Geffen Records story. · 12:28pm Dec 27th, 2018
In the early 1970s, David Geffen had founded Asylum Records, best known for recording the Eagles and Linda Ronstadt. He stepped down from Asylum to become vice president of Warner Bros. Pictures in 1975. Warner Bros. abruptly kicked him out of the studio in 1978, but his five-year contract with the studio prevented him from finding outside work. In 1980, he resumed his work, signing a deal with Warner Bros. Records (which became one of the majors during the 1970s) to form Geffen Records. Warner would finance the label's operations and distribute its American/Canadian releases. Epic handled international rights for five years, however.
Its first album was by disco queen Donna Summer, and it was called THE WANDERER (GHS 2000). Its second was John Lennon and Yoko Ono's DOUBLE FANTASY (GHS 2001). For the former, in the midst of Disco Demolition Night, Ms. Summer had wisely abandoned her traditional disco sound in favor of a more rockish one; this glided the title cut to #3 on the pop charts. DOUBLE FANTASY was at the top of the charts at the time of John Lennon's murder.
The label scheduled four albums for 1981. Chief among them was THE FOX, an Elton John LP that contained "Elton's Song", which was banned on many radio stations in the States for containing subtle references to homosexuality. Quarterflash recorded its self-titled album, which had the hit song "Harden My Heart". Yoko Ono released SEASON OF GLASS in 1981 and Donna Summer planned to come out with an album. However, I'M A RAINBOW was shelved due to artist dissatisfaction; it was eventually released by Casablanca and Mercury in 1996.
1982 was to be a pretty big year for Geffen. He signed a group called Asia, whose self-titled album went right to #1 on the LP charts here in the States. Peter Gabriel's self-titled fourth LP (in fact all four of his first albums were self-titled), had such big hits as "The Rhythm of the Heat", "Shock the Monkey", "I Have the Touch", and "Lay Your Hands On Me." Elton John had a big album hit in JUMP UP!, but it was not a favorite of his frequent collaborator Bernie Taupin. Donna Summer put out a self-titled album, whose top-10 hit "Love Is In Control", was a Grammy nominee. Sammy Hagar came to Geffen from Capitol in 1982, and his first two albums for the label were big hits. Geffen started a film division in 1982, with all the movies it made being released in theatres by Warner Bros., beginning with the landmark 1982 film PERSONAL BEST. Geffem also released its first, very successful, cast albums: the London cast of CATS, and the Broadway casts of DREAMGIRLS and LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS. DREAMGIRLS won a Grammy for Best Musical Show Album and its star Jennifer Holliday topped the R&B charts with its number "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going" (#22 pop). CATS brought the standard "Memory" to the international spotlight, and LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS, based on the 1960 B-movie, was later adapted into a film, which, by coincidence, was also made by Geffen. Completing the 1982 Geffen story were albums by other refugees from established labels, such as Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, the Cars' lead singer Ric Ocasek, and Adrian Gurvitz.
1983 opened with the release of the Broadway cast album of CATS, both in complete and truncated form. The big albums of the year for Geffen were FEEL MY SOUL by Jennifer Holliday from DREAMGIRLS (#31 pop, #6 R&B), TOO LOW FOR ZERO by Elton John (#25), PLEASURE VICTIM by Berlin (which was purchased from Enigma Records), RIDING WITH THE KING by John Hiatt, ALPHA by Asia (#6), POINTS ON THE CURVE by Wang Chung (#30), PETER GABRIEL PLAYS LIVE (#44), and PLANET P PROJECT, a self-titled effort (#42). Many of these had hit singles behind them. This year was also marked by releases of albums by Monte Video, Debra Hurd, The Plimsouls, Irene Cara (who hit #1 with "Flashdance . . . What A Feeling!" that year), Madness (their self-titled album being put out after they had a big hit in "Our House"), Mac McAnally, Quarterflash, Oxo, and Joan Rivers (via a comedy album called WHAT BECOMES A SEMI-LEGEND MOST?).
1984 saw Elton John release BREAKING HEARTS (#20), with "Sad Songs (Say So Much)" being a big hit off it. Madness recorded KEEP MOVING, which, even with the alteration of its track list for the U.S. market, had the hits "Wings of a Dove" (not to be confused with the religious song from Ferlin Husky) and "The Sun and the Rain". By the time Madness appeared on NBC's SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE, original member Mike Barson was replaced by James Mackie, as Mr. Barson wanted to raise a family. XTC and Sioxie and the Banshees had multiple albums that were issued on Geffen in 1984. After a classic '80s one-off for Mercury, Donna Summer put out CATS WITHOUT CLAWS, which had a hit in a remake of "There Goes My Baby." And Sammy Hagar had a big hit in "I Can't Drive 55" (#26 pop, #9 rock).
However, the label's biggest success story of 1984 was the signing of an old friend of David Geffen's, Don Henley. In October, what would prove to be a summertime album, "The Boys of Summer", was released. The album it was off of, BUILDING THE PERFECT BEAST, came out November 19, peaking at #13 and also scored hits in "All She Wants to Do Is Dance", "Not Enough Love in the World", and "Sunset Grill."
Geffen also released Hagar Schon Aaronson Shrieve's THROUGH THE FIRE, the highlight of which was a rendition of "A Whiter Shade of Pale", which only got up to #94 on the Hot 100. Eric Carmen, the Sylvers, and a Drop in the Gray also came to Geffen in 1984. That year, it also released the soundtrack of the smash hit GREMLINS, but it was not a movie that Geffen made.
In 1985, Geffen released the soundtracks of such (non-Geffen) films as THE COTTON CLUB, VISION QUEST, SILVERADO, BIRDY and TO LIVE AND DIE IN L.A. VISION QUEST, which hit the top-15, was easily the biggest album Geffen had in an otherwise weak year, as albums by Kitarō, Whoopi Goldberg, Quarterflash, Asia, Jennifer Holliday, Joni Mitchell, Lloyd Cole and the Commotions (whose album RATTLESNAKES was acquired by Geffen from Polydor), Gary Myrick, Neil Young, Lone Justice, John Hiatt, and Mummy Calls either failed to crack the top-40 on the Hot 200 or didn't chart at all in the U.S. Singles didn't fare much better, as the label's only major hit single of 1985 was "Crazy For You", Madonna's second chart-topper. It was in 1985 that Warner finally claimed international rights of Geffen's discs from Epic.
After a disappointing 1985, Geffen looked forward to a more promising 1986. That year, Tommy Keene recorded an album that, surprisingly, wasn't on CD at the time, Tommy Keene's SONGS FROM THE FILM. Bill Cosby came to Geffen in 1986; THOSE OF YOU WITH OR WITHOUT CHILDREN, YOU'LL UNDERSTAND being his first LP for the label and his first since the debut of the #1 TV hit of the mid-to-late '80s, THE COSBY SHOW. Ray Parker, Jr. came after a very successful Arista tenure, but his tenure with Geffen was, chart-wise, lackluster. Elton John released LEATHER JACKETS, an album which contained his least favorite song, "Heartache All Over the World", which was the only US hit off the album despite its complete and utter failure to get in the top 40 over here. Geffen purchased the album OUT OF SIGHT, OUT OF MIND, an album by an Australian rock group called the Models, from the Mushroom label. Lone Justice scored their biggest pop hit to date in the title cut of "Shelter", but that single failed to get anywhere near the top 40 on the pop end.
Geffen entered the world of jazz, hitting #12 on the Billboard Jazz Albums chart with Lyle Mays' self-titled debut album; Mr. Mays was a member of the Pat Metheny Group. Geffen's aforementioned film version of LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS came out in 1986, and rose to cult hit status. Lloyd Cole and the Commotions had three UK hit singles from a UK smash album called EASY PIECES. Neither the album nor the trio of singles charted in the US, which was to be a blessing for the bamd as members of it disowned the LP. Then there was a group called It Bites, whose album THE BIG LAD IN THE WINDMILL had a quite unpredictable style change across its tracks, but was selectively marketed as a pop album.
As far as big hit singles went for Geffen, Ric Ocasek brought some in the form of the MTV staple "Emotion in Motion" (#1 rock, #8 AC, #15 pop), which was his only single to hit #1 outside of three chart-topping singles by the Cars. Another #1 hit for Geffen came in the form of Peter Gabriel's smash "Sledgehammer"; Gabriel also hit with "Don't Give Up", "Big Time", "In Your Eyes" and "Red Rain". All these hits were from his album SO. After being done with Columbia, Aerosmith released the widely-hailed album DONE WITH MIRRORS, and Geffen hoped that 1986 would be the year in which Aerosmith would come back big time. It was, but not in the form of this album. Instead, the band's comeback ended up being via Run-D.M.C., whose rendition of their 1975 tune "Walk This Way" on Profile was a top-10 hit on the pop, R&B and Dance Club Play charts, and reached #13 on the Maxi-Singles chart. TOP GUN, one of the highest-grossing films of the year, spawned "Take My Breath Away" by Berlin, which both topped the charts and won the Academy Award for Best Original Song. Wang Chung went to #9 with the hit "Let's Go", while another cut from their MOSAIC album, "Hypnotize Me", went to #36. Neil Young also had two Mainstream Rock singles that year. So much for 1986.
1987 saw the return of Aerosmith to proper commercial promienence. The singles "Rag Doll", "Dude (Looks Like a Lady)", and "Angel" all hit the top 20 and their album PERMANENT VACATION sold over five million copies. Geffen hit the heavy metal scene with Guns N' Roses' debut, APPETITE FOR DESTRUCTION, which, after almost a year, went to the top of the album charts, thanks to their extensive touring and radio airplay. Cher cut her second self-titled album, ahead of her Oscar-winning turn in the great film MOONSTRUCK. Cher had not had an album since 1982's I PARALYZE, but the new Cher album contained the big hits "I Found Someone" and "We All Sleep Alone". KISS stalwart Gene Simmons produced the self-titled debut of EZO. Geffen lured the American rights of Whitesnake away from the closed Mirage label, reissuing their album COME AND GET IT, remixing their 1984 LP SLIDE IT IN, and putting out a new self-titled album by the group. The first single off it, "Still of the Night", only reached #79 on the Hot 100, but the follow-ups, "Here I Go Again" and "Is This Love", hit #1 and #2 on the pop charts respectively. Robbie Robertson's self-titled debut contained the Mainstream Rock hits "Showdown at Big Sky", "Sweet Fire of Love", and "Somewhere Down the Crazy River". None of them hit the Hot 100 though. Sammy Hagar had a #22 Album Rock hit in "Eagles Fly", but it only hit up to #82 on the pop end of the spectrum. Donna Summer released ALL SYSTEMS GO, which contained "Dinner With Gershwin" and "Only the Fool Survives", but which commercially suffered from rumors that the one-time disco queen was a homophobe who blamed gays for the AIDS epidemic that was growing at the time (this was the decade where she became a born-again Christian). ALL SYSTEMS GO would be her final album for Geffen. And in a similar sense, GET CLOSE TO MY LOVE was Jennifer Holliday's last album for the label. 1987 also saw releases of the INNERSPACE soundtrack, the Original Broadway Cast album of LES MISERABLES, and albums by Geoffrey Downes & the New Dance Orchestra, Fuzzbox, the Pat Metheny Group.
1988 was a year of more hits for Geffen. It put out the soundtrack of the late '80s Tim Burton classic BEETLEJUICE, and Peter Gabriel's PASSION, the soundtrack for the movie THE LAST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST. The latter film, from Martin Scorsese, was highly controversial during the year, and was heavily protested by Christians. There were picket lines, burning effigies of Universal studio executives, and even bans in some countries, all directed toward the picture. KYLIE Minogue, an Australian vocalist, hit big with "I Should Be So Lucky" and "The Loco-Motion" in 1988, and the album sold over five million copies. Ex-Led Zeppelin member Jimmy Page, who had just been signed up by Geffen, was busy recording a double album when he was suddenly subject to a home invasion by some guy who took much of the masters with him. He was left to record a single album, and OUTRIDER, which was the off-spring of this, reached #26 on the Hot 100, and spawned the Mainstream Rock hits "Wasting My Time", "The Only One" and "Prison Blues." Dallas rocker Edie Brickell, who would become Paul Simon's wife some time later, formed a band called the New Bohemians, which hit #4 on the Hot 200 with SHOOTING RUBBERBANDS AT THE STARS. That album spawned "What I Am", which became a strong seller, racing to #9 on the rock charts and #7 pop. Guns N' Roses put out a second album, LIES, with its only single, "Patience", hitting #4 on the Hot 100. England's Siouxsie and the Banshees finally had some hits. While "Peek-A-Boo" reached no higher than #53 on the pop end, that song and "The Killing Jar" were big hits on the Modern Rock Tracks chart. A group called 3, which was spun off from Emerson, Lake and Palmer, hit #9 on the rock chart with "Talkin' Bout". Geffen's 1988 story was completed by the 1987 West End cast of Stephen Sondheim's FOLLIES.
Also in 1988, Geffen picked up two albums by thrash metal group Slayer from Def Jam Recordings, and gained the distribution contract for Def American, which was founded by Rick Rubin after he quit Def Jam. Due to the controversy surrounding the Geto Boys' debut album, Geffen didn't distribute Def American for long, with the company soon going to Warner Bros., then to Sony Music. In 1993, Def American dropped Def from its name.
1989 was the last year of the '80s, which Geffen was keen to close out in spectacular fashion. Wang Chung's final single "Praying to a New God" peaked at #31 on the rock charts. Aerosmith put out the album PUMP, which contained such hits as "Love In An Elevator", "The Other Side", "F.I.N.E.", "Young Lust", "What It Takes", "Monkey On My Back", and the legendary tune "Janie's Got A Gun." Cher's HEART OF STONE, her first after winning the Best Actress Oscar for MOONSTRUCK, had several big hits including "After All", "If I Could Turn Back Time", "Just Like Jesse James", and the title cut. Nikki, a Japanese-American, hit #21 pop and #11 AC with "Notice Me." Christopher Williams recorded his first solo album, ADVENTURES IN PARADISE. Its singles "Talk To Myself" and "Promises, Promises" were top-10 R&B hits, and "One Girl" hit #31. Of these, only "Talk To Myself" crossed over to pop, and it didn't get anywhere near the top-40. Tesla, who earlier put out the album MECHANICAL RESONANCE, released THE GREAT RADIO CONTROVERSY, an album that hit #10 pop with "Love Song" (#7, rock). Another single they issued, "The Way It Is" (#55 pop) was a top-20 rock hit. Whitesnake hit the rock charts four times with "Fool for Your Loving", "The Deeper the Love", "Now You're Gone" and "Judgement Day", all off the album SLIP OF THE TONGUE, and two of which also hit the top 40 on the pop charts. XTC's ORANGES AND LEMONS scored such top-20 rock hits as "King for a Day" and "Mayor of Simpleton". The latter was the only pop hit off the album, peaking at #72. Don Henley's latest, THE END OF THE INNOCENCE, sold over six million copies thanks to the big hits "The End of the Innocence", "The Heart of the Matter", and "The Last Worthless Evening". Completing the year for Geffen were Nitzer Ebb's BELIEF album, Rickie Lee Jones' FLYING COWBOYS (BB #39) and Stan Ridgway's MOSQUITOS, with two Modern Rock Tracks hits ("Calling Out To Carol", "Goin' Southbound").
David Geffen started the 1990s off with a new label, DGC, which was a vehicle for the increasing amount of alternative rock acts that he signed. Nirvana, Sonic Youth, Hole, Weezer and Beck were the main attractions of the label, which also included The Roots, Jimmy Fallon's backing band on THE TONIGHT SHOW. That year, both labels were up for distribution contract renewal. However, Geffen opted to sell his labels to MCA for $800 million. David Geffen was signed to an employment contract that lasted for five years.
1990 was quite a bizarre year for Geffen in other departments. It issued Conway Twitty's music video for "Crazy in Love" but the song itself was issued on the now-parent MCA label. Pat Metheny collaborated with Dave Holland and Roy Haynes on QUESTION AND ANSWER. Guns N' Roses hit with "Knockin' On Heaven's Door", a Bob Dylan cover straight from the soundtrack of Paramount's DAYS OF THUNDER. Death Angel, a thrash metal group, released its only Geffen offering, ACT III, in this year. Three of Geffen's top 10 hits of 1990 came from glam metal group Nelson, whose AFTER THE RAIN had the title cut, "Love and Affection" and "More Than Ever" hit big on both the pop and rock charts (more or less). Completing 1990 for Geffen were albums by Danzig, Y&T, Nitzer Ebb, Hanoi Rocks, Gene Loves Jezebel, Lori Carson, and Warrior Soul, a children's disc from Olivia Newton-John, reissues of Hanoi Rocks LPs, and the original cast album of MISS SAIGON.
DGC and Geffen both had out of left field hits during 1991. Geffen's out of left field hits came from THE SIMPSONS SING THE BLUES, which was a cast album from the Fox television series THE SIMPSONS, which had become wildly popular, and to some degree is still popular. That album spawned the hits "Do The Bartman" (a chart topper in the UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and Norway with backing vocals from Michael Jackson) and "Deep, Deep Trouble", which was also a top-10 hit in the UK and Ireland but was not as successful elsewhere. DGC had Nirvana on the roster, and their album NEVERMIND made "Smells Like Teen Spirit" a grunge anthem for the ages, going top-20 in numerous countries and establishing Seattle as the epicenter of the great music revolution of the early 1990s.
More expectedly, Cher put out LOVE HURTS, whose hits included "Love and Understanding", "Save Up All Your Tears", "Love Hurts", "Could've Been You" and "When Lovers Become Strangers"; the movie MERMAIDS brought her a hit remake of Betty Everett's 1963 Vee-Jay hit "The Shoop Shoop Song (It's in His Kiss)".
In addition, singer-songwriter Michael W. Smith hit #6 on the hot 100 with "Place in This World", Guns N' Roses had top-5 album hits with the USE YOUR ILLUSION saga, Neil Young issued a live album called ARC, and Bill Cosby released OH, BABY!, which until 2014 had been his final stand-up comedy album to date, as well as his swan song for Geffen. Given his conviction for sexual assault in April 2018, it is unlikely he will record any more stand-up comedy albums, for Geffen or any other label, for the forseeable future. Other albums released during 1991 included those by a group (literally) called ©, John Kilzer, Peter Gabriel, Tyketto and Junkyard.
1992 was somewhat of a down year for Geffen/DGC, with only two albums on the US charts. Both of them, however, were in the top 40. They were Nirvana's INCESTICIDE (#39) and Peter Gabriel's US (#2).
1993 was an improvement. Coverdale•Page, a union of David Coverdale from Whitesnake and Jimmy Page from Led Zeppelin, hit #5 on the Hot 200, and the single off it, "Pride and Joy", hit #1 on the rock chart. The Counting Crows' debut, AUGUST AND EVERYTHING AFTER, which hit #2 on the Heatseekers chart. IN UTERO, a Nirvana effort that was recorded during February in minimalistic fashion, hit the top of the charts immediately upon its release. It went quintuple platinum and has sold over 15 million copies. On November 18, 1993, Nirvana was the subject of MTV's UNPLUGGED. Guns N' Roses' "The Spaghetti Incident?" sold six million copies and went to #4 on the Hot 200. Aerosmith's GET A GRIP got four top-10 hits: "Amazing", "Cryin'", "Livin' On The Edge", and "Crazy".
On April 8, 1994, DGC/Geffen received an alarming report that Kurt Cobain, the lead singer of their star group Nirvana, had died of an overdose of heroin. The album MTV UNPLUGGED IN NEW YORK came out posthumously in November, and went quintuple platinum in three years. Four days after Cobain's death, Hole, a group fronted by Mr. Cobain's wife Courtney Love, hit multi-platinum status, and became noted as a contemporary classic. Another death in the family came afterwards, as Hole's bassist, Kristen Plaff, died in June. HELL FREEZES OVER, a live/studio album by the Eagles, topped the album charts. Geffen put out another live album, Peter Gabriel's SECRET WORLD LIVE, but it was less successful. Aerosmith's BIG ONES had two singles, "Walk On Water", and "Blind Man", the latter of which, at #48 in the US, was the only new single off that album to chart on the pop end. Weezer put out its self-titled ebut, which had such hits as "Undone–The Sweater Song", "Buddy Holly", and "Say It Ain't So". In October 1994, David Geffen left DGC/Geffen, and on October 12 of that year, he co-founded DreamWorks *SKG*. *SKG* stood for Steven *S*pielberg, Jeffery *K*atzenberg and Mr. *G*effen. It was an ambitious multimedia empire dealing in film, television, books and music, the last of which via a record arm that was distributed by Geffen.
1995 brought only four albums of note from DGC/Geffen: Lisa Loeb's Gold-certified debut TAILS, ACTUAL MILES: [Don] HENLEY'S GREATEST HITS, TIME'S MAKING CHANGES–THE BEST OF TESLA, and Genius/GZA's LIQUID SWORDS.
1996 saw a #1 hit from Nirvana in the live recording FROM THE MUDDY BANKS OF THE WISHKAH. The Counting Crows' RECOVERING THE SATELLITES had several big hits on the Mainstream Rock and Adult Top 40 charts and went to #1 on the Hot 200. "Where It's At", "Devils Haircut", and "The New Pollution" were big hits for Beck and pushed their album ODELAY to #16 on the album charts. There was also LOUDER THAN HELL by Manowar, as well as Weezer's PINKERTON, which included the hits "El Scorcho", "The Good Life" and "Pink Triangle", and took twenty years to go Platinum.
1997 saw the arrival of 10,000 Maniacs after that band quit Elektra, but LOVE AMONG THE RUINS was only able to climb up to #104 on the Hot 200. ONE FIERCE BEER COASTER was released by a group called the Bloodhound Gang, a pick-up from future sister label Republic which removed one track ("Yellow Fever"). Alternative country group Whiskeytown released STRANGERS ALMANAC in 1997, with the big hit "16 Days".
1998 saw the release of the first major label album by Pitchshifter. www.pitchshifter.com spawned the singles "Genius", "Microwaved", and "W.Y.S.I.W.Y.G.", two of which hit the lower range of the UK Singles Chart and none of which charted at all in the U.S. Rapper Killah Priest had a #4 R&B album hit with the album HEAVY MENTAL, which also hit #24 on the Hot 200. Then there was 117°, the debut album of Izzy Stradlin, the guitarist for Guns N' Roses. Meanwhile, CELEBRITY SKIN sold over a million copies and went platinum in three countries. Beck's MUTATIONS hit #13 on the album chart when it was issued in November. And finally, Columbia and Geffen jointly released Aerosmith's live album A LITTLE SOUTH OF SANITY.
In 1999, Universal Music Group, as MCA was renamed in 1997, merged with PolyGram and subsequently reorganized the labels. Geffen and A&M were merged into Interscope. Geffen was retained but was now somewhat smaller to fit in with the greater expansion of Interscope. Geffen continued its success into the 2000s, absorbing MCA in 2003, and DreamWorks and DGC shortly thereafter. Such artists as Mary J. Blige, The Roots, Blink-182, Rise Against, Common, Nelly Furtado, Lifehouse, Rufus Wainwright, Ashlee Simpson, Angels & Airwaves, Snoop Dogg and The Game all recorded for Geffen during the 2000s. In 2007, it was absorbed into Interscope further, with sixty employees being laid off by UMG. On March 23, 2017, Billboard announced that Geffen was being relaunched with the presidency longtime A&R Neil Jacobson, who reports to John Janick, CEO and chairman of Interscope-Geffen-A&M. Geffen sees new artists in its future.
Special thanks to Andrew Turnbull (http://www.andrewturnbull.net/geffen.html) whose article on Geffen was quite helpful in my research.
