Led Zeppelin Debut Album

Category
Additional Images
Sub Categories
Text on Button LED ZEPPELIN
Image Description

Black and white illustration of the Hindenburg on a white background with yellow-orange text

Back Style
The Shape
The Size
Additional Information

The self titled debut album of Led Zeppelin was released in January of 1969. The album was not initially well-received by critics. However, as time went on, it has become more critically accepted and acclaimed. In both 2003 and 2012, the album has held the #29 spot out of 500 on Rolling Stone Magazine's 500 greatest albums of all time.

Led Zeppelin is one of the most popular and influential rock groups of all time who were prominent in the 1960s and 1970s. The band included Jimmy Page on guitar, John Paul Jones on bass and keyboard, Robert Plant on vocals, and John Bonham on the drums.

Catalog ID MU0359

Keeping in Tune

Category
Additional Images
Sub Categories
Text on Button KEEPING IN TUNE WITH HARMONY S.P.E.B.S.Q.S.A.
Image Description

Illustration of two barbershop quartet singers in hats and holding canes on a red background with black text above and below

Curl Text HEWIG & MARVIC New York NY 10022
Back Style
The Shape
The Size
The Manufacturer
Additional Information

The Society for the Preservation and Encouragement of Barber Shop Quartet Singing in America, or SPEBSQSA, is a society of barber shop or harmonizing quartet groups located in the United States. The society was founded by Owen Clifton Cash and Rupert I. Hall in 1938 when they had the idea to host a song festival for barber shop singers, a style of music that was slowly beginning to fade out of style. The two men invited twenty four other male singers to a meeting in Tulsa to discuss the festival, and the idea for the SPEBSQSA was born.

In 2004, the society changed its name to the Barbershop Harmony Society, or BHS. It now consists of more than 800 chapters and 38,000 members. Because the SPEBSQSA was originally a male-only club, a sister organization called Sweet Adeline’s was developed in 1945 for female quartet singers.

Sources

Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. (1998, July 20). Barbershop quartet. Britannica. Retrieved from https://www.britannica.com/art/barbershop-quartet-singing#ref12858.

Catalog ID MU0413

Lennon Fever

Category
Additional Images
Sub Categories
Text on Button LENNON FEVER
Image Description

Black text around an image of John Lennon on a white background

Back Style
The Shape
The Size
Additional Information

This button was most likely made to honor John Lennon following his murder in 1980. Ringo Starr, Lennon's former band mate, can be seen wearing it.

John Lennon is an English singer and songwriter who gained popularity as a member of the Beatles. Following the band's split, Lennon became a successful solo artist and political activist. He is most well-known for his song "Imagine," which was released in 1971.

Catalog ID MU0372

Jimi Hendrix with Guitar

Category
Additional Images
Sub Categories
Image Description

Black and white illustration of Jimi Hendrix holding a guitar on a white background

Back Style
The Shape
The Size
Additional Information

Jimi Hendrix was only 27 years old when he died of drug complications in 1970 but he left an unsurpassed mark on the music world. He began playing the guitar when he was only a young boy. Hendrix served in the United States Army as a paratrooper but was honorably discharged after an injury. He played backup for such notables as B.B. King, Sam Cooke, and the Isley Brothers. Hendrix found great success as a musician after he moved to London. While there he released his first single, “Hey Joe”, which displayed both his innovative sound and guitar playing skills. His rendition of the “Star Spangled Banner” at the Woodstock Music Festival in 1969 is considered one of his greatest performances.

Catalog ID MU0398

Jimi Hendrix Soundtrack

Category
Additional Images
Sub Categories
Text on Button JIMI HENDRIX
Image Description

Illustration of Jimi Hendrix sitting on a stool playing an acoustic guitar on a light purple background with purple text at the top.

Back Style
The Shape
The Size
Additional Information

"Jimi Hendrix" is a documentary film from 1973 that highlights the career and performances of musician Jimi Hendrix, who passed away in 1970. The soundtrack for the film includes a listing of 12 songs used in the documentary - some by Hendrix and some by other famous musicians such as Bob Dylan, B.B. King, and Chuck Berry. It also includes recorded audio of interviews with Hendrix and those who knew him personally.

Considered one of the greatest guitarists of all time, Jimi Hendrix was a revolutionary musician during a revolutionary time - the 1960s. His style consisted of psychedelic rock and blues and he is well-known for his work in the band "The Jimi Hendrix Experience," which put out the classic songs "Purple Haze" and "All Along the Watchtower" among others. Hendrix is also well-known for being one of the headliners at the popular Woodstock Festival in 1969. 

Catalog ID MU0354

If it ain't Stiff

Category
Additional Images
Text on Button If it ain't STIFF it ain't worth a fuck.
Image Description

White text on a black background

Back Style
The Shape
The Size
Year / Decade Made
Additional Information

Stiff Records is an independent music label from London, England that was established in 1976 by Dave Robinson and Jake Riviera.  Initially started to promote bands from the English "pub rock" scene, Stiff Records quickly moved on sign musicians from the burgeoning punk rock and new wave movements.  The label was known for its humorous and provocative marketing and advertising, often calling itself "The World's Most Flexible Record Label."  The label is also famous for releasing what some consider the first punk rock single, "New Rose", by the Damned.

In 1978, Stiff Records entered into a short-lived partnership with CBS Records, and a two-year long distribution deal with Island Records in 1984.  By 1987, facing financial difficulties, Stiff Records went into liquidation and its catalog was ultimately purchased by ZTT Records.  In 2007, ZTT reactivated the label.

Catalog ID MU0386

I am an Engel-holic

Category
Additional Images
Sub Categories
Text on Button I Am An Engel-holic In case of accident call The Man Engelbert Humperdinck
Image Description

Black text around a triangle with a silhouette of a person in the middle  on a white background

Back Style
The Shape
The Size
Additional Information

Engelbert Humperdinck, born Arnold George Dorsey, first began performing as a teenager in the early 1950s when he would play saxophone and sometimes sing in English pubs. Despite recording songs with Decca Records, he did not achieve true success until 1967 when he released his rendition of "Release Me" under the name Engelbert Humperdinck. The song topped British charts and remained in the top 50 for 56 weeks. Humperdinck's success has only continued, and he has sold more than 150 million records worldwide. He continues to record music and even tour to promote upcoming albums. 

Catalog ID MU0428

If You Knew Suzi

Category
Additional Images
Text on Button If you knew Suzi...
Image Description

Blue text on a white background

Back Style
The Shape
The Size
Additional Information

Suzi Quatro was born in 1950 in Detroit, Michigan, and has been active in music since 1964.  "If You Knew Suzi..." is the title of her sixth studio album.  It was released in 1978.  As of 2012, it is still Suzi Quatro's highest charting album in the United States.  The album also contains her highest charting single, "Stumblin' In".

She may be best known, however, as the character Leather Tuscadero on the television show Happy Days. 

Catalog ID MU0350

Play it Again Sam

Category
Additional Images
Text on Button PLAY IT AGAIN, SAM!
Image Description

Black text on a yellow background

Back Style
The Shape
The Size
Additional Information

The quote “Play it again, Sam” is most likely a misquotation of the character of Rick Blaine to the character of the pianist Sam in the iconic 1942 film, Casablanca, when he said "Play it!". Ingrid Bergman's character is the closest to saying the misquote when her character says "Play it, Sam." The phrase has been used as the titles of a 1969 Broadway play by Woody Allen, the film based on the play, multiple musical recordings, software branding, and a record label.  

Catalog ID MU0344

Trouser Press

Category
Additional Images
Text on Button Trouser Press
Image Description

Blue text on yellow background

Back Style
The Shape
The Size
Additional Information

Trouser Press was a music magazine started in New York City in 1974 by editor Ira Robbins as well as Dave Schulps and Karen Rose.  It began publication as a mimeograph stenciled fanzine and only 350 copies of the first issue were printed. 

The original tagline for the magazine was "an alternative to the alternative alternatives" and it primarily dealt with British rock music.  As the magazine grew in popularity it began covering the emerging punk scene of the late 1970s, and the new-wave scene of the 1980s.  The magazine stopped publication in April, 1984 due to financial reasons and as a response to what the editors believed was a stagnating music scene.

Although publication of the magazine ceased, several books bearing the Trouser Press name were released such as The Trouser Press Guide to New Wave Records and The Trouser Press Guide to '90s Rock.  Additionally, a Trouser Press website went online in 2002.

Catalog ID MU0358