Taking the L: It’s honestly pretty embarrassing that, despite being around music for a quarter century and a fan of Belle and Sebastian for almost that long, I’m only learning from his obituary that Seymour Stein was not just a real person but one of the most influential music executives of the past 75 years.

He signed the Ramones, the Talking Heads and Madonna! He got Lou Reed to write New York! What a fucking life!

Seymour Stein, Record Industry Giant Who Signed Madonna, Dies at 80 (New York Times)