Comments on: EMI: the inside story of Britain's biggest music company

EMI: the inside story of Britain's biggest music company

filthy light thief — Fri, 05 Aug 2016 13:38:02 -0800

Electric & Musical Industries was formed in 1931, initially releasing classical music, but went on to launch the Beatles, who changed the record label's operations and funded the company for years and years. The label's recording rules were further broadened by Queen and Pink Floyd. EMI ushered punk into the mainstream with Sex Pistols, and then embraced the New Romanticism and the polished excesses of Duran Duran. They made music videos big with Pet Shop Boys and made Brit Pop a thing with Blur, and were home to Radiohead. This is the inside story of EMI, one of the greatest British brands in recording history, as told by people involved with the record label's storied history, augmented by company and performance footage.

EMI produced both electronics like gramophones and recording equipment, and the music their technology recorded and played. On the label side, EMI initially had Columbia, His Master's Voice (HMV), and Parlophone, and there are some records sold under the Electric & Musical Industries Limited label. In 1972, the parent company formed EMI Records (Ltd). A video playlist:

Alma Cogan - Dreamboat (television performance circa 1955, low quality)
Adam Faith - What Do You Want (live TV performance circa 1959, with re-synced audio)
Cliff Richard - Living Doll (TV/studio recording, 1959)
Helen Shapiro - Walking Back To Happiness (live TV performance circa 1961)
Manfred Mann - Come Tomorrow (Top of the Pops, 1965)
Peter Sellers - The Best of Sellers (1958)
Spike Milligan - Cougher Royal (from Milligan Preserved, 1961)
The Beatles - Love Me Do (BBC Pop Go The Beatles June 1,1963, with still photo "slideshow")
The Beatles - I Saw Her Standing There (live studio recording, 1963)
The Beatles - Can't Buy Me Love (April 28, 1964, from the BBC television special,"Around The Beatles")
Pink Floyd - Pow R. Toc H. (live audio from 1967, still photo)
T. Rex - Metal Guru (live in 1972)
Cockney Rebel - Hideaway (live, circa 1973)
Cockney Rebel - Sebastian (live at Pink Pop, 1973)
Cockney Rebel - Mr. Soft (live on Top of the Pops, 1974)
Elton John - Chameleon (live at Wembley, 1975)
Queen - Keep Yourself Alive (official video, circa 1973)
Pink Floyd - Household Objects (demo tracks and recording information)
Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel - Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me) (studio video, circa 1974)
Pilot - It's Magic (live on TV, 1975)
Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody (official video, 1975)
Emerson, Lake & Palmer - 1973 The Manticore Special (52 minute film)
Sex Pistols - Anarchy In The UK (live on TV, 1976)
Sex Pistols - Pretty Vacant (official video, 1976)
Sex Pistols and their entourage*, including a young Siouxsie Sioux, on Today, Dec. 1976** (* 2:35 clip from The Filth and the Fury, and **7 minute retrospective/special)
Sex Pistols - EMI (recorded live on January 14, 1978 at Winterland, San Francisco, CA)
Kate Bush - Wuthering Heights (official video, version 1 - 3:45 / official video, version 2 - 4:30 // 1978)
[Non-EMI background music: Giorgio Moroder - Chase (1978, Casablanca Records)]
[General EMI news update: Thorn Electrical Industries, best known for manufacturing light bulbs, merged with EMI in October 1979, to form Thorn EMI]
Duran Duran - Planet Earth (official video, 1981)
Duran Duran - Girls on Film (official, uncensored video, 1981)
Duran Duran - Rio (official video, 1982/3)
Pet Shop Boys - Opportunities (Lets Make Lots of Money) (official videos version 1 and 2, 1985)
Pet Shop Boys - It's A Sin (official video, 1987)
The Smiths - Bigmouth Strikes Again (live on The Old Grey Whistle Test, 1986)
Jesus Jones - Right Here, Right Now (official music video, 1990) -- marking EMI's purchase of Food Records (Google books preview) as EMI's way to go indie
Blur - She's So High (official video, 1990)
Blur - There's No Other Way (official video and Top of the Pops, 1991)
["And then the Americans came along and spoiled the party": Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit (official video, 1991)]
[News update: Thorn EMI bought rival Virgin Music in 1992]
Blur - For Tomorrow (official video, 1993)
Blur - Parklife (official video, 1994)
Radiohead - Just (official video, 1994)
[News in review: EMI faced challenges in the new century, with the Rolling Stones moving to Universal Music Group in 2008 and Radiohead leaving to be an independent band, and to top it all, EMI split and sold off in pieces]
Bastille - Pompeii (official video, 2013)

By: hippybear

hippybear — Fri, 05 Aug 2016 13:46:44 -0800

It's worth noting, out of those artists, Pet Shop Boys and Duran Duran have both not only had enduring careers, but are both on tour RIGHT NOW with new albums and new tours that are garnering accolades. Neither of them are still on EMI, however.

By: filthy light thief

filthy light thief — Fri, 05 Aug 2016 13:58:40 -0800

Neither of them are still on EMI EMI is now a label/ subsidiary of Universal Music Group (UMG), and similarly EMI Records no longer exists as its own entity, with some branches having their artist rosters cut significantly. For example, "In Japan, Universal Music Japan did a label reorganization in February 2014, with more than half of the EMI Records Japan artists being transferred to Nayutawave Records, renaming to just simply EMI Records."

By: hippybear

hippybear — Fri, 05 Aug 2016 14:00:31 -0800

PSB is on their own label now, and DD is with Warner.

By: qntm

qntm — Fri, 05 Aug 2016 14:41:00 -0800

Also, they invented the CT scanner.

By: artdrectr

artdrectr — Fri, 05 Aug 2016 15:04:44 -0800

Hello EMI....goodbyyyyye AandM. Bbbbttt!

By: scruss

scruss — Fri, 05 Aug 2016 16:35:43 -0800

Needs moar Soundhog.

By: Lyn Never

Lyn Never — Fri, 05 Aug 2016 17:21:30 -0800

Oh wow, that documentary was a satisfying watch. And now I'm down a rabbithole watching a 10cc documentary.

By: droplet

droplet — Fri, 05 Aug 2016 18:32:51 -0800

The four kings of EMI are sitting stately on the floor There are birds out on the sidewalk And a valet at the door He reminds me of a penguin With few and plastered hair There's talcum powder on the letter And the birthday boy is there... Which is the first I'd ever heard of EMI. I thought it was "Ee-em-eye", or something weird like that, since this is a late 60s song and I fancied myself a clever kid 15 years later. I had to look up that those "four kings" were The Beatles, and the event being (partially) sung about is a party held during the recording of Sgt. Pepper. Mickey wrote a cracking tune, didn't he? Anyway, I think of this song every time I see that label's name.

By: Freen

Freen — Fri, 05 Aug 2016 18:58:46 -0800

Every Mistake Imaginable.

By: tommyD

tommyD — Fri, 05 Aug 2016 20:56:00 -0800

You say they're to blame for Duran Duran?

By: iotic

iotic — Fri, 05 Aug 2016 23:53:28 -0800

Anyway, I think of this song every time I see that label's name Me, I hear those letters in Johnny Rotten's sneering drawl I even get this when I see "HDMI"

By: Catblack

Catblack — Sat, 06 Aug 2016 00:25:01 -0800

Sigue Sigue Sputnik had their own love affair with EMI.

By: hippybear

hippybear — Sat, 06 Aug 2016 14:13:52 -0800

Mickey wrote a cracking tune, didn't he? The utter darkness at the core of the Monkees is something that is so often overlooked. Yes, cracking tune!

By: Twang

Twang — Sat, 06 Aug 2016 16:37:02 -0800

Worth repeating that Brian shopped the Beatles demo to over 30 British labels ... and they all passed on it. And so, when EMI/Parlophone picked them up, they gained George Martin ... who helped them get past the stodgy old guard on matters like the Sergeant Pepper cover, and added the studio as their 5th instrument. Brill collection Filthy, as per always.