Beserkley Records
Encyclopedia
Beserkley Records was an independent record label
based in Berkeley, California
, from 1973 to 1984. Beserkely is usually regarded as a powerpop & rock and roll
label; during the seventies, the band released albums by Earth Quake
, Greg Kihn
, Jonathan Richman
and The Modern Lovers
, The Rubinoos
, and The Tyla Gang. Several other artists appeared on singles, or on compilation albums.
From 1980 to the label's dissolution in 1984, Berserkley was a one-artist label, the artist being Greg Kihn.
along with members of the Bay Area band Earth Quake
. Kaufman was a law graduate who became co-manager of Earth Quake, and helped them sign with A&M Records
in 1970. After experiencing frustration at what he saw as A&M's incompetence in handling the band http://blogcritics.org/archives/2003/10/04/155018.php, and winning some compensation for the unauthorised use of Earth Quake's music in the movie The Getaway
, he set up Beserkley Records, in 1973. Kaufman produced virtually all of Beserkley's output throughout its existence, often in association with Glenn Kolotkin, less frequently with Kenny Laguna.
For the first two years of its existence, Beserkley only put out singles. The first release (in late 1973) was Earth Quake's version of the Easybeats
' "Friday On My Mind
".
Initially none of the Beserkley singles were especially successful, but in 1975 some were assembled, together with newly recorded tracks, into the album Beserkley Chartbusters Vol. 1. As well as tracks by Earth Quake, this included tracks by power pop group The Rubinoos
, Jonathan Richman
and Greg Kihn
. Richman's recordings were his first as a solo performer (after the disbanding of the original Modern Lovers
) and included the first released version of "Roadrunner
" by Jonathan Richman
, backed by Earth Quake.
Kaufman and Richman had previously worked together on the Modern Lovers' sessions for A&M in 1972. In 1976, Kaufman licensed those recordings, together with the ones the band had made around the same time with producer John Cale
for Warner Bros.
, and released them on Beserkley as a highly acclaimed album, The Modern Lovers
. Though neither Richman nor the Modern Lovers made the American charts, they were quite successful in the UK, with the singles "Roadrunner (Once)" and "Egyptian Reggae" making the UK top twenty.
Other 1970s Beserkley acts had less commercial success, although The Rubinoos
made the US charts, hitting #45 with a cover of "I Think We're Alone Now" in 1977. As well, Earth Quake made the lower rungs of the American LP charts with their second of four albums for Beserkley (1976's 8.5, which peaked at #151).
Beserkley's records were initially distributed by Playboy Records
until about 1977 (and during part of 1976, Playboy itself was distributed by CBS Records, and Beserkely was included in that arrangement, taking it from a small independently distributed label to briefly being a part of the huge CBS distribution system), then by Janus/GRT until 1979 and subsequently by Elektra
.
Beserkley's major breakthrough came with Greg Kihn, who sang backup on Earth Quake and Richman records before forming his own band. Beginning with his third album (1978's Next of Kihn), Kihn regularly made the American album charts and received steady airplay on FM radio. By the end of 1980, Kihn was the only artist on the Beserkley roster, and in 1981 he had his first top 40 hit with "The Breakup Song (They Don't Write 'Em)". Kihn's early 1980s albums Rockihnroll (1981), Kihntinued (1982) and Kihnspiracy (1983) all reached the top 40 on the LP charts, and his 1983 single "Jeopardy" became Beserkley's biggest-ever hit, peaking at US #2.
The label's demise was relatively swift. After several years of success, Kihn's 1984 single "Reunited" flopped (peaking at #102) and the parent album Kihntagious stalled at #121 on the charts. Beserkely founder Kaufman then essentially dissolved the label and allowed Kihn to sign with major label EMI, where Kaufman would continue to act as Kihn's producer.
The Beserkley catalogue was licensed to Rhino Records in 1986. Kaufman later operated the Son of Beserkley label for a time in the 1990s; his current label is called Fun Fun Fun Recordings.
Independent record label
An independent record label is a record label operating without the funding of or outside the organizations of the major record labels. A great number of bands and musical acts begin on independent labels.-Overview:...
based in Berkeley, California
Berkeley, California
Berkeley is a city on the east shore of the San Francisco Bay in Northern California, United States. Its neighbors to the south are the cities of Oakland and Emeryville. To the north is the city of Albany and the unincorporated community of Kensington...
, from 1973 to 1984. Beserkely is usually regarded as a powerpop & rock and roll
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
label; during the seventies, the band released albums by Earth Quake
Earth Quake (band)
Earth Quake was an American rock and power pop band, formed in the San Francisco area in 1966, who released several albums in the 1970s, mostly on Beserkley Records, a company which they were involved in setting up.-Band members:*John Doukas...
, Greg Kihn
Greg Kihn
Greg Kihn is an American rock musician, radio personality and novelist.-Music:Kihn is the front man for The Greg Kihn Band, which released several singles and albums that made the charts in the early 1980s...
, Jonathan Richman
Jonathan Richman
Jonathan Michael Richman is an American singer, songwriter and guitarist. In 1970 he founded The Modern Lovers, an influential proto-punk band. Since the mid-1970s, Richman has worked either solo or with low-key, generally acoustic backing...
and The Modern Lovers
The Modern Lovers
The Modern Lovers were an American rock band led by Jonathan Richman in the 1970s and 1980s. The original band existed from 1970–74 but their recordings were not released until 1976 or later. It featured Richman and bassist Ernie Brooks with drummer David Robinson and keyboardist Jerry Harrison...
, The Rubinoos
The Rubinoos
The Rubinoos are an American power pop band that formed in 1970 in Berkeley, California. They are perhaps best known for their singles "I Think We're Alone Now" , "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend" , and for the theme song to the 1984 film Revenge of the Nerds...
, and The Tyla Gang. Several other artists appeared on singles, or on compilation albums.
From 1980 to the label's dissolution in 1984, Berserkley was a one-artist label, the artist being Greg Kihn.
History
The label was founded by Matthew King KaufmanMatthew King Kaufman
Matthew "King" Kaufman was owner and chief producer at leading independent label Beserkley Records in Berkeley, California from the mid-1970s through the mid-1980s, successfully producing records by Jonathan Richman, Greg Kihn and others.-Biography:Raised in Baltimore, Kaufman graduated from law...
along with members of the Bay Area band Earth Quake
Earth Quake (band)
Earth Quake was an American rock and power pop band, formed in the San Francisco area in 1966, who released several albums in the 1970s, mostly on Beserkley Records, a company which they were involved in setting up.-Band members:*John Doukas...
. Kaufman was a law graduate who became co-manager of Earth Quake, and helped them sign with A&M Records
A&M Records
A&M Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group that operates under the mantle of its Interscope-Geffen-A&M division.-Beginnings:...
in 1970. After experiencing frustration at what he saw as A&M's incompetence in handling the band http://blogcritics.org/archives/2003/10/04/155018.php, and winning some compensation for the unauthorised use of Earth Quake's music in the movie The Getaway
The Getaway (1972 film)
The Getaway is a 1972 American action-crime film directed by Sam Peckinpah and starring Steve McQueen and Ali MacGraw.The film is based on a novel by Jim Thompson, with the screenplay written by Walter Hill...
, he set up Beserkley Records, in 1973. Kaufman produced virtually all of Beserkley's output throughout its existence, often in association with Glenn Kolotkin, less frequently with Kenny Laguna.
For the first two years of its existence, Beserkley only put out singles. The first release (in late 1973) was Earth Quake's version of the Easybeats
The Easybeats
The Easybeats were an Australian rock and roll band. They formed in Sydney in late 1964 and broke up at the end of 1969. They are regarded as the greatest Australian pop band of the 1960s, and were the first Australian rock and roll act to score an international pop hit with their 1966 single...
' "Friday On My Mind
Friday on My Mind
"Friday on My Mind" is a 1966 song by Australian rock group The Easybeats. Written by band members George Young and Harry Vanda, the track became a worldwide hit, reaching #16 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in May 1967 in the US, #1 in Australia and #6 in the UK, as well as charting in several...
".
Initially none of the Beserkley singles were especially successful, but in 1975 some were assembled, together with newly recorded tracks, into the album Beserkley Chartbusters Vol. 1. As well as tracks by Earth Quake, this included tracks by power pop group The Rubinoos
The Rubinoos
The Rubinoos are an American power pop band that formed in 1970 in Berkeley, California. They are perhaps best known for their singles "I Think We're Alone Now" , "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend" , and for the theme song to the 1984 film Revenge of the Nerds...
, Jonathan Richman
Jonathan Richman
Jonathan Michael Richman is an American singer, songwriter and guitarist. In 1970 he founded The Modern Lovers, an influential proto-punk band. Since the mid-1970s, Richman has worked either solo or with low-key, generally acoustic backing...
and Greg Kihn
Greg Kihn
Greg Kihn is an American rock musician, radio personality and novelist.-Music:Kihn is the front man for The Greg Kihn Band, which released several singles and albums that made the charts in the early 1980s...
. Richman's recordings were his first as a solo performer (after the disbanding of the original Modern Lovers
The Modern Lovers
The Modern Lovers were an American rock band led by Jonathan Richman in the 1970s and 1980s. The original band existed from 1970–74 but their recordings were not released until 1976 or later. It featured Richman and bassist Ernie Brooks with drummer David Robinson and keyboardist Jerry Harrison...
) and included the first released version of "Roadrunner
Roadrunner (Jonathan Richman song)
"Roadrunner" is a song written by Jonathan Richman and recorded in various versions by Richman and his band, in most cases credited as The Modern Lovers.Critic Greil Marcus described it as "the most obvious song in the world, and the strangest"...
" by Jonathan Richman
Jonathan Richman
Jonathan Michael Richman is an American singer, songwriter and guitarist. In 1970 he founded The Modern Lovers, an influential proto-punk band. Since the mid-1970s, Richman has worked either solo or with low-key, generally acoustic backing...
, backed by Earth Quake.
Kaufman and Richman had previously worked together on the Modern Lovers' sessions for A&M in 1972. In 1976, Kaufman licensed those recordings, together with the ones the band had made around the same time with producer John Cale
John Cale
John Davies Cale, OBE is a Welsh musician, composer, singer-songwriter and record producer who was a founding member of the experimental rock band The Velvet Underground....
for Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Records
Warner Bros. Records Inc. is an American record label. It was the foundation label of the present-day Warner Music Group, and now operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of that corporation. It maintains a close relationship with its former parent, Warner Bros. Pictures, although the two companies...
, and released them on Beserkley as a highly acclaimed album, The Modern Lovers
The Modern Lovers (album)
The Modern Lovers is the first album recorded by the Boston-based band The Modern Lovers. It was released on Beserkley Records in 1976, although the original nine tracks had been recorded in 1972 . Six of the original tracks were produced by John Cale...
. Though neither Richman nor the Modern Lovers made the American charts, they were quite successful in the UK, with the singles "Roadrunner (Once)" and "Egyptian Reggae" making the UK top twenty.
Other 1970s Beserkley acts had less commercial success, although The Rubinoos
The Rubinoos
The Rubinoos are an American power pop band that formed in 1970 in Berkeley, California. They are perhaps best known for their singles "I Think We're Alone Now" , "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend" , and for the theme song to the 1984 film Revenge of the Nerds...
made the US charts, hitting #45 with a cover of "I Think We're Alone Now" in 1977. As well, Earth Quake made the lower rungs of the American LP charts with their second of four albums for Beserkley (1976's 8.5, which peaked at #151).
Beserkley's records were initially distributed by Playboy Records
Playboy Records
Playboy Records was a record label in Los Angeles, California, and a unit of Playboy Enterprises. Artists recording for the label included Barbi Benton, Blue Ash, Bobby Taylor and the Vancouvers, Brenda Patterson, Jeanne French , Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds, Ivory, Wynn Stewart, Mickey Gilley...
until about 1977 (and during part of 1976, Playboy itself was distributed by CBS Records, and Beserkely was included in that arrangement, taking it from a small independently distributed label to briefly being a part of the huge CBS distribution system), then by Janus/GRT until 1979 and subsequently by Elektra
Elektra Records
Elektra Records is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group. In 2004, it was consolidated into WMG's Atlantic Records Group. After five years of dormancy, the label was revived by Atlantic in 2009....
.
Beserkley's major breakthrough came with Greg Kihn, who sang backup on Earth Quake and Richman records before forming his own band. Beginning with his third album (1978's Next of Kihn), Kihn regularly made the American album charts and received steady airplay on FM radio. By the end of 1980, Kihn was the only artist on the Beserkley roster, and in 1981 he had his first top 40 hit with "The Breakup Song (They Don't Write 'Em)". Kihn's early 1980s albums Rockihnroll (1981), Kihntinued (1982) and Kihnspiracy (1983) all reached the top 40 on the LP charts, and his 1983 single "Jeopardy" became Beserkley's biggest-ever hit, peaking at US #2.
The label's demise was relatively swift. After several years of success, Kihn's 1984 single "Reunited" flopped (peaking at #102) and the parent album Kihntagious stalled at #121 on the charts. Beserkely founder Kaufman then essentially dissolved the label and allowed Kihn to sign with major label EMI, where Kaufman would continue to act as Kihn's producer.
The Beserkley catalogue was licensed to Rhino Records in 1986. Kaufman later operated the Son of Beserkley label for a time in the 1990s; his current label is called Fun Fun Fun Recordings.
List of Beserkley artists
- Earth QuakeEarth Quake (band)Earth Quake was an American rock and power pop band, formed in the San Francisco area in 1966, who released several albums in the 1970s, mostly on Beserkley Records, a company which they were involved in setting up.-Band members:*John Doukas...
- Greg KihnGreg KihnGreg Kihn is an American rock musician, radio personality and novelist.-Music:Kihn is the front man for The Greg Kihn Band, which released several singles and albums that made the charts in the early 1980s...
- The Modern LoversThe Modern LoversThe Modern Lovers were an American rock band led by Jonathan Richman in the 1970s and 1980s. The original band existed from 1970–74 but their recordings were not released until 1976 or later. It featured Richman and bassist Ernie Brooks with drummer David Robinson and keyboardist Jerry Harrison...
- Jonathan RichmanJonathan RichmanJonathan Michael Richman is an American singer, songwriter and guitarist. In 1970 he founded The Modern Lovers, an influential proto-punk band. Since the mid-1970s, Richman has worked either solo or with low-key, generally acoustic backing...
- The RubinoosThe RubinoosThe Rubinoos are an American power pop band that formed in 1970 in Berkeley, California. They are perhaps best known for their singles "I Think We're Alone Now" , "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend" , and for the theme song to the 1984 film Revenge of the Nerds...
- The SmirksThe SmirksThe Smirks were an English new wave band from Manchester who played from the late 1970s to the early 1980s. Although they failed to meet with commercial success, they built a small but loyal base of fans....
- Spitballs
- The Tyla Gang
- Lover's LeapLover's LeapLovers' Leap , is a toponym given to a number of locations of varying height, usually isolated, with the risk of a fatal fall and the possibility of a deliberate jump...
- The Engineers
- Son of Pete