Best Post-1977 Independent Record Label.

[Wat_Tyler]

Honourable mentions go to Postcard, Sarah, Beserkley, Rough Trade, Epitaph, Dischord and others I forget. There's no other option. That won't stop you, mind.

And yes, I deliberately left off your favourite, purely to piss you off. Okay?

[gospelized]

1. epitaph

and saddle creek as a close second.

[Zomby Woof]

2. Sub Pop

My nostalgic late 80's favorite from my Seattle days.

[fudge stripe cookays]

18. Seconded. n/t

For the first Afghan Whigs album if nothing else.

[Beware the Beast Man]

26. SupPop, bar none

Despite what some may think of the whole Northwest scene, it was pretty raging between 1988 and 1992. Some of the best indie music ever recorded, not to mention the Single of the Month club (which I regrettably did not join).

[RandomKoolzip]

3. My vote's going to SST, but....

Honorable mention ought to go to Ralph Records (Residents, MX-80, Negativland, etc.)

Dischord should get a shout-out, too.

[Wat_Tyler]

5. I'm amazed I could remember ten record labels.

[tigereye]

54. Touch and Go too

I think. I voted for 4 AD myself, but there were a lot of cool ones.

[flamingyouth]

4. I picked Flying Nun

In fact, I was just listening to the Bats this afternoon.

[Wat_Tyler]

6. Cool.

I was listening to The Chills the other day.

I had a lot of fun in Dunedin, when I went there. I could live there, easily.

[flamingyouth]

10. I would love to visit New Zealand

Hopefully I can someday. I have a good friend who lives in Auckland, and he usually comes up here every other year or so. I think I'd like it there.

[Zomby Woof]

7. also

American Recordings.

[Zomby Woof]

8. And!

Barking Pumpkin, Zappa's label, created in 1981.

[Wickerman]

9. I went with SST but was pretty tempted to go with Matador

Would've also supported a write in for Homestead who had some great acts into the late 80's then, when they got too ambitious and had too many bands that made them no money went belly up and raped a lot of bands in the process (withholding masters, suits against bands that were signed to majors, etc.).

In the modern era? Bloodshot Records.

[Fenris]

11. Rought Trade

Definitely Rough Trade.

[Fenris]

12. Among the listed - Matador

[Wat_Tyler]

13. Hmm.

For more than one band, perhaps? Hmm?

[Fenris]

14. What are you insinuating, Scotsman?

O8)

[Wat_Tyler]

15. The Smiths were supposed to be on Factory.

It would've made so much more sense if they'd been on Factory.

Incidentally, my mum lives near Gladstone's house.

[Fenris]

16. That was what God told Tony Wilson.

"It's a pity you didn't sign the Smiths, but you were right about Mick Hucknell. His music's rubbish, and he's a ginger."

Hawarden or Fasque? The house, I mean.

[Wat_Tyler]

19. Oh, you're good.

Fasque. Just north of Fettercairn on the Cairn O' Mount Road, about 20 miles south of Banchory, Kincardineshire, where my parents live.

http://www.theheritagetrail.co.uk/stately%20homes/fasque.htm

[Fenris]

21. Weird how he basically abandoned the place after his father died.

His brother Thomas was the rightful heir being the oldest, and after Sir John Gladstone died the house came into his ownership. William rarely visited and instead chose to secure Hawarden on the Welsh border, a residence that was the property of his brother-in-law, Sir Stephen Glynne. Stephen fell into some financial problems over the Oak Farm iron works, a failed investment that involved William and Sir John Gladstone. William eventually, through his rise in power and status and the fact that Sir Stephen had no male heirs, adopted the castle as his own and it remained in the possession of Herbert Gladstone after his father's death.

But Fasque was the family home (though it was purchased 20 years after it had been built) and there he spent much of his youth. Pretty country, eh?

[flamingyouth]

22. I don't worry about your future in academia, love

;):loveya:

[Fenris]

23. Well, if I can keep my memory as sharp as that I should be okay.

;)

[flamingyouth]

24. I'm sorry, do I know you?

Short-term is the first to go. ;)

[Wat_Tyler]

31. Nice enough. Lots of little historical quirks.

My English teacher took us to the spot where Macbeth died when we did Macbeth at school. He was such a stoner.

[tigereye]

56. the teacher or Macbeth?

;)

[Wat_Tyler]

58. Both, I'd imagine.

[jpgray]

17. The Fall were also on Rough Trade, I think 80-83

They were also on Matador in the nineties, which is why when Mark interviewed from their offices he didsn't bash Pavement as much as he would otherwise. :D

[tigereye]

55. yes Homestead and Rough Trade

did distribution, too, I think. There were a lot of records I would not have heard had it not been for them. Good to hear those names again!

[Mindful Monk]

20. 4AD. Ivo Watts-Russell had a vision

There was a time there when nothing that came out on that label was less than interesting, and much of it was brilliant and, in retrospect, timeless (Dead Can Dance).

I'd throw in a plug for On-U Sound, home of African Head Charge.

[no name no slogan]

40. 4AD and Creation for me

4AD because it was the home of both the Cocteau Twins, Bauhaus (1st Album) and the very highly underrated Modern English.

Creation because it was home to My Bloody Valentine, JAMC, Ride, and a slew of other bands which have continuously blown me away.

Honorable mention goes to Alternative Tentacles, who brought us the Dead Kennedys and Jello Biafra's spoken-word recordings, as well as the inimitable Wesley Willis.

[GOPisEvil]

25. How about Bloodshot Records?

Of course the real answer is SubPop, but Bloodshot has some good bands, too.

Barsuk Records is another fave.

[Fenris]

27. Flamingyouth will smote you for saying Sub Pop!

:o

[flamingyouth]

30. Hey, I once owned just about all their singles

Even the really crappy ones.

[GOPisEvil]

32. Ooooooooh...FlamingyouthSmoties....mmmmmmmmm

Oh, sorry...:7

OK, then...uhhhhh...off the top of my head let's say...Paisley Pop...

[Fenris]

34. Sir! You have offended my honor!

I challenge you to a duel!

[GOPisEvil]

35. Senator Miller!!!

I had no idea! :o

[Wat_Tyler]

36. It's OK.

He can do you little damage with that stick of salami.

[Fenris]

37. I could make a reference to my penis here, but I'm too classy for that.

[fudge stripe cookays]

39. Or someone else could.

But that could be tacky. ;-)

[GOPisEvil]

38. Who duels with salami?

It's not called the baloney pony for nothing.

Oh wait, we're not talking about penises, we have more class than that.

[tigereye]

57. you guys have class?

first I've heard of it! (ducking)

[Wat_Tyler]

60. class, crass, whatever.

[tigereye]

61. however I do like this poll

Brings back memories of the old days.. I saw End of the Century ( Ramones movie) over the weekend... so I am steeped in nostalgic longing for the old days.

[Wat_Tyler]

62. I'm working on a project on eighties indie culture,

specifically the Flying Nun - Postcard axis and Factory, so that's where this comes from.

[flamingyouth]

75. What kind of project?

[Wat_Tyler]

76. I just posted another thread about it.

To start with, I'm creating the artificial history of a rock group from New Zealand in the 1980's. It may end up as a novel, it'll likely end up as trash, but you've gotta try, eh?

[tigereye]

81. neat!

I think you should make use of your vast knowledge in this area!

[Beware the Beast Man]

28. Other Goodies:

Man's Ruin, Dischord, Plan 9, Alternative Tenticles, Boner, and C/Z.

[Fenris]

29. Ah yes. Plan 9 and AT were (are) terrific.

[flamingyouth]

33. C/Z - a totally overlooked label

They put out Deep Six, essentially the first "grunge" compilation.

[poppabear36]

41. SST

Even though the guy from Black Flag that ran it seeems to have ripped off and screwed over everyone who was ever on that label - but what a roster - Meat Puppets, Husker Du, Black Flag, Minutemen, Dinosaur Jr.

[OneBlueSky]

42. Nonesuch

eclectic music for thinking adults . . .

The Industry Standard
By RUSSELL SHORTO
The New York Times Magazine
October 3, 2004

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/03/magazine/03NONESUCH.html


Hitmakers, the Nonesuch way. Top row, left to right: Brad Mehldau, Bob Hurwitz, Steve Reich, Emmylou Harris; seated: Stephin Merritt (Magnetic Fields), Jeff Tweedy (Wilco), Laurie Anderson, David Harrington (Kronos Quartet).

(snip)

Which brings us to the point of our story. What these disparate artists have in common is a record label. I'm spending the evening with the staff of Nonesuch Records, the tiny, vigorously eclectic label, housed on the 24th floor of a high rise on the Avenue of the Americas in Manhattan, that has become a kind of American cultural institution. It has an influence far out of proportion to its size, and some think it could be a guidepost for a record industry in desperate need of direction.

One secret to the label's success is the conviction that the distance between Carnegie Hall and Irving Plaza has shrunk; that, in an age of category blurring, the fault lines in the audience are not between genres like classical, rock and hip-hop, but between sensibilities; that a person might, depending on his or her mood, put on a Beethoven symphony, a compilation of Cuban jazz, some urban rock or a country chanteuse like K. D. Lang. A crucial fact about that someone is that he or she is likely to be over the age of 30. Two further facts flow from this, which Nonesuch exploits: this listener has money to spend on CD's, and he or she would rather have the packaged product than snag a few songs off the Internet.

''Nonesuch is piracy-proof,'' the singer Emmylou Harris -- who became the label's first ''adult pop'' signing four years ago -- said when I asked her to list the things that set her label apart. ''Their audience actually enjoys buying a record. When I got into music in my teens, the album was a thing in itself. It was a whole piece of work that had a reason to flow the way it did. You weren't interested in just one or two songs. Nonesuch is still in the business of supporting album artists.''

- much more . . .

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/03/magazine/03NONESUCH.html

[Wat_Tyler]

47. Are Nonsuch actually an Indie, or just a major at arms length?

[Spider Jerusalem]

43. Mute, even though they aren't independent anymore (as of 2002).

Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, Einstürzende Neubauten, Barry Adamson, Depeche Mode, Sonic Youth, Recoil, Diamanda Galas, Throbbing Gristle...and I'm sure there are many others I'm forgetting.

[Wat_Tyler]

46. Mute. I should've put Mute in.

[Dukkha]

44. Where's Wax Trax?

Ministry, KMFDM, Revolting Cocks, Sister Machine Gun, Chemlab, Juno Reactor, Pig, Thrill Kill Kult

The heart and soul of Rivotheads in the 90's

[Wat_Tyler]

45. Like I said, I deliberately excluded them purely to piss you off.

[Magrittes Pipe]

48. In the Red.

Sympathy for the Record Industry has a cooler name, and they've put out more good stuff. But, as they've put out far more records, Sympathy has also released more shit.

ITR has never put out a bad record. Well, maybe a stinker single here and there, but still.

I gotta give mad props to Estrus as well, who really helped keep rock 'n' roll alive in the mid-'90s. And Homestead for releasing Great Plains and Gibson Bros. records, not to mention the second-best Sonic Youth album.

[dolo amber]

49. I will vote Creation

as I've had Ride - "OX4" in my head for days and days and days and days...

I would've gone Warp if they didn't have such a spotty record of putting out 4 shite releases for every 1 that's stellar.

And yeah, the rest are cool too. B-)

[Wat_Tyler]

50. Honey. I only put WARP in for your sake.

Thanks for keeping Postcard out of the poll. :evilfrown:

[dolo amber]

51. Blame Mark!! And/or Andy!!

(Probably Andy, as he ended up being in cahoots with those Gallagher boys...you know he's probably nothing but trouble...:P)

[Wat_Tyler]

52. Ooh. Twisted Nerve. I should've put them in.

Gallagher boys? That tosser comedian has a brother?

[Phillycat]

53. Dischord of course.

The most fiercely independent record label that ever existed.

[Richardo]

59. Rounder Records

AK+US
The Blasters
The Blazers
Brave Combo
TMBG
Cowboy Junkies
Bruse Cockburn
etc

[fudge stripe cookays]

65. I remembered this one this morning and was going to add...

but ya beat me!

I think some of Joe Ely's stuff was on Rounder for awhile too.

FSC

[Richardo]

66. I went to their site before I posted - unbelievable roster of artists..

:hi: FSC!

[solinvictus]

63. I voted 4AD....

but in my opinion it's Threshold House, which has Coil, Current 93, Chris & Cosey and others. What about IRS as well for discovering REM?

[fudge stripe cookays]

64. I'm a doofus for forgetting Twin Tone!

Twin Cities goodies from Replacements, Soul Asylum and others.

FSC

[Wat_Tyler]

67. I'm a doofus for forgetting Two-Tone!

and Stiff.

[fudge stripe cookays]

71. Crap! Stiff too!

Consider us doofii.
FSC

[XNASA]

68. Why, WAX TRAX!, of course.

----"The Wax Trax! story started in the mid-1970s when partners Jim Nash & Dannie Flescher opened a record store under that name in Denver. In 1978, they sold the Denver store (which is still open) and moved to Chicago, where they opened a new Wax Trax! location.

After releasing a couple of low-key limited edition records, Nash & Flescher officially launched the Wax Trax! record label on a wider scale in 1981 with the release of a 12" EP by experimental punk band Strike Under, followed in 1982 by a 7" by disco/dance artist Divine. But it was their third release - a re-issue of Ministry's "Cold Life" EP, which had been one of their earlier limited edition offerings - that really set the tone for the label's future as North America's premiere home for electro-industrial music."---

http://www.discogs.com/label/Wax+Trax!+Records

[Wat_Tyler]

69. Somehow, I thought you'd nominate WaxTrax.

;-)

[XNASA]

70. I'd be doing Dannie and Jim, rest his soul, a huge disservice if I did not.

BTW, I hope to see Dannie this Sunday at the M show here. It's gonna be like old times especially since My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult is opening.

[Susang]

78. M's playing on Sunday?

Wow, I just loved that song, Pop Musik! }(

[XNASA]

79. "New York, London, Paris, Munich........"

[no name no slogan]

72. Good choice!!!

I was totally into WaxTrax stuff in the late 80s: early Ministry, Revolting Cocks, Front 242, etc. It was my electro phase that I still remember fondly.

"You Goddamned Son of a Bitch" is one of the greatest live albums EVER! Union Carbide kicks ass!!!

[XNASA]

73. I spent a lot of time at the store on Lincoln in Chicago in the 80's.

It was my home away from home, you might say.

[Susang]

77. I would have to agree

Divine and Ministry on the same label. Nobody could possibly beat that. :P

[chenGOD]

74. WARP records....

Cause they've been the best in their field since the first release in 1989. They treat their artists fairly, and continue to develop the scene.

SST
Touch and Go
Domino

Alternative Tentacles deserve their own special place as well.

[bbernardini]

80. FUCK SST!!!

Support Negativland!

[goodhue]

82. Twin Tone