Safety Net Records was founded by ''

Miami Herald The ''Miami Herald'' is an American daily newspaper owned by McClatchy, The McClatchy Company and headquartered in Miami-Dade County, Florida. Founded in 1903, it is the fifth-largest newspaper in Florida, serving Miami-Dade, Broward County, Fl ...

music critic '' The Oxford Companion to Music'' defines music criticism as "the intellectual activity of formulating judgments on the value and degree of excellence of individual works of music, or whole groups or genres". In this sense, it is a branch of m ...

Bill Ashton, and is co-owned by Jimmy Johnson. Safety Net released

South Florida South Florida, sometimes colloquially shortened to SoFlo, is the Regions of the United States#Florida, southernmost region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is one of Florida's three most commonly referred to directional regions; the two others are ...

classics such as The Essentials' "Fast Music in a Slow Town" EP and The Chant's "Two Car Mirage." In 1988, Safety Net released "The Wilderness", an album by Charlie Pickett & the MC3. According to Greg Baker, "Safety Net, like so many entities of the early 1980s scene, was a

co-op A cooperative (also known as co-operative, coöperative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democr ...

project that put music first and money fourth or fifth. In fact, back then there was little of the enmity and competition so common in today's rock scenes, including

Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

's. Wimmer and Ashton each had record labels, yet the two often worked together. If Open didn't have the resources to put out a record everyone knew deserved release, Safety Net would. And vice versa. For instance, when Open couldn't release an EP by The Bobs, Safety Net simply slapped on its own label. (The Bobs, with their evocatively clever lyrics and funky arrangements, were a far cry from the better-known

soft-rock Soft rock (also known as light rock or mellow rock) is a form of rock music that originated in the late 1960s in the United States and the United Kingdom which smoothed over the edges of singer-songwriter and pop rock, relying on simple, mel ...

a cappella Music performed a cappella ( , , ; ), less commonly spelled acapella in English, is music performed by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment. The term ''a cappella'' was originally intended to differentiate between Rena ...

group with the same name). Later, the Bobs's Bob Rupe would produce a number of local records and get signed by national labels as a member of two cutting-edge bands."

Releases

* The Essentials - Fast Music in a Slow Town (EP) - 1982. Fast Music in a Slow Town was recorded at Sync Studios and produced by big daddy Charlie Pickett with engineers Andy Clark and Frank Falestra. * The Chant - Three Sheets to the Wind - 1985. * The Bobs - In Public (

cassette Cassette may refer to: Technology * Cassette (format) (or ''cassette tape''), a format that contains magnetic tape for audio, video, and data storage and playback * Compact Cassette, a worldwide standard for analog audio recording and playback ...

) - 1985. "Several years ago, local musician and producer Jim Johnson had a hunch. This is the result. This eight-song tape captures the now-defunct Bobs at a 1983 concert at a now-defunct (What else is new?) club. Six of the cuts are not available on any other Bobs recordings. The band played everything from

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. When referring to a specific polity, the term "country" may refer to a sovereign state, state with limited recognition, constituent country, ...

and

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica during the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its Jamaican diaspora, diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, "Do the Reggay", was the first ...

. The performance is tough and tight, and the production and recording quality is very good. The Bobs should have been at least as popular as

Hüsker Dü Hüsker Dü () was an American punk rock band formed in Saint Paul, Minnesota in 1979. The band's continuous members were guitarist/vocalist Bob Mould, bassist Greg Norton, and drummer/vocalist Grant Hart. They first gained notability as a hardc ...

." * Charlie Pickett & the MC3 - The Wilderness - 1988. Produced by

Peter Buck Peter Lawrence Buck (born December 6, 1956) is an American musician and songwriter. He was a co-founder and the lead guitarist of the alternative rock band R.E.M.; he played the banjo and mandolin on several R.E.M. songs. Throughout his caree ...

. * The Chant - Two Car Mirage - 1989. Produced by The Chant, John Keane and James Klotz. Executive Producer Bill Ashton. Recorded in Atlanta's Channel One Studio. It was released by Safety Net Records, and bears the cutter NET 12. It is also available in CD format, and also includes their debut album, 1985's Three Sheets to the Wind, sans one track.

References

{{Authority control American independent record labels Record labels based in Florida Music of Miami