Will I love Hit Men?

Wanna know what happens when you don’t pay off the mobbed-up indie record promo guys, fellas like Joe Isgro and Fred DiSipio? I’ll tell you what—your record doesn’t get played on the radio, shmuck.

This killer history of the mavens and crooks who made the record business spin is enlightening, chilling, and hilarious at turns. Some radio programmers, once paid off, will take a record they have never heard, shake it by their ears, and say, “Sounds good; I like it!” 

Up until the internet took over, radio airplay was the record industry’s lifeblood, and labels would do just about anything to get it. That included hiring independent radio promoters, and not asking too many questions about what they were doing to get certain records on the air at big stations.

Hit Men is an incredible tale of an ugly mid-1980s payola (play for pay) scandal, one that had rumors of organized crime involvement. It’s exactly the sort of sordid big-business shenanigans that made grassroots outfits like Rounder a lot more appealing.

Also recommended, William Knoedelseder’s Stiffed: A True Story of… show more.