But stature had its privileges, and successful producers found ways to get back to their favorite haunts. recording studios, which their artists were expected to use. Many record labels, including A&M, Motown, Liberty, Paramount, MGM, Warner Bros., and CBS maintained their own L.A. Picking the right studio for the right project was a crucial task, and-at least at first-was a producer’s domain. Producers like Spector fueled the studios’ rise. Even Led Zeppelin and the Rolling Stones made frequent pilgrimages. ![]() They generated an unprecedented string of million-seller singles and albums, and attracted all the hottest musicians: Neil Young. The windowless, nondescript buildings, jammed with expensive recording gear, would become the epicenter of America’s musical universe, humming with activity 24/7, for the better part of almost four decades. Starting during Spector’s heyday, one iconic studio after another came to prominence in the city: Gold Star, at the corner of Santa Monica and Vine Crystal Sound, just two blocks south TTG, about a mile away from them both, near Hollywood High and a few dozen more. And the record business’s rebound into a new kind of hot-sounding (and selling) style of rock and roll, exemplified in the simultaneous rise of many of Los Angeles’ vaunted recording studios, was a critical part of the story. Convertibles, palm trees, bikinis, surfboards, and ever-present transistor radios advertised a post-war optimism that reigned supreme among teens and twentysomethings. The late ’50s and early ’60s represented a time and place like no other in American history, particularly in sun-drenched Southern California. had solidified its place at the center of the action. Rock and roll had found its bombastic rebirth-and L.A. Soon seemingly everyone wanted to work with the tiny titan, or copy him, or both. And the effects of his so-called “Wall of Sound” were immediate and profound 14 Top 40 singles from 1962 through 1963 dwarfed that of Spector’s competition. The mastermind behind such throbbing, multi-instrumental hits as “He’s a Rebel,” “Da Doo Ron Ron,” and “Be My Baby,” Spector was a gesticulating wunderkind on the other side of the control room glass. ![]() The industry’s savior, in large part, was a manic, diminutive, wig-wearing, Hollywood-based record producer (and future convicted murderer) named Phil Spector. It was 1962, and the rock and roll record business was on the rise after the multiyear slump that had followed the debuts of artists like Elvis, Chuck Berry, and Little Richard.
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