Editing Bullet Records

{{Short description|Independent record label}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2024}}
{{Use British English|date=September 2013}}
{{unfocused|date=December 2012}}
At least five [[record label]]s with the name '''Bullet Records''' have existed.

==Bullet Records, Nashville, 1946-1952==
[[File:WildManBoogie.jpg|right|thumb|Wild Man Boogie by Ray Bates, Bullet Records #754]]
The earliest Bullet Records was a [[record label]] based in [[Nashville, Tennessee|Nashville]], United States, which was started in 1946 by Jim Bulleit and C.V. Hitchcock.<ref name=Kingsbury>{{cite book|last=Kingsbury|first=Paul|title=The Encyclopedia of Country Music: The Ultimate Guide to the Music|year=2005|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-517608-7|pages=65}}</ref> Bulleit was an early partner in [[Sun Records]]. Its only national hits were by orchestra leader [[Francis Craig]].  The pop hit "[[Near You]]" made in early 1947<ref name="Johnny Dee on disc">{{cite magazine|magazine=Billboard|date=1 April 1967|volume=13|issue=79|issn=0006-2510}}</ref> was a monster, topping the charts for seventeen weeks and having a chart run of twenty-five weeks.  Craig also made the charts at #3 with "Beg Your Pardon", but no further hits were forthcoming.<ref name=pm>Pop Memories 1890-1954. Joel Whitburn. 1986. Record Research Inc. p. 232. {{ISBN|0-89820-083-0}}</ref> Despite these hits, the label was known for country music artists such as Boots Woodall's Radio Wranglers, who also recorded for [[Capitol Records]], and Southern Gospel artists such as the Rangers Quartet and Speer Family.   The label also recorded blues singer and pianist [[Cecil Gant]].<ref name="AMG">{{cite web |url={{AllMusic|class=artist|id=p21598|pure_url=yes}} |title=Biography by Bill Dahl |publisher=AllMusic |accessdate=1 June 2009}}</ref> In 1949 they released [[B. B. King]]'s first commercial single, "Miss Martha King".<ref name=Kostelanetz>{{cite book|last=Kostelanetz|first=Richard|title=The B.B. King reader: 6 decades of commentary|year=2006|publisher=Hal Leonard|isbn=978-0-634-09927-4|pages=[https://archive.org/details/bbkingreader6dec00kost/page/6 6]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/bbkingreader6dec00kost/page/6}}</ref><ref>[http://www.bluesaccess.com/No_37/bb_talk.html ''Blues Access'' Interview by Wayne Robins (Spring 1999) – Accessed 16 April 2011]</ref> Too much money was spent in hope of repeating the success of Francis Craig's "Near You" and the label was in trouble by 1949. Jim Bulleit sold out to his share to Hitchcock in February of that year.  The label limped on for a few years but was out of business by 1952.<ref>{{cite book |title= The American Record Label Directory and Dating Guide, 1940-1959|last= Gart|first= Galen|year= 1989|publisher= Big Nickel Publications|location= Milford, New Hampshire|isbn= 0-936433-11-6|pages= 36–37}}</ref>

The Bullet, Sur-Speed and Delta catalogs were purchased by Bluesland Productions in the mid-1990s.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://victorynetwork.org/PioneerMusicMan.html|title=A Pioneer Music Man Crossed Over The Mountain!|website=victorynetwork.org|access-date=2017-12-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160512042708/http://victorynetwork.org/PioneerMusicMan.html|archive-date=12 May 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref>{{Citation needed|date=January 2012}}

==Other Bullet record labels==

Another label with the same name released ''In A Moment'' by the Intrigues, a [[Philadelphia]] R&B quartet, in 1969. The song was re-released by Yew Records and became a top-40 hit.<ref>{{Citation |title=The Intrigues - In A Moment |url=https://www.45cat.com/record/n1001us |access-date=2025-02-22 |language=en}}</ref>

Another Bullet label was a short-lived subsidiary of [[United States|American]] [[Bang Records]]. Only one album by [[Peabo Bryson]] in 1976 was ever released.{{Citation needed|date=January 2012}}  Bryson's next label [[Capitol Records]] now owns the rights to the album ''[[Peabo (album)|Peabo]]'' and Bryson's unreleased Bullet material.

The fourth known [[record label|label]] with this name was based in [[England]] in the early 1980s and released [[new wave of British heavy metal|NWOBHM]] artists. Among known releases is the self-titled 1983 debut [[Extended play|EP]] from [[Denmark|Danish]] [[Pretty Maids]].  Bullet Records UK was an offshoot of Bullet Mail Order. Because of its close ties with the British heavy metal scene at that time, it seemed a logical progression to form a label to promote little-known unsigned bands. Amongst the bands on the label were Wrathchild, Pretty Maids, Black Rose [from N.E.England], Le Griffe, Crisis (from Salt Lake City, US), Silverwing, [[Chrome Molly]] and Taipan [from Australia]. Whilst many of the releases were critically acclaimed, the company suffered from a lack of experience and through various reasons, cash-flow being one, was forced to cease trading in 1984. Bullet Records is currently a Registered Trademark owned by Clark Enslin.

==See also==
* [[Lists of record labels]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://archive.org/details/georgeblood?and%5B%5D=publisher:bullet Bullet Records (Nashville)] on the Internet Archive's [http://great78.archive.org/ Great 78 Project]
* http://www.trademarkia.com/bullet-records-85305508.html

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:American record labels]]
[[Category:British record labels]]