About Me
The Dictators
The Elektra/Asylum legacy of pioneering proto-punk continued with the 1976 signing of New York City’s The Dictators. With their tasteless jokes and loud, hard, and fast sound, the Bronx-based bunch of Converse-wearing, White Castle-munching wrestling fans – fronted by the self-proclaimed “handsomest man in rock ‘n’ roll,” “Handsome” Dick Manitoba – were the diametrical opposite to the polished AOR (FM radio’s “album-oriented rock” format) of the period.
Founded in 1973, the band broke up two years later, after the release of their epochal The Dictators Go Girl Crazy. The ‘Taters, as they were known to their loyal legion of fans, then re-emerged at the height of punk with their 1977 Asylum debut, Manifest Destiny. Bassist Mark “The Animal” Mendoza left the following year – ultimately joining Twisted Sister – but the band persevered and released Bloodbrothers, featuring lifelong ‘Taters fan Bruce Springsteen counting off the album’s classic opening track, “Faster And Louder.”
Disappointed by the lack of mainstream acceptance, the band called it quits once more in 1979. Guitarist Ross “The Boss” Friedman started mythological metal masters Manowar while guitarist Scott “Top Ten” Kempner was a founding member of pioneering roots-rockers The Del-Lords. In 1986, Manitoba and bassist/keyboardist Andy “Adny” Shernoff formed Manitoba’s Wild Kingdom, later to be joined by both Friedman and Kempner. The Dictators in all but name, the band soon readopted their initial moniker and continues to rock out in various combinations today.
The Cure
Doom-laden and claustrophobic, yet also joyous and life-affirming, The Cure paved the way for the crossover of post-punk and goth into mainstream popular music. With his scarecrow hair, smeared lipstick, heavy eyeliner, and knack for infiltrating superb pop songwriting into a genre that commonly comes off as humorless and nihilistic, Robert Smith has led the British band through innumerable line-up configurations since their formation in 1976. Right from the start, The Cure crafted a series of immortal albums – as well as era-defining singles like “Boys Don’t Cry” and “Jumping Someone Else’s Train” – which merged ominous soundscapes and serrated melodies into epic, experimental music that consistently defied easy categorization.
The Cure joined the Elektra roster in 1984, their U.S. rights derived from the British indie label, Fiction Records. They made their label debut in 1985 with their gold-certified breakthrough, The Head On The Door, followed by a platinum-certified singles collection, Standing On A Beach, in 1986.
From there, a chain of platinum-certified studio albums commenced, including 1987’s double-length Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me and 1989’s Disintegration, highlighted by “Love Song” – a brilliant and bleak collection rightly regarded as the band’s finest hour. Ever-surprising, The Cure followed this most gut-wrenching of albums with 1992’s platinum-certified Wish, which entered the Billboard 200 at #2 propelled by the incredibly chipper hit single, “Friday I’m In Love.” Wild Mood Swings arrived in 1996, followed by another four-year hiatus before 2000’s final Fiction/Elektra release, Bloodflowers.
The Cure continues to craft powerful and challenging new music for their loyal legion of fans, new generations of which seem to turn up with each passing year.
The Cars
Bonding singer/guitarist Ric Ocasek’s smart, cynical songwriting with sleek and sexy modern pop, The Cars became the most successful American band of the original New Wave, achieving album rock omnipresence and MTV superstardom in the 1980s.
The Boston band’s self-titled 1978 debut was produced in England by Roy Thomas Baker, known for his work with Queen and later an Elektra A&R executive. With hits like “My Best Friend’s Girl,” “Just What I Needed,” and “You’re All I’ve Got Tonight,” the album went on to sell in excess of 6 million in the U.S. alone.
Candy-O further refined the debut’s bubblegum art-rock, ruling the airwaves in 1979 with anthems like “Dangerous Type” and the pop hit, “Let’s Go.” The album peaked at #3 on the Billboard 200, ultimately receiving four-times RIAA platinum certification. Panorama, released in 1980, saw the band experimenting with darker, more progressive sounds, but still reached the Billboard 200 top 5 and RIAA platinum status. 1981’s Shake It Up proved as high-spirited as its predecessor was moody, earning two-times platinum certification on yielding top 5 pop hits like the playful title track.
The band literally shook things up in 1984, co-producing Heartbeat City with Robert John “Mutt” Lange (AC/DC, Def Leppard), resulting in the most ambitious album of their discography. It’s also among their most successful, with five Top 40 pop hits – including the #3 “Drive” and #7 “You Might Think.” What’s more, its innovative videos – including the Andy Warhol-directed “Hello Again” – were heavy rotation smashes at the heart of MTV’s exploding popularity. Heartbeat City earned four-times RIAA platinum, topped the following year by the six-times platinum-certified Greatest Hits compilation.
After a hiatus that saw Ocasek, singer/bassist Benjamin Orr, and guitarist Elliot Easton releasing solo collections, The Cars reconvened for their final album, 1987’s Door To Door. The post-Cars years saw Ocasek continuing his solo career, while also becoming a top-flight producer (Weezer, Hole, No Doubt) as well as a member of Elektra’s own A&R staff. Drummer David Robinson retired from music, with Easton and keyboardist Greg Hawkes recently teaming with Todd Rundgren as The New Cars. Sadly, Orr lost his battle with pancreatic cancer in October 2000; he was 53.
The Breeders
Perhaps the first alternative rock supergroup, The Breeders’ genesis came during the Pixies’ 1988 European tour alongside 4AD labelmates Throwing Muses – when Pixies bassist Kim Deal and Throwing Muses guitarist Tanya Donelly opted to team up for an extracurricular side project. Dubbing the new band “The Breeders” – after the mid-1970s folk-rock group that Dayton-based Deal had earlier formed with her sister Kelley – they recorded a demo that promptly got them signed by 4AD chief Ivo Watts-Russell.
The Breeders – now including The Perfect Disaster’s Josephine Wiggs on bass – spent December 1989 in Edinburgh, Scotland, recording their debut album, Pod, with renowned recording engineer Steve Albini behind the board. Released initially on 4AD/Rough Trade, Pod was a critically acclaimed college-rock milestone famously namechecked by Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain as among his very favorites.
Deal, increasingly frustrated by her inability to have her songs included on Pixies albums, restarted The Breeders in late 1991, enlisting her sister Kelley as third guitarist. The band made its 4AD/Elektra debut with 1992’s four-song Safari EP, though Donelly had by that point left the line-up to start her own successful alt-pop band, Belly. Upon the Pixies’ dissolution later that same year, Deal recruited drummer Jim MacPherson and The Breeders became a full-fledged musical concern, kicking things off with a bang by supporting Nirvana on their 1992 European tour.
The Breeders’ second 4AD/Elektra release, Last Splash, arrived in 1993 to universal praise and seemingly constant college-rock radio airplay. “Cannonball,” the album’s first single, proved a surprise Top 40 hit while also reaching #2 at Modern Rock radio. What’s more, the song’s rollicking video – directed by Sonic Youth’s Kim Gordon and award-winning filmmaker Spike Jonze – virtually defined MTV’s alternative programming of the period. As a result, Last Splash received RIAA platinum certification for sales in excess of 1 million.
The Breeders and Elektra ultimately parted ways in 2004, but the band remains a potent and productive force, with additional albums and EPs released though the 2000’s.
Television
Elektra/Asylum is of course famously associated with the earth-toned California sound of the ‘70s. Meanwhile, on the New York City underground, something both weird and wonderful was happening.
Led by guitarists Tom Verlaine (née Thomas Miller) and Richard Lloyd, Television formed in 1973 from the ashes of the legendary Neon Boys, which featured Verlaine, drummer Billy Ficca, and a gifted poet/bassist by the name of Richard Hell. With Lloyd as second guitarist, Television persuaded CBGB’s owner Hilly Kristal to give the fledgling band a gig at his recently opened Bowery bar, making them the first rock band to officially play at the soon-to-be-celebrated venue.
A demo recorded with producer Brian Eno failed to get the band signed and by 1975, friction between Verlaine and Hell saw the latter leaving Television to co-found The Heartbreakers with Johnny Thunders and later, his own hugely significant Richard Hell & The Voidoids. Now counting original Blondie bassist Fred Smith among their ranks, Television began turning heads with their geometric dual guitar interplay, psych-garage energy, and Verlaine’s cryptic lyricism.
The band soon signed to Elektra, whose long history of releasing brave new artists continued with 1977’s milestone debut, Marquee Moon. Epic and eloquent, the album remains an all-time masterwork of forward-thinking rock‘n’roll. Television’s sophomore effort, entitled Adventure, followed in 1978, bearing a more textured sound than its esteemed predecessor.
Television broke up shortly after their second album’s release, with Lloyd and Verlaine each opting to pursue their own singular creative visions. In Verlaine’s case, that included a brilliant self-titled solo debut, released on Elektra in 1979.
By the 1990s, Television was appreciated as both pre-punk pioneers and one of rock’s all-time most important bands. As such, they reunited in 1992 for an eponymous third album and then continued performing live on a semi-regular basis. In 2007, Lloyd was forced to leave Television following an extended hospital stay that prevented him from performing at the band’s sold-out concert in New York’s Central Park. Though Lloyd was replaced on that evening by guitarist Jimmy Ripp, the gig now officially stands as Television’s last.
Teddy Pendergrass
Teddy Pendergrass was an indisputable soul legend when he made his Elektra/Asylum debut in 1984. The former Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes lead vocalist and chart-topping solo superstar’s career had been stalled by a 1982 car accident, in which he suffered permanent paralysis from the waist down. After intensive physical therapy, he signed with Asylum and returned with the triumphant “LOVE LANGUAGE.” The album – which included the top 10 AC hit single, “Hold Me,” with vocals from a young Whitney Houston – was later featured prominently as the evocative soundtrack to Alan Rudolph’s 1984 film, Choose Me.
“JOY,” released in 1988, reached #2 on Billboard’s “Top R&B Albums” chart – his highest placing since “TEDDY” in 1979 – with two top 3 R&B hits in “2 A.M.” and the stirring title track. “Joy” proved a #1 smash, Teddy’s first solo chart-topper in a decade.
Pendergrass scored his third career R&B #1 with 1991’s “It Should Have Been You,” featured on his 11th studio album, “TRULY BLESSED.” Teddy’s third and final Elektra release, 1993’s “A LITTLE MORE MAGIC,” saw the singer collaborating with fellow stars like Barry White and labelmate Gerald Levert.
Teddy Pendergrass retired from the music business in 2006. Sadly, he passed away three years later following surgery for colon cancer.
Susan Reed
In the early 50s, Susan Reed was running an antiques store on Greenwich Avenue and had all but retired as a folk singer.
Born into a theatrical family in 1926, her father, Daniel Reed, was a noted actor, theatre director, and playwright. Her parents’ houseguests often included folklorist Carl Sandburg, Leadbelly, and members of the Abbey Theatre Irish Players, from whom she learnt many traditional Irish songs. She also took up the Irish harp and the zither and by her mid teens, Reed was singing professionally in New York City at the Cafe Society Uptown nightclub and playing the circuit of clubs, concerts, and colleges.
Reed had already recorded for RCA and Colombia in the 40s and was the first recognised artist to sign to the fledgling Elektra label. Reed recorded the first of her three Elektra LPs, for Elektra, Sings Old Airs From Ireland, Scotland And England, in a small Village church one evening in 1954. The reviewer for The New York Times described it as the best vocal recording he’d ever heard which helped establish Elektra’s reputation for high sound quality recording.
Staind
Staind’s decade-plus career has seen worldwide album sales in excess of 13 million and five #1 singles spanning multiple radio formats. With honest, heartfelt lyrics, resounding guitar chords, and Aaron Lewis’s unmistakable voice, the New England-based band leapt to the forefront of American alternative metal with 2001’s hugely popular Flip/Elektra third album, Break The Cycle. Fueled by the hit singles “Outside” and “It’s Been Awhile,” the album debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200, ultimately going on to five-times RIAA platinum certification and worldwide sales of 7 million.
2003’s 14 Shades of Grey saw Staind continuing to dominate rock radio, spawning the mainstream rock hits, “Price To Play” and “So Far Away” and earning RIAA platinum certification. Released two years later, Chapter V entered the Billboard 200 at #1 – Staind’s third consecutive platinum-certified, chart-topping debut. In 2008, The Illusion of Progress made a top 3 debut on the Billboard 200, driven by the #1 alternative rock song, “Believe.”
In addition to his continuing work with Staind, singer Aaron Lewis is a fervent road warrior, performing solo acoustic versions of classics like “Epiphany” and “Right Here” to sell-out audiences across the country.
Snow
In 1993, a white Canadian rapper known as Snow became America’s most improbable reggae superstar with his record-setting #1 smash, “Informer.”
Born Darrin O’Brien, the rapper was discovered in Ajax, Ontario by Jamaican-born DJ Martin Prince, who bestowed upon his protégé the nickname “Snow” (a backronym for “Super Notorious Outrageous Whiteboy”). Prince soon brought Snow to New York, where he signed with David Kenneth Eng and Steve Salem’s Motor Jam Records, distributed by Elektra. With Eng as manager and executive producer, Snow soared to the top of the charts in 1993 with his phenomenally successful debut single, “Informer,” featured on the RIAA platinum-certified album, 12 Inches of Snow. The patois-laced track was a million-selling blockbuster, topping Billboard’s “Hot 100” for seven consecutive weeks on its way to becoming certified by the Guinness Book of World Records as the biggest selling reggae single in chart history.
Two further EastWest collections of pop-flavored reggae followed, earning Snow a number of Jamaican hit singles and a pair of Juno Awards nominations. He continues to be among the world’s most popular reggae artists, regularly releasing albums and touring extensively.
Pages
About Me
All Tracks
-
Wolf Gang -
Wolf Gang -
Justice -
Justice -
Justice