All Things Must Pass: The Rise and Fall of Tower Records

Just saw this today at Ground Zero, Sacramento's 75 year old Tower Theater that had right next door, Tower Drugs where the founder, Russ Solomon, started what became a world-wide musical empire.

I was not surprised at the influence Tower had on the recording industry, particularly after they opened up their Sunset Blvd store in Los Angeles. Didn't realize though that many big recording stars such as Bruce Springsteen and Elton John shopped there.

It's a fascinating look not only at the rise and fall of Tower Records, but the recording industry's changes over the years.

You'll even see how the Beach Boys changed their sales focus.

If Tower Records was in your life, and chances are if you are over 30 it was, this is a must-see.

Kudos to Colin Hanks, who spent seven years on this project.

Nostalgic, slowburning (sometimes a bit boring) story about the rise and fall of the biggest record store company in the world called Tower Records, which rose to fame during the seventies. Bruce Springsteen and Elton John declare their unconditional love for Tower Records, because both and many other famous artists where household guests at Tower Records, which opened an hour earlier especially for these popstars to let them be able to go on their weekly shopping spree for new records.

There was something quite special about that feeling of visiting an actual existing recordstore, which simple can not be experienced by simply downloading A TRACK.Going to the record store, with all these zillion records stacked up high, gave a feeling of coming home. And it was a home, for many music lovers AND musicians for many many years.

Internet killed the record store though after 2000. But the record store miraculously DID SURVIVE in Japan, of all places!

A bit too many management talking heads are the only downside of this documentary. For that reason I skipped the middle part. But the first part of the origin and rise to fame of Tower Records and the last part about the downfall are pretty interesting and fun to watch.

Unlikeable men fall into a CANNOT LOSE business (baby boomer, rock buying generation) and milk the customer dry for decades. Despite making millions, and eventually billions, this is not enough for these offensive parasites. These supposed "businessmen" (actually simple-minded drunkards and coke heads), fail to see digital coming and greedily refuse to offer their goods at reasonable prices. Now that these people are exposed for the lowlife scum that they are, they can only weep at the loss of their jobs (and at the loss of a fellow drunk, a gentleman who hilariously, literally wears a lampshade on his head. What a cutup! This, and the David Crosby / walrus-mustachioed Cletus are these people's idea of interesting people.

Despite each working for decades, adding up to centuries worth of experience, in a music-related field, it is notable that music - remember music? - is never a discussion point for these selfish greed heads, only the good times they enjoyed and the incredible profit they were making, both at the customer's expense.

Tower Records was a good store in spite of these people. Everyone loves music, all you needed to do was sell it to them at a reasonable price. See the Beatles' Apple Records for a similar example of what happens when you put burnt-out hippies in charge of your business. It's a shame alright, shameful actions.

The "Rise" portion was nostalgic and interesting. The second half was a load of self-serving baloney: Russ Solomon admitting he made a few mistakes but, if the banks had only continued lending him money without telling him what to do, all would have been well. A bunch of longtime employees kvetching about losing their jobs, but not ONE SINGLE WORD about all the labels and distributors who got royally screwed and are still trying to cope with their losses to this day. I started out as a specialty music retailer in 1974 and, thankfully, am still going strong. I well remember Tower's predatory greediness, demanding ridiculous terms from labels and distributors: six months dating, 100% return privileges. Finally, the labels and distributors had to say 'no' to getting in any deeper. The fact that this painful fact wasn't even mentioned, reminds me of the 'ServPro' motto, "Like it Never Even Happened".

A loving look at an old store and its impact with lots of warm thoughts and good thoughts. Might not be much for people who didn't live it, but for anyone that remembers that era it's going to be worth seeing. Will definitely make you miss record stores and long to go to Japan.