Roadrunner Records facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Roadrunner Records
Parent company	Warner Music Group
Founded	1980; 45 years ago (1980)
Founder	Cees Wessels
Distributor(s)	300 Elektra Entertainment (in the U.S.) Warner Music Group (outside the U.S.)
Genre	Heavy metal hard rock alternative metal extreme metal
Country of origin	Netherlands
Location	New York City, United States

Roadrunner Records is an American record label that focuses on heavy metal and hard rock bands. It started in the Netherlands in 1980. Now, it is part of Warner Music Group and has its main office in New York City.

History of Roadrunner Records

The record label began in 1980 in the Netherlands. At first, Roadrunner brought metal music from North America to Europe. In 1986, Roadrunner opened its main office in New York City. Later, it opened offices in other countries like the United Kingdom, Germany, and Japan.

Some of their first successful bands were King Diamond and Annihilator. King Diamond was the first Roadrunner artist to get on the Billboard Top 200 album list. Roadrunner also helped with early music releases for Metallica in some parts of Europe. By the end of the 1980s, they released two albums that are now seen as classic metal albums: Obituary's Slowly We Rot and Sepultura's Beneath the Remains.

The 1990s brought new bands like Machine Head, Type O Negative, and Slipknot. Some of Roadrunner's bands became very popular. Sepultura's 1993 album, Chaos A.D., was the first Roadrunner album to reach the Top 40 on the Billboard album chart. Type O Negative was the first Roadrunner band to get a Gold award (and later Platinum) for their 1993 album Bloody Kisses. This means they sold a lot of copies! They were also the first Roadrunner band to be played on the radio. In 2000, Slipknot became the first Roadrunner band to sell over a million copies, earning a Platinum award.

In 2005, Roadrunner Records celebrated its 25th birthday. They started a special music project called Roadrunner United to mark the occasion.

Roadrunner Records faced some money problems in 2001. A big music company called The Island Def Jam Music Group bought half of Roadrunner. Later, on January 29, 2007, Warner Music Group bought most of Roadrunner Records.

On June 11, 2008, Metal Hammer magazine voted Roadrunner Records the "Best Metal Label" at their Golden Gods Awards. They had won this award four years in a row!

On November 11, 2010, Warner Music Group bought the rest of Roadrunner Records. Even though Warner Music Group owned them completely, Roadrunner still worked as its own brand. Cees Wessels, who started the label, stayed as the CEO.

In April 2012, Warner Music Group made some big changes at Roadrunner Records. They closed offices in the UK, Canada, and the Netherlands. Cees Wessels also stepped down as CEO. Over the next few years, several big Roadrunner bands left the label. This included DevilDriver, Alter Bridge, Opeth, Machine Head, Slipknot, Soulfly, and Dream Theater.

In June 2018, Roadrunner became part of Warner's Elektra Music Group. In June 2022, Elektra Music Group and Roadrunner joined a new bigger group called 300 Elektra Entertainment.

Roadrunner Records Around the World

Roadrunner Records UK

Roadrunner Records UK works from the Warner Music office in London. They have signed bands like Alter Bridge, Down, and Slash.

Bands on Roadrunner Records

Currently Signed Bands

Past Roadrunner Records Artists

Soundtracks from Roadrunner Records

Roadrunner Records has also released soundtracks for movies:

• Faust: Love Of The Damned (2000–2001)
• Ginger Snaps (2000–2001)
• Resident Evil (2002)
• Spider-Man (2002)
• Freddy vs. Jason (2003)
• Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004)

See also

In Spanish: Roadrunner Records para niños

• List of record labels
• Earache Records
• Metal Blade Records