CAPITOL: Everybody is rooting for industry toastmaster...

CAPITOL: Everybody is rooting for industry toastmaster Joe Smith to turn around this troubled label, but Capitol remains in the industry cellar. In fact, Smith’s recently published music-biz oral history, “Off the Record,” may have sold more copies than many of his label’s releases. With hit makers Tina Turner, Heart and Bob Seger out-of-action, the label was forced to rely on critic-faves Crowded House, who suffered a sophomore slump, R&B; star Freddie Jackson, who still hasn’t crossed over and the label’s highly-touted “Imagine” sound track, which flopped. Capitol’s biggest stars--if you can call ‘em that--were metal band Great White, which landed a platinum album. The year would’ve been even worse if it wasn’t for Capitol’s distribution deal with Enigma, which brought them a triple-platinum Poison album. The label also won raves for young metal-heads Megadeth and Afro-popsters Johnny Clegg and Savuka.