Big Country

Phonogram Inc. was started in 1962 as a joint venture between Philips Records and Deutsche Grammophon. Phonogram was the name of a parent company that owned and or distributed many different record companies. In 1982, Phonogram was merged with Polydor Records into PolyGram. In the US, Phonogram's... artists were generally released on Mercury Records, with some releases in parts of Europe issued by Vertigo Records and Philips Records. In 1997, all PolyGram units still using the Phonogram name were renamed Mercury Records. By that time, Mercury had become Phonogram's flagship label. PolyGram continued until 1998, when the company was purchased by Seagram and merged with Universal Music Group, now owned by Vivendi.
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Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has... its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music. Rock music also drew strongly on a number of other genres such as blues and folk, and incorporated influences from jazz, classical and other musical sources. Musically, rock has centered around the electric guitar, usually as part of a rock group with bass guitar and drums. Typically, rock is song-based music with a 4/4 beat utilizing a verse-chorus form, but the genre has become extremely diverse and common musical characteristics are difficult to define. Like pop music, lyrics often stress romantic love but also address a wide variety of other themes that are frequently social or political in emphasis. The dominance of rock by white, male musicians has been seen as one of the key factors shaping the themes explored in rock music. Rock places a higher degree of emphasis on musicianship, live performance, and an ideology of authenticity than pop music.
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