More Mad Mike Moldies - Volume 4 - LP Record NRM 1592

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More Mad Mike Moldies - NRM 1592 LP Record

I am not a record grading specialist but I do own a great number of LPs and 45s in my personal collection..So here goes...The main point is that the record does play flawlessly on both sides..I played it...! Label is perfect..The record still has quite a bit of gloss and the original inner sleeve, I think..One side is all cool jump songs and the other side are the  equally cool "Sissy" ballads that some some us remember soooo fondly..

The record cover has some minor rubbing to the top and bottom..The seams are strong and secure..No odors was always kept high and dry..Only "Flaw" and I dont even consider it as such is the NRM[National Record Mart $1.59 Price Label] affixed to the front..*Personally, I think the NRM label gives the Mad Mike record a sense of place and time..If desired by the winner, I will remove the NRM Label after auction...Just advise..*LP will be enclosed in new clear Mylar protective cover..

Hey who picked em better than Mike..It's a Burgh thing ! I have included a brief history of Mike, his times, and the Pittsburgh Oldies scene..If you like read on and keep on Rockin !

His real name was Mike Metrovich. The native Pittsburgher served in the Navy in the late '50s and was stationed in New York, where he became enamored with the new sound of now-classic acts like The Turbans, Big Joe Turner and Fats Domino.

When he returned to Pittsburgh in 1959, Mad Mike started hosting record hops, which drew kids from all over the area. The popular dances led to his first radio job. He started at WPIT-AM in 1964, and soon moved to what would be his radio home until 1972 -- a small Carnegie station called WZUM-AM. He later hosted oldies shows on WYEP-FM, WEDO-AM and WWCS-AM.

Listeners tuning to Pittsburgh radio station WZUM 1590AM on Thursday evening, August 2, 1964 for the Johnny Walker Show (A quick fill-in oldies program replacing Bob Mack's "Wax Museum" which had been cancelled just six months earlier) were introduced to music so wild and obscure that few had ever heard of the records being played by DJ "Mad Mike" Metro. That's saying something in a city full of record collectors! Already a legend to those attending the area's numerous teen dances, his immense on-air popularity added thousands of faithful listeners and record-buyers. The amount of "new" and desireable music that Mad Mike would add to his radio show each week was nothing short of phenomenal. The demand skyrocketed for these impossible-to-find records resulting in the successful marketing of four "Mad Mike Moldies" LPs. Scant public recognition has been given to Mad Mike for his creation of an oldies style unique to Western Pennsylvania

Like his counterpart Porky Chedwick, Mad Mike was part of a pantheon of influential local disc jockeys in the '60s that included Terry Lee, Chuck Brinkman and the late Clark Race.

But while many of these worked at mainstream radio stations, Mad Mike and Chedwick introduced records that were more underground -- Chedwick with black artists, Mad Mike with wild garage bands like the Sonics.

"Mad Mike brought a lot of the underground sound to white culture," says Johnny Angel, front man of the oldies band Johnny Angel and the Halos. Mad Mike and Chedwick "were the ones that represented blue collar. They introduced us to music we would have never heard."

Mad Mike Metro was a guy who had several generations of Pittsburghers dancing on the tables. They greased their hair back and donned leather jackets. They met kids from all over the city and danced to crazy new records handpicked for them by DJ Mad Mike, who went on to become a music and broadcasting legend.

Those kids are grown-ups now, and a piece of their early '60s record-hopping youth has slipped away: Mad Mike Metro died Oct. 31, 2000 leaving behind a musical and broadcasting legacy that made a mark on many in the area.

BRIEF HISTORY OF THE SERIES- One Collector's Perspective: Mad Mike Moldies Volume 1 was successfully released just a few short months after DJ Mike Metro began his legendary radio broadcasts at WZUM and appears to have come off without a hitch while scoring a big hit with fans. This lead to a quick release of the much-anticipated Volume II but interestingly enough the first shipment arrived at the National Record Mart stores without jackets! (bought one anyway) When the familiar red cover with Mad Mike's picture finally made its appearance it was noted that on the front slick the ballad titles were incorrectly listed as the "Rock Side", and vice-versa. Next there's a delay in issuing Volume 3 (although an apparently unauthorized Volume 3 record is, for whatever reason, being clandestinely pressed); In fact, when the next addition to the series finally makes it into NRM stores it's Volume 4 ! Record distribution has changed from NRM to a separate corporation (although still at the same address) and it's obvious from the record's physical attributes that production methods or locations have also changed. A color-vinyl Volume 5 is released next but the term "Mad Mike Moldies" is no longer being placed on the record label ! All labels now read "Oldies" although it is apparently still permissable for NRM/STE to title the LP series Mad Mike Moldies. Also at this time the personal photographs of Mad Mike and the Wildwood Lodge have been replaced with stock images for the cover of the newly-reissued Volume 1 LP; the record label also reads "Oldies" and the various color-vinyl records sport a remastered a-side.

Man, time sure does fly..I guess you just had to be there..?

*A Special Thanks to JAN CEE MUSIC and Stephen Jaye for their huge contribution to The History and Times of Mad Mike* Their expertise was invaluable in my research.....!