Styx

Interscope Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group that operates as one third of UMG's Interscope-Geffen-A&M label group. Interscope was founded in 1990 by Jimmy Iovine and Interscope Communications' Ted Field with financial support from Atlantic Records . Initially... it was distributed by the Atlantic Records subsidiary East West Records America. A&R Executive John McClain and producer Beau Hill were also part of the original founding team. The original focus of the label was on hip-hop and urban music, but by the mid 90's its range began to expand, to extent where its roster would be as wide ranging to include the industrial rock artist Nine Inch Nails , shock rocker Marilyn Manson, Limp Bizkit, Helmet, No Doubt and later the Latin artist Kings Of Flow in a unique partnership with Los Angeles based indie Latin label. Following UMG's acquisition of PolyGram in 1998, Geffen Records and A&M Records were merged into Interscope.
more

Wooden Nickel Records was an American independent record label started in 1971 by Bill Traut, Jim Golden and Jerry Weintraub as a successor to Dunwich Records. Most of Wooden Nickel's releases were by acts based in the Chicago area, including the Siegel-Schwall Band, Megan McDonough and Styx. The... label had a distribution deal with RCA Records. Wooden Nickel ceased operations after its top act, Styx, signed with A&M Records in 1975. The label sued the band for breach of contract, then was formally disbanded in 1977.
more

CMC International was an American independent record label founded by Tom Lipsky in 1991, focused mainly on classic rock, and classic heavy metal. The label was the haven of many hard rock, arena rock, glam metal and AOR artists in the period when all the majors were investing all their financial... efforts on grunge and alternative rock acts. In 1995 CMC started a partnership with BMG Entertainment, which in 1999 owned the majority of the company, with founder Tom Lipsky holding a minority stake. CMC International became a division of Sanctuary Records Group in 2000, with Lipsky becoming president of Sanctuary Records North America. After Universal Music Group acquired Sanctuary in 2007, CMC International ceased to exist. Tom Lipsky is currently working as president of Roadrunner Records' Loud & Proud division, always managing classic rock bands and artists.
more

Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and in the... United States. With roots in blues rock and psychedelic rock, the bands that created heavy metal developed a thick, massive sound, characterized by highly amplified distortion, extended guitar solos, emphatic beats, and overall loudness. Heavy metal lyrics and performance styles are generally associated with masculinity and machismo. The first heavy metal bands, such as Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, and Deep Purple, eventually attracted large audiences, though many were critically reviled , a status common throughout the history of the genre. In the mid-1970s Judas Priest helped spur the genre's evolution by discarding much of its blues influence; Motörhead introduced a punk rock sensibility and an increasing emphasis on speed. Bands in the New Wave of British Heavy Metal such as Iron Maiden followed in a similar vein. Before the end of the decade, heavy metal fans became known as "metalheads" or "headbangers".
more

Pop music is a genre of popular music which originated in its modern form in the 1950s, deriving from rock and roll. The terms popular music and pop... music are often used interchangeably, even though the former is a description of music which is popular , whilst the latter is a specific genre containing qualities of mass appeal. As a genre, pop music is very eclectic, often borrowing elements from other styles including urban, dance, rock, Latin and country; nonetheless, there are core elements which define pop. Such include generally short-to-medium length songs, written in a basic format , as well as the common employment of repeated choruses, melodic tunes, and catchy hooks. So-called "pure pop" music, such as power pop, features all these elements, utilising electric guitars, drums and bass for instrumentation; in the case of such music, the main goal is usually that of being pleasurable to listen to, rather than having much artistic depth.
more