Philles Records 1962-67 Trivia Quiz

Answer: Lester Sill

The label name was a combination of their first names: PHIL-LES. Sill produced three of the first five records released on Philles and then was squeezed out of the label by Spector. Sill later commented that, after working with Spector, "I just wanted ... out of there. If I wouldn't have [sold out], I would have killed him. It wasn't worth the aggravation."

Sill then became head of Colgems Records, The Monkees' label, and served as musical director of the Monkees both before Brill Building head (and New Yorker) Don Kirshner was hired for that role during recording of their first album and then again after Don Kirshner was fired following their second album; the Monkees won the right to control their own musical output only after the success of their fourth record, "Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn and Jones, Ltd." Once again, though, Sill's contribution was overshadowed by a bigger self-promoter.

Answer: glad

Songwriters Gerry Goffin and Carole King based "He Hit Me (It Felt Like a Kiss)" on their babysitter, the recording artist Little Eva, who had a physically-abusive boyfriend. Her explanation of why she didn't leave him was paraphrased in those lyrics: she was glad that he "cared" for her enough to hit her.

However, the song was widely condemned as pro-abuse. Ultimately, Philles had to withdraw promotion for it. Perhaps as a result of the controversy (and the song's resultant failure to chart), Spector didn't release another Goffin-King song as a Philles single for over two years, finally ending that "boycott" with the Righteous Brothers' Billboard Top Ten hit "Just Once In My Life".

Answer: He had a different group sing the song but credited it to the Crystals

Gene Pitney had written "He's a Rebel" for the Shirelles, but they turned it down. Spector, who heard the song while visiting Los Angeles, thought it was a certain hit for whomever released it first, but he and the Crystals lived in New York City. To save the days of travel and booking time needed to record it back in New York, Spector had the L.A. girl group "The Blossoms" record the song in L.A. but credited the record to the Crystals. Spector never told the "real" Crystals about it, and they had no idea what he had done until they heard the "new Crystals song" on the radio. Spector also had the Blossoms record the follow-up Crystals' single, "He's Sure the Boy I Love," which went to number 11 in the U.S. but created a number of tensions between himself and the Crystals, and the Blossoms also cut the original version of "Da Doo Ron Ron" before Spector agreed to add one of the Crystals to the finished track as the lead singer.

Answer: Jack Nitzsche

Nitzsche became a legend inside the music business for his work with Spector and all the others, ranging from the Tubes to Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. Among other credits, he and Sonny Bono wrote "Needles and Pins" (a major U.S. hit for the Searchers), and he did the choral arrangements for the Rolling Stones' "You Can't Always Get What You Want" and played piano on their singles "Paint It Black" and "Let's Spend the Night Together". He had his own hit record with "The Lonely Surfer" in 1964, and he was a member of Neil Young's backing group Crazy Horse, as well as producing Young's first album and sporadically arranging and playing keyboards on Young's songs through his "Tonight's The Night" album.

However, after he wrote the Oscar-nominated score for "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" in 1975, he spent most of the next 20 years scoring films, winning an Oscar for the song "Up Where We Belong" in the movie "An Officer and a Gentleman," before his alcoholism ruined his health.

Answer: "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah" by Bob B. Soxx and the Blue Jeans

Bob B. Soxx and the Blue Jeans were a made-up group consisting of a male singer named Bobby Sheen along with two members of The Blossoms, Darlene Love and Fanita James. (However, the picture of the group on Spector's "Christmas Album" shows Sheen with two session singers (Carolyn Willis and Lillian Washington), because Love was pictured as a solo artist and the session where the photos were taken ran so long that the Blossoms' other member, Gloria Jones, left.) Spector's rearrangement of the theme song from 1948's "Song of the South" was copied by the Dave Clark 5 in 1964. "Puddin' N' Tain" by the Alley Cats was also a Philles single, although not as successful.

Answer: "(Let's Dance) The Screw"

It is unclear exactly why Spector chose to record "(Let's Dance) The Screw," except that it wasn't actually intended for commercial release. One theory claims that Lester Sill (whom Spector was buying out from his half-share of Philles) would receive a royalty from the sales of the next Crystals single on Philles (which proved to be "Da Doo Ron Ron"), and Spector was "screwing" Sill out of that money by issuing this record first, which Spector did not put into general release even though he supposedly pressed enough copies to do so. Sill denies this story and claims that Spector recorded it as an explicit "kiss off" to Sill; as evidence, he notes that Spector had a promotional copy of the single hand-delivered to him.

A third theory is that Sill wanted more money in the buyout, and Spector produced this record to show that he was prepared to bankrupt the label if Sill persisted.

A fourth theory is that Spector wanted to show the Crystals that, if they complained too much about his use of the Blossoms to record hits under their name, he'd ruin their career with stunts like this.

At any rate, the single is ultra-rare, a six-minute (in total) combo piece built around drummer Hal Blaine, divided into Part I and Part II, and with no commercial potential whatsoever.

Answer: Ronettes

The Ronettes -- sisters Veronica (Ronnie) and Esther Barrett and their cousin Nedra Talley -- got their big break in 1961. While standing in line outside the Peppermint Twist in Manhattan, they were mistaken for a girl group that hadn't arrived and were ushered onstage to perform. Fortunately, they were a hit and were signed to a recording contract, although without much success. Signing with Philles changed all that, and the Ronettes entered the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007.

Answer: Darlene Love

Love, the lead singer of The Blossoms, also sang the lead vocals on the singles "He's a Rebel" and "He's Sure the Boy I Love" by the Crystals and "Why Do Lovers Break Each Other's Hearts?" and "Not Too Young to Get Married" by Bob B. Soxx & the Blue Jeans.

However, she is probably best known to the public at large for singing Spector's one original rock-and-roll Christmas song, "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)", on Philles' "A Christmas Gift to You from Phil Spector" album (later reissued as "Phil Spector's Christmas Album"), and for portraying Danny Glover's wife in the four "Lethal Weapon" movies.

Answer: The Wrecking Crew

The Wrecking Crew was made up of many successful but not (yet) famous jazz and rock musicians, including (among others) Hal Blaine (drums, who coined the name), Leon Russell (keyboards, guitar, bass), Tommy Tedesco (guitar), Glen Campbell (guitar), Carol Kaye (bass, guitar), Joe Osborn (bass), Barney Kessel (guitar), "Teenage" Steve Douglas (sax, flute, clarinet), Jim Horn (sax, flute), Larry Knechtel (keyboards, bass), Jim Gordon (drums), Sonny Bono (percussion), Tony Terran (trumpet), Jay Migliori (sax), Al Casey (guitar), Mac Rebennack (aka "Dr. John the Night Tripper") (keyboards), Max Bennett (bass), Julius Wechter (percussion) and Jack Nitzsche (arranger, keyboards), along with occasional "friends" like Brian Wilson (keyboards, bass). Most of the Wrecking Crew musicians made a number of solo records during their heyday, although only a few (led by Russell, Campbell and Bono) achieved solo success.

Answer: Gold Star Recording Studios

Gold Star was located near the intersection of Santa Monica Blvd. and Vine St. in Hollywood. It opened in 1950 and closed in 1984. Although Spector's 1958 hit "To Know Him Is To Love Him" by the Teddy Bears had been recorded there, Spector had moved back to New York City before he co-founded Philles, and his first records on Philles were recorded in the Big Apple.

However, when he needed an L.A. studio to "rush-record" "He's A Rebel," he went back to Gold Star -- and he, engineer Larry Levine and arranger Jack Nitzsche developed the "Wall of Sound" inside its tiny studio.

As a result, Spector made Gold Star his primary recording base, recording almost all of the subsequent Philles tracks there. Brian Wilson also recorded most of the Beach Boys' records through "Smile" at Gold Star, claiming that the studio's unique trapezoidal echo chambers contributed to the distinctive sound that he and Spector had achieved.

Answer: You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling

After hearing the writers' demo of "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling", Bobby Hatfield (one-half of the duo) asked Spector what he was supposed to do while his partner Bill Medley sang the entire first verse of the song solo. According to co-writer Cynthia Weil, Spector replied, "You can go directly to the bank!" The single lived up to Spector's promise, reaching number one in both the U.S. and the U.K. and continuing in popularity throughout the century, totaling over eight million radio plays as of 2000.

The Righteous Brothers entered the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2003.

Answer: The melody was written for a prison movie named "Unchained"

Composer Alex North wrote the tune for the 1955 prison movie "Unchained", which starred Los Angeles Rams' halfback Elroy "Crazylegs" Hirsch. The song was nominated for an Oscar, the only nomination for the mediocre film, but it lost to "Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing." However, three versions of it, including an instrumental version, reached the U.S. Billboard Top Ten in 1955.

The Righteous Brothers version, ten years later, reached number four in the U.S. and (eventually) number one in the U.K.

Answer: Bill Medley

On the single, Phil Spector was listed as the producer of the A-side, "Hung On You," but no producer was listed on the B-side, which just stated that the song was from the album "For Once In My Life." Spector often denounced albums as "two hits and ten pieces of junk." Medley, who had been the group's pre-Philles producer, explained that the group's deal with Spector was that Spector would produce their singles, but that Medley would produce the rest of the albums -- which is how the Righteous Brothers were able to release three albums on Philles in less than a year. Because "Unchained Melody" was just intended as an album cut, Medley produced it. Spector liked it and chose it for the B-side of his next Righteous Brothers single, but was extremely annoyed when DJs started playing it instead of the A-side. However, Spector's eventual reaction to its success was to claim credit for its production.

In 2007, Medley wrote, "And so that's how that happened and that's how I produced 'Unchained Melody,' which Phil Spector apparently now takes credit for. He can have the credit ... but it's obviously not a Spector production." Not coincidentally, the Righteous Brothers split with Spector shortly thereafter, and Medley's first post-Philles Righteous Brothers production, "(You're My) Soul and Inspiration," became a number one hit on the U.S. Billboard Top 100.

Answer: Modern Folk Quartet

The Modern Folk Quartet was made up of four future luminaries of the California music scene: Chip Douglas, who later produced number one hits for the Monkees and the Turtles; Jerry Yester, who replaced Zal Yanovsky in the Spoonful (and whose brother Jim was in the Association); Cyrus Faryar, who recorded a couple of solo albums on Elektra; and Henry Diltz, who became one of the most successful L.A. rock photographers in the late 1960s and early 1970s (particularly known for Crosby, Stills & Nash).

The MFQ had already done two albums for Warners before signing with Philles. Spector had them record a brilliant version of a Harry Nilsson song, "This Could Be the Night," but he then fought with their manager Herb Cohen (who also managed Frank Zappa) and chose not to release the single (although he used it as the theme for "The Big TNT Show", a 1965 concert/movie), which led Douglas and Yester to quit the band.

Answer: River Deep -- Mountain High

Spector saw Ike & Tina Turner at "The Big TNT Show" in late 1965 and signed them to Philles ... with a $25,000 bonus to Ike (the group's keyboardist and producer) for not participating at all in the Philles singles, on which Spector intended to use Tina as a solo lead singer but still credit the record to "Ike & Tina Turner".

Although Spector never revealed the actual cost of the "River Deep - Mountain High" sessions, they were reputed to have cost between $22,000 and $25,000, not counting the payment to Ike Turner to stay clear of them, which was much more than the cost to record an entire album at the time.

However, although the single soared to number 3 in the U.K., it stiffed in the U.S., stalling out at number 88 on the Billboard Top 100 in 1966. Spector became so discouraged by this failure, coupled with the success of the first post-Philles Righteous Brothers single, that he quit music and then folded the Philles label.