One of the SUPER COOL things about vinyl is you'll NEVER run out of
strange, unusual and bizarre records from the past to discover. Just
when you thought you've finally seen and heard it all, along comes
something else that absolutely blows your mind.
But Olivia wasn't the first gay record
company. In fact, probably the very first was Camp Records in the '60s.
(As a collector, I can't help but notice the striking similarity between the Camp Records label and Pickwick's Design Records - designless? - record label of that same period. Were the Camp records custom pressed by Pickwick?)
http://www.queermusicheritage.us/camp.html
*The very name Rodney Dangerfield has been a prop name/pseudonym in Hollywood for decades before Jacob Cohen adopted it as his stage name and made comedy history. There's a bit of an interview with famous comedian Rodney Dangerfield in the link above where the interviewer confronts him with the Camp Records Rodney Dangerfield......
It's hard to believe today, but decades
ago there were a smattering of independent record labels that catered
exclusively to the gay and lesbian community.
These obviously weren't available in any
retail record store rack in those days. The times were much more crueler for gays and lesbians. It was something that was kept strictly underground and in the closet. The repercussions for being openly gay in the '60s were unimaginable. So people just mail-ordered
these out of underground gay and lesbian newspapers and
magazines, where they arrived in a nondescript, plain brown package.
The better known of these was the Olivia Records collective, which specialized in lesbian folk music in the '70s, much of the material pretty much of the hardcore feminist sort. Unable to keep up with the changing tastes of "women's music" (which ranged from riot grrrl punk rock to more conventional rock - Olivia even turned down a 1976 demo from a young Melissa Etheridge!) Olivia quit the record business in the late '90s and is now a travel company for lesbian women today.
The better known of these was the Olivia Records collective, which specialized in lesbian folk music in the '70s, much of the material pretty much of the hardcore feminist sort. Unable to keep up with the changing tastes of "women's music" (which ranged from riot grrrl punk rock to more conventional rock - Olivia even turned down a 1976 demo from a young Melissa Etheridge!) Olivia quit the record business in the late '90s and is now a travel company for lesbian women today.
(As a collector, I can't help but notice the striking similarity between the Camp Records label and Pickwick's Design Records - designless? - record label of that same period. Were the Camp records custom pressed by Pickwick?)
In the mid-60s, it was much harder to
be openly gay than it was even in the '70s. In contrast to today, where
even the smallest towns
have open LGBT communities, there were very few options for gay and
lesbian people – even in some of the biggest cities. Most states still had
enforced sodomy laws, homosexuality was still classified as a mental
illness. And it's no small miracle that in that more homophobic age that any
of these records survived today. Or that a gay record label was even
formed.
It's with this in mind which may
explain why all the artists on Camp Records were anonymous, save for
one “Rodney Dangerfield” (NOT THE Rodney Dangerfield, the “I
don't get no respect” Rodney Dangerfield*. This was likely a totally
different person altogether, only the stage name was the same.) And
since Camp Records released all recordings without copyright, all of
Camp's recordings are now in the public domain.
When I was working in the vintage
record store, we came across a Camp label twice. They were never listed in any collector's book and until
recently, almost nothing was known about Camp Records (and very little is today.) But we all knew who they were for and they had a
value in just their rarity alone. No data from the Camp label remains,
but I'm presuming about 3,000 total Camp LP's and 45s were pressed -
perhaps significantly less than that.
You
can read more about Camp and Olivia records here on J.D. Doyle's comprehensive Queer Music Heritage web site. You can even hear these albums
and singles on MP3s. Many thanks to J.D. for clearing up a lot of the
mystery surrounding Camp and Olivia Records that's bugged me as a vinyl collector
for decades:
*The very name Rodney Dangerfield has been a prop name/pseudonym in Hollywood for decades before Jacob Cohen adopted it as his stage name and made comedy history. There's a bit of an interview with famous comedian Rodney Dangerfield in the link above where the interviewer confronts him with the Camp Records Rodney Dangerfield......
