Line #35 Creator/VertigoRecords


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/vertigo_records_ad_november_1969.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:An ad announcing Vertigo's first releases. Note the text asking readers to put the logo on their record players and observe the spinning effect.]]
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4	->''"I was sitting in traffic, it was raining; my car windows were steamy and I wanted to look at something in shop window across the street. I drew an increasingly large circle, like a spiral, in the fog of the auto glass. That was the starting point for 'swirl' label that we developed with the input of our in-house art team, Linda Glover and Mike Stanford- the whole point was to draw you in, and combined with the label name I conceived- 'Vertigo'- it captured the sense I wanted to create- a sort of hypnotic quality. It was also visually a lot more interesting than bare typeface of the standard label logo and copy on virtually every other record. I wanted this to function as 'art', and couldn’t have done it without Linda and Mike."''
5	-->--'''Olav Wyper''' discusses the origin of Vertigo, from [[https://thevinylpress.com/a-conversation-with-olav-wyper-creator-of-the-vertigo-swirl-records/ this interview]]
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7	It was the end of TheSixties. RockAndRoll had turned into {{Rock}}, and the British record industry responded with several new labels dedicated to the "underground" genres that the counterculture listened to, such as PsychedelicRock, ProgressiveRock, HardRock and FolkRock. Some were independents like {{Creator/Island\|Records}}, {{Creator/Charisma\|Records}}, and {{Creator/Chrysalis\|Records}}, while others were major label imprints like {{Creator/Decca\|Records}}'s {{Creator/Deram\|Records}} and Creator/{{EMI}}'s {{Creator/Harvest\|Records}}. Olav Wyper of Creator/PhilipsRecords wanted his company to enter this lucrative market, so he spearheaded the formation of Philips' own "hippie label", Vertigo, which was launched in November 1969.
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9	Many Vertigo signings were cult heroes or commercial non-starters who are remembered only by collectors, but several of their performers did well, with some even gaining iconic status. Music/ManfredMann switched from pop music to {{Jazz}} and SpaceRock with his new band, Chapter Three. Music/GentleGiant gained a cult following for their complex prog rock. Music/RodStewart put out his first two solo albums on Vertigo before switching to its corporate stablemate Creator/MercuryRecords. The hard rock of Music/UriahHeep and Music/StatusQuo sold consistently. Music/{{Kraftwerk}} managed an unlikely American hit single with its synth-driven KrautRock on ''Music/{{Autobahn}}''. American SingerSongwriter Music/JimCroce licensed his recordings to Vertigo in Europe. However, Vertigo's most popular and influential act was Music/BlackSabbath, who helped forge the destiny of HeavyMetal for decades to come.
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11	Another notable aspect of Vertigo is the emphasis that the label, which [[TagLine billed itself]] as "The Sight and Sound of Contemporary Music", put on eye-catching graphics and packaging. Vertigo's logo, designed by Philips art directors Linda Glover and Mike Stanford (and possibly influenced by the work of Italian Pop Art creator Marina Apollonio), has come to be known as the "Vertigo swirl"; it's a series of concentric black and white circles that originally took up the entirety of a record's A side label, creating [[SpectacularSpinning a hypnotic spinning effect]] as the record played. (All the credits and info appeared on the B side.) Most Vertigo albums from the classic late 60s/early 70s era have gatefold covers, with a few even sporting elaborate die-cut or poster-sized sleeves.
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13	As TheSeventies became TheEighties, the music industry changed, with PunkRock, NewWaveMusic and later AlternativeRock becoming the hip new genres; Vertigo failed to keep pace, although signings like Music/ThinLizzy and Music/DireStraits kept them on the charts. (The label's Canadian arm did manage to snag hip alternative artists like the Music/CocteauTwins and Music/{{Pixies}} through a licensing deal with Creator/FourADRecords and its corporate parent, Creator/{{Beggars Banquet\|Records}}.) By the mid-80s, the label had become the European home for HeavyMetal and HairMetal bands like Music/DefLeppard, Music/{{KISS}}, Music/{{Scorpions\|Band}} and Music/BonJovi, with Music/{{Metallica}} as its most prominent act. Since the TurnOfTheMillennium, Vertigo (now a part of Creator/UniversalMusicGroup thanks to corporate mergers) has undergone a resurgence with new signings like Music/{{The Killers\|Band}}, Music/{{Soundgarden}}, and Dirty Pretty Things; even Black Sabbath, which had left Vertigo in 1987, returned for the band's final albums. Vertigo is also still active in UsefulNotes/{{Germany}}, having merged with Creator/CapitolRecords.
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15	Compare Creator/DeramRecords and Creator/HarvestRecords, two former Vertigo competitors which are also owned by UMG.
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17	!!Vertigo performers, past and present, with Website/TVTropes pages:
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19	[[index]]
20	* Music/AphroditesChild
21	* Music/{{Apocalyptica}}
22	* Music/{{Bauhaus}} (Canada only)
23	* Music/BlackSabbath
24	* Music/BonJovi
25	* Creator/RussellBrand (a one-off excursion into RecordedAndStandUpComedy)
26	* Music/LewisCapaldi
27	* Music/{{CHVRCHES}} (Germany, Austria, and Switzerland only)
28	* Music/CocteauTwins (Canada only)
29	* Music/JimCroce
30	* Music/DeadCanDance (Canada only)
31	* Music/DefLeppard
32	* [[Music/RonnieJamesDio Dio]]
33	* Music/DireStraits
34	* Music/FairportConvention
35	* Music/{{Genesis\|Band}} (South America and continental Europe)
36	* Music/GentleGiant
37	* Music/{{HAIM}} (Germany, Austria, and Switzerland only)
38	* Music/{{The Killers\|Band}}
39	* Music/KingCrimson (New Zealand only)
40	* Music/{{KISS}}
41	* Music/{{Kraftwerk}}
42	* Music/LanaDelRey (Germany, Austria, and Switzerland only)
43	* Music/DuaLipa (Germany, Austria, and Switzerland only)
44	* Music/ManfredMann's Chapter Three
45	* Music/{{Metallica}} (outside North America)
46	* Music/TheMission
47	* Music/{{Pixies}} (Canada only)
48	* Music/{{Placebo}}
49	* Music/{{Rammstein}}
50	* Music/{{Rush\|Band}}
51	* Music/{{Scorpions\|Band}}
52	* Music/{{Soundgarden}}
53	* Music/StatusQuo
54	* Music/RodStewart
55	* Music/LindseyStirling
56	* Music/TearsForFears
57	* Music/ThinLizzy
58	* Music/{{Tocotronic}}
59	* Music/UriahHeep
60	* Music/VanDerGraafGenerator (Italy only)
61	* Music/{{Vangelis}}
62	* Music/{{Volbeat}}
63	* Music/WithinTemptation (Europe only)
64	* Music/{{Yello}}
65	[[/index]]

Context Creator / VertigoRecords