Autumn Records was a 1960s San Francisco-based
popPop music is a music genre that developed from the mid-1950s as a softer alternative to rock 'n' roll and later to rock music. It has a focus on commercial recording, often orientated towards a youth market, usually through the medium of relatively short and simple love songs...
record labelIn the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...
. Its most prominent contract was arguably
The Beau BrummelsThe Beau Brummels were an American pop rock band, formed in San Francisco in 1964. The band's original lineup included Sal Valentino , Ron Elliott , Ron Meagher , Declan Mulligan , and John Petersen...
, a band who released a pair of top 20 singles, "
Laugh, Laugh"Laugh, Laugh" is a song by American rock group The Beau Brummels, written by guitarist Ron Elliott and produced by Sylvester Stewart, later known as Sly Stone. Released in December 1964 as the band's debut single, the song reached number 15 on the U.S...
" and "
Just a Little"Just a Little" is a song by American rock group The Beau Brummels. The song is included on the band's debut album, Introducing the Beau Brummels, and was released as its second single, following "Laugh, Laugh". "Just a Little" became the band's highest-charting U.S...
." Also on the Autumn Records roster was
The Great SocietyThe Great Society was a 1960s San Francisco rock band in the burgeoning Haight Ashbury folk-psychedelic style pervasive during the time of its existence, 1965 to 1966...
, a short-lived Haight-Ashbury group that recorded the first version of "
Somebody to Love"Somebody to Love" is a rock song that was written by Darby Slick and originally recorded by 1960s folk-psychedelic band the Great Society and later by the psychedelic rock band Jefferson Airplane...
," which became a 1967 hit for
Jefferson AirplaneJefferson Airplane was an American rock band formed in San Francisco in 1965. A pioneer of the psychedelic rock movement, Jefferson Airplane was the first band from the San Francisco scene to achieve mainstream commercial and critical success....
. The label dissolved before the dawn of the 1970s.
Tom DonahueTom "Big Daddy" Donahue , was a pioneering rock and roll radio disc jockey.Donahue's career started 1949 on the east coast of the U.S...
, a San Francisco DJ, who worked for KSAN radio, owned the record label.
There are definitely people I respect and I love their music, but there was never really an artist that I said, "I want to be just like them, I love the way their career is going. I love their music." It wasn't really like that. I wanted to be like myself.
Well, I'm not going to be singing about lollipops because I no longer relate to lollipops.
No, I don't do that [sing about sex]. My music isn't forward like that. It's not sexual the way Britney Spears|Britney's music is sexual. She feels comfortable singing about that, and that's fine, but I just don't talk about that kind of stuff, sorry. I just don't.
Compared to the first album, when I wasn't confident enough to make suggestions, this time around, I was very involved. I worked with the songwriters, telling them what was happening in my life, and what I wanted to sing about. If I thought it needed to be more heavy, more rock, I said so. I feel that this record is so much more me. I can't wait for people to hear it.
Autumn Records was a 1960s San Francisco-based
popPop music is a music genre that developed from the mid-1950s as a softer alternative to rock 'n' roll and later to rock music. It has a focus on commercial recording, often orientated towards a youth market, usually through the medium of relatively short and simple love songs...
record labelIn the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...
. Its most prominent contract was arguably
The Beau BrummelsThe Beau Brummels were an American pop rock band, formed in San Francisco in 1964. The band's original lineup included Sal Valentino , Ron Elliott , Ron Meagher , Declan Mulligan , and John Petersen...
, a band who released a pair of top 20 singles, "
Laugh, Laugh"Laugh, Laugh" is a song by American rock group The Beau Brummels, written by guitarist Ron Elliott and produced by Sylvester Stewart, later known as Sly Stone. Released in December 1964 as the band's debut single, the song reached number 15 on the U.S...
" and "
Just a Little"Just a Little" is a song by American rock group The Beau Brummels. The song is included on the band's debut album, Introducing the Beau Brummels, and was released as its second single, following "Laugh, Laugh". "Just a Little" became the band's highest-charting U.S...
." Also on the Autumn Records roster was
The Great SocietyThe Great Society was a 1960s San Francisco rock band in the burgeoning Haight Ashbury folk-psychedelic style pervasive during the time of its existence, 1965 to 1966...
, a short-lived Haight-Ashbury group that recorded the first version of "
Somebody to Love"Somebody to Love" is a rock song that was written by Darby Slick and originally recorded by 1960s folk-psychedelic band the Great Society and later by the psychedelic rock band Jefferson Airplane...
," which became a 1967 hit for
Jefferson AirplaneJefferson Airplane was an American rock band formed in San Francisco in 1965. A pioneer of the psychedelic rock movement, Jefferson Airplane was the first band from the San Francisco scene to achieve mainstream commercial and critical success....
. The label dissolved before the dawn of the 1970s.
Tom DonahueTom "Big Daddy" Donahue , was a pioneering rock and roll radio disc jockey.Donahue's career started 1949 on the east coast of the U.S...
, a San Francisco DJ, who worked for KSAN radio, owned the record label. Donahue invented the genre "underground radio."
Autumn records had two subsidiary labels. The Great Society recorded for its North Beach label. An early version of "Somebody to love" appeared on this label. The band the Psyrcle (actually The Rockets, later known as Crazy Horse) recorded a song "Don't Leave Me" for its subsidiary label Lorna records. Legendary rock producer/DJ
Sly StoneSly Stone is an American musician, songwriter, and record producer, most famous for his role as frontman for Sly & the Family Stone, a band which played a critical role in the development of soul, funk and psychedelia in the 1960s and 1970s...
was a producer for the label producing
Bobby FreemanBobby Freeman is an African-American soul singer, songwriter, and record producer who recorded for the Autumn Records label in San Francisco, California. He is best known for his 1958 hit "Do You Want To Dance?" and his 1964 Top Ten hit "C'mon and Swim"...
's "C'Mon And Swim"/"Do The Swim," a hit on the national and regional charts in 1965. Freeman had had some hits on another minor label such as Jubilee, but became the first artist on Autumn to have any big-selling hits. Sly Stone produced the Psyrcle's 45 on Lorna, which did not sell very well either regionally or nationally. The Psyrcle took a hiatus, rehearsed and regrouped before becoming The Rockets (later
Crazy HorseCrazy Horse was a respected war leader of the Oglala Lakota, who fought against the U.S...
,
Neil YoungNeil Percival Young, OM is a Canadian singer-songwriter, musician and film director. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a solo artist in 1995 and also as a member of Buffalo Springfield in 1997....
's backing band).
Stone produced a 45 by The Great Society, then known as the Great! Society!! Members included Grace's then-husband Jerry and his brother Darby, author of "White Rabbit", but felt they had no talent because it took 45 takes for them to "get it right." Stone also produced a 45 for the band the Psyrcle (a.k.a. The Rockets, later known as Crazy Horse, Neil Young's backing band). At the time the Psyricle had eight members in the group. There is a 45 by a group called The Tikis (later
Harpers BizarreHarpers Bizarre was an American pop-rock band of the 1960s, best known for their Broadway/Sunshine Pop sound and their remake of Simon & Garfunkel's "The 59th Street Bridge Song ."- Career :...
) entitled "Bye, Bye, Bye" on Autumn Records.
Warner Bros. RecordsWarner Bros. Records Inc. is an American record label that operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of Warner Music Group. It is also affectionately known as Warners or the Bunny, based on the Bugs Bunny cartoons released by Warner Bros. Pictures.-History:...
bought out Autumn Records' assets in 1966. Many of the groups became Warner-Reprise recording artists. These included such minor Autumn artists as The Mojo Men, and the Vejitables. Sly Stone cut one solo 45 (before he became famous with the Family Stone)
which had little chart impact. The Beau Brummels continued recording for Warner Bros., but were less commercially successful than they had been for Autumn.
The
Grateful DeadThe Grateful Dead were an American rock band formed in 1965 in the San Francisco Bay Area. The band was known for its unique and eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, folk, bluegrass, blues, reggae, country, jazz, psychedelia, and space rock—and for live performances of long musical...
(then known as The Emergency Crew) were almost signed to Autumn in 1966, but the label was running out of money, so the Wrecking Crew's 45s were issued by Scorpio, a Fantasy records subsidiary. The band was renamed The Warlocks. The Charlatans, a group which had Dan Hicks as a member was also signed. The problem was that the label was headed toward bankruptcy and didn't have the necessary money on hand to sign either band.