby Sherwood one day in 1942. "I get so tired of listening to the way everyone treats music. I keep feeling they're selling out. And I don't like the way artists are treated either."
The Capitol Records Tower is admired today as one of Southern California's most memorable architectural landmarks. Designed by Welton Becket, who had made his name with the Pan-Pacific Auditorium, the Capitol HQ was the largest circular office building in the world. (There is apparently no truth to the story that the design was consciously based on the appearance of a stack of 45s on a turntable.) But its completion in 1956 might well have signaled the beginning of the end for Capitol Records. True, the company would continue to sell records and generate hits, but it was no longer in touch with the zeitgeist. From now on, Capitol would be chasing after trends, rather than creating them.
The problem was not just the new British owners. The more pressing issue—as events would prove—was the rise of rock and roll. The whole pop music aesthetic, which Capitol had lovingly developed over the previous decade, was now in disarray. In fact, Capitol represented everything the younger generation of fans and musicians was rebelling against—slick arrangements, sophisticated chord changes, polished performances, lyrics that rhymed and scanned and got every syllable right.
The musical values that Capitol represented in 1956 would be tossed overboard by 1966. The company would try to embrace the new ethos, but never did so convincingly—certainly not as well as rival Columbia or other upstarts such as Motown and Atlantic. The fiasco surrounding the Beatles' early recordings showed how little the honchos at Capitol understood the new musical tastes of the 1960s.
The Beatles were literally handed to Capitol on a silver platter. The lads from Liverpool were signed to parent company EMI's Parlophone label. But Capitol execs initially turned down the band owned by their sister company. This bad decision allowed Vee-Jay, a Midwest indie label, to control U.S. distribution of the Beatles' early recordings and thus enjoy a brief burst of mega-prosperity. In time, Capitol realized its error, and secured distribution rights and even control over the Vee-Jay masters. But they still showed their cluelessness, by tinkering with the content and sonics of the Beatles' music, adding reverb and echo to the EMI tracks in an attempt to get them to sound more like Capitol releases.
Eventually Capitol jumped into rock with a vengeance, but only at the cost of the company's core musical values. What would Johnny Mercer have thought of the company he founded promoting the artistry of Megadeth, Iron Maiden, the Beastie Boys and the Butthole Surfers? But Mercer, who died in 1976, was not around for these Capitol recordings of the 1980s.
In truth, the pop aesthetic that had created so many 1950s masterpieces for Capitol was dead long before these travesties. In retrospect, we can look back on it as a Golden Era, but like all idyliic ages, this one was too sweet and innocent to last. Yet, if the story of the record industry over the last fifty years is a tale of declining musical standards and a shift toward chasing trends and hyping the lowest common denominator . . . then Capitol Records could be a case study in what has gone wrong. Perhaps the pop styles of the 1950s were doomed to disappear under any circumstances, but did we also need to throw out musicianship, taste and so much else along the way?
Ah, we do have some cause for celebration. Today marks the release of Peggy Lee's The Lost '40s and '50s Capitol Masters. (It is interesting to note that this project is not being released by Capitol itself—the folks there apparently focus on more "happening" projects—but by the Collectors' Choice label, the same outfit that recently made available a stellar set of Nat King Cole reissues drawn from the Capitol vaults.) This double CD draws on little known material, including songs that were never issued, as well as alternate takes and tracks that previously could only be found on rare 78s. In commemoration of this release and as a tribute to the great days of Capitol Records, jazz.com is featuring Lees' "Cannonball Express," recorded in June 1950, as the classic jazz track for today.
This blog entry posted by Ted Gioia.
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Attention Ted Gioia: please don't use words like "zeitgeist" when you don't know how to use the personal pronoun "its." //But its [contraction for "it is," you want the pronoun "its"] completion in 1956 might well have signaled the beginning of the end for Capitol Records. True, the company would continue to sell records and generate hits, but it was no longer in touch with the zeitgeist.//
I get the feeling that you re looking down on Iron Maiden and Megadeth. Well, for your information they were trend setters in their form of music and I'm sure Capitol would love the fact that they were part of the NWOBHM and Thrash Metal revolution which defines Heavy Metal as we know it today. Musical evolution doesn't mean letting go of musical values.
Also, I understand that you are speaking as a Jazz fan but things change and there ll be no Nat King Cole or Sinatra in every generation. Jazz is treasured because it is exclusive. But Record companies have to sell records.
Hmm. Some serious disrespect for The Beach Boys, methinks, although by 1966 they were being treated rather shabbily by Capitol.
You're right about one thing: The building wasn't designed to look like a stack of 45s. It's a stack of LPs.
You can accuse me of many things . . but disrespect for the the Beach Boys should not be on the list. Back in Hawthorne, there were long-standing family ties between the Gioias and the Wilsons, and no other jazz critic has written with more enthusiasm for surf music and Mr. Brian Wilson. Show me Balliett on Wilson! Show me Crouch on Wilson! Show me Schuller on Wilson. 'Fess up . . . you can't!
By the way, the manner in which Capitol Records dealt with Brian Wilson is NOT to their credit.
Perhaps Johnny Mercer and his co-horts couldn't have picked up on rock and roll. Dave Cavanaugh almost singlehandedly tried to keep rock and roll from Capitol; he tried his best to put the kibosh on the Beatles' career. Maybe it took new blood...as it does with any organization that moves forward. That said, I've heard Frank Sinatra and June Christy Capitol albums from the '50s that are easily as exciting as The Beatles or any other '60s group. Admittedly, I can't stand bands like Iron Maiden and Megadeth, and I wouldn't care what label they're on. Capitol did quite well for itself, with Linda Ronstadt, April Wine, Sweet and other artists. Oh yeah, and those early Beach Boys albums are plenty good too.
Thank you for making the correction. :)
et me say that a complete Capitol label discography is now available from NAMES & NUMBERS Discographical Publications, Reine Claudestraat 15, 1326 JC ALMERE Netherlands. Secretary: Gerard J. Hoogeveen gehojazz@planet.nl NEW DISCOGRAPHIES ON CD-ROM : - The Capitol Label Discography by Michel Ruppli ,Bill Daniels & Ed Novitsky, abt. 6500 pages, EUR. 120.00 - The ABC Paramount / Impulse Labels, discography by Michel Ruppli and Bill Daniels, abt. 1050 pages EUR. 60.00; These two items are including postage by registered mail, packaging, handling and local taxes. The files on the disks are in Adobe Acrobat.pdf format and can be read, printed and searched with Adobe Acrobat Reader on Windows, Macintosh and Unix based systems. The Adobe Acrobat Reader Version 8.0 can be downloaded, free of charge, from the website : http://www.adobe.com. Now published in this series:: The Blue Note label (1939-1999) a discography by Michael Cuscuna & Michel Ruppli
All I can say is that I worked at Capitol Records, in the Merchandising and Special Markets departments, from June 1969 thru January 1971, and look back on the job with very fond memories and, except for a cranky album cover designer, a high regard for all the people I worked with. Now that I am an agriculotural writer here in Oregon,I often mist up a bit when I see the great Capitol Tower on TV or in the mvoies. Best job I ever had! js