Ep559: Rhino Records Co-Founder Richard Foos

Rhino Records co-founder Richard Foos reveals how a scrappy record shop invented reissue culture, chasing master tapes, getting arrested for selling bootleg records, memories of Frank Zappa, Darby Crash and more.

Topics Include:

• Foos discusses being called originator of reissue culture, credits early employee's phrase.
• Started as a Los Angeles record shop in 1973.
• Recalls how scarce and cheap rare records were before collecting culture existed.
• Describes hunting records at warehouses, swap meets, and Salvation Army stores.
• Notes punk rock's DIY ethos sparked broader music fandom and collecting.
• Rhino's shop became a punk hangout; Darby Crash was banned for chaos.
• Explains how punk bands pressed 45s since albums were too costly.
• James Brown's out-of-print catalog became Rhino's breakthrough first major reissue.
• Details licensing process: major labels' passive licensing departments simply approved requests.
• Rhino insisted on original master tapes, never secondary sources or stampers.
• Engineer Bill Englott restored recordings purely, never altering original mixes.
• Some projects stalled without usable masters, like a punk box set.
• Nuggets compilation missed "96 Tears" for years due to licensing issues.
• Foos explains Rhino's sequencing philosophy: welcoming newcomers, not strict chronology.
• Doo-wop box set, initially unpopular internally, became Rhino's best-selling release.
• Discusses 20-25 year nostalgia cycles driving collectibility of past decades' music.
• Notes scarce 2000s vinyl pressings now make that era highly collectible.
• Rhino focused on best listening experience over rarities for rarity's sake.
• Foos recounts pre-Rhino bootlegging ties and friendship with bootleg artist Bill Stout.
• Reveals he was arrested for selling bootlegs during a warehouse sale.
• Discusses how record labels misunderstood fandom, limiting artist output and bootlegs.
• Reflects on vinyl's spiritual appeal despite many records never being played.
• Compares cassette-era scarcity to streaming's shifting availability of licensed content.
• Predicts streaming remains the future, praises YouTube's vast musical accessibility.
• Doubts catalog values will keep rising, questions which artists endure historically.
• Criticizes a post-Rhino "L.A. Nuggets" box set for prioritizing rarity over listenability.
• Recalls Kinky Friedman rejecting a hits compilation over disliking his originals.
• Explains publishing hurdles licensing music for Freaks and Geeks and WKRP DVDs.
• Describes working with Frank Zappa on Beat the Boots and elaborate packaging.
• Shares current work: Shout Factory, wife's Narrative Method, and a new podcast.

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