RSO Records

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about a record label. In medical/health physics, RSO can also stand for Radiation Safety Officer.

This article is about a record label. In rocketry, RSO can also stand for Range Safety Officer.

RSO Records was a record label, formed by rock and roll and musical theatre impresario Robert Stigwood in the late 1960s, after the death of his business partner and mentor Brian Epstein. The "RSO" stands for the Robert Stigwood Organisation. The company's main headquarters were at 67 Brook Street, in London's Mayfair. It underwent four distribution stages: first by Atlantic Records, then as an independent label, then by Polydor Records, and finally by Polygram Records.

From its beginnings, it was a disco label. RSO managed the careers of several superstars (Bee Gees,Yvonne Elliman, Eric Clapton, Andy Gibb, Player), and, as a record label, released the soundtracks to Fame, Tommy,"Sparkle", The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, Jesus Christ Superstar, Times Square, Grease (Over 25 Million Copies sold worldwide), and Saturday Night Fever (over 30 million copies sold worldwide). The release of the latter two albums made RSO one of the most financially successful labels of the 1970s.

As prosperous as the label was financially, the independent label produced successes on the pop charts never before seen by the recording industry. By one point in 1978, the label boasted an unprecedented 6th consecutive #1 single on the Billboard (US) pop charts, holding the top spot for 21 consecutive weeks. With singles releases from the Grease album ("You're The One That I Want", and the title track) and another huge Andy Gibb smash (Shadow Dancing), RSO would log a further 10 weeks at the #1 position, giving the label a record 9 in one calendar year (it just missed a 10th, as the Bee Gees release "Too Much Heaven" was held from the top spot until Jan. 6th 1979). This feat remains unduplicated by any record label to date.

As high as the label was flying in 1978, the disastrous commercial and critical failure of RSO's movie version of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band crippled the company. The woes of this monumental failure were only somewhat offset by the middle of 1979, as the Bee Gees album, "Spirits Having Flown", went on to eventually sell nearly 20 million copies (with the album producing three further #1 singles that each sold more than 1 million copies in their own right). By 1981 Stigwood had ended his involvement with the label, which was absorbed into Polydor a few years later.

[edit] Label variations

Atlantic-owned label: Tan label with small logo
Independently owned label: Tan label with larger logo
Polydor-owned label: Tan label with large logo, Polydor logo at bottom perimeter of label
Polygram-owned label: Silver label with large logo
RSO Top Line reissue label: White label with gold or silver star, very small logo at top of label between TOP and LINE