Smash Records
Encyclopedia
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
record label
Record label
In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...
. It was founded in 1961 as a subsidiary of Mercury Records
Mercury Records
Mercury Records is a record label operating as a standalone company in the UK and as part of the Island Def Jam Motown Music Group in the US; both are subsidiaries of Universal Music Group. There is also a Mercury Records in Australia, which is a local artist and repertoire division of Universal...
by Mercury executive Shelby Singleton
Shelby Singleton
Shelby Singleton was an American record producer and record label owner.-Early Life:...
and run by Singleton with Charlie Fach. Fach took over after Singleton left Mercury in 1966. Its recording artists included James Brown
James Brown
James Joseph Brown was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and recording artist. He is the originator of Funk and is recognized as a major figure in the 20th century popular music for both his vocals and dancing. He has been referred to as "The Godfather of Soul," "Mr...
, Bruce Channel
Bruce Channel
Bruce Channel is an American singer, known for his 1962 million selling number one hit, "Hey! Baby".-Career:...
, Roger Miller
Roger Miller
Roger Dean Miller was an American singer, songwriter, musician and actor, best known for his honky tonk-influenced novelty songs...
, The Left Banke
The Left Banke
The Left Banke is an American baroque pop band that formed in New York City in 1965 and disbanded in 1969. They are best remembered for their two U.S. hit singles, "Walk Away Renée" and "Pretty Ballerina"...
, Bill Justis
Bill Justis
William E. "Bill" Justis Jr. was an American pioneer rock and roll musician, composer, and musical arranger, best known for his 1957 Grammy Hall of Fame song, "Raunchy."-Biography:...
and Jerry Lee Lewis
Jerry Lee Lewis
Jerry Lee Lewis is an American rock and roll and country music singer-songwriter and pianist. An early pioneer of rock and roll music, Lewis's career faltered after he married his young cousin, and he afterwards made a career extension to country and western music. He is known by the nickname 'The...
.
A dispute with King Records
King Records (USA)
King Records is an American record label, started in 1943 by Syd Nathan and originally headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio.-History:At first it specialized in country music, at the time still known as "hillbilly music." King advertised, "If it's a King, It's a Hillbilly -- If it's a Hillbilly, it's a...
led James Brown
James Brown
James Joseph Brown was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and recording artist. He is the originator of Funk and is recognized as a major figure in the 20th century popular music for both his vocals and dancing. He has been referred to as "The Godfather of Soul," "Mr...
to release all of his band's instrumental
Instrumental
An instrumental is a musical composition or recording without lyrics or singing, although it might include some non-articulate vocal input; the music is primarily or exclusively produced by musical instruments....
recordings between 1964
1964 in music
-Events:*January 1 – Top of the Pops is broadcast for the first time, on BBC television.*January 3 – Footage of the Beatles performing a concert in Bournemouth, England is shown on The Jack Paar Show....
and 1967
1967 in music
The summer of 1967 is "The Summer of Love" in San Francisco. It also became an important year for psychedelic rock, with releases from The Beatles The summer of 1967 is "The Summer of Love" in San Francisco. It also became an important year for psychedelic rock, with releases from The Beatles The...
on Smash. Smash also released three of Brown's vocal recordings, including his 1964 proto-funk
Funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid-late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...
single
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
"Out of Sight
Out of Sight (song)
"Out of Sight" is an Rhythm and blues song recorded by James Brown in 1964. A twelve-bar blues written by Brown under the pseudonym "Ted Wright", the stuttering, staccato dance rhythms and blasting horn section riffs of its instrumental arrangement were an important evolutionary step in the...
".
Smash shared the numbering system for their singles with other labels that they distributed. The most important of these was Fontana Records
Fontana Records
Fontana Records is a record label which was started in the 1950s as a subsidiary of the Dutch Philips Records; when Philips restructured its music operations it dropped Fontana in favor of Vertigo Records. In the seventies PolyGram acquired the dormant label....
. Mercury discontinued the Smash label in 1970.
Mercury label owner PolyGram
PolyGram
PolyGram was the name of the major label recording company started by Philips from as a holding company for its music interests in 1945. In 1999 it was sold to Seagram and merged into Universal Music Group.-Hollandsche Decca Distributie , 1929-1950:...
used the Smash imprint for reissues in the 1980s. PolyGram revived Smash in 1991 as an R&B/dance
Dance music
Dance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole musical piece or part of a larger musical arrangement...
label with its offices located in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
. It was first under the PolyGram Label Group (PLG) umbrella, then under the Independent Label Sales (ILS) umbrella, then under Island Records
Island Records
Island Records is a record label that was founded by Chris Blackwell in Jamaica. It was based in the United Kingdom for many years and is now owned by Universal Music Group...
until the imprint was retired in 1996. One of the hits Smash saw during this period was "People Are Still Having Sex
People Are Still Having Sex
"People Are Still Having Sex" is a song written and composed by American musician LaTour and released as the firstsingle from his self-titled debut album LaTour .-Song content:...
" by long-time radio personality/actor and then-first time club artist LaTour
LaTour
William LaTour, better known by his stage name LaTour and also known as "Bud" Latour, is an American singer, songwriter, and voice over artist...
. Another successful artist on the dance charts was Jamie Principle
Jamie Principle
Jamie Principle is a house music artist and producer born in Chicago, Illinois.He is one of the early pioneers of house music when the genre first began in Chicago during the early 1980s...
.
Smash Records artists
- The Angels
- James BrownJames BrownJames Joseph Brown was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and recording artist. He is the originator of Funk and is recognized as a major figure in the 20th century popular music for both his vocals and dancing. He has been referred to as "The Godfather of Soul," "Mr...
- The CaravellesThe CaravellesThe Caravelles, Lois Wilkinson and Andrea Simpson , were a British duo girl band, best known for their 1963 hit single, "You Don't Have to Be a Baby to Cry"....
- Mother Maybelle Carter
- Bruce ChannelBruce ChannelBruce Channel is an American singer, known for his 1962 million selling number one hit, "Hey! Baby".-Career:...
- Dee Jay & The Runaways
- Joe DowellJoe DowellJoe Dowell is an American pop singer.-Career:He was born in Bloomington, Indiana, but moved to Bloomington, Illinois, as a child. He first performed at a ninth-grade talent show, and later attended the University of Illinois...
- Pete DrakePete DrakePete Drake , born Roddis Franklin Drake, was a major Nashville, Tennessee-based record producer and pedal steel guitar player....
(and his talking Steel Guitar) - Jay & the TechniquesJay & The TechniquesJay & the Techniques was an inter-racial pop group, which was formed in Allentown, Pennsylvania during the mid 1960s. A group whose sound and songs were more pop than soul, Jay & the Techniques earned some points for the playful, joyous "Apples, Peaches, Pumpkin Pie," which was their lone Top 10...
- Bill JustisBill JustisWilliam E. "Bill" Justis Jr. was an American pioneer rock and roll musician, composer, and musical arranger, best known for his 1957 Grammy Hall of Fame song, "Raunchy."-Biography:...
- Dickie Lee
- Left Banke
- Jerry Lee LewisJerry Lee LewisJerry Lee Lewis is an American rock and roll and country music singer-songwriter and pianist. An early pioneer of rock and roll music, Lewis's career faltered after he married his young cousin, and he afterwards made a career extension to country and western music. He is known by the nickname 'The...
- Linda Gail LewisLinda Gail LewisLinda Gail Lewis is an American singer and pianist. She is the sister of Jerry Lee Lewis.She plays piano and has recorded with Stephen Ackles, Van Morrison, and with her brother. She also has recorded with her two daughtersMaryJean Ferguson, and Annie Marie Dolan in a group called The Lewis 3...
- The Mesmerizing Eye
- Roger MillerRoger MillerRoger Dean Miller was an American singer, songwriter, musician and actor, best known for his honky tonk-influenced novelty songs...
- The Nouns
- Charlie RichCharlie RichCharles Rich was an American country music singer and musician. A Grammy Award winner, his eclectic-style of music was often hard to classify in a single genre, playing in the rockabilly, jazz, blues, country, and gospel genres.In the latter part of his life, Rich acquired the nickname The Silver...
- Sir Douglas QuintetSir Douglas QuintetSir Douglas Quintet was a rock band active in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Despite their British sounding name, they came out of San Antonio, Texas. Their career was established when they began working with Texas record-producer Huey P. Meaux, after which the band relocated to the West Coast...
- Millie SmallMillie (singer)Millie is a Jamaican singer-songwriter, often known as "Little Millie Small", and in the United States as "Millie Small", and is best known as the singer of the 1964 hit, "My Boy Lollipop".-Career:...
- Swingin' Medallions
- The Tempests
- Eric Von SchmidtEric Von SchmidtEric "Rick" Von Schmidt was an American singer-songwriter and Grammy Award recipient. He was associated with the folk/blues revival of the 1960s and a key part of the East Coast folk music scene that included Bob Dylan and Joan Baez.-Background and associations with Dylan:Von Schmidt's father,...
- The Walker BrothersThe Walker BrothersThe Walker Brothers were an American 1960s and 1970s pop group, comprising Scott Engel , John Walker , and Gary Leeds...
- Scott WalkerScott Walker (singer)Scott Walker, born Noel Scott Engel on January 9, 1943 is an American singer-songwriter, musician, record producer, and the former lead singer of The Walker Brothers. Despite being American born, Walker's chart success has largely come in the United Kingdom, where his first four solo albums...
- Crunch-O-Matic
- D'BoraD'BoraD'Bora Lippett is an American female dance artist. She was previously a member of the all-female rap group, Mercedes Ladies.D'Bora's debut single, "Dream About You" was a chart-topper in the UK's clubs. It also topped the import charts, but reached #75 in the UK Singles Chart in September 1991. ...
- Jamie Loring
- Jamie PrincipleJamie PrincipleJamie Principle is a house music artist and producer born in Chicago, Illinois.He is one of the early pioneers of house music when the genre first began in Chicago during the early 1980s...
- LaTourLaTourWilliam LaTour, better known by his stage name LaTour and also known as "Bud" Latour, is an American singer, songwriter, and voice over artist...
- M-DocM-DocM-Doc is a rap artist and producer who was signed to RCA Records and Smash Records in the 1990s. He scored minor chart success with the singles "Free" and "It's a Summer Thang" featuring Chantay Savage...
- Chris MarsChris MarsChris Mars is an American artist and musician. He was the drummer for seminal Minneapolis, Minnesota alternative rock band The Replacements and later joined informal supergroup Golden Smog before launching a solo career. He is also a painter, and has more or less left music behind to concentrate...
- Luke "Long Gone" MilesLuke "Long Gone" MilesLuke "Lone Gone" Miles was an American Texas blues and electric blues singer and songwriter. He was a protégé of Lightnin' Hopkins, and variously recorded or performed with Hopkins, Sonny Terry, Brownie McGhee and Willie Chambers...
- The MillionsThe MillionsThe Millions is an online literary magazine created by C. Max Magee in 2003. It contains articles about literary topics and book reviews.The Millions has several regular contributors as well as frequent guest appearances by literary notables, including Rosecrans Baldwin, Josh Bazell, Mark Binelli,...
- Pleasure Game
- PresencePresencePresence is the seventh studio album by the English rock band Led Zeppelin, released by Swan Song Records on 31 March 1976.The album was written and recorded during a tumultuous time in the band's history, as singer Robert Plant was recuperating from serious injuries he had sustained in a recent...
- Sheep On DrugsSheep on DrugsSheep on Drugs are a British techno / dance-punk music group, formed by Duncan X [aka King Duncan] and Lee Fraser [aka Dead Lee] and currently composed of Fraser and Johnny Borden...
- Ten Tray
- Cookie Watkins
- YelloYelloYello is a Swiss electronica band consisting of Dieter Meier and Boris Blank. They are probably best known for their singles "The Race" and "Oh Yeah", which feature a mix of electronic music and manipulated vocals, as does most of their music....