Vertigo Records

Vertigo Records
Parent company Universal Music Group
Founded 1969
Status Active
Distributor(s) Philips Records (1969-1980)
Mercury Records (1980-1988)
The Island Def Jam Music Group (1998-2013)
Virgin EMI Records (2013-present)
Genre Hard rock, progressive rock, psychedelic rock, pop soul, heavy metal, glam metal (import bands)
Country of origin UK

Vertigo Records is a record company, which originated in the United Kingdom. It was a subsidiary of the Philips/Phonogram record label, launched in 1969 to specialise in progressive rock and other non-mainstream musical styles.[1] Today it is operated by Universal Music UK.

History

Origins

Alternate logo used in Canada.

Vertigo was the brainchild of Olav Wyper[1] when he was Creative Director at Phonogram. It was launched as a competitor to labels such as Harvest (a prog subsidiary of EMI) and Deram (Decca). It was the home to bands such as Colosseum, Jade Warrior, Affinity, Ben and other bands from 'the "cutting edge" of the early-'70s British prog-folk-post-psych circuit'. The first Vertigo releases came with a distinctive black and white spiral label, which was eventually replaced with Roger Dean's infamous spaceship design in 1973.[2]

More recently

Vertigo later became the European home to various hard rock bands signed to Mercury in North America, such as Bon Jovi, Rush and Kiss. Vertigo is a division of The Island Def Jam Music Group in the United States and operates as Virgin EMI Records in the UK, which in turn is a frontline music group operation of Universal Music UK. In Germany, Vertigo has merged with Capitol Records and is mainly used for German rock artists. The label's legacy artists include Metallica (outside the US and Canada), Razorlight, Rush (Europe) and Dire Straits (except the US). More recent signings include The Rapture, The Killers (UK/Éire), One Night Only, Amy Macdonald, Noisettes and Thee Unstrung 2004-2005 and Kassidy in 2009. Black Sabbath have returned to the label in 2013 (including the US and Canada for the first time via sister label Republic) although former sister label Sanctuary Records Group had acquired international rights to their back catalogue in the interim (the band were last on Vertigo in 1987).

Album discography

Notes

  1. ↑ For most countries outside the UK. UK release on WWA
  2. ↑ World outside of UK

References

  1. 1 2 "Vertigo UK". Vertigoswirl.com. Retrieved 2013-01-16.
  2. ↑ "Review of Time Machine: A Vertigo Retrospective". AllMusic. Retrieved 2013-01-16.
  3. ↑ "Unknown; possibly the original catalog number of Ancient Grease's Women and Children First album, which was eventually released on Mercury". Vertigoswirl.com. Retrieved 2013-03-02.
  4. 1 2 "Vertigoarg". Vertigoswirl.com. Retrieved 2013-03-02.
  5. ↑ "vertigouklp3". Vertigoswirl.com. Retrieved 2013-03-02.
  6. ↑ "vertigobra". Vertigoswirl.com. Retrieved 2013-03-02.
  7. ↑ "vertigouklp4". Vertigoswirl.com. Retrieved 2013-03-02.
  8. 1 2 "vertigoperu". Vertigoswirl.com. Retrieved 2013-03-02.
  9. ↑ "vertigoDLP1". Vertigoswirl.com. Retrieved 2013-03-02.
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