American Recordings (label)

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American Recordings (also: American Records) is a music label from Burbank, Los Angeles County , operated by Rick Rubin . The label's most successful artists include Slayer , The Black Crowes , Danzig , Johnny Cash , Sir Mix-a-Lot and System of a Down . It has the label code LC 07181.

history

American Recordings was founded under the name Def American Recordings in 1988 after Rubin left Def Jam and was originally used for publishing hip-hop and metal artists. When Rubin found the word “Def” in a dictionary in 1993, he thought it was an unwanted mainstreamization of the term and had it solemnly buried.

In 1993 Johnny Cash signed a recording contract with American Recordings, which caused a stir because of the label's previous releases. Rubin himself admitted that he knew little about cash or the genre country before. Cash's album American Recordings not only had the same title as the new label, but was also their first new release in 1994. The collaboration with Cash was so successful that it was continued with a series of phonograms called the "American Recordings" or "American" series.

The increasing diversification of the artists under contract with American Recordings was also evident in 1996 with the publication of Donovan's "Sutras". With the albums " Toxicity ", Mezmerize "and" Hypnotize "by the band System of a Down, American Recordings landed three number one albums on the Billboard 200 , making the band one of the five artists who each have two number one In 2006, Neil Diamond released his comeback album "12 Songs", which was recorded under the same conditions as Rubin's work with Cash. With his second American album "Home before dark" Diamond had his first number one in the US Charts: The Texan rockers ZZ Top have also signed a record deal with American Recordings.

Since its inception, American Recordings has been distributed by numerous companies such as Warner Music , Island Def Jam Music Group , BMG and Sony Music. Since Rubin has been part of the executive suite of the Sony BMG sub-label Columbia Records , Sony BMG Music Entertainment has been selling American Recordings' records, which have effectively entered into a joint venture with Columbia.

The American Recordings logo is an upside-down flag of the United States . The Def American Recordings logo was an outline of the USA (excluding Alaska and Hawaii) surrounded by three mentions of the label name within two concentric circles. All products that were in sales at the time of the renaming have been republished with the new logo.

Artist

In addition to the artists mentioned above, American Recordings has so far published recordings a. a. by the following artists: The Jesus and Mary Chain , John Frusciante , Frank Black , Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan , Saul Williams , The Jayhawks , Neil Diamond , Tom Petty , American Head Charge , The (International) Noise Conspiracy , Fireside , Skinny Puppy , Devo , God Lives Underwater and Mouse on Mars .

Sub-labels

American Recordings included the Ill Labels sublabels, Infinite Zero (specializing in re-releases), Onion Records (specializing in esoteric and obscure pop music), WHTE LBLS, and Wild West Records, all of which were discontinued in 1997 after American Recordings split from Warner Music had separated.

Web links

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  1. ↑ a b c Def American Recordings at Discogs
  2. ↑ Benjamin Hedin: JC's Resurrection in: The Nation, February 19, 2004 (English)
  3. ↑ US Pop Music Charts: System of a Down Score Second # 1 Album This Year on top40.about.com (English)
  4. ↑ ZZ Top Sign To Rick Rubin's Record Label on starpulse.com (English)
  5. ↑ Rick Rubin signs with Sony BMG on countrymusicnews.de
  6. ↑ Interview with Antony Bland (A&R Director of American Recordings) on record-labels-companies-guide.com (English)