Whatever happened to Vinnie Politan (Metropolitan Records)

[ronnie d]

do what ? take over joeys job ?

 

[Joey Gold]

Technically speaking, Adam Moreno did not take over the A&R position at Metro, but when I left Jerry Salerno (president of Metro) basically stopped doing in-house records and signed Adam's labels to distribution deals, so Adam's records were essentially the only stuff Metro was putting out, albeit under different labels. From what I understand, in the beginning they were fairly succesful. The other thing you guys should also know is that another big part of Metropolitan - Jason McFadden, who did radio promotion and was responsible for getting the records out there to radio and djs - left in the mid 90s to take a position with Virgin Records. He was the spark that kept Metro relevant.

 

[george]

Technically speaking, Adam Moreno did not take over the A&R position at Metro, but when I left Jerry Salerno (president of Metro) basically stopped doing in-house records and signed Adam's labels to distribution deals, so Adam's records were essentially the only stuff Metro was putting out, albeit under different labels. From what I understand, in the beginning they were fairly succesful. The other thing you guys should also know is that another big part of Metropolitan - Jason McFadden, who did radio promotion and was responsible for getting the records out there to radio and djs - left in the mid 90s to take a position with Virgin Records. He was the spark that kept Metro relevant.

Joey, when I think of Metropolitan, I think of you, Sebastian and Laissez Fairre. That's just my personal opinion. I loved the records by the three above mentioned artists. Your "Devil In My Heart" remains a loved classic to me.
Would you ever consider revisiting your past? a single perhaps?

 

[freestylegreek]

Metropolitan Records will always be the record label that to this day people still speak of.

 

[crypticreign]

It has been very interesting reading all of your comments about Metropolitan Records. I was there from the beginning and wrote and produced the April album, Laissez Faire, Cheree and various other artists. In the beginning it was great fun, but by 1992-93 - how did BB King put it - the thrill was gone. I never considered myself to be on the same level of the great freestyle producers like Elvin Molina or Andy Panda, but I loved the music and was pretty good at coming up with a catchy hook. The problem was that the money was not so great. I stepped down as A&R guy and head producer to attend law school, and Adam Moreno essentially took over. I really did not know Adam, but he seemed like a very nice guy. Other than the Collage song, and another remake he did of some I think 80's love ballad put to a generic Planet Rock beat, I don't recall his material. I do agree with many of your comments - alot of the Metro stuff was inferior, due in large part to serious budget constraints. But I enjoyed writing and producing the songs, and it really was a good experience that I now can share with my kids. It's still fun to be riding in the car and hear IN Paradise on 103.5. Long Live Freestyle!
Peace

Actually, when I think of all the "Extravaganza" albums and mega-mix albums.. most of the material was slammin!! What probably killed them or gave them a bad name was all the shit that Tazmania and Viper put out once 1997 hit.

BTW, Devil In My Heart is one of my top 10 freestyle tracks of all time! Slammin tune!

 

[crypticreign]

adam moreno was joeys predecessor, when joey left the company in the early 90's he went on to become a lawyer like vinnie did.

Well... when was the last true Metropolitan release? 1995? That's when most of the stuff was distribution for Viper and Ti Amo (AKA Adam Morano).

 

[ronnie d]

so what was the last metro record pressed and when ?

 

[BloomfieldAveCruiser]

Technically speaking, Adam Moreno did not take over the A&R position at Metro, but when I left Jerry Salerno (president of Metro) basically stopped doing in-house records and signed Adam's labels to distribution deals, so Adam's records were essentially the only stuff Metro was putting out, albeit under different labels. From what I understand, in the beginning they were fairly succesful. The other thing you guys should also know is that another big part of Metropolitan - Jason McFadden, who did radio promotion and was responsible for getting the records out there to radio and djs - left in the mid 90s to take a position with Virgin Records. He was the spark that kept Metro relevant.

Great info Joey ......

By the way , Being only a minutes ride from the Metro headquarters , you know you cruised Bloomfield ave back in the day ... LOL

 

[damultieditjunke]

Technically speaking, Adam Moreno did not take over the A&R position at Metro, but when I left Jerry Salerno (president of Metro) basically stopped doing in-house records and signed Adam's labels to distribution deals, so Adam's records were essentially the only stuff Metro was putting out, albeit under different labels. From what I understand, in the beginning they were fairly succesful. The other thing you guys should also know is that another big part of Metropolitan - Jason McFadden, who did radio promotion and was responsible for getting the records out there to radio and djs - left in the mid 90s to take a position with Virgin Records. He was the spark that kept Metro relevant.

whats up joey? nice to see you on here....you are deffantly responsible for some of the most AMAZING songs... all of april songs,santa li, devil in my heart, laize faire,chree
I know u wrote and produced them...did you also play the keyboards and drum programing as well? how about the multi edits?
I use to go to metro as a kid all the time to back in in the early 90s up to about 97 to pick up freestyle records...and remember jerry, his mom and his sister and Jason very well...i use to love going there back in the day to get records...there was a certain ambience in that office ...felt like you part of the music...part of history with all those black and white pictures of freestyle artist on the walls... there was even a picture of the mamas and papas if i remmeber correctly.... i miss those days dearly...
how are they all doing? are you still in contact with any of them...

when did you first start getting into music? and how did you get into music...specifly freestyle? how many years were u at metro? and why did you leave....just curious....
and are your still into music? doing any production on the side or as a hobby etc?
and what are you up to these days?

 

[Joey Gold]

Thanks for the kind words. I don't keep in contact with Jerry Salerno or Jason. I understand Jerry still has the record pressing plant and Jason has his own PR firm after having left Virgin Records. Did you know Jerry walked away from a very lucrative career on Wall Street to start Metro? I still keep in touch with Vinny, but not as much as I would like. He hosts his own program on Sirius Radio and has really odd hours. Vinny and I grew up together as neighbors in West Orange New Jersey. As to me, growing up I never envisioned a career in music, let alone writing and producing records (and yes I played all keyboards, drum machines and programming, but not the edits). When I was in college, before Metro, I had a blues band that was fairly succesful on the local scene. I also DJed at a local bar/club. Vinny was in college in California, and there he met Jerry Salerno - 2 Jersey kids who loved freestyle stuck in California. There they came up with the idea of forming a freestyle record label. After graduating from college, they returned to Jersey. I was still in college. Vinny asked if I would write a song for his new artist - April. I owned a cheezy Casio keyboard, and I came up with the song "Right on Time". Vinny loved it, and than asked if I would go into the studio and lay the tracks. I had never been in a studio before so it was both amazing and overwhelming. Anyway, Right on TIme was enough of a hit to do a follow-up, which was Someone To Hold, and then another follow-up You're the One For Me (which is my personal favorite). I had already applied to law school, but figured I would put that on hold to see where this music thing took me. Next thing you know we are selling records, traveling around the country, and life was good. We next held auditions for Laissez-Fairre, and found three pretty hot girls from New York who could sing pretty well. I wrote In Paradise in a Dunkin Donuts in Bloomfield New Jersey at 3:00 am, and stayed up the whole day in my home studio and laid the tracks. The next thing I knew it was a huge hit throught out the country that really put Metro on the map. I could go on forever, but I don't want to bore you guys. It's just that I've never relived those days until finding this website. I left the music business because I was burnt out, and didn't think I could make a career out of it. The music industry is without a doubt the most competitive and corrupt industry out there. Believe it. As to the now, I listen to all music but unfortunatley don't have access to any new freestyle if any does exist. Today's dance music I find to be very boring - no excitement. I miss the energy and melodies of freestyle carried by the thumping baseline and 909 kick.
Long live freestyle.

Peace.

 

[dathunder]

Joey tell us more! i love these behind the scenes stories as i'm sure most of the other members do too. There is new freestyle being put out. Carlos Berrios just came out with 2 cd's full of new freestyle this year. You can check them out http://berriosbeats.blogspot.com/2007/11/carlos-berrios-dont-look-back.html

Hope you continue to post stories on here!

 

[damultieditjunke]

Thanks for the kind words. I don't keep in contact with Jerry Salerno or Jason. I understand Jerry still has the record pressing plant and Jason has his own PR firm after having left Virgin Records. Did you know Jerry walked away from a very lucrative career on Wall Street to start Metro? I still keep in touch with Vinny, but not as much as I would like. He hosts his own program on Sirius Radio and has really odd hours. Vinny and I grew up together as neighbors in West Orange New Jersey. As to me, growing up I never envisioned a career in music, let alone writing and producing records (and yes I played all keyboards, drum machines and programming, but not the edits). When I was in college, before Metro, I had a blues band that was fairly succesful on the local scene. I also DJed at a local bar/club. Vinny was in college in California, and there he met Jerry Salerno - 2 Jersey kids who loved freestyle stuck in California. There they came up with the idea of forming a freestyle record label. After graduating from college, they returned to Jersey. I was still in college. Vinny asked if I would write a song for his new artist - April. I owned a cheezy Casio keyboard, and I came up with the song "Right on Time". Vinny loved it, and than asked if I would go into the studio and lay the tracks. I had never been in a studio before so it was both amazing and overwhelming. Anyway, Right on TIme was enough of a hit to do a follow-up, which was Someone To Hold, and then another follow-up You're the One For Me (which is my personal favorite). I had already applied to law school, but figured I would put that on hold to see where this music thing took me. Next thing you know we are selling records, traveling around the country, and life was good. We next held auditions for Laissez-Fairre, and found three pretty hot girls from New York who could sing pretty well. I wrote In Paradise in a Dunkin Donuts in Bloomfield New Jersey at 3:00 am, and stayed up the whole day in my home studio and laid the tracks. The next thing I knew it was a huge hit throught out the country that really put Metro on the map. I could go on forever, but I don't want to bore you guys. It's just that I've never relived those days until finding this website. I left the music business because I was burnt out, and didn't think I could make a career out of it. The music industry is without a doubt the most competitive and corrupt industry out there. Believe it. As to the now, I listen to all music but unfortunatley don't have access to any new freestyle if any does exist. Today's dance music I find to be very boring - no excitement. I miss the energy and melodies of freestyle carried by the thumping baseline and 909 kick.
Long live freestyle.
Peace.

thanks for replying Joey...that was just simply a amazing story.......
and I would LOVE to know more History...that was a amazing era for music and you are very lucky to have been a true part of it.....and I miss those days dearly as well
and you are 100 percent correct todays dance music is very boring

in you personal opinion....how did such a creative amazing era of music/radio just come to a abrupt end and fade away....little did I know (and most people of of the time) that we were in a amazing era of dance music/radio... that was one day soon going to be replaced by a korn ball era of garbage (meaning todays music)... (and todays horribel radio programing)

so as you were writing and producing for metro..you were also doing A&R there? going to college for law (which you put on hold to see where the music thing would take you)

did you have any formal keyboard/drug programing training or did you just learn it on your own? what kind of keyboards and drum machines were u using
how did you write such amazing songs like devil in my heart and santi li got me loving you, right on time? did they just come naturaly to you?
I mean how did the entire song writing process work for you? i mean did you just sit down somewhere and start writing when need be or ..

and how did the whole money thing work did you just get paid for production? or writing or both....did you get royalities or anything like that from the music

who did the edits on devil in my heart and santi li? was it vinny politan cause i rember the records saying vin man
or you still in contact with chree or laize fair april sebastion?

looking forward to your post

 

[BloomfieldAveCruiser]

Thanks for the kind words. I don't keep in contact with Jerry Salerno or Jason. I understand Jerry still has the record pressing plant and Jason has his own PR firm after having left Virgin Records. Did you know Jerry walked away from a very lucrative career on Wall Street to start Metro? I still keep in touch with Vinny, but not as much as I would like. He hosts his own program on Sirius Radio and has really odd hours. Vinny and I grew up together as neighbors in West Orange New Jersey. As to me, growing up I never envisioned a career in music, let alone writing and producing records (and yes I played all keyboards, drum machines and programming, but not the edits). When I was in college, before Metro, I had a blues band that was fairly succesful on the local scene. I also DJed at a local bar/club. Vinny was in college in California, and there he met Jerry Salerno - 2 Jersey kids who loved freestyle stuck in California. There they came up with the idea of forming a freestyle record label. After graduating from college, they returned to Jersey. I was still in college. Vinny asked if I would write a song for his new artist - April. I owned a cheezy Casio keyboard, and I came up with the song "Right on Time". Vinny loved it, and than asked if I would go into the studio and lay the tracks. I had never been in a studio before so it was both amazing and overwhelming. Anyway, Right on TIme was enough of a hit to do a follow-up, which was Someone To Hold, and then another follow-up You're the One For Me (which is my personal favorite). I had already applied to law school, but figured I would put that on hold to see where this music thing took me. Next thing you know we are selling records, traveling around the country, and life was good. We next held auditions for Laissez-Fairre, and found three pretty hot girls from New York who could sing pretty well. I wrote In Paradise in a Dunkin Donuts in Bloomfield New Jersey at 3:00 am, and stayed up the whole day in my home studio and laid the tracks. The next thing I knew it was a huge hit throught out the country that really put Metro on the map. I could go on forever, but I don't want to bore you guys. It's just that I've never relived those days until finding this website. I left the music business because I was burnt out, and didn't think I could make a career out of it. The music industry is without a doubt the most competitive and corrupt industry out there. Believe it. As to the now, I listen to all music but unfortunatley don't have access to any new freestyle if any does exist. Today's dance music I find to be very boring - no excitement. I miss the energy and melodies of freestyle carried by the thumping baseline and 909 kick.
Long live freestyle.
Peace.

Great stuff Joey !!!!
I might have walked by you 3am in Dunkin Donuts with some hot chicks I picked up on the ave .... LOL
Totally Oblivious that you were sitting there writing "In Paradise" ....

Ahhhh , those were the days man , those were the days !!!

 

[RUMMYG]

He never came back. Maybe someone else can finish off the story?

 

[freestylegreek]

Well hopefully he comes back.

 

[freestylegreek]

 

[METROVINNIE]

How did the what happened to “me”discussion turn into an analysis of Adam Morano… anyway - Adam is an incredibly talented musician. So is Joey Gold. Joey is also amazingly smart and self taught. He figured it out pretty quickly.

As for me. I am passionate about many things. Family. Music. Basketball. Pickleball. True Crime. To just name a few.

I found my calling in front of the tv camera covering the nations biggest trials and murder mysteries. I am the lead anchor for CourtTV covering cases like Casey Anthony, Jodi AriaS, Alex Murdaugh etc… I get excited every night for my 8pm show just like I would get excited when Jose “the Animal” Diaz would spin my new record in the club or I would hear it on KTU…

I enjoyed my time behind the scenes finding and cultivating freestyle talent, but realized there was something else I wanted to do. That does not diminish my passion or love for it. The record business was fun but also filled with many characters who don’t play by the rules. It was a conflict that would eventually limit the level of success that I believed was achievable. I realized this pretty quickly and followed a different passion.

But I would never trade those years for anything. From the studio, to the clubs, to listening to hundreds of tracks and meeting some really interesting and talented people.

I still listen to the songs regularly. Here are some of my favorites (in no particular order)
TEAR SHED - MKG
YOU’re The One for Me … APRIL
ROUND and ROUND … LAISSEZ FAIRE
I’LL BE LOVING YOU… COLLAGE
SPECIAL LOVE… APRIL
DON’T WORRY BOUT IT…. NALDO
DO IT TO THE CROWD… TWIN HYPE

Finally… why was Frankie Cutlass so bitter in his comments. It’s just music. It’s supposed to be happy and fun. I watch his Facebook Lives all the time. Good music good times. No room for negativity. Don’t Worry About it!

-Vinnie