Rock 'n' roll in the 1950s and pop rock in the early '60s had largely been a 45rpm affair. Even the Beatles' and Stones' early 12-inch albums were merely collections of three-minute singles. Then in 1966, along came Elektra Records, which had been founded in 1950 by Jac Holzman as a folk label. Thanks to lush proceeds from Elektra's budget classical subsidiary Nonesuch, Holtzman began to expand into pop.
In 1966 and '67, Elektra signed a new generation of American psychedelic rockers, including the Chicago-based Paul Butterfield Blues Band (with Mike Bloomfield), the Los Angeles bands Love and The Doors, and the Detroit rage bands The Stooges and MC5. Elektra's fortunes expanded with the rise of FM radio and the arrival of low-priced Japanese-made stereo systems.
How Elektra and Holzman changed the pop music landscape and youth culture multiple times is captured in a BBC documentary. Here's The Man Who Recorded America: Jac Holzman's Elektra Records:
In 1966 and '67, Elektra signed a new generation of American psychedelic rockers, including the Chicago-based Paul Butterfield Blues Band (with Mike Bloomfield), the Los Angeles bands Love and The Doors, and the Detroit rage bands The Stooges and MC5. Elektra's fortunes expanded with the rise of FM radio and the arrival of low-priced Japanese-made stereo systems.
How Elektra and Holzman changed the pop music landscape and youth culture multiple times is captured in a BBC documentary. Here's The Man Who Recorded America: Jac Holzman's Elektra Records:
This story appears courtesy of JazzWax by Marc Myers.
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