Label Profile - SST Records

Along with the likes of Touch & Go and Sub Pop, SST were perhaps one of the best 80s labels specializing in all forms of punk, hardcore and noise. By the late 80s, however, the label decided to change direction and concentrate on jazzy/ arty/instrumental projects, which forced many to question the motives behind all the signings that the label did.

The label was started by Greg Ginn – future Panic / Black Flag founder, while he was still in his teens. At the age of 12, Ginn created Solid State Transmitters, a company that sold modified radio equipment. Due to his strong interest in punk rock, however, he eventually transformed SST into a record label.

His band Panic recorded eight songs in 1978 but no record labels aside from Bomp! Records were interested in releasing it. With no word from Bomp!, Ginn decided to release it by himself. The resulting “Nervous Breakdown” EP by the band (now named Black Flag) came out in January 1979.

The label’s second release was another EP – “Paranoid Time” by San Pedro trio Minutemen. Songs for the record were mixed in one night for $. Both Black Flag and Minutemen went on to playing wherever they could – mainly in house parties & basements, with SST house record producer Spot always being present at the label-related events.

The label also got into a lot of trouble due to Los Angeles Police Department activity (related to violence surrounding Black Flag shows) and legal issues associated with Unicorn Records, a sublabel of MCA, which was supposed to release Black Flag’s 1982 album “Damaged”. However, MCA decided not to release the album due to its “anti-parent” subject matter” and SST attempted to sue Unicorn Records for not paying royalties and expenses for the album.

Countersuit from Unicorn Records prevented SST from releasing any material until the case was settled. However, SST did released compilation of Black Flag material called “Everything Went Black” in 1983 and more legal action from Unicorn ensued, resulting both Ginn and Black Flag bassist Chuck Dukowski (who became a co-owner of SST) spending few days in jail. By late 1983 Unicorn went bankrupt and the label was free to release material once again.

SST went on to produce more records by the likes of Minutemen, Saccharine Trust and Meat Puppets and in the early 80s Minneapolis band Husker Du joined the label’s roster and became SST’s first non-west coast signing.

After the Unicorn’s dissolution, SST produced four Black Flag albums in 1984, as well as double releases by Minutemen and Husker Du (“Double Nickels On The Dime” and “Zen Arcade”, respectively). The label felt that “Zen Arcade” is going to be a hit, but since the label never made pressings of more than 5,000 copies of any releases, they printed no more than that number in initial pressing. As a result, the album remained out of print for a very long time.

By the mid 80s, Husker Du became on the label’s biggest stars, but the tension between SST and the label finally forced Husker Du to switch to a major. Their last record for SST was “New Day Rising” and all of their subsequent albums (1985 “Flip Your Wig” and 1987 “Warehouse: Songs And Stories”) came out on Warner Bros.

The band’s problems intensified with the tragic death of Minutemen’s lead singer D. Boon and breakup of both Minutemen and Black Flag. In their place, the label signed Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr. and Bad Brains with Gerard Cosloy (the owner of Dinosaur Jr’s previous label Homestead Records) commenting that “SST was the label everyone wanted to be on.”

In 1986 Ginn bought New Alliance – label that was run by Minutemen’s Mike Watt, which resulted in reissues of some of the label’s material by SST. Late 80s / early 90s also saw Ginn creating two sublabels for SST – one was Cruz Records, which released Ginn’s solo material, as well as records by ALL, Big Drill Car and Chemical People. The other one was short-lived Issues Records that was focused on spoken-word releases.

By the late 80s, SST started to decline in prominence as Sonic Youth and Dinosaur Jr. both left the label with former band signing with Enigma Records and latter signing with Blanco Y Negro label. 1991 brought a lawsuit against SST based on Negativland’s single “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” based on U2 song of the same name. The battle later became a basis for Negativland’s book “Fair Use: The Story Of The Letter U And The Numeral 2”.

By the mid 90s, SST deleted much of its jazz output and occasionally produced material by Ginn’s project. However, they still kept material by Black Flag, Minutement, fIREHOSE and many of label’s key bands in print. Few artists including Sonic Youth and Meat Puppets sued the label in order to reclaim their master recordings.

2002 saw Ginn signing a distribution deal with Koch Records and he also promised to release a number of new material by his projects. In 2006, the digital music distributor Orchard announced that 94 titles from SST back catalog will be available on services like EMusic and ITunes Music Store.

Selected label’s discography:

Year Band Album

1978 Black Flag Nervous Breakdown

1980 Minutemen Paranoid Time

1980 Black Flag Jealous Again

1981 Black Flag Thirsty And Miserable / Life Of Pain

1981 Minutemen The Punch Line

1981 Black Flag Six Pack

1981 Black Flag Damaged

1981 VA The Future Looks Bright

1982 Meat Puppets Meat Puppets

1982 Black Flag TV Party