Zero to 180 – Three Minute Magic

Discoveries of a Pop Music Archaeologist

Author: Zeroto180

12-inch singles
Zeroto180

Vinyl Curiosities — Summer Beach Read ’22

Vinyl: The Art of Making Records by Mike Evans (2015) provides the launching point for this summer’s beach bonanza of offbeat and occasionally useful music history trivia — lavishly illustrated with streaming audio and hyperlinks for maximum multimedia impact. Italicized text comes directly from this book. Birth of Recorded Sound

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Honky tonk
Zeroto180

Blink And You Miss It — Nudie Recording Co.

“Nudie Bows Own Label” reads the headline at the top of Billboard‘s “Country Music” section in the magazine’s May 12, 1973 edition. LOS ANGELES — Nudie, who creates costumes for the leading recording artists in the world ranging from Elvis Presley to The Grateful Dead and almost every other country

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Experimental pop
Zeroto180

Blink and You Miss It — Zapple Records

The timeline in Barry Miles‘ memoir of his ever-so-brief tenure as manager of Zapple Records (“the brainchild of Paul McCartney“) says it all: 1 May 1969 — Zapple launched in the US 9 May 1969 — Zapple launched in the UK June 1969 — Zapple closed. No announcement, funding simply

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"For Madmen Only"
Zeroto180

Steppenwolf’s Notoriously Lengthy B-side

David Fricke, in his “Fricke’s Picks” column published in Rolling Stone‘s February 22, 2007 issue, hinted at a bigger story with his assessment of a Steppenwolf B-side only track from 1971 “For Madmen Only” as being “8:46 of feedback and organ drone.” First question that immediately came to mind: Could

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Chris Richardson
Zeroto180

Zero to 180 Has a New Subject Taxonomy!

This website first took flight on December 12, 2012 (i.e., 12-12-12), so it would only makes sense for Zero to 180 to file articles of organization paperwork with the State of Maryland at this most providential point in time: 2-22-22. Recently, you may have noticed the website’s new look, layout,

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Harmonica instrumentals
Zeroto180

Larry Adler & His Dime Store Harmonica

Larry Adler became a “professional” musician in the eyes of the American Federation of Musicians (AFM) when he joined Local 47 in Beverly Hills, where he lived, on July 10, 1948. As the front page of Billboard‘s July 17, 1948 edition reported in deadpan fashion — “Adler Now Rates” [see

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Henry Glover
Zeroto180

Henry Glover’s Monumental Musical Legacy

LINK to Henry Glover’s songwriting body of work * Part One Historical Overview & Narrative Composer, producer, arranger, publisher, talent scout, vocalist, trumpet player, engineer, A&R executive, and later, a label owner in his own right, Henry Bernard Glover — notes Nick Duckett in the liner notes that accompany the

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Bob Mitchell
Zeroto180

The World’s First Sing-Along Instrumental?

The latest effort from Silver Spring-based duo, Dubble Trubble, in celebration of Zero to 180’s ninth birthday: Inspired by Mark Cuban‘s recurring catch phrase on TV’s Shark Tank, could this be the world’s first sing-along instrumental? Check out this 100-second version of “(For Those Reasons) I’m Out” that features drum

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Central Recording Studio
Zeroto180

Silver Spring’s Central Recording Studio

Jeff Krulik was the first to inform me that back in the mid-to-late 1980s, one could exit Silver Spring’s Track Recorders and walk about a mile or so up Georgia Avenue to reach another commercial sound facility:  Central Recording Studio. Silver Spring historian, Robert Oshel, wrote about this very parcel

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