Monument Records

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Monument Records is an American independent record label that was founded in Baltimore in 1958 and made famous by Roy Orbison's great hits.

Foundation phase

Billy Grammer - Gotta Travel on

The founder of the label Fred Luther Foster left his job as a sales manager of the plate Wholesale J & F Wholesale Record Distributors , Baltimore, in January 1958. He used his savings of 1,200 dollars for the establishment of the independent record label Monument Records , which he after the Washington Monument named . After founding Monument Records in March 1958, it took Foster 5 months to find a title that he could release as the first in the label's catalog. With other labels, however, it took a few days for a first song to hit the market. It was a folk song with a long history and archaic-sounding text, the title of which was changed by folk singer Paul Clayton from Done Laid Around to Gotta Travel on and a third verse was added. Paul Clayton received a recording contract with Monument Records in October 1959 .

The long wait was worth it, because Gotta Travel on with Billy Grammer developed into the new record label's first million seller and a crossover hit after its release in October 1958 . The title had already sold 900,000 copies in February 1959, and weeks later the million mark was exceeded. In 1959, Foster moved the company headquarters from Baltimore to Nashville / Tennessee , the center of the country music industry .

Roy Orbison

Roy Orbison - Oh, Pretty Woman

From March 1956, Roy Orbison could not be properly classified stylistically at Sun Records . Orbison's desire for large orchestral productions wanted him producer Jack Clement at Sun Records do not meet, because "out of you will never be a ballad singer." Without a Hit moved Orbison initially in September 1958 RCA Records , where producer Chet Atkins also did not see any prospects. On April 23, 1959, Fred Forster took on the role of producer at the RCA recording studio in Nashville on the mediation of Bob Moore . Orbison's first record, Paper Boy (Monument 45-409), was released on September 28, 1959. The fourth recording session on March 26, 1960 finally brought the breakthrough. With the instrumentalists of the " Nashville Sound " Harold Bradley and Hank Garland (guitar), Bob Moore (bass), Floyd Cramer (piano), Boots Randolph (saxophone), Buddy Harman (drums) as well as a violin accompaniment and the Anita Kerr Singers Forster produced 4 titles, including Only the Lonely (Know the Way I Feel) . In order not to let Orbison's soft voice get lost in the instrumentation, an improvised isolation chamber with a cloakroom was created, thereby bringing his singing to the fore. The ballad required a voice between B minor 3 to C 5, the latter in falsetto ; that's a little over two octaves within a 17-note range. Together with the B-side Here Comes That Song Again , the single was released on May 9, 1960 (45-421). Orbison sold 12 million sellers, in addition to Only the Lonely also Blue Angel , Running Scared , Crying , I'm Hurting , Dream Baby , I'm Workin 'For the Man , In Dreams , Mean Woman Blues and Falling . The greatest success for Orbison and Monument Records was Oh, Pretty Woman with 7 million singles sold worldwide, the last million seller was It's Over . Orbison recorded 75 tracks on Monument Records , brought it to 18 hit singles and 5 LPs, and was by far the label's top artist before being lured by MGM Records with $ 1 million in July 1965 . Monument was financially unable to raise a sum as large as the MGM group. Here he had 156 titles by 1973. Even experienced producers like Wesley Rose and Jim Vienneau did not manage to match MGM's earlier monument successes.

Saxophonist Boots Randolph was also important for Monument Records , whose LPs, according to Foster, sold at least 500,000 copies each. Moore's orchestra also accompanied Orbison on his hits. Bob Moore's instrumental hit Mexico (45-446) was the next million seller in July 1961, when Monument Records was already an established label in the record market.

In February 1963 Foster founded the sub-label Sound Stage 7 , which was responsible for rhythm and blues . The first hit was the Dixiebelles with (Down at) Papa Joe’s , which rose to 9th place in the rhythm & blues charts in September 1963.

Development without Roy Orbison

In 1965 it became known through the departure of Bob Moore that he owned 37% of Monument Records. Moore believed that his instrumental hit Mexico only had a chance because he was a co-owner of the label. Moore, one of the most sought-after and best session bassists, had again induced Orbison to switch to MGM Records. Without the two artists, Monument Records got into its first crisis.

In February 1964, Foster acquired a recording studio (with a 3-track Ampex ) in Nashville (319, 17th Avenue North on the top floor of the Cumberland Building ) from Sam Phillips , which he renamed Fred Foster Sound Studios . One of the first artists in the studio was Rusty Draper (with Monument since July 1963), who recorded here regularly from July 1964, as did Roy Orbison. He was already behind the microphones for It's Over in the new studio on March 10, 1964 . At the time, Monument Records was the largest independent label in Nashville.

Here Foster also produced the still unknown Dolly Parton , which had received a contract from Monument Records in September 1964 . She had just written the BMI award-winning country title Put it Off Until Tomorrow with Bill Owens , which brought Bill Phillips to number 6 on the country charts. Her first recordings at Fred Foster Sound Studios were made in September 1964; on June 22, 1965, her composition Put it Off Until Tomorrow was recorded there. By September 1967, Parton had produced 44 titles, only 2 of which reached the country charts. When Parton switched to RCA in October 1967, her career only began with producer Bob Ferguson.

Also the not yet famous Willie Nelson recorded 4 tracks here for Monument Records on July 6, 1964, before switching to RCA. It was not until October 1981 that he returned as a successful country star and sporadically left the production work to his mentor Fred Foster - albeit in other recording studios. From December 1966 a blues-oriented music from the Mississippi Delta penetrated the country scene of Nashville and Monument Records , which a certain Tony Joe White presented on the Monument label. A couple of session musicians from Memphis (Chip Young guitar, Jerry Carrigan / Jimmy Isbell drums and David Briggs piano / organ) contributed to the unusual sound, dubbed Swamp Music , in Nashville's RCA studio. In June 1968, the title Polk Salad Annie , garnished with wind instruments , came into being, which climbed to 9th place in the pop charts.

Start of career at Monument Records

Kris Kristofferson - Why Me

Foster kept his recording studio on the cutting edge of technology. On December 15, 1966, the first 8-track recording technology (3M Company) from Nashville went into operation in the Foster studio. However, the building and the studio had to give way to an insurance building in 1969. Then Foster opened Monument Recording in May 1969 on Music Row in Nashville (114, 17th Ave South), where Roger Miller was one of the first artists to record with his producer Jerry Kennedy from May 16, 1969 - but as a commissioned production for Smash Records .

After Orbison left, Foster concentrated on country music and acquired artists such as Billy Walker , Grandpa Jones , Willie Nelson, Tony Joe White and Larry Gatlin . Since October 1966, Billy Swan recorded in Monument Recording Studio under the supervision of Foster; but it was only under music producer Chip Young that he succeeded in the one-hit wonder I Can Help in September 1974 , released on Monument Records .

On October 20, 1969, a still unknown Kris Kristofferson appeared in the Monument recording studio and recorded his own composition Help me Make it Through the Night . Kristofferson brought the label the million seller Why Me , produced by Foster in July 1972 , which was awarded a gold record on December 8, 1973 . Kristofferson stayed with his producer and label owner Fred Foster until July 1982. Orbison returned to Monument for the album Regeneration (January 1977), but neither of them was able to revitalize the artistic atmosphere they had achieved in the 1960s.

Crisis and bankruptcy

Monument Records did not have its own sales organization, but was operated alternately by London Records (subsidiary of the British Decca Records ; 1959–1961), CBS Records (1971–1976), PolyGram (1976–1979) and London Records of Canada Ltd. expelled. From 1961 Monument Records took advantage of the distribution network of independent record labels.

As of 1981, Foster had invested part of his assets in the United Southern Bank of Nashville , which went bankrupt in October 1982. As a result, there were first major financial problems at Monument Records . In August 1982, Bob Fead became the new president, but the latter was unable to resolve the structural difficulties, so that in March 1983, bankruptcy was filed with $ 7.3 million in debt. On April 21, 1987, the remaining assets of the bankruptcy label were acquired by CBS, which in turn left the company name Monument Records to the Nashville division of Sony Music in October 1997 .

aftermath

A year later, the Orbison heirs sued Monument Records ' successor in title , Sony Music, for back payments of royalties and royalties of $ 12 million because CBS had acquired the Orbison master recordings from Monument and was itself sold to Sony Music in January 1988 would be without the secondary exploitation proceeds having been correctly disclosed. According to this, the license fee of $ 25,000 for the Orbison song Oh, Pretty Woman for use in the movie Pretty Woman (US premiere on March 25, 1990) had not been properly proven.

Artist (if not mentioned in the text)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Rick Kennedy / Randy McNutt, Little Labels - Big Sound , 1999, p. 143.
  2. ^ Joseph Murrells: Million Selling Records , 1985, p. 117.
  3. ^ John Floyd, Sun Records , 1998, p. 78
  4. ^ Peter Lehmann: Roy Orbison: The Invention of an Alternative Rock Masculinity , 2003, p. 54
  5. ^ Joseph Murrells: Million Selling Records , 1985, p. 145
  6. ^ Joseph Murrells: Million Selling Records , 1985, p. 155.
  7. ^ Joseph Murrells: Million Selling Records , 1985, p. 166.
  8. ^ Joseph Murrells: Million Selling Records , 1985, p. 180.
  9. ^ Mary-Lou Galician / Debra L. Merskin, Critical Thinking About Sex, Love And Romance in the Mass Media , 2007, p. 151 f.
  10. ^ Foster Creates Monument , Billboard Magazine, December 21, 1968, p. 42.
  11. ^ Colin Escott, Interview with Bob Moore , Toronto, November 1988.
  12. ↑ Phillips, in turn, acquired it in January 1961 from Billy Sherill and Bill Cooner
  13. ↑ Monument Buys Phillips Studio , Billboard Magazine, February 22, 1964, pp. 1 and 38.
  14. ↑ Stephen Miller: Smart Blonde - Dolly Parton , 2009, pp. 79 ff.
  15. ↑ 8-Track Unit to Foster Studios , Billboard Magazine, December 10, 1966, p. 62.
  16. ^ Paul Kingsbury: The Encyclopedia of Country Music , p. 355.
  17. ^ Joseph Murrells: Million Selling Records , 1985, p. 366.
  18. ^ Combine Gets New Owner , Billboard Magazine, December 14, 1985, p. 4.
  19. ↑ Orbison Estate Sue's Sony , Billboard Magazine, July 25, 1998, p. 7.