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Polydor is a record label owned by Universal Music Group, headquartered in the United Kingdom.

Company history[link]

Beginnings[link]

Polydor was originally an independent branch of the Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft. Its name was first used as an export label in 1924, the British and German branches of the Gramophone Company having severed their ties during World War I. Deutsche Grammophon claimed the rights to the His Master's Voice trademark for Germany, where HMV recordings were released under the Electrola trademark.

In turn, DGG records exported out of Germany were released on the Polydor label.

Polydor became a popular music label in 1946 while Deutsche Grammophon became a classical music label. The German rights to the His Master's Voice trademark was sold by Deutsche Grammophon to the Electrola Records unit of EMI in 1949.^[1] Polydor remained Deutsche Grammophon's export label, including classical music, in France and the Spanish-speaking world for the remainder of the long-playing era, as a result of language and cultural concerns.

In the early 1960s orchestra leader Bert Kaempfert signed unknowns Tony Sheridan and the Beat Brothers - who would later become famous as The Beatles - to Polydor. Popular German entertainers such as James Last, Bert Kaempfert, Kurt Edelhagen, Caterina Valente and the Kessler Twins appeared on the Polydor label, as well as many French, Spanish and Latin-American figures. Polydor had opened a US division in 1969,^[2] but did not become a real presence in the US record industry until its purchase of the recording contract and back catalog of R&B superstar James Brown in 1971 and its absorption of the MGM Records label by parent company PolyGram in 1972.

In 1970, Polydor acquired the Hong Kong-based Diamond Records which was owned and founded by the local Portuguese merchant Ren da Silva in the late 1950s.

PolyGram[link]

In 1972, Polydor merged with giant Philips-owned Phonogram Records to create PolyGram in the US. The Polydor label continued to run as a subsidiary label under the new company. The name PolyGram is a portmanteau of Polydor and PhonoGram. Throughout the 1970s, Polydor became a major rock label, and also championed disco, being home to such platinum-selling disco acts as the Bee Gees and Gloria Gaynor.

Into the 1980s, Polydor continued to do respectable business, in spite of becoming increasingly overshadowed by its PolyGram sister label Mercury Records. Polydor took over management of British Decca's pop catalog. A&R manager Frank Neilson was able to score a major top ten hit in March 1981 for the label with "Do The Hucklebuck" by Coast to Coast as well as signing Ian Dury and Billy Fury to the company. In 1984, the company name was parodied in the rockumentary film This Is Spinal Tap (whose soundtrack album was distributed by Polydor), where 'Polymer Records' was the band's record company.

By the early 1990s, Polydor had begun to underperform. PolyGram subsequently trimmed most of Polydor's staff and roster, and shifted it to operate under the umbrella of PolyGram Label Group (PLG), a newly constructed 'super label' specifically designed to oversee the operations of PolyGram's lesser performing imprints (which included Island Records, London Records, Atlas Records and Verve Records) at the time.

In 1994, as Island Records recovered from its sales slump, PolyGram dissolved most of PLG into it. Meanwhile, Polydor Records and Atlas Records merged, briefly called "Polydor/Atlas," and began operating through A&M Records, another PolyGram subsidiary. In 1995, Polydor/Atlas became simply Polydor Records again.

Twilight years in US[link]

Over the next few years, Polydor tried to keep itself afloat with new artist signings, new releases, and reissues, while still becoming more and more dormant. In 1998, PolyGram was purchased by Seagram and absorbed into its Universal Music Group. During the consolidation of these two music giants, Polydor's US operations were dismantled into Interscope-Geffen-A&M, while its overseas branch remained intact with its records continuing to be distributed domestically through Interscope and A&M. However, North American re-issues of pre-1998 Polydor pop/rock releases are handled through Mercury Records. Today, in America, the Polydor Records name and logo is mostly used on reissues of older material from its 1960s and 1970s heyday.

Polydor UK[link]

In the early 1970s, the main source of income for the label was probably the enormously successful UK band Slade. Later, in the late 1970s and early 1980s, the label was also home to The Jam and successful British glam rock act Sweet signed on in 1977. Though Polydor's American branch is defunct, in the United Kingdom Polydor remains one of the strongest labels in the country — with artists such as Esmée Denters, Take That, Girls Aloud, N-Dubz, La Roux, Cheryl Cole, Nicola Roberts, Duffy, Klaxons, Delphic, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, The Saturdays, James Morrison, Kaiser Chiefs, Boyzone, Alphabeat, The Courteeners, S Club 7, S Club 8, Rachel Stevens and Ellie Goulding. Polydor also has a strong indie roster through the Fiction imprint with acts such as Ian Brown, Bright Eyes, Elbow (band), White Lies, The Maccabees, Kate Nash, Snow Patrol, Filthy Dukes, and Crystal Castles. It also acts as the UK label for American-based acts under Interscope-Geffen-A&M like Eminem, Queens Of The Stone Age, Limp Bizkit, Timbaland, The All-American Rejects, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Black Eyed Peas, Weezer, Marilyn Manson, Pussycat Dolls, Janet Jackson, Snoop Dogg, Gwen Stefani, Busta Rhymes, Mary J Blige, 50 Cent, Sheryl Crow, Dr. Dre, Lana Del Rey and Lady Gaga.

In Spring 2006, Polydor launched Fascination Records, a music label dedicated to pop music. Both Girls Aloud and Sophie Ellis-Bextor transferred to the new label and created groups such as The Saturdays and Girls Can't Catch . Several teen pop acts from US label Hollywood Records, such as the Jonas Brothers, Miley Cyrus, Demi Lovato and Selena Gomez & the Scene were also signed to Fascination.

In 2008, Polydor obtained distribution of The Rolling Stones' back catalogue as well as new releases.^[3]

See also[link]

• Polydor Records artists

References[link]

External links[link]

• Polydor.co.uk UK site
• Polydor.de German site
• Polydor at discogs.com
• Polydor A&R team contact list

Gloria Lavern Collins, better known as Lyn Collins (12 June 1948 – 13 March 2005), was an African American soul singer best known for working with James Brown in the 1970s and for the influential 1972 funk single, "Think (About It)". Contrary to some reports, she is not related to Bootsy and Catfish Collins.

Early life and career[link]

Born in Abilene, Texas, U.S.A., she began her recording career aged 14. Her biggest solo hit was the James Brown-produced gospel-style song "Think (About It)", from her 1972 album of the same name on People Records. The song contains 5 breaks which have been widely sampled in hip-hop and drum and bass, most famously, the "Woo! Yeah!" and "It takes two to make a thing go right" loops in Rob Base and DJ E-Z Rock's It Takes Two which is composed almost completely from samples of Think including a few lines of Collins' vocals. Furthermore, it was used in the early sociocritical eurodance classic I Can't Stand It by Twenty 4 Seven. Another album followed in 1975 Check Me Out If You Don't Know Me by Now. After the release of this album, she returned to performing mainly as a back-up vocalist.

In the late 80s and early 90s, Collins attempted a comeback as a dance/club diva, recording the house single "Shout" for Belgium's ARS label. In 1993, Collins' profile was given a boost by female dancehall singer Patra, who invited Collins to perform on her hit remake of "Think (About It)"; partly due to the resulting interest, her two official albums were reissued in England and the Netherlands. Collins continued to tour and perform, most notably at the European Jazz/Funk Festival (in both 1998 and 1999) and the Montreux Jazz Festival.

In February 2005, Collins embarked on her first ever solo tour. For three weeks, she performed in the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The tour was produced by the Soulpower organization. Shortly after returning from her European tour, Collins died aged 56 in Pasadena, California, of cardiac arrhythmia.

In 2006, Paris based Hi&Fly Records released a live album titled "Mama Feelgood", which included recordings from her European tour and some interview clips. This release was produced by German-born DJ Pari, who has also produced for Marva Whitney and who has managed Collins' last tour. An official anthology CD, also called "Mama Feelgood", was released on Universal Music that same year.

Trivia[link]

• In October 2004, "Rock Me Again And Again" and "Think (About It)" featured on the Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas soundtrack, playing on fictional radio station Master Sounds 98.3.
• "Rock Me Again And Again" was covered by synth band The Human League on their 1984 album Hysteria.
• Bruce Springsteen's song, "Shackled and Drawn" from his 2012 album, Wrecking Ball and Ludacris' song, "Southern Fried Intro" from his 2003 album, Chicken-n-Beer both feature an excerpt from Collins' song, "Me And My Baby Got Our Own Thing Going."

Discography[link]

• 1972 - Think About It
• 1975 - Check Me Out If You Don't Know Me by Now

External links[link]

• Lyn Collins biography at Allmusic
• Obituary

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (April 2012)

"The Man" is a slang phrase that may refer to the government or to some other authority in a position of power. In addition to this derogatory connotation, it may also serve as a term of respect and praise.

The phrase "the Man is keeping me down" is commonly used to describe oppression. The phrase "stick it to the Man" encourages resistance to authority, and essentially means "fight back" or "resist", either openly or via sabotage.^[1]

History[link]

The earliest recorded use^{[citation needed]} of the term "the Man" in the American sense dates back to a letter written by a young Alexander Hamilton in September 1772, when he was 15. In a letter to his father James Hamilton, published in the Royal Dutch-American Gazette, he described the response of the Dutch governor of St. Croix to a hurricane that raked that island on August 31, 1772. "Our General has issued several very salutary and humane regulations and both in his publick and private measures, has shewn himself the Man." ^{[2][dubious – discuss]} In the Southern U.S. states, the phrase came to be applied to any man or any group in a position of authority, or to authority in the abstract. From about the 1950s the phrase was also an underworld code word for police, the warden of a prison or other law enforcement or penal authorities.

It was also used as a term for a drug dealer in the 1950s and 1960s and can be seen in such media as Curtis Mayfield's "No Thing On Me", William Burroughs's novel Naked Lunch, and in the Velvet Underground song "I'm Waiting for the Man", in which Lou Reed sings about going to Uptown Manhattan, specifically Lexington Avenue and 125th Street, to buy heroin.

The use of this term was expanded to counterculture groups and their battles against authority, such as the Yippies, which, according to a May 19, 1969 article in U.S. News and World Report, had the "avowed aim ... to destroy 'The Man', their term for the present system of government". The term eventually found its way into humorous usage, such as in a December 1979 motorcycle ad from the magazine Easyriders which featured the tagline, "California residents: Add 6% sales tax for The Man."

In present day, the phrase has been popularized in commercials and cinema, featuring particularly prominently as a recurring motif in the 2003 film School of Rock.^[3][4][5][6]

Use as praise[link]

The term has also been used as an approbation or form of praise. This may refer to the recipient's status as the leader or authority within a particular context, or it might be assumed to be a shortened form of a phrase like "He is the man (who is in charge)." One example of this usage dates to 1879 when Otto von Bismarck commented, referring to Benjamin Disraeli's pre-eminent position at the Congress of Berlin, "The old Jew, he is the man."^{[7][dubious – discuss]}

In more modern usage, it can be a superlative compliment ("you da man!") indicating that the subject is currently standing out amongst his peers even though they have no special designation or rank, such as a basketball player who is performing better than the other players on the court. It can also be used as a genuine compliment with an implied, slightly exaggerated or sarcastic tone, usually indicating that the person has indeed impressed the speaker but by doing something relatively trivial.

See also[link]

• Absentee landlord
• Big Brother (Nineteen Eighty-Four)
• New World Order (conspiracy theory)
• Ruling class
• The Establishment
• Power elite
• Corrections officer
• YTMND

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Lighter, J.E. (Ed.). (1997). Random House Dictionary of American Slang. New York: Random House.