Italy
Italy the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe. Located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, Italy shares open land borders with France, Austria and the enclaved microstates San Marino and Vatican City. Italy covers an area of 301,340 km2 and has a temperate seasonal and Mediterranean climate. With around 61 million inhabitants, it is the fourth-most populous EU member state and the most populous country in Southern Europe. Due to its central geographic location in Southern Europe and the Mediterranean, Italy has been home to a myriad of peoples and cultures. In addition to the various ancient peoples dispersed throughout modern-day Italy, the most famous of which being the Indo-European Italics who gave the peninsula its name, beginning from the classical era and Carthaginians founded colonies in insular Italy and Genoa, Greeks established settlements in the so-called Magna Graecia, while Etruscans and Celts inhabited central and northern Italy respectively; the Italic tribe known as the Latins formed the Roman Kingdom in the 8th century BC, which became a republic with a government of the Senate and the People.
The Roman Republic conquered and assimilated its neighbours on the peninsula, in some cases through the establishment of federations, the Republic expanded and conquered parts of Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. By the first century BC, the Roman Empire emerged as the dominant power in the Mediterranean Basin and became the leading cultural and religious centre of Western civilisation, inaugurating the Pax Romana, a period of more than 200 years during which Italy's technology, economy and literature flourished. Italy remained the metropole of the Roman Empire; the legacy of the Roman Empire endured its fall and can be observed in the global distribution of culture, governments and the Latin script. During the Early Middle Ages, Italy endured sociopolitical collapse and barbarian invasions, but by the 11th century, numerous rival city-states and maritime republics in the northern and central regions of Italy, rose to great prosperity through shipping and banking, laying the groundwork for modern capitalism.
These independent statelets served as Europe's main trading hubs with Asia and the Near East enjoying a greater degree of democracy than the larger feudal monarchies that were consolidating throughout Europe. The Renaissance began in Italy and spread to the rest of Europe, bringing a renewed interest in humanism, science and art. Italian culture flourished, producing famous scholars and polymaths such as Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael and Machiavelli. During the Middle Ages, Italian explorers such as Marco Polo, Christopher Columbus, Amerigo Vespucci, John Cabot and Giovanni da Verrazzano discovered new routes to the Far East and the New World, helping to usher in the European Age of Discovery. Italy's commercial and political power waned with the opening of trade routes that bypassed the Mediterranean. Centuries of infighting between the Italian city-states, such as the Italian Wars of the 15th and 16th centuries, left the region fragmented, it was subsequently conquered and further divided by European powers such as France and Austria.
By the mid-19th century, rising Italian nationalism and calls for independence from foreign control led to a period of revolutionary political upheaval. After centuries of foreign domination and political division, Italy was entirely unified in 1871, establishing the Kingdom of Italy as a great power. From the late 19th century to the early 20th century, Italy industrialised, namely in the north, acquired a colonial empire, while the south remained impoverished and excluded from industrialisation, fuelling a large and influential diaspora. Despite being one of the main victors in World War I, Italy entered a period of economic crisis and social turmoil, leading to the rise of a fascist dictatorship in 1922. Participation in World War II on the Axis side ended in military defeat, economic destruction and the Italian Civil War. Following the liberation of Italy and the rise of the resistance, the country abolished the monarchy, reinstated democracy, enjoyed a prolonged economic boom and, despite periods of sociopolitical turmoil became a developed country.
Today, Italy is considered to be one of the world's most culturally and economically advanced countries, with the sixth-largest worldwide national wealth. Its advanced economy ranks eighth-largest in the world and third in the Eurozone by nominal GDP. Italy owns the third-largest central bank gold reserve, it has a high level of human development, it stands among the top countries for life expectancy. The country plays a prominent role in regional and global economic, military and diplomatic affairs. Italy is a founding and leading member of the European Union and a member of numerous international institutions, including the UN, NATO, the OECD, the OSCE, the WTO, the G7, the G20, the Union for the Mediterranean, the Council of Europe, Uniting for Consensus, the Schengen Area and many more; as a reflection
United States
The United States of America known as the United States or America, is a country composed of 50 states, a federal district, five major self-governing territories, various possessions. At 3.8 million square miles, the United States is the world's third or fourth largest country by total area and is smaller than the entire continent of Europe's 3.9 million square miles. With a population of over 327 million people, the U. S. is the third most populous country. The capital is Washington, D. C. and the largest city by population is New York City. Forty-eight states and the capital's federal district are contiguous in North America between Canada and Mexico; the State of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east and across the Bering Strait from Russia to the west. The State of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean; the U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, stretching across nine official time zones. The diverse geography and wildlife of the United States make it one of the world's 17 megadiverse countries.
Paleo-Indians migrated from Siberia to the North American mainland at least 12,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century; the United States emerged from the thirteen British colonies established along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the colonies following the French and Indian War led to the American Revolution, which began in 1775, the subsequent Declaration of Independence in 1776; the war ended in 1783 with the United States becoming the first country to gain independence from a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, with the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, being ratified in 1791 to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties; the United States embarked on a vigorous expansion across North America throughout the 19th century, acquiring new territories, displacing Native American tribes, admitting new states until it spanned the continent by 1848. During the second half of the 19th century, the Civil War led to the abolition of slavery.
By the end of the century, the United States had extended into the Pacific Ocean, its economy, driven in large part by the Industrial Revolution, began to soar. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the country's status as a global military power; the United States emerged from World War II as a global superpower, the first country to develop nuclear weapons, the only country to use them in warfare, a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council. Sweeping civil rights legislation, notably the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the Fair Housing Act of 1968, outlawed discrimination based on race or color. During the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union competed in the Space Race, culminating with the 1969 U. S. Moon landing; the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the world's sole superpower. The United States is the world's oldest surviving federation, it is a representative democracy.
The United States is a founding member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States, other international organizations. The United States is a developed country, with the world's largest economy by nominal GDP and second-largest economy by PPP, accounting for a quarter of global GDP; the U. S. economy is post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge-based activities, although the manufacturing sector remains the second-largest in the world. The United States is the world's largest importer and the second largest exporter of goods, by value. Although its population is only 4.3% of the world total, the U. S. holds 31% of the total wealth in the world, the largest share of global wealth concentrated in a single country. Despite wide income and wealth disparities, the United States continues to rank high in measures of socioeconomic performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP, worker productivity.
The United States is the foremost military power in the world, making up a third of global military spending, is a leading political and scientific force internationally. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a world map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America in honor of the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci; the first documentary evidence of the phrase "United States of America" is from a letter dated January 2, 1776, written by Stephen Moylan, Esq. to George Washington's aide-de-camp and Muster-Master General of the Continental Army, Lt. Col. Joseph Reed. Moylan expressed his wish to go "with full and ample powers from the United States of America to Spain" to seek assistance in the revolutionary war effort; the first known publication of the phrase "United States of America" was in an anonymous essay in The Virginia Gazette newspaper in Williamsburg, Virginia, on April 6, 1776. The second draft of the Articles of Confederation, prepared by John Dickinson and completed by June 17, 1776, at the latest, declared "The name of this Confederation shall be the'United States of America'".
The final version of the Articles sent to the states for ratification in late 1777 contains the sentence "The Stile of this Confederacy shall be'The United States of America'". In June 1776, Thomas Jefferson wrote the phrase "UNITED STATES OF AMERICA" in all capitalized letters in the headline of his "original Rough draught" of the Declaration of Independence; this draft of the document did not surface unti
From Nowhere
From Nowhere is the debut album by the English band The Troggs, released in 1966. It was released with an alternative track listing as Wild Thing in the United States; the original From Nowhere album sleeve photo was taken at Cheddar Caves, Somerset, UK, on 22 May 1966. The album was re-released in 2003 with an altered track list and five bonus tracks by Repertoire Records. "Wild Thing" — 2:34 "From Home" — 2:20 "I Just Sing" — 2:09 "Hi Hi Hazel" — 2:43 "Lost Girl" — 2:31 "Evil" — 3:12 "With A Girl Like You" — 2:05 "Our Love Will Still Be There" — 3:08 "Jingle Jangle" — 2:26 "When I'm With You" — 2:23 "Your Love" — 1:52 "I Want You" — 2:13 "Wild Thing" — 2:34 "The Yella In Me" — 2:38 "I Just Sing" — 2:09 "Hi Hi Hazel" — 2:43 "Lost Girl" — 2:31 "The Jaguar and the Thunderbird" — 2:01 "Your Love" — 1:52 "Our Love Will Still Be There" — 3:08 "Jingle Jangle" — 2:26 "When I'm With You" — 2:23 "From Home" — 2:20 "Louie Louie" — 3:01 "The Kitty Cat Song" — 2:11 "Ride Your Pony" — 2:24 "Evil" — 3:13 "With A Girl Like You" — 2:05* "I Want You" — 2:13* "I Can't Control Myself" — 3:03* "Gonna Make You" — 2:46* "As I Ride By" — 2:02** Bonus tracks Reg Presley — lead vocals, ocarina Chris Britton — guitar, backing vocals Pete Staples — bass, backing vocals Ronnie Bond — drums
Cleopatra Records
Cleopatra Records is a Los Angeles-based independent record label founded in 1992 by entrepreneur and music fan Brian Perera. It has since grown into a family of labels, including Hypnotic Records, Purple Pyramid Records, Deadline Music Records. Cleopatra Records has been known for ushering in the second wave of gothic and industrial music with an eclectic roster of artists including Christian Death, Rosetta Stone, Switchblade Symphony, Leæther Strip, The Electric Hellfire Club, Razed in Black, X Marks the Pedwalk, Spahn Ranch, Genitorturers and others as well as new wave artists Gary Numan, Missing Persons, Information Society and others. Cleopatra has been a vital force in promoting underground and British punk rock bands such as The Vibrators, U. K. Subs, The Damned, as well as dozens of lesser known bands that had never before been released in the U. S. market. When the revival of 1980s Hollywood Metal exploded around the turn of the century, the company started a subsidiary label Deadline Music to handle releases by Quiet Riot, White Lion, Cinderella, Poison’s Bret Michaels and L.
A. Guns. Partnering with European labels such as Lifted Music and Hard Records, Cleopatra established the Hypnotic imprint for a series of electronic music compilations as well as full-length albums by The Future Sound of London, Paul Oakenfold, Superstar DJ Keoki, Talla 2XLC as well as the first feature-length documentary on rave culture Better Living Through Circuitry. Most Hypnotic has been the home of high profile, prolific, metal-turned-electronic music act Blackburner. Hip hop acts have found a home at Cleopatra Records on the X-Ray imprint, which has released albums by SX-10, KRS-One, Westside Connection, DMX. X-Ray Records achieved a first for the Cleopatra family in 2005 when the album It's Not A Game by Bone Thugs-n-Harmony member Layzie Bone landed on the Billboard Top 100 chart; the Purple Pyramid imprint, focusing on progressive rock and Psychedelic music has produced releases by Yes, Rick Wakeman, Steve Howe, Amon Düül II, Brainticket, Tangerine Dream, Quicksilver Messenger Service as well as projects by producer/musician Billy Sherwood dubbed The Prog Collective, The Fusion Syndicate.
In 2011, the label partnered with Prog Rock band Nektar for a 2CD collection called Retrospektive, followed by the covers album Spoonful Of Time in 2012 and the new album, Time Machine, in 2013 alongside reissues of the band's older albums. In recent years, the Cleopatra label group has expanded in a variety of directions, working with iconic artists such as Sly Stone and William Shatner, who has seen two of his Cleopatra albums land on the Billboard charts, including 2018's holiday album, Shatner Claus. R&B singer-songwriter and guitar hero Shuggie Otis came out of exile in late 2014 to release a live concert DVD, CD & LP Live In Williamsburg through Cleopatra as well as the 2018 instrumental studio album Inter-Fusion featuring drummer Carmine Appice and bassist Tony Franklin. Folk legend Judy Collins has found a home at Cleopatra, releasing a duets album in 2015 called Strangers Again featuring Willie Nelson, Jackson Browne, Jeff Bridges, Glen Hansard, Jimmy Buffett, Michael McDonald, Don McLean as well as 2016's Silver Skies Blue album, which earned her a Grammy nomination for Best Folk Album, plus 2017's critically acclaimed Everybody Knows album with Stephen Stills.
The label has become home to producer/songwriter Todd Rundgren, starting in 2016 with a 3-CD box set of unreleased vintage live material called Box O’ Todd and a new concert CD/DVD called An Evening with Todd Rundgren Live at the Ridgefield. That was followed by Todd's newest studio album White Knight, released in 2017 and featuring a host of guest appearances by artists including Trent Reznor, Robyn, Dâm-Funk, Daryl Hall, Donald Fagen, Joe Walsh, Joe Satriani and more. Demonstrating its commitment to working with a wide variety of acts, Cleopatra has released high-profile live and studio albums by some of the biggest country artists in music including The Oak Ridge Boys, T. G. Sheppard, Collin Raye, Sammy Kershaw, Little Texas, Doug Kershaw, a ascending newcomer Mary Sarah; the company established a blues imprint, Cleopatra Blues, that produced releases by Junior Wells, Kenny Neal, Arthur Adams, Big Jay McNeely, Popa Chubby, Eric Gales, Leo Bud Welch and lots more. Cleopatra remains a strong champion of avant garde, underground music such as psychedelic groove band Brainticket who re-released their catalog through Cleopatra, was brought over for their first US tour in 2011.
A new Brainticket album titled Past and Future was released in 2015. San Francisco noise-art band Chrome saw Cleopatra release numerous reissues of the band's late ‘70s and early ‘80s output on both vinyl and CD over the last few years, culminating in the massive 7 LP vinyl box set, a reissue and expanded version of the historic Chrome Box. Amon Düül II, one of the most influential German experimental bands of all-time, partnered with Cleopatra in 2014 for a series of deluxe, limited edition vinyl reissues of such albums as Yeti, Phallus Dei, Wolf City, others, along with the group's newest effort Düülirium, released in June 2014. Cleopatra owner Brian Perera has been well known as a longtime champion of British Space Rock legends Hawkwind. Cleopatra released the final
Situation Two
Situation Two was a British independent record label founded in 1981 by Peter Kent as an offshoot of the Beggars Banquet label. At the time, Beggars Banquet releases were distributed by WEA. During its 11-year history, Situation Two came to prominence as the home for a varied number of indie favourites; these included Madchester band the Charlatans, early incarnations of the Cult, Bauhaus side project Tones on Tail, the solo work of former Bauhaus member David J, cult bands like the Associates, Fields Of The Nephilim, Thee Hypnotics, Gene Loves Jezebel, Play Dead, Red Lorry Yellow Lorry and Buffalo Tom. When Situation Two was dissolved in 1992, many of the roster's releases were issued on the parent Beggars Banquet label, several were included on the 1999 Beggars compilation album Pspyched!. 1981 Biting Tongues - Don't Heal Associates - Fourth Drawer Down New Asia - Gates 1982 Singers and Players - Revenge of the Underdog The Last Man in Europe Corporation - Songs from the Ark Lydia Lunch - 13.13 1983 Gene Loves Jezebel - Promise David J - Etiquette of Violence 1984 The Eternal Triangle - Touch and Let Go Nyam Nyam - Hope of Heaven Various artists - A New Optimism 1985 Tones on Tail - Tones On Tail The Fall - Hip Priests and Kamerads Gene Loves Jezebel - Immigrant The Bolshoi - Giants Hank Wangford Band - Rodeo Radio Various artists - Gunfire and Pianos 1987 Fields of the Nephilim - Dawnrazor The Folk Devils - Goodnight Irony 1988 Red Lorry Yellow Lorry - Nothing Wrong King Blank - The Real Dirt Fields of the Nephilim - The Nephilim 1989 The Fuzztones - In Heat Ian Lowery Group - King Blank to...
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry - Blow Thee Hypnotics - Live'r than God 1990 Loop - A Gilded Eternity Thee Hypnotics - Come Down Heavy The Darkside - All That Noise The Charlatans - Some Friendly Buffalo Tom - Birdbrain 1991 Carnival Art - Thrumdrone The Dylans - The Dylans Thee Hypnotics - Soul and Sin 1992 The Darkside - Melomania Buffalo Tom - Let Me Come Over The Charlatans - Between 10th and 11th Terminal Power Company - Run Silent, Run Deep Main - Hydra - Calm The Hair and Skin Trading Company - Jo in Nine G Hell 1981 Associates - "Tell Me Easter's on Friday" New Asia - "Central Proposition" Drowning Craze - "Storage Case" Associates - "Q Quarters" Divine - "Born to Be Cheap" Home Service - "Only Men Fall in Love" Associates - "Kitchen Persons" Multivizion - "Work to Live Don't Live to Work" London Underground - "Train of Thought" Associates - "Message Oblique Speech" Associates - "White Car in Germany" John Marlon - "Sister Soul" Drowning Craze - "Trance" The Blackouts - "Exchange of Goods" Orbidoig - "Nocturnal Operation" 1982 Drowning Craze - "Heat" Ministry - "Cold Life" Gene Loves Jezebel - "Shaving My Neck" Southern Death Cult - "Moya" 1983 Gene Loves Jezebel - "Screaming" Tones on Tail - "Burning Skies" Icicle Works - "Birds Fly" Death Cult - Death Cult EP Gene Loves Jezebel - "Bruises" The Sinister Ducks - "March of the Sinister Ducks" David J - "Joe Orton's Wedding" Under Two Flags - "False History" Play Dead - "Shine" Death Cult - "Gods Zoo" 1984 The Eternal Triangle - "Only in the Night" Gene Loves Jezebel - "Influenza" Under Two Flags - "Masks" The Cult - "Spiritwalker" The Eternal Triangle - "Nothing But a Friend" Gene Loves Jezebel - "Shame" 1985 Gene Loves Jezebel - "Cow" Nyam Nyam - "The Architect" The Bolshoi - "Sob Story" Lulu Kiss Me Dead - "The Ultimate Solution" The Bolshoi - "Happy Boy" Gene Loves Jezebel - "Desire" Naffi-Locksman - "We Are Willing" It's Immaterial - Fish Waltz EP 1986 Fields of the Nephilim - "Power" Multicoloured Shades - "Teen Sex Transfusion" The Go-Betweens - "The Able Label Singles" Icicle Works - "Up Here in the North of England" 1987 Fields of the Nephilim - "Preacher Man" The Folk Devils - "The Best Protection" Fields of the Nephilim - "Blue Water" Red Lorry Yellow Lorry - "Open Up" 1988 Red Lorry Yellow Lorry - "Nothing Wrong" King Blank - "Mouth Off" Fields of the Nephilim - "Moonchild" King Blank - "Blind Box" Red Lorry Yellow Lorry - "Only Dreaming" King Blank - "Uptight" Death Cult - Death Cult EP 1989 Thee Hypnotics - "Justice in Freedom" Fields of the Nephilim - "Psychonaut" The Fuzztones - "Hurt on Hold" The Ian Lowery Group - "Need" Red Lorry Yellow Lorry - "Temptation" The Fuzztones - "Nine Months Later" Thee Hypnotics - "Soul Trader" Goat - "Can't Get By" Loop - "Arc-Lite" 1990 God - "Breach Birth" The Darkside - "High Rise Lov
Garage rock
Garage rock is a raw and energetic style of rock and roll that flourished in the mid-1960s, most notably in the United States and Canada, has experienced various revivals since then. The style is characterized by basic chord structures played on electric guitars and other instruments, sometimes distorted through a fuzzbox, as well as unsophisticated and aggressive lyrics and delivery, its name derives from the perception that groups were made up of young amateurs who rehearsed in the family garage, although many were professional. In the US and Canada, surf rock—and the Beatles and other beat groups of the British Invasion—motivated thousands of young people to form bands between 1963 and 1968. Hundreds of acts produced regional hits, some had national hits played on AM radio stations. With the advent of psychedelia, a number of garage bands incorporated exotic elements into the genre's primitive stylistic framework. After 1968, as more sophisticated forms of rock music came to dominate the marketplace, garage rock records disappeared from national and regional charts, the movement faded.
Other countries in the 1960s developed similar grass-roots rock movements that have sometimes been characterized as variants of garage rock. During the 1960s garage rock was not recognized as a distinct genre and had no specific name, but critical hindsight in the early 1970s—and the 1972 compilation album Nuggets—did much to define and memorialize the style. Between 1971 and 1973, certain American rock critics began to retroactively identify the music as a genre and for several years used the term "punk rock" to describe it, making it the first form of music to bear the description, predating the more familiar use of the term appropriated by the punk rock movement that it influenced. "Garage rock" came into use at the beginning of the 1980s and gained favor amongst devotees. The genre has been referred to as "proto-punk". In the early to mid-1980s, several revival scenes emerged featuring acts that consciously attempted to replicate the look and sound of 1960s garage bands. In the decade, a louder, more contemporary garage subgenre developed that combined garage rock with modern punk rock and other influences, sometimes using the garage punk label and otherwise associated with 1960s garage bands.
In the 2000s, a wave of garage-influenced acts associated with the post-punk revival emerged, some achieved commercial success. Garage rock continues to appeal to musicians and audiences who prefer a "back to basics" or "do-it-yourself" musical approach; the term "garage rock" used in reference to 1960s acts, stems from the perception that many performers were young amateurs who rehearsed in the family garage. While numerous bands were made up of middle-class teenagers from the suburbs, others were from rural or urban areas or were composed of professional musicians in their twenties; the term "garage band" is used to refer to musical acts in this genre. Referring to the 1960s, Mike Markesich commented "...teenge rock & roll groups proliferated Everywheresville USA". Though it is impossible to determine how many garage bands were active in the era, their numbers were extensive on a still unprecedented scale in what Markesich has characterized as a "cyclonic whirlwind of musical activity like none other..."
According to Mark Nobles, it is estimated that between 1964-1968 over 180,000 bands formed in the United States, several thousand US garage acts made records during the era. Garage bands performed in a variety of venues. Local and regional groups played at parties, school dances, teen clubs. For acts of legal age, bars and college fraternity socials provided regular engagements. Groups had the opportunity to open at shows for famous touring acts; some garage rock bands went on tour those better-known, but lesser-known groups sometimes received bookings or airplay beyond their immediate locales. Groups competed in "battles of the bands", which gave musicians an opportunity to gain exposure and a chance to win a prize, such as free equipment or recording time in a local studio. Contests were held, locally and nationally, three of the most prestigious national events were held annually by the Tea Council of the U. S. A. the Music Circus, the United States Junior Chamber. Performances sounded amateurish, naïve, or intentionally raw, with typical themes revolving around the traumas of high school life and songs about "lying girls" being common.
The lyrics and delivery were more aggressive than the more polished acts of the time with nasal, growled, or shouted vocals, sometimes punctuated by shrieks or screams at climactic moments of release. Instrumentation was characterized by basic chord structures played on electric guitars or keyboards distorted through a fuzzbox, teamed with bass and drums. Guitarists sometimes played using aggressive-sounding bar chords or power chords. Portable organs such as the Farfisa were used and harmonicas and hand-held percussion such as tambourines were not uncommon; the tempo was sped up in passages sometimes referred to as "raveups". Garage rock acts were diverse in both musical ability and in style, ranging from crude and amateurish to near-studio level musicianship. There were regional variations in flourishing scenes, such as in California and Texas; the north-western states of Idaho and Oregon had a distinctly recognizable regional sound with bands such as the Sonics and Paul Revere & the Raiders.
In the 1960s, garage rock had no name and was not thought of as a genre, but
ABC Records
ABC Records was an American record label founded in New York City in 1955. It originated. Am-Par created the Impulse! Jazz label in 1960, it acquired many labels before ABC was sold to MCA Records in 1979. ABC produced music in a variety of genres: pop, jazz, country and blues, soundtrack and polka. In addition to producing records, ABC licensed masters from independent record producers, purchased regionally released records for national distribution. American Broadcasting-Paramount Theatres is an antecedent of the American Broadcasting Company, it evolved from federal antitrust actions taken against the movie studios and broadcasting companies in the 1940s and early 1950s. In 1943 the Federal Communications Commission took action against anti-competitive practices, one of which forced the Radio Corporation of America to sell the Blue Network, the sister network of NBC Red Network. Blue was purchased by the businessman Edward J. Noble, he changed its name to the American Broadcasting Company in 1946.
In 1953 ABC merged with United Paramount Theatres, the divested former exhibition/cinema division of Paramount Pictures. The newly merged corporation was chaired by former Paramount Theaters executive Leonard Goldenson and was headquartered at 1501 Broadway in New York City, above the Paramount Theater in Times Square. American Broadcasting-Paramount Theatres formed a records division in 1955 with Samuel H. Clark as its first president; the division was incorporated on June 1955 as Am-Par Record Corporation. By August 1955, the unit was organized with PAMCO as subsidiary publishing units. Eydie Gorme was the company's first signed artist; the company recorded its first single record, "Sincerely Yours" and "Come Home", both by Gorme. Alec Templeton's "Smart Alec" was the company's first LP recorded in September 1955. One of Gorme's singles was its first release in January 1956. "Chain Gang" by Bobby Scott in February 1956 was the company's first national hit. George Hamilton IV's "A Rose and a Baby Ruth" single was Am-Par's first million-selling single in October 1956.
In 1957, the company had two million-selling single in June with "Diana" by Paul Anka and in October with "At the Hop" by Danny & the Juniors. Am-Par Records in May 1958 debut the Apt subsidiary label with its first million-selling single, "Little Star" by the Elegants, released the same month. Chancellor Records started a trend. Chancellor had its first million-selling single in October 1958 with Lloyd Price's "Stagger Lee". Am-Par Record purchased Grand Award Records including the newly formed Command Records label, in 1959; the company started a second label for jazz, Impulse! Records, in November 1960. Impulse released its first four records were released in January 1961; the company had artists that earned three Grammy Awards in 1960. While in January 1961, the company purchased a classic label, thus Am-Par Record had a label for each music genre. Am-Par Record Corporation was renamed to ABC-Paramount Records, Inc. on December 7, 1961. The company opened a Los Angeles office in January 1962. Ray Charles formed Tangerine Records in March 1962 and arranged for ABC-Paramount to distribute Tangerine's records.
The company formed Jet Record Distributors based in Long Island City, N. Y. as its local distributor. In 1962, the company had acquired Music Guild label and library for Westminster Records. In 1965, Clark was promoted to vice-president in charge of AB-PT's non-broadcast operations. National sales manager Larry Newton was named ABC-Paramount president. On January 4, 1965, vice-president in charge of sales Larry Newton was promoted to president of ABC-Paramount Records; the previous president, Sam Clark was promoted to director of theater operations for American Broadcasting-Paramount Theatres. Newton's first action as president was to restart Apt Records as a teen-oriented West Coast base label under Irwin Garr; the label was renamed ABC Records in June 1966. In 1967, Dunhill Records was purchased from Lou Adler. In 1970, ABC and Dunhill moved its headquarters to Los Angeles. Newton was promoted to vice-president in charge of ABC Pictures. Dunhill co-owner Jay Lasker was named president and referred to the combined operations as ABC/Dunhill.
At that time ABC had another five labels: Westminster, Probe and Bluesway. At the August 29, 1970 Directors Guild meeting, ABC/Dunhill launched a number of marketing initiatives; the company planned to have writers create a broader music for the catalog market. Imprints Probe and Apt were relaunched, Probe as an label which held the international rights to ABC's albums and Apt as a label which released budget cassettes and 8-track tapes. Jazz dropped from Impulse's cover for a new slogan: "University Series of Fine Recording" and two new series were launched: Audio Treasury and Westminster Gold for classic and more youth fair respectively. By May 1972, ABC formed the ABC Leisure Group, which included ABC Records, Anchor Records, ABC Records and Tape Sales, plus a new retail record-store division. Lasker left ABC to join Ariola America Records in 1975, he was succeeded by Jerry Rubinstein, who served as company head until 1977. In November 1972, ABC bought country music company Cartwheel Records.
In 1974, ABC switched British distribution from EMI to the EMI-distributed Anchor Records, allowing ABC recordings to be issued on the ABC label in the UK, Anchor records to be distributed by ABC on the Anchor label in the US. As a cost-cutting measure, ABC Records discarded many master tapes in the 1970s to save storage space; when these recordings were reissued on compact disc in the 1980s, CD versions were often
