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75-504: In 1985, Shan signed with MCA Records to release his debut single, "Feed the World", which became his only song with the label. He was also interviewed in the 1986 cult documentary Big Fun In The Big Town . MCA were not sure about what to do with hip hop, thus he was dismissed from the label. Not long after, Shan signed with Cold Chillin' Records due to his relationship with Marl, and joined Marl's Juice Crew . His debut album Down by Law

150-401: A "full-service, free standing label". Craig Lambert, previously the vice president of the label, was named as the interim head of MCA, with a successor expected to be chosen within a few months. Following Boberg's resignation, it was rumoured that MCA could possibly be merged into Universal Records , something which would have given the latter, New York City–based label a stronger presence in

225-553: A brief stint in films, playing a bit role in Steve Martin 's L.A. Story as Rappin' Waiter. Shan is credited as the guest rapper on the Sum 41 song " Dave's Possessed Hair/It's What We're All About " in the album Half Hour of Power . In June 2017, MC Shan released his first new studio album in 27 years titled Bars Over Bullshit , which was released digitally through iTunes and Google Play. MCA Records MCA Records

300-535: A huge surplus of unprofitable records sitting unsold in MCA warehouses. A number of MCA associates, including Azoff and Zappa, disparaged the company in this way. Starting in 1984, William Knoedelseder wrote a series of articles for the Los Angeles Times about the connections between organized crime and MCA. Knoedelseder told the story of mobster Sal Pisello and the corrupt deals he arranged with MCA for

375-661: A more mature style but it also proved to be his last album. When Cold Chillin's sub-label Livin' Large was active, Shan was listed as one of its artists but only released two singles ("Hip Hop Roughneck" b/w "Watchin' My Style" and "Pee-Nile Reunion" (prod. Large Professor, feat. Kool G Rap, Neek The Exotic, Snow, and Diesel) b/w "Don't Call It A Comeback"). Despite the fact that he focused more on his production career (like Snow's 12 Inches of Snow , which featured " Informer ", on which he appeared) he recorded "Da Bridge 2001" for Nas ' 2000 compilation called QB's Finest , which also featured Mobb Deep , Cormega , and Nature . Shan had

450-428: A new logo that featured the parent company's former full name, Music Corporation of America. That many younger people had been unaware of what MCA had stood for in the past inspired the new logo. In conjunction with the new logo, the first MCA Records website was launched. In 1998, MCA released the sophomore album Feeling Strangely Fine by Semisonic , which had the number one hit single and video, " Closing Time ", about

525-613: A noteworthy MCA artist in Canada with her debut album in 1991. After her second album in 1992 she was dropped following disagreements in artistic direction. However, the company kept her on their song publishing roster, both being owned by Universal Music. Morissette's next album, Jagged Little Pill (written and produced independently, but released through Warner Music 's Maverick Records label) eventually sold more than 30 million copies. In 1995, drinks conglomerate Seagram Company Ltd. acquired 80% of MCA. In November of that year, Teller

600-613: A part of IGA since 1999 and has been used by Universal Music as a syndicating division of Interscope Records , serving its purpose to operate as a premier label for many new releases since 2003 and its 2017 reboot. At the same time, it is projected to reissue many releases from recording labels (some of which have been directly absorbed into Geffen) such as Decca Records (exclusively the American pop/rock catalog), Kapp Records , DreamWorks Records , MCA Records , Uni Records , Chess Records , Almo Sounds (Interscope has managed reissues of

675-526: A part of UMG during its preceding MCA days from 1988 to 1993). In the ensuing months, a number of corporate reshufflings occurred, resulting in Geffen and A&M, on New Year's Eve 1998, being merged into Interscope Geffen A&M Records . Interscope Geffen A&M became one of Universal Music Group's four new label factions alongside the Verve Label Group , Universal Motown Republic Group and

750-489: A plain black and white label. Immediately following this, the American MCA label used a black with curved rainbow design until the late 1970s. This design was directly inspired by the U.S. Decca label of the 1960s. In December 1972, Neil Diamond , another Uni artist, reached superstar status with his first MCA release, the live multi-platinum Hot August Night . Elton John's double album Goodbye Yellow Brick Road

825-483: A promo by Marlon and Shawn from 1985 on NIA Records. Although at the time this practice was not allowed, KRS-One however responded with a parody of "The Bridge" named "South Bronx," and the Juice Crew sampled that song with a reply, "Kill That Noise." Slate magazine described the conflict: "In 1986, it was a beef that launched the star of KRS-One." A week later, Boogie Down Productions then released " The Bridge

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900-552: A satirical "WARNING/GUARANTEE" sticker of his own. Thing-Fish was released with Zappa's sticker in December 1984 under a new agreement with Capitol / EMI . Despite the conflict with Zappa, MCA later became the biggest label to oppose the PMRC and the use of warning stickers. In October 1985, Azoff said "Never will you find a sticker on one of our records." In the 1980s, MCA became commonly nicknamed "Music Cemetery of America" due to

975-462: A short time, but were retired in favor of the MCA label in 1973. " Drift Away " by Dobie Gray became the final Decca pop label release in the U.S. in 1973. Beginning the same year, the catalogs of Decca, Uni and Kapp were reissued in the U.S. on the MCA label under the supervision of veteran Decca producer Milt Gabler . The first MCA Records release in the U.S. was former Uni artist Elton John 's " Crocodile Rock " single in 1972, which appeared on

1050-486: A song about their relationship with the label called, "Workin' for MCA". Street Survivors was released in October 1977, just prior to a tragic plane crash in which members of the group were either killed or severely injured. The original Street Survivors cover had a picture of the band members surrounded by flames, but this was quickly substituted for a design without flames. Lynyrd Skynyrd's streak of hits ended after

1125-497: A staff exchange that July, longtime Interscope executive Nicole Bilzerian was drafted to Geffen to become its executive vice president. Olivia Rodrigo joined Geffen in the fall of 2020. Her single, " Drivers License ", made the number one position on the Billboard Hot 100 in early 2021. That May, she released her debut album, Sour . It accumulated 295,000 album-equivalent units. Its five-week reign at number one on

1200-479: A sub-label for releasing heavy metal music . Bands signed to Mechanic included Voivod , Dream Theater , Bang Tango , and Trixter . MCA created a new holding company in 1989 called MCA Music Entertainment Group, headed by Al Teller, former President of United Artists Records, and co-chairman of Turf Classics, a concert production company, run by Producer Richard Flanzer. The same year the MCA Inc. parent company

1275-749: A third of their personnel, although no employees from Geffen were let go. Geffen's president, Jordan Schur , was named president of the newly merged entity, which continued under the Geffen branding. In the subsequent months, the MCA name was phased out entirely. The last album to be released under the MCA Records branding was Twisted Method 's Escape from Cape Coma , which was released on July 15, 2003. Today Interscope Capitol Labels Group and Universal Music Enterprises manage MCA's rock, pop, and urban back catalogues (including those from ABC Records and Famous Music Group) in conjunction with Geffen – UME and Geffen have re-released various albums from MCA in

1350-494: A top film studio, producing several hits. In 1966, MCA formed Uni Records and in 1967, purchased Kapp Records which was placed under Uni Records management. In 1967, Brunswick and Coral were replaced by a new MCA label, which was used to release U.S. Decca and Kapp label material outside North America. Initial activity as MCA Records was based in London and MCA Records UK was formally launched on February 16, 1968. Among

1425-431: Is Over ," widely celebrated among hip-hop fans as the highest rated diss track . Somehow all the negative attention went to MC Shan. Years later, MC Shan remade "The Bridge" into "Da Bridge 2001", and strongly denied the bridge "was over", saying: Shan's second album, Born To Be Wild , followed in 1988 and revealed Shan's b-boy persona, with production once again by Marley Marl. 1990's Play it Again, Shan displayed

1500-560: Is managed by Deutsche Grammophon . MCA's musical theatre catalogue is managed by Decca Records on its Decca Broadway imprint. Geffen Records Inc. Geffen Records (formerly Geffen Records Inc. until 2004) is an American record label , founded in late 1980 by David Geffen . Originally a music subsidiary of the company known as Geffen Pictures , it is owned by the Interscope Geffen A&;M (IGA) faction of Universal Music Group (UMG). Geffen has been

1575-586: The Backstreet Records label, which was distributed by MCA. ABC Records' independent distributors sued ABC and MCA for $ 1.3 million in damages for being stuck with unsold ABC recordings they could not return to MCA. The better selling ABC Records catalog albums were reissued on the MCA label. MCA distribution in Europe and Asia moved to CBS in 1979, while releases in the 1980s were self-distributed, or through WEA . Distribution moved to BMG during

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1650-587: The Billboard 200 became the longest by a female recording artist that year. Sour also made Rodrigo the first Geffen recording artist and first female artist overall to have a number one album under the label in nearly 13 years since Mary J. Blige's Growing Pains (2007). Rodrigo followed up Sour in 2023 with Guts . Released in September, it once again debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, though its first week units were moderately slim behind

1725-484: The Coral Records and Brunswick Records labels. In 1962, MCA, a talent agency and television production company, entered the recorded music business with the acquisition of American Decca, which became a wholly-owned subsidiary. As American Decca owned Universal Pictures , MCA was forced to exit the talent agency business in order to complete the merger. MCA assumed full ownership of Universal and made it into

1800-672: The Holy See to produce an album of Marian songs and prayers from Pope Benedict XVI . Interscope Geffen A&M chairman and CEO Jimmy Iovine relaunched Geffen in 2011, moving its headquarters from Santa Monica to New York City . Former manager of Kanye West , Gee Roberson was appointed chairman. However, in late 2013, the label went idle with a majority of Geffen's artists now recording under Interscope. On May 28, 2014, Iovine departed from Interscope Geffen A&M as its chairman and CEO and hired Fueled by Ramen co-founder John Janick as his replacement. In March 2017, Neil Jacobson

1875-662: The Island Def Jam Music Group . However, the IGA merger resulted in Geffen firing 110 of its employees. Unlike A&M, which was closed entirely, Geffen was able to continue existing as a one-off brand under Interscope Records . At the same time, international distribution of Interscope and Geffen releases respectively switched from BMG Distribution and Island Records UK to ex-PolyGram label Polydor Records , which had already been distributing A&M releases overseas (in return for A&M handling Polydor releases in

1950-576: The West Coast of the United States. On May 20, 2003, insider sources at Universal reporting to Billboard revealed that the MCA label was to be absorbed by sister UMG label Geffen Records by the end of the year. The reported reason behind the MCA brand phaseout was due to declining sales, as well as the MCA brand becoming "tarnished" by "a history of acquisitions and mergers". On June 9, 2003, MCA laid off 75 of their staff, equivalent to

2025-711: The 1990s. The combined effects of the Infinity Records failure, the purchase of ABC, rising vinyl costs and a major slump in record sales produced tremendous losses for the company between 1979 and 1982. It was not until the mid-1980s that the record labels returned to significant profitability. In late 1980, MCA received negative publicity when it attempted to raise the list price of new releases by top selling artists from $ 8.98 to $ 9.98 ($ 33.21 and $ 36.91 in 2023 dollars respectively). This policy, known as "superstar pricing", ultimately failed. The Xanadu soundtrack album and Gaucho , by former ABC act Steely Dan , were

2100-556: The MCA label until 1972, two years after MCA lost control of Brunswick, after which American Brunswick material was issued in the UK on the revived Brunswick label. Uni label material was issued on the Uni label worldwide. In 1970, MCA reorganized its Canadian record company Compo Company Ltd. into MCA Records (Canada). In April 1970, former Warner Records president Mike Maitland joined MCA and initially served as Decca's general manager. Maitland

2175-460: The MCA, DGC and DreamWorks labels, along with the signage of new acts such as Ashlee Simpson , Angels & Airwaves and Snoop Dogg , had boosted the company to the extent that it began gaining equal footing with the main Interscope label, leading some industry insiders to speculate that it could revert to operating as an independently managed imprint at UMG again. In 2006, musician Ron Fair

2250-554: The U.S.); A&M was forced to remain as a one-off active label for Interscope following a lawsuit by its co-founders Jerry Moss and Herb Alpert , which was later settled in 2003. In October 1999, Jordan Schur (of Flip Records ) was declared Geffen's new president; this led to Schur stepping down as the head of Flip, but he still managed to maintain control of the label, while certain acts from Flip's roster, such as Cold and Professional Murder Music , were transferred over to Geffen. Geffen's first release under Schur's leadership

2325-595: The United States and peak at number one on Billboard 's Hot Latin Songs chart. In December 2019, Neil Jacobson vacated his position as the president of Geffen, leaving to start his own company, Crescent Drive Productions. The following month to a new year, in mid-January 2020, Lee L'Heureux was appointed the general manager of Geffen. The label then started to see more success from artists Rod Wave , Lil Durk , Yungblud and Hotboii (the former two were signed to Geffen through Todd Moscowitz 's Alamo Records). In

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2400-535: The album and refused to let MCA Distributing Inc. handle it, stating that it was "an anti-parent record". The members of Black Flag found themselves covering the MCA Distributing logo on the first 25,000 copies with a sticker reading "As a parent... I found it an anti-parent record." SST Records partner Joe Carducci later said that Bergman's comments were actually a red herring for MCA to cut ties with Unicorn, which had not produced any successful releases;

2475-768: The charts, Lennon was murdered in New York City. Subsequently, the album went on to sell millions and gave Geffen its first number-one album and single; the rights to the album would later be taken over by EMI , which eventually would be absorbed by Geffen's then-future parent, Universal Music Group in 2012. As the mid-1980s progressed, Geffen would go on to have extended success with such acts as Asia , Berlin , Enya , Kylie Minogue , Quarterflash , Wang Chung , and Sammy Hagar . The label also signed several established acts such as Elton John , Irene Cara , Cher , Debbie Harry , Don Henley , Joni Mitchell , Neil Young , Peter Gabriel , and Jennifer Holliday . Toward

2550-702: The company from bankruptcy. In 1983, rock musician Frank Zappa negotiated a distribution agreement for his Barking Pumpkin label with MCA. As the records were being manufactured, a woman in the quality control department objected to the lyrics of Zappa's album Thing-Fish . After this MCA cancelled the Zappa contract. At about the same time, Zappa publicly argued with members of the Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC) over censorship and warning stickers for albums with potentially offensive content. The experience with MCA prompted Zappa to create

2625-484: The crash. Eventually, three Lynyrd Skynyrd albums reached the double platinum sales level and at least two others reached platinum or gold levels. During the 1970s and 1980s, MCA profited from reissuing classic early rock and roll recordings made by artists who recorded for the numerous labels absorbed by MCA. One notable example was the 1954 Decca recording " Rock Around the Clock " by Bill Haley & His Comets , which

2700-467: The early artists on the MCA label, around 1971, were groups Wishbone Ash , Osibisa , Stackridge and Budgie , and solo artists Tony Christie , Mick Greenwood and Roy Young . Early MCA UK releases were distributed by Decca, but moved to EMI in 1974. As the U.S. division of MCA Records was not established until 1972, the earliest UK MCA Records material was released in the U.S. on either Kapp or Decca. MCA UK also issued American Brunswick material on

2775-560: The emergence of alternative rock — Nirvana being an example. Geffen also briefly distributed the first incarnation of Def American Recordings (now simply American Recordings ) through Warner Music Group from 1988 to 1990. After nearly a decade of operating through WMG, its contract with the company ended. Geffen was then sold to MCA Music Entertainment, by then, a label division of the now-defunct MCA Inc. in 1990. The deal earned founder David Geffen an estimated US$ 800 million in stock and an employment contract that ran until then. Following

2850-517: The end of the decade, the company also began making a name for itself as an emerging rock label, thanks to the success of Whitesnake (U.S. and Canada only), The Stone Roses , Guns N' Roses , Tesla , Sonic Youth and the comeback of 1970s-era rockers Aerosmith . This prompted Geffen to create a subsidiary label, DGC Records (formerly the David Geffen Company), in 1990; which focused on more progressive rock and would later embrace

2925-546: The fact that MCA would, not soon afterward, directly commission a new recording of "TV Party" from Black Flag and SST Records for the Repo Man soundtrack seemed to bear this out. Unicorn would later go out of business after going bankrupt, partially the result of a lawsuit between themselves and Black Flag. Irving Azoff became the head of MCA Records in 1983. Azoff is known as an experienced music industry veteran who received credit amongst MCA management and staff for saving

3000-546: The first releases with the higher list price. Backstreet artist Tom Petty succeeded in his campaign to force MCA to drop prices back to $ 8.98 for the release of his album Hard Promises , in May 1981. MCA had a distribution deal with the independent label Unicorn Records, which in turn signed an agreement with another rising independent label, SST Records to manufacture and distribute Black Flag 's first album Damaged . Reportedly, MCA executive Al Bergman heard an advance copy of

3075-701: The funding for the label's start-up and operations, while it distributed its releases in North America , with CBS 's Epic Records handling distribution in the rest of the world until 1985 when Warner Music Group (parent company of Warner Records and formerly a division of Time Warner/ Warner Bros. Discovery until 2004) took over distribution for the rest of the world. Profits were split 50% each between Geffen Records and its respective distributors. Despite being named for founder and original owner David Geffen, it has been acknowledged that Ed Rosenblatt, who became president of Geffen Records upon its inception in 1980,

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3150-470: The label in 2015), Dot Records , ABC Records (primarily its pop, rock, and R&B recordings) and DGC Records (the label had merged into Geffen in 2021 with reissues now being handled by the parent label). Geffen Records began operations in 1980. It was created by music industry businessman David Geffen who, in the early 1970s, had co-founded Asylum Records with Elliot Roberts . Geffen stepped down from Asylum in 1975, when he crossed over to film and

3225-419: The label was previously absorbed in 1999 following its merger with Interscope. Retained artists, Beck and Sonic Youth , were later redirected to record for Geffen afterwards; DGC was later reactivated in 2007, later operating under Interscope rather than Geffen. With the mergers of MCA, DGC and DreamWorks into Geffen, more than 103 employees were laid off. As the mid-2000s progressed, Geffen's absorption of

3300-476: The label's overall album market share decline to just 2.61% in 2002, down from 9% the previous year. His demise was hastened by the relative commercial failure of Shaggy 's Lucky Day , released in October 2002, which MCA hoped would sell well enough to turn around their declining fortunes. Richard Nichols, manager of The Roots , felt that MCA had been attempting to spend lots of money on different projects, and subsequently many acts on MCA were "underfinanced" by

3375-431: The label, leading to poor sales. Rob Hitt of Midtown (who was signed to MCA through Drive-Thru Records ) stated that MCA had lost a substantial amount of money that year from investing in several unsuccessful bands. Management of the label was subsequently handed over to the Interscope Geffen A&M umbrella label and Jimmy Iovine , although UMG chairman Doug Morris promised that MCA would continue to operate as

3450-528: The label. Meanwhile, DreamWorks Records, in October, also folded, with its artists roster, consisting of Nelly Furtado , Lifehouse and Rufus Wainwright , being absorbed by Geffen as well. The absorption occurred following a reorganization at DreamWorks Pictures, which resulted in DreamWorks Animation being divested and DreamWorks Records being acquired by UMG. During this time, the remains of DGC Records were also folded into Geffen, although

3525-533: The liquidation sales of unsold cut-out recordings that had been deleted from the MCA catalog. The story was later adapted into the book Stiffed: A True Story of MCA, the Music Business, and the Mafia , which was published in 1993. The Chess Records catalog was acquired from the remnants of Sugar Hill Records in 1985. Motown Records was bought in 1988. In the late 1980s, MCA formed Mechanic Records as

3600-530: The moniker. The U.S. arm of Britain's Decca Records was established in New York in 1934 In 1937, the owner of Decca, Edward R. Lewis , chose to split off the UK Decca company from the U.S. company (keeping his U.S. Decca holdings), fearing the financial damage that would arise for UK Companies if the emerging hostilities of Nazi Germany should lead to war – correctly foreseeing World War II . Lewis sold

3675-524: The most successful MCA artists in this era was the rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd , who would become one of the most popular in the Southern rock genre. The group was discovered by Al Kooper and initially released on his Sounds of the South label imprint of MCA. The song " Free Bird " became one of the most popular songs of all time on album-oriented rock radio stations. On Second Helping , the group recorded

3750-573: The music released by Paramount's record labels, and the pre-1950 films by Paramount as well. Also included in this deal were recordings controlled by ABC, including albums by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers which were originally released by Shelter Records . Petty was furious about the reassignment of his contract and refused to record for MCA. This led to a series of lawsuits, which resulted in his bankruptcy in 1980. Petty and other ABC/Shelter artists eventually had their contracts transferred to

3825-478: The newly-founded company's DreamWorks Records subsidiary. That spring, Panasonic's ownership percentage of MCA was decreased to 20% when the remaining 80% was sold to Canadian distillery company Seagram in exchange for $ 5.7 billion USD. In January 1996, Geffen funded and distributed a short-lived boutique label, Outpost Recordings , featuring the likes of Whiskeytown , Ry Cooder , Veruca Salt , and Hayden . On December 9, 1996, Geffen's parent company, MCA Inc.

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3900-516: The remainder of his American Decca holdings when war did break out. U.S.-based Decca Records kept the rights to the Decca name in North and South America and parts of Asia including Japan. UK Decca owned the rights to the Decca name in the rest of the world. After the war, British Decca formed a new U.S. subsidiary, London Records . During this time, American Decca issued records outside North America on

3975-719: The sale, Geffen Records operated as one of MCA's leading independently managed labels. A year later, MCA was acquired by Japanese conglomerate Matsushita Electric (now Panasonic ), bringing Geffen, Universal Pictures and other sister companies along. The acquisition was completed on New Year's Day 1991 for $ 6.6 billion USD. Geffen stepped down as head of the label in 1995 to collaborate with Jeffrey Katzenberg and Amblin Entertainment co-founder Steven Spielberg to form DreamWorks SKG (later DreamWorks Pictures ), an ambitious multimedia empire dealing in film, television, books and music. Geffen Records would distribute releases on

4050-511: The use of alcohol in local night clubs and taverns. On May 21, 1998, Seagram acquired PolyGram (owner of British Decca) from Philips and merged it with Universal Music Group. Unlike several labels under PolyGram and UMG, who faced closure and job cuts of employees, MCA was the only label that was not affected by the merger. When Seagram's drinks business was bought by France -based Pernod Ricard , its media holdings (including Universal) were sold to Vivendi which became Vivendi Universal which

4125-513: The years since, as well as several compilations. Its country music label MCA Nashville Records is still in operation, and is one of the only businesses using the MCA trademark as of 2016 along with MCA Records France (imprint of Universal Music France). MCA's jazz catalogue is managed by Verve Records (through the Impulse! and GRP imprints, depending on whether the recording was acquired from ABC or not), while its classical music catalogue

4200-558: Was "Get Physical" for Steady B, also produced by Marley Marl) tells the story of how his crew got started in Queensbridge Houses, the public housing projects just north of the Queensboro Bridge. It also provided a template for other artists to use it as Queens representative anthem. The B-side is a mild-tempered diss-track aimed at LL Cool J for his song Rock The Bells which took the beat from "Marley Scratch",

4275-476: Was an American record label owned by MCA Inc. established in 1972, though MCA had released recordings under that name in the UK from the 1960s. The label achieved success in the 1970s through the 1980s, often by acquiring other record labels, from ABC to Motown to Geffen . MCA Inc. became Universal Studios, Inc., in 1996, and the MCA record label was folded into Universal Music Group 's Geffen Records in 2003, but Universal's MCA Nashville continues to use

4350-400: Was appointed president of Geffen Records to oversee the second relaunch of the label via new signings as well as reinvigoration of the label's legendary catalog. In 2018, Interscope musician DJ Snake was drafted to Geffen to release his second studio album, Carte Blanche , which commenced on July 26, 2019. Its single, " Taki Taki ", went on to accumulate four million equivalent units in

4425-612: Was featured as the lead track of MCA's number one–charting American Graffiti soundtrack album, and as a single returned to the American top 40 that year, 20 years after it was recorded. In 1977, MCA president Sidney Sheinberg set up the Infinity Records division, based in New York City with Ron Alexenberg as CEO. Alexenberg had been with the Epic division of CBS Records, now Sony Music Entertainment . The intention

4500-419: Was fired and replaced by former Warner Music Group head Doug Morris . Palmese left MCA a week later. Afterwards, Jay Boberg was named as the new president of MCA. On December 9, 1996, the new owners dropped the MCA name; the company became Universal Studios, Inc. and its music division, MCA Music Entertainment Group, was renamed Universal Music Group (UMG), headed by Morris. In 1997, MCA Records adopted

4575-500: Was fully absorbed by the parent company in 1980. In 1979, Bob Siner replaced Maitland as MCA Records president. Shortly afterwards, MCA acquired ABC Records along with its subsidiaries Paramount , Dunhill , Impulse! , Westminster , and Dot . ABC had acquired the Paramount and Dot labels when they purchased Gulf+Western 's record labels and Famous Music Corp . Thus, MCA now controlled material once owned by Paramount Pictures,

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4650-654: Was held back from the number 1 slot by Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. Other successful artists on MCA, after the consolidation, included former Kapp artist Cher , and Uni artist Olivia Newton-John . In 1973 MCA released the highly successful soundtrack album to the film The Sting . The movie used the Ragtime music of Scott Joplin , arranged and conducted by Marvin Hamlisch . It won an Academy Award for Best Original Score (MCA issued many other soundtracks to films from Universal, along with some non-Universal films). One of

4725-402: Was later renamed back to Vivendi SA after selling most of the entertainment division (which included Universal Pictures ) to General Electric . Morris continued to head the combined company, still called Universal Music Group. On January 16, 2003, Jay Boberg resigned from his position as president of MCA Records. Boberg's resignation arrived in the wake of slumping sales at MCA, which had seen

4800-466: Was later transferred to Geffen to avoid contractual obligations with G-Unit . His sophomore studio album (also his first under the label), Doctor's Advocate , debuted at number one on the U.S. Billboard 200 upon release on November 14, 2006. Geffen's urban division pertained even more notoriety with the IGA resigning of Keyshia Cole through the imprint, following DGC's relaunch and A&M's revitalization as A&M Octone Records in 2007; Cole

4875-466: Was named a vice president of Warner Bros. Pictures . He was fired from Warner c.  1978 , but still remained locked in a five-year contract, which prevented him from working elsewhere. When that deal expired, he returned to work in 1980 and struck a deal with Warner Bros. Records (now simply Warner Records , due to the label's disassociation from Warner Bros. Pictures in 2004), to create Geffen Records. Warner Bros. Records provided 100 percent of

4950-413: Was named the chairman of Geffen. That same year, after disputes with Interscope co-founder Jimmy Iovine (at the time, the chairman and CEO of Interscope Geffen A&M, parent unit of Geffen), former labelmates 50 Cent and Dr. Dre , rapper The Game was dismissed from G-Unit Records and Interscope division imprint Aftermath Entertainment (the respective labels of the aforementioned latter two), but

5025-425: Was previously signed to sister label A&M early in her career from 2004 to that point. Her sophomore album, Just like You , received critical praise and debuted at number two on the Billboard 200. However, at the end of 2007, Geffen was subsided further into Interscope. The restructuring resulted in Geffen laying off sixty employees. In 2009, it was announced that Geffen Records had signed an agreement with

5100-610: Was purchased by the Matsushita group . Azoff resigned from MCA in 1989 to form his own record label, the now-defunct Giant Records . Richard Palmese was named president of MCA Records after Azoff in 1990. GRP Records and Geffen Records were acquired in 1990. Unlike most of MCA's previous acquisitions, GRP (which began managing MCA's jazz holdings) and Geffen (which became a second mainstream subsidiary) labels kept their identities. MCA sold Motown Records to PolyGram in 1993. Singer and songrwriter Alanis Morissette became

5175-551: Was reincorporated as Universal Studios, Inc. Even so, its music division, MCA Music Entertainment Group, was also renamed Universal Music Group. However, under UMG's new ownership, Geffen's fortunes began to dwindle. On December 10, 1998, Seagram completed its seven-month $ 10.6 billion plan to acquire PolyGram. As a result, PolyGram's music division was merged into Universal Music Group. Geffen now became sister labels to A&M Records , Island Records , Mercury Records , Def Jam Recordings and Motown (which had previously been

5250-472: Was released by Warner Bros. in 1987. MC Shan was one of the first hip hop artists to have a major record deal with the label. He also found himself to be a key player in the noted hip-hop rivalry known as the Bridge Wars , between the Juice Crew and Boogie Down Productions . Controversy rose from his 1986 single "The Bridge". The A-side, one of the first song to sample " Impeach The President " (before

5325-463: Was released in October 1973 and was number one on the U.S. Billboard 200 albums chart for eight straight weeks. The management of former Decca artists the Who had formed their own label Track Records in the UK, but were still under contract with MCA for American distribution. The Who's double album Quadrophenia was released by Track/MCA also in October 1973. Quadrophenia peaked at number 2 as it

5400-591: Was the End of Days soundtrack , released in November 1999. Geffen became a predominantly rock music-based label. Geffen continued to do steady business—even within 2003 , UMG folded MCA Records into Geffen that July. Though Geffen had been substantially a pop-rock label, its absorption of MCA (and its back catalogs) led to a more diverse roster; with former MCA artists such as Mary J. Blige , The Roots , Blink-182 , Rise Against , and Common now being transferred to

5475-486: Was the one who led Geffen Records during its heyday in the 1980s and 1990s. The label's first artist signing was superstar Donna Summer , whose gold-selling album The Wanderer became the label's first release in October 1980. At the time, Donna Summer was undergoing a dispersing contract with and subsequent lawsuit against Universal Music Group 's Casablanca Records . The label then released Double Fantasy by John Lennon and Yoko Ono . Two weeks after it entered

5550-566: Was to give MCA a stronger presence on the East Coast. The only big hit the Infinity label had was " Escape (The Piña Colada Song) " by Rupert Holmes , a number one single at the end of 1979. Infinity also had some success with Hot Chocolate , Spyro Gyra , New England and TKO . But MCA pulled the plug on Infinity after it failed to sell most of the one million advance copies of an album featuring Pope John Paul II in October 1979. Infinity

5625-597: Was unsuccessful in his attempt to consolidate Warner Records with co-owned Atlantic Records which led to his departure from Warner. In April 1971, Maitland supervised the consolidation of the New York–based Decca and Kapp labels plus the California -based Uni label into MCA Records based in Universal City, California , with Maitland serving as president. The three labels maintained their identities for

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