Popular Metaphysics was a record label created by

Sandy Pearlman Samuel Clarke "Sandy" Pearlman (August 5, 1943 – July 26, 2016) was an American music producer, artist manager, music journalist and critic, professor, poet, songwriter, and record company executive. He was best known for founding, writing for, ...

in Studio C of the

Hyde Street Studios Hyde Street Studios is an American music recording facility in San Francisco, California. Located at 245 Hyde Street and previously occupied by Wally Heider Studios, it became Hyde Street Studios in 1980 when it was taken over by local songwriter, ...

in San Francisco in

1989 1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...

. The label was short lived, but it signed a few solid acts and released their records on the MCA label, including Love Club (1990), Manitoba's Wild Kingdom (1990), and World Entertainment War (1991).

History

In 1986, Sandy Pearlman leased Studio C in San Francisco's Hyde Street Studios from studio owner Dan Alexander. Pearlman ran Studio C as Alpha & Omega Studio until 1991. He also used it for his own projects, including those on his short-lived MCA-distributed label Popular Metaphysics, and he also sub-leased it to other producers and artists.

Howie Klein Howard Klein (born February 20, 1948) is an American writer, political activist, media personality, and former record label executive, DJ, and producer. He was the President of Reprise Records from 1989 to 2001. He appears occasionally as himself ...

was the owner and President of

415 Records 415 Records was a San Francisco record label created in 1978. The label focused its efforts on local punk rock and new wave music acts of the late 1970s through the late 1980s, including The Offs, The Nuns, The Units, Romeo Void, and Wire Tra ...

and he had been named general manager of

Reprise Records Reprise Records is an American record label founded in 1960 by Frank Sinatra. It is owned by Warner Music Group, and operates through Warner Records, one of its flagship labels. Artists currently signed to Reprise Records include Green Day, En ...

in 1989; later, in 1995, he would become president of Reprise Records and executive vice president of

Warner Bros. Records Warner Records Inc. (known as Warner Bros. Records Inc. until 2019) is an American record label. A subsidiary of Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division ...

, a position he held until his retirement in 2001. Sandy Pearlman took over as President of 415 Records when Klein left and A&R Director Daniel Levitin stayed to help run the label. Levitin had held that position with 415 Records when Columbia Records severed their co-branding contract earlier in 1989. By this time, Al Teller, who had been president of Columbia when the 415 partnership began, was now president of MCA Records and so, Pearlman formed a new co-branding alliance between 415 Records and MCA. Three months after Klein left, in 1989, Pearlman bought 415 Records and named Tom Schedler head of his A&R department. Shortly after, Pearlman changed the label's name to Popular Metaphysics, ending the 415 Label. In 1990, Mark Garvey's ''Songwriters' Market'' published a listing that read as follows: "*SANDY PEARLMAN, INC., 245 Hyde St., San Francisco CA 94102. (415)885-4999. A&R Director: Natasha V. Record producer, record company (Popular Metaphysics, formerly 415), recording studio (Alpha & Omega Recording, Hyde Street Studios)." Popular Metaphysics signed and released records through its co-branding agreement with MCA for a diverse but small group of artists, including Love Club, Manitoba's Wild Kingdom, and World Entertainment War. Not every artist that Popular Metaphysics courted was co-branded by MCA. In the summer of 1990, Salt Lake City, Utah alternative band Idaho Syndrome, did a showcase for a label representative, and expected to be signed, contingent on MCA's final approval. As lead singer Ryley Fogg described it two years later, "They didn't like dirge rock," and the deal fell through.

Post-closing activities

Artists signed to Popular Metaphysics

Popular Metaphysics signed artists included:

Discography

* Love Club ;''Lime Twigs and Treachery'' (1990 in music, 1990) Recorded at, engineered by, mastered by Stephen Marcussen, produced by Bill Buchanan, and released as a CD in the US (cat# MCAD-10034) on Jan 1, 1990 on the Popular Metaphysics/MCA Records label. * Manitoba's Wild Kingdom ;''...And You?'' (1990 in music, 1990) Recorded at, engineered by, with Ulrich Wild assisting, mastered by, produced by Andy Shernoff and released in Germany as a vinyl LP album (cat.# 2292-57200-1), in the UK as a cassette tape album (cat.# MCGC 6087), and in the US as a CD album (cat# MCAD 6367) and cassette (cat# 6367), on Popular Metaphysics, co-branded with MCA. * World Entertainment War ;''World Entertainment War'' (1991 in music, 1991) Recorded at Alpha Omega Studios, engineered by Ulrich Wild and Mark Senasac, produced and mixed by Mark Senasac, mastered by Stephen Marcussen, and released in the US and Germany on CD (cat# MCD-10137), cassette, (cat# 10137) and album (cat# MCAD10137), by Popular Metaphysics/MCA.

References

{{Authority control American record labels Record labels established in 1989 Indie rock record labels