The great illustrator William Stout reviewed a new book called The Rhino Records Story: Revenge of the Music Nerds, by Harold Bronson. Stout designed the Rocky Rhino logo for the label.
Bronson goes into delicious detail after detail about just what it takes to be successful in the mercurial music world. Partly, it was that very attention to detail that helped make Rhino so successful. It's sad and more than a little ironic that the Warner Music Group eventually acquired Rhino and then killed it off — despite the fact that Rhino was the most profitable branch of their record company. Reading this book gives you an insider's front row seat as to how this could (and did) happen.
The book also gives the reader an up-close-and-personal chronicle of the many huge changes that swept over the music business in the past few decades and why (the main reason being that the people now in charge of the music business don't really give a damn about music).
Because of the author's passion for The Turtles, The Knack, and The Monkees and those bands' subsequent relationships with Rhino, there is a chapter on each band. There is a riveting chapter on Tommy James and James' involvement with a mob-connected record company head that brought back scary memories of some of my own work in the entertainment business.
Great New Book on Rhino Records, Rock 'n' Roll and the Movies!
