Slash Records was an American

record label A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the prod ...

originally specializing in local punk rock bands, active from 1978 to 2000. It was notable as one of the first and most successful independent record labels in alternative music, before its eventual acquisition by

Warner Music Group Warner Music Group Corp. (trade name, d.b.a. Warner Music Group, commonly abbreviated as WMG) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational entertainment and record label Conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered in New York C ...

History

The label was formed in 1978 by Bob Biggs. Biggs, a painter, initiated the label with a seven-inch single from the Germs in 1978. A full album from that band was released the next year, and X's ''

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...

'' followed in 1980. The label was distributed through Jem until 1981 when that company went bankrupt. Slash then entered into a distribution deal with Warner Bros., a move that was among the first collaborations between a self-started indie and a major label. During the time of this arrangement, the label released albums by prominent Los Angeles punk and

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It originated from African-American music such as jazz, rhythm an ...

bands, including Fear, The Blasters, L7 and

Los Lobos Los Lobos (, Spanish for "the Wolves") are an American rock band from East Los Angeles, California. Their music is influenced by rock and roll, Tex-Mex, country, zydeco, folk, R&B, blues, brown-eyed soul, and traditional music such as cumbia, ...

, as well as comparable punk and garage rock bands such as Austin's Rank and File and Boston's

Del Fuegos The Del Fuegos were an American 1980s garage-style rock band. Formed in 1980, the Boston, Massachusetts, United States-based band gained success in 1986 with their songs "Don't Run Wild" and "I Still Want You" and appearing in a widely seen ...

. The label flourished even after the magazine stopped in 1980. A subsidiary, Ruby Records, was started in 1981; Ruby released albums by Misfits,

Dream Syndicate A dream is a succession of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations that usually occur involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep. Humans spend about two hours dreaming per night, and each dream lasts around 5 to 20 minutes, alt ...

, and The Gun Club. By the mid-1980s, Slash had branched out beyond Southern California, releasing albums by Robyn Hitchcock and Burning Spear. From 1982 until 1996, releases from Slash Records were distributed in North America by Warner Bros. Records and

Reprise Records Reprise Records is an American record label founded in 1960 by Frank Sinatra. It is owned by Warner Music Group, and operates through Warner Records, one of its flagship labels. Artists currently signed to Reprise Records include Enya, Michael ...

, and elsewhere by

PolyGram PolyGram N.V. was a multinational entertainment company and major music record label formerly based in the Netherlands. It was founded in 1962 as the Grammophon-Philips Group by Dutch corporation Philips and German corporation Siemens, to be a ...

. The label was sold to

London Records London Recordings (or London Records and London Music Stream) is a British record label that marketed records in the United States, Canada, and Latin America for Decca Records from 1947 to 1980 before becoming semi-independent. The London nam ...

in 1996. Universal Music Group (the owner of American Decca) was formed through the merger of the MCA and PolyGram Records families, the latter of which owned London Records, in 2000 and closed Slash as an active label. When London Records president Roger Ames moved to

, he retained the rights to London and Slash, and the back catalogue of Slash was acquired by Warner (excluding

Rammstein Rammstein (, "ramming stone") is a German Neue Deutsche Härte band formed in Berlin in 1994. The band's lineup—consisting of lead vocalist Till Lindemann, lead guitarist Richard Kruspe, rhythm guitarist Paul Landers, bassist Oliver Riede ...

and Harvey Danger). In 2003, Ames relicensed the use of the name Slash back to Bob Biggs, who then relaunched the label. As of 2018, Slash solely exists as a reissue label. Between 2016 and 2017, Warner Music, the parent company of Slash, sold off the rights to several former Slash artists; this included the sale of Violent Femmes to Concord Music, Failure to PIAS Recordings, Soul Coughing to Swedish indie Woah Dad!, and Grant Lee Buffalo to Chrysalis Records. Biggs died in October 2020.

Notable artists

* Asian Dub Foundation * The Blasters * BoDeans * Bonnie Hayes with the Wild Combo * Burning Spear * The Del Fuegos *

* Failure * Faith No More * Fear * The Flesh Eaters * Germs * Grant Lee Buffalo * Green on Red * The Gun Club * Harvey Danger * Imperial Teen * The Knitters * L7 *

* Misfits *

The Chills The Chills are a New Zealand rock band that formed in Dunedin in 1980. The band is essentially the continuing project of singer/songwriter Martin Phillipps, who is the group's sole constant member. For a time in the 1990s, the act was billed ...

* The Plugz *

* Rank and File * Robyn Hitchcock * Sons of Freedom * Soul Coughing *

Steel Pole Bath Tub Steel Pole Bath Tub was an American rock band, formed in 1986 in Bozeman, Montana, United States, by Mike Morasky (guitar/vocals) and Dale Flattum (bass/vocals). Band history Morasky and Flattum moved the band to Seattle, Washington, where ...

* Tribe * Violent Femmes *

The Wild Flowers The Wild Flowers were a British post-punk band, formed in 1983. They released five albums in total between 1984 and 1997. History The band was formed in 1983 in Wolverhampton, England, consisting of members Neal Cook (guitarist/vocalist), Dav ...

* X

References

External links

Complete Slash discography
{{Authority control American record labels Record labels established in 1978 Record labels disestablished in 2000 Record labels established in 2003 Re-established companies Punk record labels Alternative rock record labels London Records