Slash Records facts for kids

Slash Records was an American company that released music. It was a record label that started in 1978 and stopped releasing new music in 2000. Slash Records was known for helping local punk rock bands get their music out. It became one of the first and most successful independent record labels in alternative music. Later, a bigger company called Warner Music Group bought it.

How Slash Records Started

Slash Records was created in 1978 by a person named Bob Biggs. Bob Biggs was a painter. He started the label by releasing a small record (a "seven-inch single") for a band called the Germs in 1978.

Early Music Releases

The next year, Slash Records released a full album for the Germs. In 1980, they released the album Los Angeles by the band X. These early releases helped the label become known for punk music.

Working with Bigger Companies

At first, a company called Jem helped distribute Slash Records' music. But Jem went out of business in 1981. After that, Slash Records made a deal with Warner Bros.. This was one of the first times a small, independent music label worked with a very large record company.

During this time, Slash Records released albums by many popular punk and rock and roll bands from Los Angeles. These bands included Fear, The Blasters, L7, and Los Lobos. They also released music from other punk and garage rock bands like Rank and File and Del Fuegos.

Growing Beyond California

Slash Records continued to do well even after the magazine that shared its name stopped in 1980. In 1981, they started a smaller record label called Ruby Records. Ruby Records released albums for bands like Misfits, Dream Syndicate, and The Gun Club.

By the mid-1980s, Slash Records was releasing music from artists outside of Southern California. They worked with musicians like Robyn Hitchcock and Burning Spear. From 1982 to 1996, Warner Bros. Records and Reprise Records helped distribute Slash Records' music in North America. Outside of North America, PolyGram helped distribute their music.

Changes and Reissues

In 1996, a company called London Records bought Slash Records. Later, in 2000, Universal Music Group was formed. This new company owned London Records, and they decided to close Slash Records as an active label.

When Roger Ames, who was the president of London Records, moved to Warner Music Group, he kept the rights to London and Slash. This meant that Warner Music Group got the rights to most of Slash Records' past music. However, they did not get the rights to music by Rammstein and Harvey Danger.

In 2003, Roger Ames allowed Bob Biggs to use the name Slash again. Bob Biggs then started the label again. However, the revived label only released one album by a band called Shiner Massive before it closed again.

As of 2018, Slash Records mainly exists to re-release old music. This means they help people buy older albums that were released a long time ago. Between 2016 and 2017, Warner Music sold the rights to music by several former Slash artists to other companies.

Bob Biggs, the person who started Slash Records, passed away in October 2020.

Famous Artists on Slash Records

Many bands and artists released music with Slash Records. Here are some of them:

See also

In Spanish: Slash Records para niños