Stiff

Stiff Records: The archetypal independent Record Company upon which much of the Punk and New Wave revolution was built, from the mid 1970s to the mid 1980s, when it closed down.

Being an avid NME reader, I was well aware of eth progress of the various Stiff Tours in the mid to late 1970s, packaged tours, much like the Motown tours in 1960s USA, where Acts signed to Stiff Records were showcased.

Stiff signed various punk and new wave acts such as Nick Lowe, the Damned, Lene Lovich, Wreckless Eric, Elvis Costello, Ian Dury, and Devo. In the 1980s, with most of their early signings having moved on, the label found commercial success with Madness, The Pogues, Tracey Ullman, The Belle Stars, Kirsty MacColl and others.

The first great British Hits Factory and you'll find many of their acts on this blog...

Here are a selection of some of the best Stiff signings, that may or may not get a post of their own at some point!

Lene Lovich with 'Lucky Niumber'

The magnificent Wreckless Eric and 'Whole Wide World'

Kirsty McColl with 'They Don't Know'

The Belle Stars with 'A Sign of the Times'

Of all the records released by Stiff Records, about one quarter charted, a remarkable success rate.

Elvis Costello with the sublime 'Alison'

Ian Drury with 'Sweet Gene Vincent'

I'll leave it with the fabulous Pogues and 'Dirty Old Town'

For full Stiff Records Discography look HERE

Generation X

Generation X were a Punk rock band from London in the late 1970s, largely remembered today for being the musical starting point of the career of its frontman / vocalist, Billy Idol. Influenced by the punk rock movement in London in late 1976, guitarist & vocalist William Broad, a university drop-out from Bromley and associate of the Bromley Contingent ; the drummer John Towe, Tony James, a former member of the London S.S. all replied to an advert placed in the Melody Maker that was seeking musicians to form a new West London band around the vocalist/frontman John O'Hara aka Gene October. After a few weeks of rehearsals the band became known as Chelsea, and began by playing a few support gigs in West London and Manchester, primarily playing cover versions of rock and roll songs from the 1960s. However, Gene October felt that Broad and James were becoming too dominant creatively and with 'musical differences' being cited, Broad and James along with Towe abandoned Chels...

Ten Pole Tudor

Tenpole Tudor formed in 1977 when Tudor-Pole (vocals/saxophone) met guitarist Bob Kingston, bassist Dick Crippen, and drummer Gary Long. They played regularly for several years until Tudor-Pole himself (under the moniker of Eddie Tenpole) came to prominence by appearing in the 1980 film, The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle (filmed in 1978). He was originally billed as a replacement for Sex Pistols singer Johnny Rotten — performing the songs " Who Killed Bambi ?", " The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle " for the film and subsequent soundtrack. However, manager Malcolm McLaren and the remaining Sex Pistols instead decided to abandon the group and go their own ways. The band released their début album, ' Eddie, Old Bob, Dick and Gary ', in 1981. It sold well, and in addition to the popular " 3 Bells in a Row ", launched two additional hit singles " Wünderbar " and " Swords of a Thousand Men ".

Dexy's Midnight Runners

Dexys Midnight Runners were an English pop band with soul influences from Birmingham, who achieved major commercial success in the early to mid-1980s. They are best known in the UK for their songs " Come On Eileen " and " Geno ", both of which peaked at No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart, as well as six other top-20 singles. The original Dexys Midnight Runners were founded in 1978 in Birmingham, England by Kevin Rowland (vocals, guitar) and Kevin "Al" Archer (vocals, guitar). Both had been in the short-lived punk band the Killjoys. Rowland had previously written a Northern soul-style song that the two of them sang, " Tell Me When My Light Turns Green ", which became the first Dexys "song". The band's members were "Big" Jim Paterson (trombone), Geoff "JB" Blythe (saxophone, previously of Geno Washington's Ram Jam Band), Steve "Babyface" Spooner (alto saxophone), Pete Saunders (keyboard), Pete Williams (ba...

King

Paul King was born in Ireland but moved to Coventry, England, with his parents at a young age. After graduating from Coventry Drama School he joined rock-ska band the Reluctant Stereotypes. King's line up of the band – which also contained record producer Paul Sampson – released an album and three singles before the band disintegrated. After the demise of the Reluctant Stereotypes, King formed the Raw Screens who in 1983 were relaunched as the self-named band King. As lead singer, King was famed for his BIG haircut and spray painted Doc Marten's Boots – whilst Richard James Burgess produced and drummed on most of the band's songs. The band lasted just a couple of years, though both of their albums, "Steps in Time" and "Bitter Sweet" , went Gold, and they had two Top 10 singles with "Love & Pride" and "Alone Without You" .

The Teardrop Explodes

In 1978, Liverpudlian Juian Cope formed The Teardrop Explodes with drummer Gary Dwyer, organist Paul Simpson and guitarist Mick Finkler, with himself as singer, bass player and principal songwriter. Drawing on a post-punk version of West Coast pop music, the band became part of a wave of such Liverpool bands. Cope and Dwyer (and later their manager-turned-keyboard player David Balfe) were the only band constants, although seven other members passed in and out of the line-up during the band's fractious four-year existence. Several well-received early singles (including " Treason ") culminated in the band's biggest hit, " Reward ", which hit number 6 in the UK singles chart and took their " Kilimanjaro " album to number 24 in the album charts. Cope's photogenic charm and wild, garrulous interview style helped keep the band in the media eye, and made him a short-lived teen idol during the band's peak. " Reward " , I remember having...

Muzical Mystery Tour

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