MCA Records

But to Tom DeLonge, this type of thinking was essential.

[rock music] After bouncing from that Jacksonville jail with a slap on the wrist, after taking in a rocket launch in nearby Cape Canaveral, after wrapping a successful first tour in '95, after breaking through on the 1996 Warped Tour and capitalizing on a major label bidding war, after signing with MCA Records and releasing an album that went gold, after parting ways with their original drummer and replacing him with the percussive juggernaut that is Travis Barker, after casting Alyssa freakin' Milano in their music video and downgrading America's collective maturity level a couple notches with songs about shitting your pants and getting laid, this type of thinking, this hysterical wrong think, was absolutely driving Tom DeLonge to write the lyrics for Blink-182's song Aliens Exist, a song that nearly everyone laughed off as just another example of Blink-182's staggering level of immaturity, a song with a sentiment that would one day compel the United States government to take Tom DeLonge as nothing less than dead serious.

[rock music]

Eating well shouldn't be complicated, but somehow it turns into recipes, prep, clean up, and half your Sunday gone.

But a massive debut presents an immediate dilemma.

What on earth do you release next to sustain that momentum? The answer arrived on the 12th of November 1982, when MCA Records deployed the title track from their debut album.

It shifted the focus from cooking pots to societal statements, introducing a bass line heavy enough to rattle your teeth and a message directly aimed at the older generation.

This is the second single from their gold-certified debut long player, and it's time to drop the needle.

Yeah, I can.

So what happened was The, The Hip had just signed their first record deal first, and it was with MCA Records in New York City, uh, with a guy named Bruce Dickinson, who was the A&R guy who first heard the band.

And he signed them to a seven-record deal, and his plan was...

It, it all happened very quickly.

Uh, then he put together a trio and was kind of doing rockabilly, kinda like because the Stray Cats had hit, and, uh, you know, Epic Records, uh, was trying to get him going as a rockabilly artist, and that really didn't go anywhere, and they ended up dropping him.

And then Tony Brown had started working for MCA Records as the head of A&R under Jimmy Bowen, and I love, I love this.

Uh, Jimmy Bowen told Tony Brown he could sign anyone he w- he wanted, and the first person Tony Brown said, "Well, I wanna hire Steve Earle," and then Jimmy Bowen says, "Anyone but Steve Earle." So he already had kind of a reputation as a troublemaker, and he had some substance abuse issues and other things going on.

But Bowen relented, and so Emery Gordy, Tony Brown, and Richard Bennett started working on this album.

Those tours made punk accessible worldwide, creating a shared culture that crossed borders.

Now, on the business side, MCA Records handled the marketing push, but the label was also riding on a new wave of labels like Hollywood’s Sire pushing pop punk to the mainstream.

The label had a huge budget for promotion, and the record’s vinyl and CD sales were unprecedented.

What-

Soon Donahue stepped away from performing altogether.

She took work as a talent scout for MCA Publishing, later become an A&R rep for MCA Records.

December 9, 1996, Donahue, who had been a heavy smoker, there was no photo or video of her without a cigarette.

who was a heavy smoker most of her adult life, died of lung cancer in New York, age of 40.

And the only reason I know that is is I was PD at this one station, not in Baton Rouge where they were going, but outside of the market.

And my PD before me took the job with MCA Records and was their liaison, was there on the ground when it happened, and I was the first call he made.

So I was checking that out to see.

But then I saw this video of the plane crash and about the – what was it, a concert playing or whatever – And it was AI-voiced.

The band shortly afterward made their South by Southwest debut in Austin.

where they were seen by A&R reps from MCA Records subsidiary 510.

This is

when

Geez, the industry certainly recognized his massive financial value during this streak too.

In 1974, he signed a contract with MCA Records for $8 million.

Which was a massive amount of money.

Massive.

And upon signing the deal, MCA Records reportedly secured a $25 million life insurance policy on his life.

They knew what an asset they had.

They really did.

How do you do that? I mean, when you're on the road, I'd be dying, first of all, just being in the bus all that time.

Well, the good news is that my producer, Jerry Crutchfield, was the head of MCA Music.

And he produced Tanya Tucker before and a few other artists, but not many.

More in the gospel field.