SST Records appreciation post/thread....

[vi5]

Who is with me? In their heyday, this label was unstoppable. Even if their legacy was Black Flag only it would still be one mighty, mighty label.

But factor in the best records by the Meat Puppets, Husker Du, and the Minutemen, and the Descendents, as well as amazing records by Sonic Youth, the Bad Brains, Soundgarden, and Dinosaur Jr. and I'd be hard pressed to find a better independent label than they were from 1980-1990 or thereabouts.

Unfortunately they also released some big time crapola, no thanks to Greg Ginn's endless smoking and being convinced to release his friends joke bands (Tom Troccoli's Dog anyone?).

But still, even with those blemishes.....

[Beware the Beast Man]

1. I'm there

Huge Black Flag fan in Jr. High/High School...you're right about them having as many turkeys as good artists, though.

And apparently Ginn was bad at ripping off artists as well, or so I've heard.

[vi5]

2. I honestly don't think it was ripping off artists as much as....

..just not being a good businessmen. Factor in his well known recreational habits, and shady distributors from the 80's and I'm sure it just resulted in a lot of bands getting screwed over. I don't know that from what I've heard that it was malicious intentional mistreatment of bands as much as it was just being a poor businessman.

[drumwolf]

3. wow, that was a long time ago.....

Around when did SST stop putting out records completely?

They were one of the mighty labels of the '80s, but then their descent was long, slow and painful to watch.

[vi5]

5. I think they still put out Ginn's pet projects......

Like Gone and other such wanky jazzbo rock stuff.

I'd be really curious to see sales #'s for the major 80's hardcore bands like Black Flag and Dead Kennedy's and Minor Threat. From what I've heard those bands sell more records in one year now than they did throughout most of the 80's entirely.

[larryepke]

4. Negativland

Ginn's misdeeds with respect to San Francisco's second oddest band (after The Residents) are recounted in "Fair Use," the book about all the troubles Negativland had concerning their U2 parody. I'll give Ginn credit for the good taste he displayed in the bands he signed, but he was not the most scrupulous person. (Of course, in the Music Industry, being unscrupulous is considered a virtue, and even a necessity.)

[quispquake]

6. I loved their stuff, but the whole "Negativland" fiasco was a real mess...

On edit, ya beat me to it!!!

Negativland released a 12" called "U2" which featured a spy plane on the cover...Island sued SST, and SST tried to blame it all on Negativland, and vice versa...turned into quite the mess, with all of the U2 Ep's being recalled (and then resold by Island reps...I worked in a used record store where one of these assholes actually came in to sell 10 of the EP's to us).

SST tried to wash their hands of the whole thing, but it was really the shared fault of both the band and the label...

BTW: if you haven't heard the EP, it's HILARIOUS featuring some seriously embarrassing Casey Kasem outtakes...Negativland has posted it at:

http://www.negativland.com/audiogadgets.html

[Beware the Beast Man]

7. "That's the letter U and the numeral 2..."

"...who gives a fuck??? These guys are English, and no one gives a diddily-shit!"

Hilarious outtake...that and Snuggles

[larryepke]

8. Casey says:

"They're English (sic) and who gives a shit?"

And there are the outtakes of Kasim's outraged reaction to reading a dedication "about somebody's goddamn dog dying!"

[Beware the Beast Man]

9. That would be Snuggles

The Snuggles tape is hilarious. I also like the promo spots he does with all the impossible call letters (This is fuckin' ponderous, man, fuckin' ponderous!).

discuss here:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=105x1219195

[frylock]

10. double nickels on the dime..

my fav SST release.

[mitchum]

11. God, I remember when you could call and Ginn or Dez would...

answer the phone. A great label and they were tireless in taking punk to the hinterlands.

Believe it or not, I was thinking of Tom Troccoli's Dog just the other day. They were awful.

[Whitacre D_WI]

12. You like everything that comes out on SST.

You like almost everything that comes out on Homestead.
I like eveything I get in the mail for free!
How 'bout that?

[Whitacre D_WI]

13. I so wanted to like Trotsky Icepick.

I mean, come on -- Best. Band name. Ever.

But they really, really sucked.