Music Book Review: Sonic Boom: The Impossible Rise of Warner Brothers Records by Peter Ames Carlin

Sonic Boom: The Impossible Rise of Warner Brothers Records

by Peter Ames Carlin (Music 781.66 Car)

 

We have a lot of books at the Polley Music Library that discuss record labels and the recording industry side of the music business. Even in this era of streaming recordings, record labels continue to play an important role finding and supporting new artists, as well as curating and providing accessibility for catalog artists. Among our recent arrivals, we have a great book called Sonic Boom: The Impossible Rise of Warner Brothers Records, written by Peter Ames Carlin, who has also written biographies of Bruce Springsteen, Brian Wilson, and Paul Simon that we have here at Polley. It’s an excellent book for an overview of how major labels functioned in their heyday, told from the perspective of label president Mo Ostin, who sought to modernize the way his label would conceptualize artist relationships.

 

For me, the action really gets started in this book around Chapter 5, while Mo was president of Reprise Records, founded in 1960 by Frank Sinatra. Sinatra’s efforts with Reprise are how he earned his beloved nickname “Chairman of the Board,” by the way. In 1963, where this chapter enters the story, Sinatra sold Reprise to Warner. Although many employees lost their jobs in the consolidation, Ostin did not, and he proposed that the two companies continue to operate mostly independent of one another, in large part because they had already established different audiences: a pop audience at Warner and a more jazz-oriented audience at Reprise. Neither label had gotten into rock music yet, though, and Ostin got involved in this direction by 1964, signing the Kinks for US distribution. He followed this with his most significant early rock music signing in 1967: Jimi Hendrix.

 

But this was still the singles era, where record labels were mostly focused on releasing a successful song at a time. By Chapter 6, we see the beginnings of a new “album era.” That Hendrix signing was a 3-album deal, not a song deal. And in 1967, we find Ostin in a meeting with his full A&R staff, instructing them to start looking for album artists, the kinds of artists that can be developed over a long period of time, rather than hit singles. This proved to be an excellent business move — even if the records aren’t smash successes out of the gate, when the artist becomes more notable, the back catalog starts to sell in perpetuity. In retrospect, this move also helped to support and sustain rock, pop, and folk artists from the late 60s onward. This was a new way of marketing rock and pop music, although it had been used successfully in the past with well-known jazz artists. At times, it was risky, since it couldn’t always rely on radio as an important component of marketing for artists. Ostin signed Arlo Guthrie to release his 18-minute epic “Alice’s Restaurant,” for example, which goes far beyond the usual 3 minute-per-song format that radio was built around. But it worked.

 

By the late 60s, the artist roster at Warner/Reprise was quite fashionable, their advertising was edgy, their staff was younger and hard to tell apart from bands, and they’d added 90 acts to the roster by 1970. Warner started releasing double LP samplers of artists on the label for $2 each, in hopes that people would find new artists to follow. They threw legendary parties. They made videos, including strange promotional spots for albums like Captain Beefheart’s “Lick My Decals Off, Baby.” And they still didn’t tell artists what they had to do on their records.

 

As the book continues, we learn of the downturn in the music industry around the late 70s, and how things came roaring back in the 80s. A generation of new artists, many of whom recognized Warner Bros. as a label that had handled many of their own favorite artists growing up, would find their way to label, from Prince to Madonna to U2. And the advent of music videos and MTV created a new and exciting marketing opportunity for music. Ostin continued his streak of success into the early 90s, with artists like R.E.M and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. But the industry was changing: the major labels begun to be consolidated into megacompanies. Warner/Reprise had also absorbed Atlantic and Elektra. With consolidation came a colder look at profits over art, and Mo Ostin retired at the end of 1994, which was somewhat the end of an era for both Warner and major labels in general.

Sonic Boom is written in a fast-paced, exciting style, and even casual fans of music will likely find a lot to keep their attention throughout this book.

 

(If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try The Label: The Story of Columbia Records by Gary Marmorstein, or Listening to the Wind: Encounters with 21st Century Independent Record Labels by Ian Preece.)

 

( official Sonic Boom page on the official Peter Ames Carlin web site )

 

Recommended by Scott S.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Polley Music Library

 

Have you read or listened to this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

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Check out this, and all the other great music resources, at the Polley Music Library, located on the 2nd floor of the Bennett Martin Public Library at 14th & "N" St. in downtown Lincoln. You'll find biographies of musicians, books about music history, instructional books, sheet music, CDs, music-related magazines, and much more. Also check out Polley Music Library Picks, the Polley Music Library's e-mail newsletter, and follow them on Facebook!