Virgin Records in the 80s
With
Charlie RapinoCharlie Rapino looks back at his time with Virgin Records in 1980s Milan, the booming CD era and the New Romantic scene, and how he found his way into record production.
What's in the course
16 lessons (2h 16m) · 1 free
Lesson transcript
An Insight into the 80s Music Scene: Milan and Virgin Records
Charlie: Okay, so let's take it back to Milan. Hanging out and doing stuff with Virgin. Yeah, tell us what were you doing there and what was that environment like?
Speaker: It was the good old days of... It was the 80s. We didn't come out alive from the 80s, but very rich because the record industry, in general, the international record industry, was booming. Exploding.
- First CD Release: What was it? 1981, 82 or something?
- Charlie: I think 1984.
- Speaker: Exactly, right. I'm not sure, but I'm still into vinyl today.
The Rise of CD:
- The CD was the thing, right?
- Speaker: The CD was the thing, yeah.
The Excitement of the Era: Especially from England, there was an explosion of acts during those very, very exciting times. Bands like Duran Duran emerged, and it was the New Romantic movement, which was very inspired by Bowie.
Milan made a lot of sense because fashion was there. Fashion and rock and roll, or music, were married at that point. They were joined at the hip.
- Insight: It made complete sense to see how shabby bands like The Rolling Stones were during the 80s. They started being, especially Mick Jagger, extremely elegant and sharp.
What Were You Doing in Milan? So, what were you doing in Milan?
- Speaker: Mainly, I was producing some records for Virgin. I just happened to find myself in the role of learning how to be a producer by chance. A guy called Doderso, who used to run this Stone Castle, really helped me out.
Residential Studio:
- Speaker: Stone Castle was the residential studio.
Because he could see that I was very interested in how a record sounded. My hero was obviously Phil Spector; one of the earliest records I heard as a kid was "Believe At Deep Mountain High," which had an outstanding sound reverb.
The Importance of Sound: I think what made the difference in modern recorded music was not really the composition, but the sound.
- Key Takeaway: It was how it was dressed, how it was photographed. You strip away the wall of sound from that song, and you don't have very much. You have a great voice, but you put the production on.
Phil Spector's Innovation: And the fact that this man (Phil Spector) comes out with this idea... Mind you, that record is mono on top, so stereo. It's a complete trip, I would say, an endless orgasm of a record.
- Yet again, how he could understand technology... If you listen to those records on a transistor radio at the time, it was the big thing.
Transistor Radio: The transistor radio is like the smartphone of today. It sounds unbelievable. It sounds loud on a transistor radio.
- Speaker: A great achievement.
- Insight: Yeah, it's a great achievement.
I think it was a talented man who could understand how to reach consumers or society.
- Speaker: You gotta understand what they use: oh, transistor radio. Okay, let's make it sound good on a transistor radio.
The Road to Success: And they understood the channel that it was going to be heard on.
- Speaker: Understanding that is the road to success. It's always about understanding what people are using to listen to your music or whatever you do. TV, it is always like that.
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Meet your guru
Meet your guru
Charlie started in the music industry as a freshly minted lawyer, promoting gigs by bringing the likes of Iggy Pop and Patti Smith to a radical Italian university crowd.
After working at the notorious Record Plant NYC and soaking up the house scene, he formed the Rapino Brothers with Marco Sabiu, moved to London in 1990 and never looked back. There they took the decade by storm, producing and recording records. After their first hit with Kym Mazelle's Love Me The Right Way, they masterminded Take That's first hit and produced, mixed and fixed many major pop acts during the 1990s, from Kylie to Primal Scream.
In 1997, Charlie was the "on air" producer for BBC's "Get Your Act Together", followed by "Full Frontal" on Channel 4. From 1999 to 2004 he was A&R Director for Sony Music International.
His energy never lets up. Over the years he has divided his time between management consultancy for Ennio Morricone, consultancy for Rolling Stone magazine, soundtrack work and production consultancy for movies and games (including fixing Iggy Pop to do the voice-overs on the Driver 3 video game), and signing and managing acts through his joint venture label with Sony, Stud Records.
In Get signed!, Charlie pulls back the curtain on decades of production and A&R experience to show you exactly what labels listen for, how to shape and present your act, and what it really takes to get noticed and land a deal.
