The Afterword

Musings on the byways of popular culture

Menu

Navigation

You are here: Home / Forum / A Record Label Quiz

A Record Label Quiz

by 36 Comments

Here’s a little quiz because why not? Have at it! There’s only eight questions because I couldn’t think of any more.

1. Frank Sinatra tried and failed to buy which record label, which resulted in him founding Reprise Records?

2. Stiff Records was founded with the help of a loan from who? And how much did he lend?

3. “I get my records at the Rock On stall” is from ‘The Rocker’ by Thin Lizzy. Which record label did Rock On’s owners found?

4. What do the following albums have in common?
The Least We Can Do Is Wave to Each Other by Van der Graaf Generator
Damned Damned Damned by The Damned
Five-a-Side by Ace
Valentyne Suite by Colosseum
Tubular Bells by Mike Oldfield

5. Chrysalis Records was specifically founded to release records by which band?

6. Deram Records was named after what recording technique?

7. Factory Records first vinyl release was a double 7” EP featuring which four acts?

8. John Peel’s Dandelion Records scored only one Number One hit in its brief existence. What was it, and for a bonus point, in which country was it Toppermost of the Poppermost?

3

Comments

    • Valentyne Suite was I believe on Vertigo.
      Ace were on Anchor. They could have been the only band on Anchor, because I don’t have anything else other than Ace on that label.

      • I believe Alice Cooper’s ‘Welcome to my Nightmare’ was on Anchor in the UK originally. I also think they issued a bunch of 12″ 4 track EPs from, among others, Steely Dan and the Coop.

      • As I understand it, Anchor was the UK subsidiary of ABC Records, and its releases were mostly UK acts. The label appeared around 1973, when the ABC imprint also finally appeared over here – prior to that ABC releases, such as the first Steely Dan album, appeared on Probe, presumably due to rights issues over the name as there had been an ITV franchise owner known as ABC.

        Anyway Anchor vanished when MCA purchased ABC Records from their parent company in early 1979.

        • That would make sense (I have the first 3 Dan albums & some singles on Probe), but the Alice Cooper is an oddity, as it was on Atlantic in the US, and Anchor here in blighty.

          • That album was a one-off special deal, as it was considered a TV soundtrack and outside the terms of his Warner Brothers contract at the time. Anchor gained the rights for outside North America due to Cooper being friendly with Anchor Managing Director Ian Ralfini, who had previously worked with Cooper at Warners.

  6. 8. I think that Medicine Head was on Dandelion, so I will say One and One is One by Medicine Head and, for the bonus, …. oh, I don’t know…. but, the Netherlands.

  11. 1. Verve
    2. Lee Brilleaux (£400)
    3. –
    4. first albums on their respective labels
    5. Jethro Tull
    6.Decca Panoramic Sound!
    7. FAC-2 “A Factory Sample” – Joy Division, Durutti Column, John Dowie, Cabaret Voltaire
    8. –

  12. 3. Chiswick Records, who are now part of Ace. The next line of that Thin Lizzy song is “Teddy Boy’s got ’em all” and refers to stall owner and label founder Ted Carroll – who was also Lizzy’s manager).

    8. “1917 Revolution” by Beau (not a band but a singer-songwriter by the name of Chris Midgely). It was a chart topper in Lebanon in 1967. Obscure minutiae -r-us.

  14. Well done, everyone! I don’t think I would have answered half of these questions without looking them up on the interwebs. Anyway, here’s the answers in all their glory:

    Frank Sinatra tried and failed to buy which record label, which resulted in him founding Reprise Records?
    Verve

    Stiff Records was founded with the help of a loan from who? And how much did he lend?
    Lee Brilleaux; I’ve seen the amount listed as both £400 and £500.

    “I get my records at the Rock On stall” is a line from ‘The Rocker’ by Thin Lizzy. Which record label did Rock On’s owners found?
    Chiswick Records

    What do the following albums have in common?
    The Least We Can Do Is Wave to Each Other by Van der Graaf Generator
    Damned Damned Damned by The Damned
    Five-a-Side by Ace
    Valentyne Suite by Colosseum
    Tubular Bells by Mike Oldfield

    They were their respective labels first album releases:
    Charisma
    Stiff
    Anchor
    Vertigo
    Virgin

    Chrysalis Records was founded to release records by which band?
    Jethro Tull

    Deram Records was named after what recording technique?
    Deramic sound

    Factory Records first vinyl release was a double 7” ep featuring which four acts?
    Joy Division
    The Durutti Column
    John Dowie
    Cabaret Voltaire

    John Peel’s Dandelion Records scored only one Number One hit in its brief existence. What was it, and for a bonus point, in which country was it Toppermost of the Poppermost?
    1917 Revolution by Beau; Lebanon

  15. The Van der Graaf album was Charisma’s second release, not their first. Although their manager Tony Stratton-Smith founded Charisma largely because he couldn’t find another label interested in signing them, the first Charisma album was definitely Rare Bird’s first, which came out in November ’69. Confusingly the catalogue number CAS1005 suggests otherwise but for its first year or so the CAS series was shared with Charisma’s distributor B&C Records with the first four being allocated to B&C albums.

    The Van der Graaf album (CAS1007) was their second release in February 1970. It wasn’t actually recorded until December ’69, the month after the release of the Rare Bird album.

Leave a Reply