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[Note] As of April, 2016, the documentary can be seen on Showtime in the U.S. and TMN (The Movie Network) in Canada.
All Things Must Pass: The Rise And Fall Of Tower Records details the story of the meteoric success – then the devastating failure – of legendary former U.S. retail music giant Tower Records (Trailer below).
Tower’s genesis was in 1960, when founder Russ Solomon opened his first shop in Sacramento, CA (named after his father’s drugstore) and the flagship location quickly became a huge success.
Seven years later, Solomon expanded to San Francisco, followed soon after by the opening of the iconic store on the West Hollywood section of L.A.’s famous Sunset Strip.
Tower Records on Sunset in West Hollywood (Circa 1968)
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Video
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ALL THINGS MUST PASS: The Rise And Fall Of Tower Records
(Trailer)
[2015]
The movie’s trailer includes testimonials from ex-Tower employee Dave Grohl of Foo Fighters and frequent customers Elton John and Bruce Springsteen, among others. And of course, from Solomon. A ‘must-see’ for any genre of music lover!
As seen in the trailer, the impact of the Internet and the emerging reality of digitally-delivered music ultimately led to Tower’s stunning demise and a similar fate – and if not, a serious blow nonetheless – for all vendors big and small of hard-copy, in-hand, vinyl records and compact discs.
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Russ Solomon Inside His West Hollywood Location (Circa 1970’s)
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Tower Records/Sunset: The Final Months
Famed Tower Records L.A. Location on Sunset Blvd, West Hollywood (May 2006)
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The Tower Records Chain Files for Bankruptcy (August 2006)
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Tower Records/Hollywood (October 2006)
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CLOSED: Assets liquidation proceedings began shortly after (December 2006)
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I lived in the Los Angeles area for eight years, from 1987-1994, and being an avid CD buyer/collector, I racked up many, many hours in a number of Tower stores, including the famous Sunset location, as well as in Sherman Oaks, Buena Park, Brea, Costa Mesa, Tustin, Lake Forest and others – then later, East Lansing, MI and Toronto, Ont.
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My favorite Tower Records story stems from an experience which occurred at the West Hollywood Sunset location, late one Saturday evening in 1991.
Upon leaving the store, I was suddenly serenaded by a live rendition of a then-current hit by pop singer Phil Collins called I Can’t Dance – “I Can’t Dance”…”I Can’t Sing” – repeated over and over by a small group of people singing and pointing at me from across the other side of Sunset.
Back then, I’d previously been told by a number of people that I facially resembled Collins, so that factor, plus given the venue, and it being in Tinseltown, I realized they thought they’d just seen Phil Collins exiting Tower Records on in Hollywood on a Saturday night – my 15 minutes of uber fame!
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Tower Records grew into a vastly successful $billion-a-year nation-wide chain of company-owned or franchised stores, and eventually expanded internationally into 17 countries, including the UK, Canada and Japan.
The last remaining U.S. Tower Records store still doing business was finally shut down on December 22, 2006 at its New York City location.
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Tower Records/Sunset – Post Closing
Live! On Sunset operated a clothing and gift store at the West Hollywood location from 2007-2012 (Circa 2007)
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The Future?: A proposed structure on the Sunset site
Live On Sunset would house the Los Angeles headquarters of CNN, which is currently located several miles east of the new site, at 6430 Sunset – the same building in which I did satellite-delivered radio for The Oldies Channel on Westwood One.
However, local politicians have been fighting to save the Tower Records structure by having it deemed a protected historical site.
An organization known as ‘The Tower Records Project’ began in 2009 when founder Solomon donated all of his personal memorabilia to the City of Sacramento.
More Reading The Stirring Story of Tower Records / Goldminemag.com
Written by: Rick Murray Hunter
