What do you think?
Rate this book
Record Makers and Breakers: Voices of the Independent Rock 'n' Roll Pioneers
This volume is an engaging and exceptional history of the independent rock 'n' roll record industry from its raw regional beginnings in the 1940s with R & B and hillbilly music through its peak in the 1950s and decline in the 1960s. John Broven combines narrative history with extensive oral history material from numerous recording pioneers including Joe Bihari of Modern Records; Marshall Chess of Chess Records; Jerry Wexler, Ahmet Ertegun, and Miriam Bienstock of Atlantic Records; Sam Phillips of Sun Records; Art Rupe of Specialty Records; and many more.
- GenresMusicHistoryNonfiction
640 pages, Hardcover
First published December 12, 2008
9 people are currently reading
91 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
March 10, 2017
How many of you like music? How many of you like recorded music? How many of you are interested in how music was made? How many of you are interested in the history of recording music? I think we are down to a much smaller group now.
Why? Because, it is my belief that only those within this very small shaded area of the larger Venn diagram will be interested enough in this book to read its more than 600 pages. For them, there is no substitute.
Before Facebook; before YouTube; before the entire internet, if you were a musician you had limited options for getting your music in front of your potential audience. You could do live shows (including radio shows) or you could record your music. If you chose the latter, you either had to pay for the recording yourself (see movies such as Coal Miner’s Daughter) or you needed to be “discovered.”
There were a few guys working for the big labels such as RCA or Columbia who went to venues looking for “talent.” And, there were a lot of small entrepreneurs with studios who might take a chance on you. This is their history. It is told is neat bits and pieces that are interesting if you know something about the artists or the label.
Many are aware of Sun Records by way of a Broadway musical concerning Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, Elvis Presley, and Johnny Cash (Million Dollar Quartet ) or the movie, Walk the Line. Sam Phillip’s Sun Records was a good example of a small entrepreneurial venture that could find talent but only hold it for a while before the big guys snatched it away. Sometimes it wasn’t even a Columbia or RCA. One of the stories I heard from B.B. King is retold in this book.
For those not aware, B.B. King, who lived into his 90th year, was known as The King of the Blues. His vibrato style was very distinctive and he had a very successful career starting in the late 1940s and touring well into the 21st century. Sam and B.B. were both trying to get their careers going. Sam had a recording studio and he had done some demos with B.B. The Bihari Brothers had Modern Records. Modern records, like many small outfits outsourced its work. Someone would do the recording, another outfit would do the pressing.
The Bihari Brothers came into town with B.B. to do some recording. Phillips shook hands with them on a deal for the results of that recording session but he ended up with nothing when the brothers took the tapes and put them out themselves. Sam had better luck with Elvis, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash and Carl Perkins before they, too, moved on.
There are similar stories related about many of the independents including a very good chapter on Chicago’s Chess Records. If you don’t have an affinity for the music, then this won’t mean much for you. For me, this was not the same as listening to the music, itself, but it was highly entertaining.
Why? Because, it is my belief that only those within this very small shaded area of the larger Venn diagram will be interested enough in this book to read its more than 600 pages. For them, there is no substitute.
Before Facebook; before YouTube; before the entire internet, if you were a musician you had limited options for getting your music in front of your potential audience. You could do live shows (including radio shows) or you could record your music. If you chose the latter, you either had to pay for the recording yourself (see movies such as Coal Miner’s Daughter) or you needed to be “discovered.”
There were a few guys working for the big labels such as RCA or Columbia who went to venues looking for “talent.” And, there were a lot of small entrepreneurs with studios who might take a chance on you. This is their history. It is told is neat bits and pieces that are interesting if you know something about the artists or the label.
Many are aware of Sun Records by way of a Broadway musical concerning Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, Elvis Presley, and Johnny Cash (Million Dollar Quartet ) or the movie, Walk the Line. Sam Phillip’s Sun Records was a good example of a small entrepreneurial venture that could find talent but only hold it for a while before the big guys snatched it away. Sometimes it wasn’t even a Columbia or RCA. One of the stories I heard from B.B. King is retold in this book.
For those not aware, B.B. King, who lived into his 90th year, was known as The King of the Blues. His vibrato style was very distinctive and he had a very successful career starting in the late 1940s and touring well into the 21st century. Sam and B.B. were both trying to get their careers going. Sam had a recording studio and he had done some demos with B.B. The Bihari Brothers had Modern Records. Modern records, like many small outfits outsourced its work. Someone would do the recording, another outfit would do the pressing.
The Bihari Brothers came into town with B.B. to do some recording. Phillips shook hands with them on a deal for the results of that recording session but he ended up with nothing when the brothers took the tapes and put them out themselves. Sam had better luck with Elvis, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash and Carl Perkins before they, too, moved on.
There are similar stories related about many of the independents including a very good chapter on Chicago’s Chess Records. If you don’t have an affinity for the music, then this won’t mean much for you. For me, this was not the same as listening to the music, itself, but it was highly entertaining.
November 26, 2014
Essential reading for anyone interested in the business side of the music business and also a great study of the "wild west" entrepreneurial climate of post-war United States. Thanks John Broven for chronicling this colorful under-documented sliver of history.
January 14, 2024
Having read literally hundreds of books on rock'n'roll, rhythm & blues, soul, country, rockabilly music including dozens of artist biographies, I was still fascinated by this look into the development of rock'n'roll from the perspective of the recording industry. This meticulously researched book exhaustively explored the independent record companies, distributors, publishers, song writers, artists, and jukebox operators. While the academic writing style was somewhat dry at times, the information based on over a hundred interviews was totally engaging and enlightening. Highly recommended
September 5, 2012
Totally exhausting and totally necessary. Not the most gripping page-turner ever written about the music biz, or even the early days of the music biz, but second to none.
September 22, 2016
Obviously, you have to be interested in the topic. It probably helps, too, when you are old and able to remember some of the records mentioned. Being both, I found the book a very enjoyable read.
May 1, 2009
Broven has produced what is likely the definitive history of independent record producers in post-WWII America. It is also an exhausting history, and I regret that I did not even get through a fifth of it. But he should be commended for getting oral histories from those who took chances on the music that defined the late 20th century. A retirement read!
Want to read
May 21, 2010Sub titled "Music in American Life", this is a history of the independent rock ’n’ roll record industry.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews