Al Coury Owns Number One: How RSO's President Spread 'Saturday Night Fever'

One of the cool things about the interwebs is being able to read decades old magazine articles just because you clicked your way down some rabbit hole. This one comes to us from Rolling Stone in 1978, and talks about how RSO Records’ president, Al Coury, spread Saturday Night Fever across America.

Al Coury, the president of RSO Records, almost too eagerly admits to busting into Billboard’s offices one day in mid-July and sending some shit flying when he learned of the trade magazine’s plans to declare the Rolling Stones’ Some Girls Number One on the following week’s album chart. Actually, says Coury, in his own office a week later, he had an appointment. But, “Yes, I screamed and yelled. I really thought Grease was gonna replace Saturday Night Fever at Number One. I honestly believed and I tried to convince the trades that at the time they made the Stones Number One, my Grease album was outselling the Stones. Their argument to me was, ‘Well, what do you care? You’re gonna be Number One next week, anyway. What are you hassling over a lousy fucking week for?’ But goddamnit, my fucking plan was to be Number One all year!” Read more >