
Seymour Stein passed away this week at the age of 80. Numerous tributes from artists like Madonna, k.d. lang, and Tim Burgess accompanied the sad news.
When the definitive book about music in the 20th Century is written, Stein will have a special mention. As a music exec, he helped foster some of the most exciting young talents.
The Ramones, Talking Heads, and Madonna all owe a huge debt of gratitude to the Sire Records co-founder. Many of the bands he signed are in the Rock N’ Roll Hall of Fame.
Today I’ll look at 10 of the most important music artists that owe their careers to Seymour Stein.
1. The Ramones
The Ramones are, for many, the inventors of punk rock. Seymour Stein played an essential role in their success and had a great vision for what they could be.
That’s no small feat considering what The Ramones are supposed to have sounded like in their early days. Remember that their first show at CBGB ended after only a few songs when the band members all launched into different tunes simultaneously.
Linda Stein first saw something in the New York quartet and passed a recording on to her husband. After hearing a demo tape for their debut album in 1975, Stein signed them to Sire Records.
The record label’s biggest success until then had been unleashing Dutch prog band Focus onto American shores. Stein always had a taste for the unusual.
Stein assisted with The Ramones’ image and marketing. He got the band airplay on college radio stations and booked them on national tours.
Ultimately, while The Ramones’ success did not include platinum sales, they became one of music’s most enduring bands, with Seymour Stein playing an essential role.

2. Talking Heads
Seymour Stein also played an integral role in the success of Talking Heads, one of the new wave era’s most innovative and original bands. David Byrne and the rest of the band have never shied away from admitting this.
After seeing them perform at CBGB’s in New York City during the late 70s, Stein signed them to Sire Records. Like their peers, which included Television, The Ramones or Blondie, Talking Headss sound wasn’t fully formed either.
Sire Records provided production and marketing support. “Talking Heads: 77” immediately announced them as one of the most exciting groups in the NYC scene. Stein’s efforts helped lead them to become one of the most critically acclaimed and commercially successful bands of their era.
3. Madonna
Madonna is one of the world’s biggest pop stars. And, Seymour Stein could take pride in having played a vital role in her early success.
After hearing Madonna‘s demo tape in 1982, Stein, who was in hospital following heart surgery at the time, summoned the singer to his bedside. Convinced of her ambition, he signed her to Sire Records. She was given, initially $45,000 for three singles.
Sire helped direct Madonna’s sound and image. Her debut album went on to sell over 10 million copies worldwide. Next, “Like a Virgin” has gone on to sell over 21 million copies cementing Madonna as an icon.
Seymour Stein’s early role as a mentor in her career helped Madonna go from a New York punk to a global pop megastar.

4. The Pretenders
Chrissie Hynde and The Pretenders’ origin story is nearly as famous as their chart-topping songs. Hynde, an Ohio native, had moved to London just as punk rock started taking off. She became intimately acquainted with Malcolm McClaren, The Sex Pistols, and Nick Kent.
By 1978, however, it looked like the opportunity of starting her own successful group had passed her by.
In 1978, The Pretenders played a show at this venue, and Stein, who was in the audience, was highly impressed with their performance. After the show, he approached the band’s manager and expressed interest in signing them to Sire Records. Soon after, The Pretenders signed with the label and released their debut album in 1980.
Hynde and The Pretenders would become one of the most successful bands of the early 1980s.
5. The Smiths
The Smiths were the definitive British guitar-pop groups of the 1980s. While their excellence lay in the songwriting talents of Steven Morrissey and Johnny Marr, they, too needed a helping hand from the music music business. Seymour Stein was one of the ones to have extended that hand.
Stein wasn’t the first to sign The Smiths. Rough Trade Records licensed The Smiths’ songs to Sire Records for release in the UK; Warner Bros. Records distributed The Smiths albums across North America via Sire/Reprise Records under license from Warner Music Group.
The Smiths were notoriously unhappy with the way that Rough Trade handled their business and often threatened to leave for EMI or Sire. It turns out that Stein’s guidance was appreciated by the famously tough English band.
6. Depeche Mode
Depeche Mode are one of the world’s most successful electro-pop bands on the planet. Like the others on the list, Stein played a part in their early success.
Seymour Stein, who had co-founded Sire Records signed them to the label in 1983 and helped with marketing and distribution in America. The label first released a compilation titled “People are People” in 1984. It included songs from the band’s two first British released albums and b-sides. By 1988, Depeche Mode were performing to audiences of 60.000 in the States.
As with others on our list, Stein had a good ear for talent being established across the pond. He helped Depeche Mode and other British bands attain greater fame in the U.S.A.
7. The Cure
The Cure, the legendary English goth-rock band, was another group that Sire Records helped achieve greater notoriety in North America.
Sire Records released The Cure’s debut U.S. album, “Boys Don’t Cry,” in 1980.
The Cure’s success in America can be credited, at least in part, to Sire Records’ promotion and marketing efforts.
Albums like “The Head on the Door,” “Kiss Me, Kiss Me,” and “Disintegration” made the group one of the unlike rock n’ roll success stories with some labeling their live shows as “Pink Floyd-like in terms of scope and attendance.”
8. The Replacements
The Replacements was one of the best bands in the world and a record label’s worst nightmare. Stories about Paul Westerberg and the rest of the band’s comical, self-destructive behavior is part of rock folklore.
Still, Seymour Stein did take on the Herculian task of helping the band. Controversially, by the mid 1980s, The Replacements were ready to sign to a major label.
Sire, who was a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Records, managed to earn their signature. Seymour Stein quickly got Tommy Ramone to produce the album “Tim,” one the band’s best.
In the end, The Replacements only achieved moderate commercial success on a record label, something that their underground peers might have celebrated. However, Sire Records added another of the finest bands in the world to their catalog.
9. Ice-T
Seymour Stein even had a hand in helping promote gangsta rap across America. He signed Ice-T in 1987, and even remarked that the rapper could be a kind of Bob Dylan for a new generation.
To be fair, he had a similar opinion of Lou Reed who released his 1980s albums on Sire.
By the early 1990s, Ice-T was causing controversy with songs like “Cop Killer” and making albums like “Home Invasion” go platinum.
Stein and Sire stood by their artist and his right to freedom of expression and even supported his heavy metal project, Body Count. Stein appears to have been nothing if not forward-thinking.

10. Ministry
One could argue that Sire Records’ bread and butter were extreme, alternative music acts.
However, in the case of Ministry, as with many other bands signed to the label, Seymour Stein did play a major role. It must’ve made life more interesting.
He attended several of their gigs back when the band was still in its electro-pop phase. Sire helped keep the Wax Trax! label, home of pioneering industrial rock artists, afloat.
And by the 1990s, with albums like “Psalm 69” and singles like “Jesus Built My Hotrod,” Ministry had brought industrial-metal screaming into the mainstream.
Seymour Stein wasn’t just the right man at the right place. He personally took an interest in the artists he signed, and took major risks on alternative music. He leaves behind an enviable legacy and a large number of thankful rockstars.

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