• Home
  • Movies
  • Music
  • TV
  • Video Games
  • Wrestling
  • Topics
  • Latest Comments on Cult of Whatever
Search
Cult of Whatever logo
  • Movies
    Featured
    • The Living Daylights: Timothy Dalton as James Bond

      The Living Daylights is still awesome, thirty-five years later

      By Matthew Martin
      | March 28, 2022
      Movie Blogs
    Recent
    • The Muppet Christmas Carol: Michael Caine as Scrooge

      The Muppet’s Christmas Carol remains the gold standard for the book

      By Matthew Martin
      | December 20, 2022
    • Nightmare Before Christmas 1993 1

      2022’s Christmas Movie Watchlist!

      By Matthew Martin
      | December 18, 2022
    • Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio Poster

      REVIEW: GDT’s Pinocchio is my favorite film of the year!

      By Matthew Martin
      | December 14, 2022
    • Troll: Ine Marie Wilmann as Nora

      REVIEWS: TROLL and TROLL HUNTER -A giant creature double feature!

      By Matthew Martin
      | December 5, 2022
    • Harry with The Hendersons

      Harry and the Hendersons is still awesome, thirty-five years later

      By Matthew Martin
      | December 1, 2022
    • Fantastic Four Poster

      The five best “rogues galleries” in superherodom! (part 3)

      By Matthew Martin
      | November 28, 2022
  • Music
    Random
    • Michael Jackson Thriller Album Cover

      Thirty years ago music fans said "Nevermind" to Michael Jackson

      By Matthew Martin
      | March 21, 2021
      Music Blogs
    Recent
    • The Beatles: Get Back

      What GET BACK reveals about the Beatles

      By Matthew Martin
      | December 15, 2021
    • Simon And Garfunkel at Feyenoord Stadium in Rotterdam1982

      The Boxer is a song about being conned

      By Matthew Martin
      | July 4, 2021
    • Lady Gaga: Chromatica Album Cover

      Lady Gaga’s discography is totally out of order

      By Matthew Martin
      | June 3, 2021
    • Queen II Album Cover

      On Queen’s The Miracle, and the importance of track ordering

      By Matthew Martin
      | February 16, 2021
    • Linda Paul Mccartney 1976

      50 years ago, McCartney dropped “Lennon” and went solo…

      By Matthew Martin
      | June 5, 2020
    • Beatles Usa 1964

      50 years ago the Beatles said “The End”

      By Matthew Martin
      | December 31, 2019
  • TV
    Featured
    • Big Sky S03e05: Kylie Bunbury, J. Anthony Pena and Katheryn Winnick as Cassie Dewell, Mo Poppernak and Jenny Hoyt

      Big Sky S03E05 Review: Flesh and Blood - Glamping!

      By Salome G
      | October 22, 2022
      TV Blogs
    Recent
    • Big Sky S03e10: Gang

      Big Sky S03E10 Review: A Thin Layer of Rock – Break time…

      By Salome G
      | December 11, 2022
    • Rick And Morty: S01e03

      Is Beth from Rick and Morty a bigger sociopath than Rick?

      By Jason Collins
      | December 7, 2022
    • Big Sky S03e09: Dedee Pfeiffer and Cree as Denise and Emily

      Big Sky S03E09: Where There’s Smoke There’s Fire – Stalling

      By Salome G
      | December 1, 2022
    • The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special: Dave Bautista and Pom Klementieff as Drax and Mantis

      REVIEW: The GOTG Holiday Special is a sweet prelude to next year’s finale

      By Matthew Martin
      | November 27, 2022
    • The Midnight Club S01: The Gang

      The Midnight Club S1 Review – A series of unfortunate events

      By Salome G
      | November 24, 2022
    • Big Sky S03e08: Reba McEntire as Sunny Barnes

      Big Sky S03E08 Review: Duck Hunting – I love a weirdo.

      By Salome G
      | November 19, 2022
  • Video Games
    Featured
    • Arkham Knight

      Batman: Arkham Knight - A fitting end to a trilogy

      By Tom Farr
      | July 18, 2015
      Video Game Reviews
    Recent
    • Splatoon 3 Screenshot

      A trio of Nintendo Switch reviews!

      By Matthew Martin
      | September 28, 2022
    • Nintendo Switch Logo

      Looking ahead to the Switch 2: Predictions and Wants

      By Matthew Martin
      | August 15, 2022
    • Legend Of Zelda

      Can a Legend of Zelda movie work?

      By Matthew Martin
      | April 6, 2022
    • Super Mario 64

      Which system had the better launch: A battle of four Nintendo consoles

      By Matthew Martin
      | December 1, 2021
    • Luigi's Mansion

      Happy twentieth to Nintendo’s underrated gem, the Gamecube

      By Matthew Martin
      | November 18, 2021
    • Metroid Dread

      Metroid Dread – Post Game analysis and sequel needs

      By Matthew Martin
      | October 29, 2021
  • Wrestling
    Featured
    • AEW All Out 2022: Keith Lee. Anthony Bowens, Max Caster and Billy Gunn

      AEW All Out 2022 - Review and (wild) Speculation!

      By Matthew Martin
      | September 5, 2022
      AEW
    Recent
    • article placeholder

      Which Is Better AEW vs WWE?

      By Coder
      | September 29, 2023
    • article placeholder

      Which Female Wrestler Leaves WWE?

      By Coder
      | September 29, 2023
    • article placeholder

      Which WWE Wrestler Had a Heart Attack?

      By Coder
      | September 29, 2023
    • article placeholder

      Which WWE Legend Recently Died?

      By Coder
      | September 29, 2023
    • article placeholder

      Which WWE Game Has the Best Story Mode?

      By Coder
      | September 29, 2023
    • article placeholder

      Which GM Should I Pick WWE 2K22?

      By Coder
      | September 29, 2023
  • Topics
    • site logo
    Latest
    • Which Is Better AEW vs WWE?
    • Which Female Wrestler Leaves WWE?
    • Which WWE Wrestler Had a Heart Attack?
    • Which WWE Legend Recently Died?
    • Which WWE Game Has the Best Story Mode?
    • Which GM Should I Pick WWE 2K22?

    On Sam and Sun and the nativity scene of rock and roll

    By Matthew Martin
    | December 18, 2017
    Music Blogs

    Sam Phillips Sun Records

    Sam Phillips was born Samuel Cornelius Phillips in 1923. The youngest of eight children, he was born in a farmhouse just outside of Florence, Alabama. He and his family grew up in poverty; they were the kind of poor that got you into trouble if you talked about wanting to grow up being rich and famous.

    But that’s exactly what he dreamed of.

    Phillips’ family were tenant farmers, working on land they could only (barely) afford to rent. The young Samuel picked cotton with his siblings and parents, along with black hired-hands who would sing as they worked. The music the workers made up and down the rows of cotton not only helped to pass the time, it implanted in the young boy a love of music and a belief in its power. As he grew, Sam began to travel to Florence, to take part in banjo concerts and enjoy local talent shows. He never participated, but he loved to listen to the singers. In high school, Phillips proved himself a capable musician; he played drums, sousaphone, and trombone in the marching band.

    At the age of eighteen, the whole Phillips family packed up for a six-hundred-mile journey to Dallas, TX; a famous Baptist evangelist named George Washington Truett had been the pastor of the First Baptist Church of Dallas for decades, during which time he grew the attendance from seven-hundred to over seven-thousand. Truett was nearing retirement and scores of people were traveling all over the country for the chance to say they heard him live. His sermons in those days focused on the idea that wealth and power were not evils but tools to be used for the benefit of others. It was a message that Phillips would take to heart.

    While traveling between Florence and Dallas, the Phillips family stopped in Memphis, Tennessee. It was there that the teenage, music lover first discovered the wonders of Beale Street. Though a steady rain was falling when he first toured the street, Phillips was amazed at how alive it all was. Compared to the “big city” of Florence, Beale St. alone was happening. In 1939, Beale St. was a hopping strip, brimming with clubs, restaurants and shops, predominately managed by African-Americans. Music was played in the stores and out. A cacophony of saxophones and trumpets greeted every pedestrian and everywhere you went you were saturated with the so-called “black sound.” After visiting, Sam Phillips would never be the same again.

    He returned to Florence and helped to support his mother after his father died (bankrupt) in 1941. Grocery stores and funeral parlors provided slight but steady paychecks but did not satisfy the young man’s desires to run away and make it big. The early part of his youth was spent with his desiring to be a criminal defense attorney, but his lone visit to Memphis changed his life and set his sights on music. He didn’t know in what capacity he’d work in it, but he knew one way or another he would work “in” music.

    Finally, in 1945, the twenty-two-year-old Phillips left Alabama and moved to the town of his dreams. His first job in the city was as an engineer, and later a disc jockey for WREC, which broadcasted out of the legendary Peabody Hotel.

    As a WREC engineer, Phillips was put in charge of recording live performances for later use on the air. Unlike other engineers, Phillips’ focus was less on the technical set-up or the quality of the sound equipment. He cared about the music and wanted to make sure he got the most out of the performers. He would position microphones around the percussionist and stand-up bass player, to give his recordings a deeper, more driving sound. He would also stop and direct the performers, offering tips on ways to improve their takes. Rather than being angry that his employee had acted unilaterally, WREC owner Hoyt Wooten praised the young engineer on the unique sound he had managed to produce.

    By day he’d work at the station and at night he’d roam Beale St., taking in the sound that, while ubiquitous to Memphis, was not being heard on the radio.

    In 1949, Phillips secured a lease for an abandoned auto repair shop located on Union Avenue. After working on the building for several months while still DJ’ing for WREC, he opened “Memphis Recording Studio” on Tuesday, January 3, 1950. Inspired by a belief that the south was an untapped goldmine of new and exciting music just waiting to be plundered, Phillips opened his studio up to any “joe blow” off the street who wanted to come in and cut a record (for a few bucks). Mostly, Phillip’s studio attracted regular folk looking to record a novelty record as a gift for their husband or mother, but every now and then a real talent would step through the doors. It didn’t take long for the producer to realize there was potential in starting his own record label.

    Next Page
    1 2

    Tags

    Elvis PresleyRock and RollSam PhillipsSun Studios

    COMMENTS

    Please read our Commenting Policy before you join in with the discussion.

    Note: If you have email notifications enabled, please check your email spam folders to ensure emails are not missed.

    Subscribe
    Connect withD
    I allow to create an account
    When you login first time using a Social Login button, we collect your account public profile information shared by Social Login provider, based on your privacy settings. We also get your email address to automatically create an account for you in our website. Once your account is created, you'll be logged-in to this account.
    DisagreeAgree
    Notify of
    guest

    Connect withD
    I allow to create an account
    When you login first time using a Social Login button, we collect your account public profile information shared by Social Login provider, based on your privacy settings. We also get your email address to automatically create an account for you in our website. Once your account is created, you'll be logged-in to this account.
    DisagreeAgree
    guest

    4 Comments
    Inline Feedbacks
    View all comments
    PoisonIvy
    PoisonIvy
    5 years ago

    There was a show on one of the networks (CMT, maybe?) called Sun Records and featuring the story of Sam Phillips. I only saw two episodes, but it was good. I’d love to finish it. No idea if it was picked up for another season, or canceled.

    0
    Reply
    SyFyFanatic
    SyFyFanatic
    5 years ago

    I loved Elvis and I do know that Sun Records is where he got his start. Phillips was ahead of his time in the way that music went. He really brought us some good stuff!

    0
    Reply
    Gavin the BingeWatcherD
    Gavin the BingeWatcher
    5 years ago

    Am I the only one wondering how a dirt poor family got the money to travel to Italy (just realized Florence is a city in the U.S.), open up businesses (he had job at those places but wasn’t an owner), and send a child to college (scholarship/grants maybe)? That’s quite the jump. One day they’re all picking cotton children included, the next they’re middle income (No, I’m just daft at times).

    0
    Reply
    ArabellaD
    Arabella
    5 years ago

    I had no idea that preachers were sharing their version of the prosperity gospel that long ago. How interesting. Sam Phillips grew up with a healthy respect for different cultures and you can hear that richness in his music.

    0
    Reply

    You might also like

    • Elvis’s 40 Year Reign (1954-1955)

      By Matthew Martin
      | January 27, 2017
    • Elvis’s final New Year’s featured his last great show

      By Matthew Martin
      | December 31, 2016
    • Johnny Cash: The American Storyteller

      By Matthew Martin
      | September 2, 2015
    • John Lennon’s final recordings are so full of joy it breaks your heart…

      By Matthew Martin
      | October 17, 2016

    FIND THE TOPICS YOU WANT...

    Music Topics

    Recommended for you

    • What GET BACK reveals about the Beatles

      By Matthew Martin
      | December 15, 2021
    • The Boxer is a song about being conned

      By Matthew Martin
      | July 4, 2021
    • Lady Gaga’s discography is totally out of order

      By Matthew Martin
      | June 3, 2021
    • Thirty years ago music fans said “Nevermind” to Michael Jackson

      By Matthew Martin
      | March 21, 2021
    • 50 years ago, McCartney dropped “Lennon” and went solo…

      By Matthew Martin
      | June 5, 2020
    • The secret to Weird Al’s genius…

      By Matthew Martin
      | June 25, 2019
    • Fifty years of Led Zeppelin

      By Matthew Martin
      | March 4, 2019
    • QUEEN’s catalogue, from bottom to top

      By Matthew Martin
      | November 1, 2018
    • Elvis’s 40 Year Reign (1954-1955)

      By Matthew Martin
      | January 27, 2017
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Privacy Policy
    • Affiliate Disclosure
    • Cookie Policy and Settings
    • Terms of Use
    • Photo Credits
    • RSS
    All Cult of Whatever articles, logos, illustrations and graphics are copyright CultOfWhatever.com. All other trademarks, logos and copyrights are the property of their respective owners. © 2023 CultOfWhatever. All Rights Reserved.
    • facebook
    • twitter
    wpDiscuz