From the Beatles to Beck, Sinatra to Sam Smith, a parade of era-defining
artists have passed through the doors of the Capitol Records Tower, one
of Hollywood's most distinctive landmarks and home to one of the world's
most defining labels for the past 75+ years.
To commemorate this extraordinary history of recorded music, TASCHEN
presents this official account of Capitol Records, from its founding
year of 1942 to today. With a foreword by Beck, essays by cultural
historians and music and architecture critics, as well as hundreds of
images from Capitol's extensive archives, we follow the label's
evolution and the making of some of the greatest music of the 20th and
21st centuries. Through pop, rock, country, classical, soul, and jazz,
the photographic and musical history includes the label's most
successful, cool, hip, and creative stars, as well as the one-hit
wonders who had their all-too-brief moments in the spotlight.
Along the way, we encounter the likes of Miles Davis, Nat King Cole, the
Kingston Trio, and Frank Sinatra in Capitol's first 20 years; the Beach
Boys, the Band, and the Beatles in the 1960s; global rock magnets Pink
Floyd, Wings, Steve Miller Band, Bob Seger, and Linda Ronstadt in the
1970s; Beastie Boys, Duran Duran, Radiohead, and Bonnie Raitt in the
1980s and 1990s; and such contemporary stars as Coldplay, Katy Perry,
and Sam Smith. An unmissable milestone for music lovers, Capitol Records
is a live and kicking celebration of the mighty giant of the industry
that created the soundtrack to generations past, present, and future.
