Labelled with Love

‘… an instant classic and a required part of the library of anyone fascinated with the record business.’ – Danny Goldberg, bestselling author of Serving the Servant: Remembering Kurt Cobain

Chess Records tested their acquisitions out on people waiting at a nearby bus stop: if the crowd were bopping, they had a hit.

Sub Pop rejection letters start with the harsh, yet funny, ‘Dear Loser’.

Atlantic Records signed Led Zeppelin on Dusty Springfield’s recommendation.

Labelled with Love is an odyssey through your record collection and the world beyond it, from the Jazz Age to punk, the civil rights movement to Thatcherism, the Beatles to Britpop, and Ella Fitzgerald to The Ramones. Long-time music obsessive Andy Bollen tracks popular music through the influential labels that have shaped the last eighty years, chronicling each company with the passion of a fan but the eye of a satirist. This is an informative and revealing look at the leading labels, bands and music that rocked our worlds and shaped our lives.