Go! Discs was a London-based record label, launched in 1983 from offices in Wendell Road,

Shepherd's Bush Shepherd's Bush is a suburb of West London, England, within the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham west of Charing Cross, and identified as a major metropolitan centre in the London Plan. Although primarily residential in character, its ...

, by Andy Macdonald and Lesley Symons. The pair founded the label after Macdonald left his job as press officer at

Stiff Records Stiff Records is a British independent record label formed in London by Dave Robinson (music executive), Dave Robinson and Jake Riviera. Originally active from 1976 to 1986, the label was reactivated in 2007. Established at the outset of the p ...

, and Symons provided the seed funding. The first signing to the label was

Billy Bragg Stephen William Bragg (born 20 December 1957) is an English singer, songwriter, musician, author and political activist. His music blends elements of folk music, punk rock and protest songs, with lyrics that mostly span political or romantic th ...

and early releases also came from Sheffield band The Box and Hull band

The Housemartins The Housemartins were an English indie rock group formed in Hull who were active in the 1980s and charted three top-ten albums and six top-twenty singles in the UK. Many of their lyrics conveyed a mixture of socialist politics and Christiani ...

. Records by the latter's spin-off group

The Beautiful South The Beautiful South were an English pop rock group formed in 1988 by Paul Heaton and Dave Hemingway, two former members of the Kingston upon Hull, Hull group the Housemartins, both of whom performed lead and backing vocals. Other members stayin ...

were subsequently issued. Key staff contributors, following a move to

Hammersmith Hammersmith is a district of West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It is the administrative centre of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, and identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. It ...

, included comedian Phill Jupitus and Chas Smash, Cathal Smyth (Madness' Chas Smash). Go! Beat Records was launched as a subsidiary for artists like Beats International, Gabrielle (singer), Gabrielle and Portishead (band), Portishead. In 1992, Paul Weller signed for the main Go! Discs label. In 1996, Macdonald resigned when PolyGram acquired a majority stake in the label, which folded not too long afterwards. However, Go! Discs' dance offshoot Go! Beat Records continued and became a unit in the PolyGram group. In 1999, Go! Discs was revived, but it is now in dormancy along with Go! Beat. The Go! Discs catalogue now operates under EMI Records, a division of the Universal Music Group. It was rebranded from Virgin EMI Records in June 2020.

Andy Macdonald and Independiente

After the purchase of Go! Discs by PolyGram, Andy Macdonald started Independiente Records and continued his involvement with the recording career of Paul Weller. Independiente is also the home of Travis (band), Travis, Roddy Frame, Embrace (English band), Embrace, So Solid Crew, Howling Bells and Malian desert blues band Tinariwen.

Artists

* Anna * Apollo Landing * The Bathers (band), The Bathers * The Bic *

* The Blue Ox Babes * Boothill Foot Tappers * The Butterfield 8 * David Holmes (musician), David Holmes * Drugstore (band), Drugstore * Father Father * The Frank and Walters *

* The La's * Madness (band), Madness * More Fire Crew (Lethal Bizzle, Ozzie B & Neeko) * Paul Weller (singer), Paul Weller * More Fire Crew, Platinum 45 * Portishead (band), Portishead * The Southernaires * The Stairs * Trashcan Sinatras

References

{{Authority control Go! Discs Record labels established in 1983 Record labels disestablished in 1996 1983 establishments in the United Kingdom Re-established companies Record labels based in London British independent record labels Pop record labels Rock record labels Electronic music record labels

Andy Macdonald and Independiente

Artists

See also

References