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Date: September 2, 1992

Location: Manalapan

Title: Megaforce Records Rocks and Rolls to its Own Beat

Author: Dan B. Levine

Subject: An independent record firm competes with big labels by doing things in its own relaxed way

Entering the office of Jon Zazula is like entering another world. No, it”s not Star Trek: The Next Frontier; it”s like a cultural happening. Just looking through Zazula”s office is an out-of-the-corporate-world experience. The chairman of Manalapan”s Megaforce Records and Crazed Management works in a very relaxed ambience. A life-like cut out of Clint Eastwood from the movie The Good, the Bad and the Ugly greets visitors with a sneer; guitars are lined up near the wall; a Madonna poster and compact discs are scattered everywhere; and lots of gold records festoon the walls. Even Jonny Z, as he is known in the music industry, is decked out in clothes that match his digs. He wears a tie-dye shirt, a Sheriff”s badge and American flag socks. And all this in tiny Manalapan, not exactly a mega-titan of the rock music world like New York or Los Angeles. But Jon and his wife Marsha, Megaforce”s president, wouldn”t have it any other way.

“I can”t stand New York City,” says Jon. “How could you drive and get there motivated? New Jersey”s been very good to me and Marsha. It”s home.”

So it is. In 11 years, the independent Megaforce Records has become a force to reckon with in the record industry. By launching the careers of heavy metal superstars Metallica, Anthrax and now Ministry, Megaforce and Crazed Management claims to have become a multi-million dollar conglomerate, competing with the likes of major labels Capital Records and Sony Entertainment. Says Elianne Halbersberg, who writes for Billboard, a music industry trade magazine, “They have definitely broken a lot of bands. They”ve given a lot of talent a chance that other people wouldn”t have.” On June 25, Megaforce signed a deal with Polygram Group Distribution in New York City for Polygram to distribute Megaforce releases throughout the U.S. If that deal works as well as Zazula hopes, it should keep Megaforce”s cash register ringing louder than ever.

The Megaforce saga began, as the New York Lotto commercial says, “with a dollar and a dream.” In 1981, Jon was working on Wall Street and Marsha was involved in advertising, when Jon says they reached “a weird peak in our lives at 29.” Jon could not take working on Wall Street, where “too many things could take everything away from you in five seconds.” So he and Marsha, who both loved music, left their jobs and opened a record store at the Route 18 Indoor Market in East Brunswick with $180. The store, called Rock and Roll Heaven, specialized in rare heavy metal records and grew to an inventory of $80,000 within its first six months. With the store prospering, Jon and Marsha began promoting heavy metal concerts on the East Coast. Though they had no experience promoting shows, they succeeded. Says Jon: “You have to be a sponge and get out on the frontline and do it.”

Two years later, a customer brought in a demo tape of an unknown band to whom record labels would not offer a contract. The band, from the Bay Area, was Metallica, and it almost knocked Jon out. “It just blew me away,” he recalls. “If you understood the genre, you knew this was it. There was nothing that came close to it musically.” So Zazula contacted the band, immediately became its manager, and formed Crazed Management. Jon and Marsha promoted shows for the unreleased band on the East Coast. But though Metallica did well enough for Rolling Stone magazine to describe their demo tapes as “legendary,” the group still could not find a record company to release their music. So the Zazulas took matters into their own hands. They formed Megaforce Records with $1,500 and went on to release Metallica”s first two albums Kill ”em All and Ride the Lightning. The American public apparently liked what Jon did, because Metallica sold 32,000 copies of Kill ”em All, and 75,000 copies of Ride the Lightning. Suddenly, Megaforce became a force in the industry. Metallica, left the label in 1984 for Electra Records, when the heavy metal group decided it wanted to advance its career quickly, but that did not prevent Megaforce from growing.

Following Metallica”s success, Megaforce signed groups like Manowar, Anthrax and Overkill, which also became metal stars. The company found itself at the vanguard of a revolution involving a new form of heavy metal music–thrash metal– which Jon describes as “aggressive metal music with hints of jazz fusion.” Soon, Megaforce signed on more groups, including Testament and King”s X. To sell their music, Megaforce and Crazed Management struck deals with Island and Epic records. Anthrax”s last two albums, which have been released by Megaforce/Island, have sold more than two million copies worldwide.

While these successes propelled Megaforce forward, the company also made its share of mistakes. One distribution deal that turned sour was with Atlantic Records in 1986. “It was a big mistake,” says Jon. “It was done at a naive stage in our development.” Atlantic did not promote and market Megaforce music properly, he explains, with the result that record sales halved. Megaforce ended its deal with Atlantic last December, but as part of the agreement, let King”s X, Testament and Overkill remain with Atlantic. “It was a stupid deal and very, very costly,” Jon says.

With the recent deal with Polygram, times are changing. Eager not to be typecast as just a heavy metal label, Megaforce has delved into a new genre: alternative music. It has signed on groups like Tribe After Tribe and Nudeswirl, which perform music very different than mainstream commercial music on radio. “How many times are you gonna give the people the same thing?” Jon asks. “The heavy metal scene is a joke.” He says alternative music is “too new for the lame to recognize.”

Because Megaforce is an independent label, it recruits its acts differently than the major labels. The company doesn”t have an artist and repertoire department, which most labels have, to sign and develop new artists. Instead, the staff of 18 that handles marketing, publicity, retail, video and radio promotion keeps tabs on the music world and informs the Zazulas when something interesting turns up. “We know what we”re looking for–something from another planet,” says Jon, who notes that Marsha has the final word on signing on bands. Halbersberg says she is never surprised by any band Megaforce signs on, because the company is a risk-taker. Megaforce intends to release five albums a year and spend $500,000 on each band for marketing and promotion. “I don”t believe you can break 25-30 bands a year,” says Jon.

Crazed Management keeps life tumultuous for Jon and Marsha. While working with exciting bands like Anthrax and Ministry might seem like all fun, Jon says a manager has to be “a psychiatrist, a coach, a grunt, and a person who is never told thank you.” “They take care of their bands,” says Halbersberg. “They send press kits and materials out on time and that”s very rare in this business. It”s the quality of the people.”

What does the future hold for the music industry? Jon, who abhors listening to the radio, believes it will “take a really interesting turn.” “I see very psychedelic, thought-provoking music being developed,” he says, and adds that the future belongs to “foreground music rather than background music.” Judging by Megaforce”s breakthroughs, the chances are the Zazulas will be there with it. u