Cutting My Teeth

Towards the end of the 60's decade, pop culture was spreading it's lifestyle across the country like a prairie fire. With music as its messenger, the record business began to sizzle with an unprecedented stage of retail activity. Record companies scrambled to sign the hot acts and sometimes entered into bidding wars over popular bands. Once a record was released to the public the promotion man delivered the product to radio, newspaper and media outlets and adopted the role of a quarterback pushing the campaign. Sometimes flying by the seat of my pants, I often ventured into uncharted waters by promoting my favorites. Tallied with successful results, record labels began to vow for my attention. It was about that time I began to view the world from the perspective of Atlantic Records.

Atlantic Records had made significant inroads into the rock music arena with successful albums from The Iron Butterfly, Vanilla Fudge, The Buffalo Springfield and The Young Rascals. Previously recognized as a traditional Rhythm & Blues and Jazz record label and directly associated with the success of Stax, Atlantics considerable gains in rock music were acknowledged by industry and media observers. Chief Executive, Ahmet Ertegun presided as company President and was second fiddle to no one. He was a bit of a legend within Soul and Jazz circles and known for his bona fide zeal of the marketing of non-traditional music. Ertegun and his record company had set it goals high by staying on top of the changing music trends when he strongly sensed a developing movement of white musicians appreciation of blues music particularly the bands coming from the British Isles. Next: Guitar Legends