Features
The 45 Turns 60
While many Pollstar readers have never held a 45-rpm single in their hand, let alone played a stack of them, for those of us of a certain age they bring back a lot of memories. 2009 marks the 60th anniversary of the 45 and Rhino is celebrating.
To mark the milestone, Rhino is spotlighting songs originally issued as 45s by offering them as digital singles.
Each song will also include its original B-side and picture sleeve artwork where it’s possible.
Among the more than 30 tracks available are hits like The B-52’s “Love Shack,” Eagles “Hotel California,” The Cure’s “Just Like Heaven,” Talking Heads’ “Take Me to the River,” X’s “Wild Thing,” T. Rex’s “Bang a Gong,” The Cars’ “Let’s Go,” Devo’s “Whip It,” Foreigner’s “Urgent,” and Aretha Franklin’s “Respect.”
Each single is available for the low price of $1.49, which also harkens back to the 45, which was an affordable way to buy music for much of its history.
Believe it or not kids, this was the way you used to get the latest Animal Collective single.
The 45 was born in 1949, when RCA reissued material that had previously been available on 78-rpm records.
76 box sets and 104 singles were released, with each 45 color coded to correspond to the type of music on the eight-minute discs: black vinyl with peacock label for pop, red vinyl with dark red label for classics, etc.
For more info on Rhino’s digital 45’s, visit Rhino.com/digital45.