Inside the Rock Era: The Top Artists at Capitol Records

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

The Top Artists at Capitol Records

Since today (April 6) is the anniversary of the beginning of construction on the Capitol Records Tower in Hollywood, it's a fine time to look into a little history at Capitol.

The Tower itself is quite unique and every music fan will want to at least get a peak of it if you're in the L.A. area. From above, it looks like a stack of 45's on a turntable, with the tall spike at the top looking like a spindle. In 1955, EMI acquired Capitol Records and ordered the Tower built at the intersection of Hollywood and Vine. All West Coast operations of Capitol are conducted from that site. A rectangular ground floor is a separate structure that was joined to the famous tower when completed. The Tower itself is a 13-story building that is resistant to earthquakes and is home to several recording studios. The blinking light atop the tower spells out the word "Hollywood" in Morse code. In fact, the switch activating the light was first thrown by Lyla Morse, Samuel Morse's granddaughter.

In 2006, EMI announced it had sold the tower to a New York-based developer. Unbelievable. And soon the building of the record company that released the Beatles records will probably be torn down, knowing America.

Here are some of the top artists at Capitol Records:

Andrews Sisters
April Wine
Badfinger
the Band
Shirley Bassey