SST Records facts for kids

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Quick facts for kids SST Records

Founded	1966 (1966) (as Solid State Tuners) 1978 (as SST Records)
Founder	Greg Ginn
Distributor(s)	Various
Genre	Rock punk rock alternative rock heavy metal
Country of origin	United States
Location	Taylor, Texas

SST Records is an American independent record label started in 1978. It was founded in Long Beach, California, by musician Greg Ginn.

Before it was a record label, the company began in 1966. Greg Ginn, who was only 12 years old, started it as Solid State Transmitters. This was a small business where he sold electronic parts. Later, Ginn changed his company into a record label. He wanted to release music from his own band, Black Flag.

A music writer named Michael Azerrad said that Ginn built his label from a small, struggling business into a very important and popular underground music company in the 1980s. SST Records, along with other independent labels like Twin/Tone and Dischord, helped create a network of underground bands across the United States. This network was important before bands like Nirvana became famous.

These labels helped change the music scene. They moved from hardcore punk to more varied styles of alternative rock. SST Records first focused on releasing music by hardcore punk bands from Southern California. As many bands wanted to try new sounds, SST released many key albums. These albums helped develop American alternative rock. Bands like the Minutemen, Hüsker Dü, the Meat Puppets, Bad Brains, Soundgarden, Sonic Youth, and Dinosaur Jr. released music with SST.

After a very busy period in the late 1980s, SST also started releasing jazz music. Today, SST Records is based in Taylor, Texas. Some bands like Sonic Youth, Soundgarden, Dinosaur Jr., and the Meat Puppets have taken back the rights to their music from SST after leaving the label.

The Story of SST Records
Discography and Roster
See also

The Story of SST Records

How It All Started

Greg Ginn created Solid State Tuners (SST) when he was 12. It was a business that sold special radio equipment by mail. This small business did well even when Ginn became an adult.

In 1976, Ginn formed a punk rock band called Panic. They recorded eight songs in January 1978. But no record labels wanted to release their music. Only Los Angeles, California label Bomp! Records showed some interest. By late 1978, Bomp still hadn't agreed to release the songs. So, Ginn decided to do it himself. He had enough business experience with SST already.

Making records turned out to be simple. Ginn just looked in the phone book for record pressing plants. He found one and took his music there. He also knew about printing from making catalogs for his old business. SST Records released the music from Ginn's band, now called Black Flag. It was an EP called Nervous Breakdown, released in January 1979.

SST's second release was the Minutemen's first EP, Paranoid Time, in 1980. The songs were recorded and mixed in just one night for $300. Minutemen bassist Mike Watt remembered, "We realized then that you just had to pay for the records to be made." He added that Greg Ginn believed if you tried, you could make things happen.

Bands on SST, like Black Flag and the Minutemen, faced challenges playing their hardcore punk music. They played wherever they could, often at house parties and in basements. Black Flag started traveling up the California coast to play at Mabuhay Gardens in San Francisco. They made seven trips in total. Spot, who was SST's main record producer, went with them. He worked as a sound-man and tour manager for several years. He also helped record much of the label's music.

SST sold its records to small distributors at a very low price. These distributors usually sold imported records. So, SST records often ended up in special shops where they sold for higher prices. Ginn decided to release Black Flag's first album, Damaged (1981), through a bigger distributor. SST made a deal with MCA Records to release Damaged together on Unicorn Records. Unicorn was a smaller label distributed by MCA.

Just before the album came out, MCA decided not to release Damaged. They said its songs were "anti-parent." SST sued Unicorn, saying the label didn't pay them royalties. Unicorn sued back. They got a court order stopping Black Flag from releasing more music until the case was settled. When SST released the Black Flag collection Everything Went Black, Unicorn took SST to court again in July 1983. Ginn and Black Flag bassist Chuck Dukowski, who also owned part of SST, were found to have broken the court order. They were sent to jail for five days. Later in 1983, Unicorn went out of business. Black Flag was finally able to release records again.

Growing and Changing Music Styles

Even with legal problems, SST kept releasing records. They put out music by artists like Minutemen, Saccharine Trust, and Meat Puppets. In 1982, the hardcore band Hüsker Dü from Minneapolis joined the label. They were the first band not from the West Coast to sign with SST.

After the issues with Unicorn Records were resolved, SST released four Black Flag albums in 1984. These Black Flag albums, along with double albums like Zen Arcade by Hüsker Dü and Double Nickels on the Dime by the Minutemen, used up a lot of the label's resources. SST thought Zen Arcade would be a big underground hit. But they were careful and didn't print more than 5,000 copies at first. The album received great reviews from many major media outlets. Zen Arcade sold out quickly and was unavailable for months. Ginn decided to save money on promoting the Black Flag albums. He released them quickly one after another and had the band tour constantly.

In the mid-1980s, Hüsker Dü became SST's most popular band. Their strong songs and increasingly melodic music helped connect hardcore to the new sound of college rock. The band released three albums in 1984 and 1985. This brought a lot of money to the label. It also helped SST get payments from distributors for other releases. However, the band felt SST didn't pay enough attention to their music. Hüsker Dü drummer Grant Hart said after they left the label, "I think they didn't want anything to get more attention than Black Flag."

In 1985, Hüsker Dü wanted to produce their third studio album, New Day Rising, themselves. But SST ignored their wishes and assigned Spot to oversee the recording. Grant Hart later explained, "We had no other choice but to work with him. SST made us work with him." Spot knew there was tension, but he "had to do what the record company wanted." New Day Rising was one of the last recordings Spot did for SST. The band soon signed with a major label, Warner Bros. Records.

SST's list of bands became smaller when the Minutemen broke up in 1985. This happened after their guitarist D. Boon died. Black Flag also broke up in 1986. The label signed new bands like Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr, and Bad Brains. Sonic Youth often talked about SST in interviews. Music writer Michael Azerrad thought they "seemed to be actively trying to get signed to the indie powerhouse." Sonic Youth then helped SST sign Dinosaur Jr. Gerard Cosloy, who managed Dinosaur Jr.'s previous label, said, "SST was the label everyone wanted to be on [. . .] Everyone's favorite bands were on the label; SST was funnier and cooler and it also had the machinery."

In 1986, Ginn bought New Alliance Records from Mike Watt. Watt had started the label with D. Boon. Ginn and SST then re-released some important New Alliance albums on SST. These included albums by Descendents, Hüsker Dü's Land Speed Record, and all of The Minutemen's releases that weren't on SST. Ginn then changed New Alliance into a label for unusual jazz, rock, and spoken word releases.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Ginn started two sub-labels that SST distributed. The first, Cruz Records, started in 1987. It released three solo records by Ginn in one year. It also released records by ALL, Big Drill Car, and Chemical People. The second, Issues Records, was short-lived. It focused on spoken-word releases. One release was a double album by former NBA player Bill Walton with music by Ray Manzarek.

Less Prominence

Several artists left SST in the late 1980s. By 1987, just a year after signing, Sonic Youth was unhappy with the label. Guitarist Thurston Moore said, "SST's accounting was a bit suspicious to us." The band also didn't like Ginn's newer signings. Sonic Youth was unhappy that money from their records was funding other music they didn't like. They left the label and signed with Enigma Records in 1988. Dinosaur Jr. left SST for Blanco y Negro Records in 1990. Frontman J Mascis said, "I like Greg Ginn and stuff, but they wouldn't pay you."

In 1987, SST released over 80 titles. This was a huge number, even for major labels. SST's reputation went down. By 1990, the Seattle-based indie label Sub Pop had become more popular than SST. SST's reputation was also hurt when the sound collage group Negativland had a long legal fight with SST. This was because Negativland used sampling from U2's song "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" on their 1991 U2 single.

The case was settled. Ginn and SST agreed to release most of Negativland's master recordings. In return, Negativland finished work on a live album that had been planned earlier. Also, Negativland's three SST releases stayed on the label for a short time. This whole legal battle was later the basis for Negativland's 1995 book/CD, Fair Use: The Story of the Letter U and the Numeral 2.

SST became much less active in the mid-1990s. They stopped releasing much of their jazz music. They also released little new material, except for Ginn's own projects. However, they kept the music catalogs of Black Flag, The Minutemen, Firehose, Hüsker Dü, The Descendents, and Bad Brains available. Several artists who used to be on the label, like Sonic Youth and the Meat Puppets, sued SST to get back their master recordings. They claimed they were not paid royalties. The label stopped releasing any new material by the end of the 1990s. Ginn blamed this on the bankruptcy of the label's distributor, DNA.

The label eventually started releasing new material again in the mid-2000s. However, these new releases have only been Ginn-related projects. These include Gone, Hor, Jambang, and Greg Ginn and the Taylor Texas Corrugators.

In 2002, Ginn signed a new distribution deal with Koch Records. He announced a series of new releases from his various projects. In 2006, the independent digital music distributor The Orchard announced that 94 titles from SST's older music catalog would be available on digital services. These included eMusic and the iTunes Music Store.

Discography and Roster

SST Records discography
List of SST Records bands