Original Sound is a Los Angeles, California-based record label. It was founded in the early 1950s by KPOP deejay Art Laboe. It began as a small label that specialized in compiling and re-releasing "oldies" R&B and rock 'n' roll songs. The label pioneered the concept of reissuing older pop and rock hits, and sold millions of records on his Oldies But Goodies compilation albums, several of which made the national Billboard album charts. All 15 volumes of this series were later reissued on a best-selling CD series in the 1980s and 1990s. The label's biggest self-recorded hit as a single was Teen Beat by drummer Sandy Nelson, reaching #4 on Billboard in 1959. Other successful Original Sound artists included:
- Preston Epps ("Bongo Rock" and "Bongo, Bongo, Bongo")
- The Music Machine ("Talk, Talk" and "The People In Me"), and
- Dyke & the Blazers ("Funky Broadway").
The first few "Oldies But Goodies" LPs were hugely successful (Volume 1 reached #12 on the Billboard Album charts and stayed on the chart for 183 weeks). Their success influenced other labels to put out compilations of their hits and near-hits, as well as helped validate the standing of songs like The Five Satins's "In the Still Of Nite", which only reached #24 on the pop charts in 1956.
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