The Rhino Records Story: The Revenge of the Music Nerds

by Harold Bronson

Overview

In the 1970s in the backroom of a record store, Harold Bronson and Richard Foos were making history-and so, Rhino Records was born. Harold Bronson's The Rhino Records Story tells the tale of how a little record shop became a multimillion dollar corporation.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781590791288
Publisher:	SelectBooks, Inc.
Publication date:	10/22/2013
Pages:	416
Sales rank:	245,126
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

Harold Bronson co-founded the Rhino Records label, and co-ran the company with Richard Foos for 24 years. Rhino has been considered the best reissue label in the world, and for a number of years was awarded label of the year by the record retailers organization NARM. He also oversaw the Rhino Films, executive producing such features as Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas, starring Johnny Depp. Bronson has written about pop music for the Los Angeles Times, L.A Free Press, and Rolling Stone.

Table of Contents

The Intro vii

1 Rhino in High Fidelity 1

2 The Rhino Label Part One: The Independent Years 25

3 The Albert Einstein of the Record Business 51

4 Mr. Perfect 65

5 Unsung Heroes 81

6 Turtlemania! The Story of Americas Beatles 95

7 The Rhino Label Part Two: The Capitol Years 133

8 The Monkees: Bigger than the Beatles 159

9 The Rhino Label Part Three: The Atlantic Years 179

10 The Andy Warhols of the Music Industry 199

11 Fear and Loathing in Hollywood 211

12 The First Teen Star of Rock 'n' Roll: Frankie Lymon 237

13 The Rhino Way to Negotiate 253

14 The Untold Story of 1979: "My Sharona" and the Knack 277

15 The Monkees in "The Movies" 311

16 From Junkmen to Heroes: The Story of Rhino Home Video 325

17 The Rock Star and the Godfather: Tommy James and Morris Levy 337

18 The Rhino Label Part Four: The Long Goodbye 355

The Outro 373

Index 374

Editorial Reviews

11/11/2013
Like a proud father, Rhino Records co-founder Bronson (Hey, Hey, We're The Monkees) tells the story of the label's birth and growth. Originally a record store in Los Angeles, Rhino established itself as a well-known and profitable player in the music industry; it was one of the first labels to reissue the work of older artists, helping to start a trend which has become more prevalent over time, as more labels are now devoted to vinyl reissues of out-of-print or underappreciated albums. In between chapters on the store and the label, Bronson discusses the careers of some of the artists he worked with, including the Turtles, the Knack, and Dick Dale. Bronson is most exciting when he details the creative ways Rhino put together albums—for example, they released an album that only contained different cover versions of "Louie Louie," and compiled into a collection "the worst recordings by celebrities." Bronson's romp is more than just a story of the good ol' days, he offers plenty of interesting lessons on how to stand out in the cut-throat music industry. (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly

Bronson's romp is more than just a story of the good ol' days, he offers plenty of interesting lessons on how to stand out in the cut-throat music industry. — Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher