Labelled with Love: A History of the World in Your Record Collection

by Andy Bollen

‘… an instant classic and a required part of the library of anyone fascinated with the record business.’ – Danny Goldberg, bestselling author of Serving the Remembering Kurt Cobain

Chess Records tested their acquisitions out on people waiting at a nearby bus if the crowd were bopping, they had a hit.

Sub Pop rejection letters start with the harsh, yet funny, ‘Dear Loser’.

Atlantic Records signed Led Zeppelin on Dusty Springfield’s recommendation.

Labelled with Love is an odyssey through your record collection and the world beyond it, from the Jazz Age to punk, the civil rights movement to Thatcherism, the Beatles to Britpop, and Ella Fitzgerald to The Ramones. Long-time music obsessive Andy Bollen tracks popular music through the influential labels that have shaped the last eighty years, chronicling each company with the passion of a fan but the eye of a satirist. This is an informative and revealing look at the leading labels, bands and music that rocked our worlds and shaped our lives.

Genres: Music

320 pages, Paperback

Published April 15, 2025

Reviews

[Simon S. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Labelled With Love, by Andy Bollen is a fascinating and colourful trip through the world’s most influential record labels.

Running alphabetically from 2 Tone to XL Recordings, and covering the entire history of commercial recorded music, Bollen talks us through the history and lasting influence of more than 50 record labels, giving playlist suggestions for each. These suggestions are very personal, and really add extra flavour to his meticulously researched book.

Bollen as a DJ, journalist, and professional musician in the 90s, brings his experience of working with some of the musicians and label heads from that period, illustrating the excitement, faith, and graft required to launch bands - something which has changed little since the days of Mario Lanza.

Bollen’s personal experience may have been at the indie-label end of the pool, but he has equal praise for the best music released by the huge conglomerates. Good music will out, whether that’s on 500 7” singles sold from inner city record stores, or multimillion sellers stacked his in every high street.

Very enjoyable and informative - aptly named, The Move seemed to have been on every British record label at some point in the sixties, for example - and a real treat for music (particularly vinyl) lovers.

Possibly best experienced as a “dipping-in” book, as many record label stories are essentially the same “shape” and reading too many one after another may dilute the unique vitality of each.

[Royal · Rating 3 out of 5]

Andy Bollen’s Labelled with Love
A History of the World in Your Record Collection is incredibly well researched and shows an intense love for music.

I was really interested in this book having lived in a couple well-known music cities for record labels and visiting other music cities around the US. I also collect vinyls and am always interested in the history of a band through the lens of the record label, the master behind the music we know and love. There’s a lot of good information in this book, and it’s grouped alphabetically by record label.

I also didn’t realize this book was meant to be satirical, so there may have been a disconnect in terms of expectations for this book. I generally love clever, tongue-in-cheek, and humorous material, but it did feel at some parts that the author’s thoughts override what actually took place in history. In a sense, this book seems to be more of personal commentary intertwined with facts rather than simply a history of record labels.

Thank you to Independent Publishers Group - The History Press and NetGalley for providing an eARC for review.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

My thanks to NetGalley and Independent Publishers Group - The History Press for an advanced copy of this book that looks at the history of music labels, some still proudly flying the flannel, some absorbed into other corporate entities, and others who have left this mortal coil, leaving only the music behind.

I worked in a music shop during the nineties that had probably the most pretentious group of music nerds ever assembled. Music was our life, our reason for getting up, and and for going on. The owner had a gift for hiring people who knew a little bit about a lot of things, or a tremendous amount about a small subset and that worked. Even in the time before cell phones one could expect a call once or twice a week asking about something that stumped the chumps working, but they knew someone who would know. Everything was important. What recording studio had the best bathroom acoustics to get the drum sound right What bootlegs were needed for a proper record collection. And record labels. Who sold out more, who would crush music under their corporate heel. The most indy, the most eclectic the most niche. We would have had fist fights over this book. Labelled with Love: A History of the World in Your Record Collection by music writer and biographer Andy Bollen is a history of music labels, those that brought the noise, the funk, the punk, the bop and everything else to our ears, complete with a look at the history of changing musical tastes, and a whole lot of stories.

The book is arranged in alphabetical order, starting with 2 Tone Records and ending with XL Recordings. In between is a lot of diverse labels, some still standing, some parts of conglomerations, some long departed. Each essay starts with a section detailing the founders of the label, a history of the label, and the acts that made them, or in some places changed them. There are fun facts that don't really fit into the main narrative, but are still necessary for the story, usually trials, misdemeanor, illegal acts, or funny bits that could be real, could be legend, but are a part of the labels legacy. Each essay also ends with a list of 5 albums that are key to the label, each success-wise, a clear mission statement, or why they did what they did. As is true of many stories about the entertainment industry there is truth, legend, I was there, I wasn't there, but heard and urban legends. Much has happened in the 80 years this book looks at, and Bollen covers much of it. The integration of music, changes in how music was sold, LPs, CDs streaming and how the industry has grown, contracted, and changed to what it is today.

A very encompassing history of music, told from the view of the labels and not the artist's. What comes clear in the narrative is the fact that money changes everything. Many of these labels started to help their own bands, added a few more, added like music and became something bigger. Many started as speculation, music was making money, I want money, let me start a label and make money. Lawyers, drugs and money seem to be the big problems. Artists start to resent those making money, labels get bought out, corporations don't see the return they expect, labels are shuttered. The stories are all quite interesting, though again some might be a tad legendary. Bollen has done an incredible amount of research, and really makes even the most corporate label interesting to learn about. In addition he does a great service to those who still labor on, bringing music to the people.

A book for music fans, and those who love to argue about things in music. There is a lot of information, a lot of history, and much to argue about, and too share. A really great read, and one that I enjoyed tremendously.

[Ipswichblade · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent enough book about different record labels by way of potted histories. Loses a star for repeating the urban myth about New Order losing money on every copy of Blue Monday