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Stiff Records

July 25, 2023

Stiff Records is a British independent record label formed in London, England, by Dave Robinson and Jake Riviera. Originally active from 1976 to 1986, the label was reactivated in 2007.

Stiff Records
Parent companyUniversal Music Group (label)
Concord (American back catalogue)
FoundedAugust 1976[1]
Founder
  • Dave Robinson
  • Jake Riviera
StatusActive
Distributor(s)Universal Music Group
Genre
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Official websitewww.stiff-records.com

Established at the outset of the punk rock boom, Stiff signed various punk rock 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.

In December 2017, Universal Music Group acquired Stiff Records and ZTT Records.[2] Razor & Tie, a division of the Concord Music Group, holds the American rights to the Stiff catalogue.[3] The British rights to the Stiff catalogue were held by BMG Rights Management under Union Square Music until 2022, when Universal relaunched the Stiff and ZTT labels.

History

Stiff Records logos
 
The original Stiff Records logo
 
A 2nd version of the Stiff Records logo

Robinson and Riviera were well-known London music business characters. Robinson had briefly worked for Jimi Hendrix in the late 1960s and also managed minor pub rock band Brinsley Schwarz in the early 1970s, in which Nick Lowe was the bassist, vocalist and main songwriter; while Riviera had been an early manager for another pub rock band, Dr. Feelgood, from Essex. The label was started with a loan of £400 from Lee Brilleaux of Dr. Feelgood.[4]

Originally, Stiff had been called Demon, but the phrase "It’s a stiff!" was more appropriate for the artists on the record label.[5] Stiff found quick success. Its first release, on 14 August 1976, was a single (in the normal 7" vinyl 45 rpm format) by Nick Lowe, "So It Goes", B-side "Heart of the City", with the striking catalogue number BUY 1.[1][6] That record sold 10,000 copies, but Stiff's next release, "Between The Lines" by Pink Fairies, sold only around half of that.[7] Robinson and Riviera used money from their Advancedale management company to finance the release of what is generally accepted as the United Kingdom's first punk single, "New Rose" by The Damned, on 22 October 1976.

Early in 1977, Stiff Records picked up speed, signing Wreckless Eric, Ian Dury, and Elvis Costello, who had once been a part-time roadie for Brinsley Schwarz. Bigger sales followed, and a distribution deal with Island Records through EMI was set up. After arranging for Costello and Lowe to be signed directly to CBS Records' Columbia label, a similar deal was made with Arista who released Ian Dury's first album and the Live Stiffs Live album. The deal was short-lived and Stiff then made a deal with CBS Records for Stiff releases in the United States, at both the Columbia and Epic subsidiaries on the Stiff/Columbia and Stiff/Epic labels.

Robinson and Riviera were a fiery management combination, and after a series of disagreements, Riviera left Stiff in early 1978 to form the short-lived Radar Records, taking Elvis Costello, Nick Lowe and Yachts with him as a settlement package. Riviera's departure coincided with the end of the "5 Live Stiffs Tour", which showcased emerging star Ian Dury. Dury's album New Boots & Panties!! had raced up the charts and its sales kept the label in business over the following months. In 1979, Robinson signed Madness, and Madness released albums from 1979 to 1984.[8]

The next few years were the halcyon period, with many Top 20 single chart placings, including the label's first No. 1 single, "Hit Me with Your Rhythm Stick" by Ian Dury, and a number of other big-selling albums. Stiff expanded rapidly and moved its premises twice. It also continued to release dozens of obscure and uncommercial releases. For example, Stiff Records released the parody album The Wit & Wisdom of Ronald Reagan. That LP, on Magic Records, was completely silent on both sides, with Reagan's own slogan, "If it's a success it must be Magic!".[9]

At the end of 1983, Island Records bought 50% of Stiff, and Robinson ran both labels. Island was very short of money at the time and Robinson had to lend it £1,000,000 to fund the share purchase and pay the payroll. In 1984 Island Records released hit single "Relax" by Frankie Goes to Hollywood.[10] Stiff signed The Pogues, but then Madness left under a cloud. The Island deal failed and Dave Robinson regained control of the newly independent label in 1985. Hits by The Pogues and Furniture helped Stiff to survive another twenty months, but the underlying causes for the failure of the Island deal finally became too burdensome for Stiff and it was sold to ZTT in 1987.[11]

In 2007, ZTT and its parent company SPZ Group reactivated the label.[12] Stiff quickly broke one of the UK's hottest new indie acts, The Enemy. It then released a string of well-received albums of new work from legacy Stiff artists, including as Wreckless Eric, Henry Priestman, Any Trouble, and Chris Difford. Brand new acts signed to the label included The Tranzmitors and Eskimo Disco. Swedish designer Tobbe Stuhre[13] was appointed official Stiff Records designer.

In 2008, Union Square Music released The Big Stiff Box Set.

The Stiffs Tours

 
Part of the train that was used on the Be Stiff Route 78 Tour

Robinson and Riviera had arranged package tours ‒ such as the 1975 Naughty Rhythms tour ‒ for acts they managed before forming Stiff. The first tour, known as the Live Stiffs Tour or 5 Live Stiffs (3 October – 5 November 1977), comprised five bands: Elvis Costello and The Attractions, Ian Dury and the Blockheads, Wreckless Eric and The New Rockets, Nick Lowe's Last Chicken in the Shop, and Larry Wallis's Psychedelic Rowdies. Having signed all the named artists as individuals, bands had to be formed in order to tour: these were largely based on the session musicians used for the artists' solo records. There were 18 musicians on the tour, several doubling up, e.g. Dury playing drums for Wreckless Eric while the last two "bands" had the same line up (Nick Lowe, Larry Wallis, Dave Edmunds, Terry Williams, Pete Thomas and Penny Tobin).

The original idea was that the running order would rotate each night, but Dury and Costello were clearly the strongest acts. Costello played mostly new material and cover versions, rather than numbers from his recently released album My Aim is True, so the gigs usually ended with most of the artists on stage performing Dury's "Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll". A live album entitled Live Stiffs Live and a video of the tour were produced, but the tour only covered the UK.[14]

After the departure of Riviera, Robinson arranged a second tour, the Be Stiff or the Be Stiff Route 78 tour, from October to November 1978 (UK), again comprising five acts; Wreckless Eric, Lene Lovich, Jona Lewie, Mickey Jupp, and Rachel Sweet. The mainland section of the UK tour was undertaken by train and the Irish section by coach, and then continued on to the USA without Jupp, who was afraid of flying. The artists contributed to an EP with cover versions of the Devo song, and early Stiff single, "Be Stiff".[15]

The final tour, the Son of Stiff Tour 1980, comprised Ten Pole Tudor, Any Trouble, Dirty Looks, Joe "King" Carrasco and the Crowns, and The Equators. Undertaken by bus, this European tour was not successful.[16] The tour led to a 12" EP Son of Stiff Tour 1980 (SON 1)[17] and a short movie directed by Jeff Baynes. The movie has not been released for sale, but was shown on BBC4 in September 2006.[18]

Marketing and design

The label's marketing and advertising was often provocative and witty, billing itself as "The World's Most Flexible Record Label". Other slogans were "We came. We saw. We left", "If It Ain't Stiff, It Ain't Worth a Fuck", and "When You Kill Time, You Murder Success"[4] (printed on promotional wall clocks). On the label of Stiff's sampler compilation Heroes & Cowards was printed: "In '78 everyone born in '45 will be 33-1/3". A very early Stiff sampler album, A Bunch of Stiff Records, introduced the slogan, "If they're dead, we'll sign them" and "Undertakers to the Industry".[19]

Stiff also produced eccentric but highly effective promotional campaigns, such as the three package tours in 1977 (Live Stiffs), 1978 (Be Stiff) and 1980 (Son of Stiff), Elvis Costello's "street performance outside CBS Records.[20]

Barney Bubbles was responsible for much of the graphic art associated with the early Stiff releases.

Label artists

See also

Further reading

  • Bert Muirhead (1983). Stiff, the Story of a Record Label, 1976-1982. Blandford Press. ISBN 978-0-7137-1314-5.
  • Richard Balls (30 October 2014). Be Stiff: The Stiff Records Story. Soundcheck Books. ISBN 978-0-9575700-6-1.

References

  1. ^ a b "Stiff Records: If it ain't Stiff, it ain't worth a debt – Features – Music". The Independent. 15 September 2006. Archived from the original on 25 May 2022. Retrieved 7 December 2012.
  2. ^ "Universal Music Acquires Iconic British Labels Stiff Records and ZTT". Billboard. Retrieved 23 January 2018.
  3. ^ "Home | Facebook". Stiff-records.com. 12 October 2017. Retrieved 2 May 2020.
  4. ^ a b "The spirit of Stiff Records lives on". The Independent. Retrieved 19 July 2017.
  5. ^ "The story of Stiff, the most anarchic record label of all time". loudersound.com. 28 March 2018. Retrieved 4 June 2021.
  6. ^ "Discogs Nick Lowe: So It Goes/Heart of the City". Retrieved 26 June 2011.
  7. ^ Dave Robinson International Times, Issue 4, Number 15
  8. ^ "The Madness Timeline: 1979". Archived from the original on 28 September 2007. Retrieved 10 February 2020.
  9. ^ "No Artist – The Wit And Wisdom Of Ronald Reagan (1980, Vinyl)". Discogs. Retrieved 2 May 2020.
  10. ^ "Relax – Frankie Goes To Hollywood". MusikBloggNo. Retrieved 11 February 2020.
  11. ^ "Stiff Records profile". Discogs. Retrieved 30 December 2019.
  12. ^ "Stiff Records – The Legend Returns". trakMARX. Retrieved 7 December 2012.
  13. ^ Wildlight Studios 2002. "Buy The Hour". Buythehour.se. Retrieved 7 December 2012.
  14. ^ Balls, Richard (2000). Sex & Drugs & Rock'n'Roll: The Life of Ian Dury (1st ed.). London, England: Omnibus Press. pp. 176–184. ISBN 0-7119-8644-4.
  15. ^ Balls, Richard (2000). Sex & Drugs & Rock'n'Roll: The Life of Ian Dury (1st ed.). London, England: Omnibus Press. pp. 208–209. ISBN 0-7119-8644-4.
  16. ^ "The spirit of Stiff Records lives on – Features – Music". The Independent. 25 January 2008. Retrieved 7 December 2012.
  17. ^ "Various – The Son Of Stiff Tour 1980 (Vinyl) at Discogs". Discogs. Retrieved 7 December 2012.
  18. ^ [1] 15 February 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  19. ^ "A Bunch of Stiff Records (Vinyl) at Discogs". Discogs. Retrieved 13 June 2016.
  20. ^ Jones, Allan (1 August 1977). "A Day in the Life of a Bunch of Stiffs". Melody Maker. Retrieved 11 February 2020.
  21. ^ "Stiff – Madness". Stiff-records.com. Retrieved 19 July 2017.
  22. ^ "Pogues, The & Dubliners, The – The Irish Rover (Vinyl) at Discogs". Discogs. Retrieved 1 September 2013.

External links

 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Stiff Records.
  • The Official Stiff Records Site
  • Stiff Discography site
  • Stiff Records discography at Discogs
  • Tony Ferguson Interview NAMM Oral History Library (2021)

July 25, 2023
stiff, records, british, independent, record, label, formed, london, england, dave, robinson, jake, riviera, originally, active, from, 1976, 1986, label, reactivated, 2007, parent, companyuniversal, music, group, label, concord, american, back, catalogue, foun. Stiff Records is a British independent record label formed in London England by Dave Robinson and Jake Riviera Originally active from 1976 to 1986 the label was reactivated in 2007 Stiff RecordsParent companyUniversal Music Group label Concord American back catalogue FoundedAugust 1976 1 FounderDave RobinsonJake RivieraStatusActiveDistributor s Universal Music GroupGenrePub rockpunk rocknew waveCountry of originUnited KingdomOfficial websitewww wbr stiff records wbr comEstablished at the outset of the punk rock boom Stiff signed various punk rock 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 In December 2017 Universal Music Group acquired Stiff Records and ZTT Records 2 Razor amp Tie a division of the Concord Music Group holds the American rights to the Stiff catalogue 3 The British rights to the Stiff catalogue were held by BMG Rights Management under Union Square Music until 2022 when Universal relaunched the Stiff and ZTT labels Contents 1 History 2 The Stiffs Tours 3 Marketing and design 4 Label artists 5 See also 6 Further reading 7 References 8 External linksHistory EditStiff Records logos The original Stiff Records logo A 2nd version of the Stiff Records logo Robinson and Riviera were well known London music business characters Robinson had briefly worked for Jimi Hendrix in the late 1960s and also managed minor pub rock band Brinsley Schwarz in the early 1970s in which Nick Lowe was the bassist vocalist and main songwriter while Riviera had been an early manager for another pub rock band Dr Feelgood from Essex The label was started with a loan of 400 from Lee Brilleaux of Dr Feelgood 4 Originally Stiff had been called Demon but the phrase It s a stiff was more appropriate for the artists on the record label 5 Stiff found quick success Its first release on 14 August 1976 was a single in the normal 7 vinyl 45 rpm format by Nick Lowe So It Goes B side Heart of the City with the striking catalogue number BUY 1 1 6 That record sold 10 000 copies but Stiff s next release Between The Lines by Pink Fairies sold only around half of that 7 Robinson and Riviera used money from their Advancedale management company to finance the release of what is generally accepted as the United Kingdom s first punk single New Rose by The Damned on 22 October 1976 Early in 1977 Stiff Records picked up speed signing Wreckless Eric Ian Dury and Elvis Costello who had once been a part time roadie for Brinsley Schwarz Bigger sales followed and a distribution deal with Island Records through EMI was set up After arranging for Costello and Lowe to be signed directly to CBS Records Columbia label a similar deal was made with Arista who released Ian Dury s first album and the Live Stiffs Live album The deal was short lived and Stiff then made a deal with CBS Records for Stiff releases in the United States at both the Columbia and Epic subsidiaries on the Stiff Columbia and Stiff Epic labels Robinson and Riviera were a fiery management combination and after a series of disagreements Riviera left Stiff in early 1978 to form the short lived Radar Records taking Elvis Costello Nick Lowe and Yachts with him as a settlement package Riviera s departure coincided with the end of the 5 Live Stiffs Tour which showcased emerging star Ian Dury Dury s album New Boots amp Panties had raced up the charts and its sales kept the label in business over the following months In 1979 Robinson signed Madness and Madness released albums from 1979 to 1984 8 The next few years were the halcyon period with many Top 20 single chart placings including the label s first No 1 single Hit Me with Your Rhythm Stick by Ian Dury and a number of other big selling albums Stiff expanded rapidly and moved its premises twice It also continued to release dozens of obscure and uncommercial releases For example Stiff Records released the parody album The Wit amp Wisdom of Ronald Reagan That LP on Magic Records was completely silent on both sides with Reagan s own slogan If it s a success it must be Magic 9 At the end of 1983 Island Records bought 50 of Stiff and Robinson ran both labels Island was very short of money at the time and Robinson had to lend it 1 000 000 to fund the share purchase and pay the payroll In 1984 Island Records released hit single Relax by Frankie Goes to Hollywood 10 Stiff signed The Pogues but then Madness left under a cloud The Island deal failed and Dave Robinson regained control of the newly independent label in 1985 Hits by The Pogues and Furniture helped Stiff to survive another twenty months but the underlying causes for the failure of the Island deal finally became too burdensome for Stiff and it was sold to ZTT in 1987 11 In 2007 ZTT and its parent company SPZ Group reactivated the label 12 Stiff quickly broke one of the UK s hottest new indie acts The Enemy It then released a string of well received albums of new work from legacy Stiff artists including as Wreckless Eric Henry Priestman Any Trouble and Chris Difford Brand new acts signed to the label included The Tranzmitors and Eskimo Disco Swedish designer Tobbe Stuhre 13 was appointed official Stiff Records designer In 2008 Union Square Music released The Big Stiff Box Set The Stiffs Tours Edit Part of the train that was used on the Be Stiff Route 78 TourRobinson and Riviera had arranged package tours such as the 1975 Naughty Rhythms tour for acts they managed before forming Stiff The first tour known as the Live Stiffs Tour or 5 Live Stiffs 3 October 5 November 1977 comprised five bands Elvis Costello and The Attractions Ian Dury and the Blockheads Wreckless Eric and The New Rockets Nick Lowe s Last Chicken in the Shop and Larry Wallis s Psychedelic Rowdies Having signed all the named artists as individuals bands had to be formed in order to tour these were largely based on the session musicians used for the artists solo records There were 18 musicians on the tour several doubling up e g Dury playing drums for Wreckless Eric while the last two bands had the same line up Nick Lowe Larry Wallis Dave Edmunds Terry Williams Pete Thomas and Penny Tobin The original idea was that the running order would rotate each night but Dury and Costello were clearly the strongest acts Costello played mostly new material and cover versions rather than numbers from his recently released album My Aim is True so the gigs usually ended with most of the artists on stage performing Dury s Sex amp Drugs amp Rock amp Roll A live album entitled Live Stiffs Live and a video of the tour were produced but the tour only covered the UK 14 After the departure of Riviera Robinson arranged a second tour the Be Stiff or the Be Stiff Route 78 tour from October to November 1978 UK again comprising five acts Wreckless Eric Lene Lovich Jona Lewie Mickey Jupp and Rachel Sweet The mainland section of the UK tour was undertaken by train and the Irish section by coach and then continued on to the USA without Jupp who was afraid of flying The artists contributed to an EP with cover versions of the Devo song and early Stiff single Be Stiff 15 The final tour the Son of Stiff Tour 1980 comprised Ten Pole Tudor Any Trouble Dirty Looks Joe King Carrasco and the Crowns and The Equators Undertaken by bus this European tour was not successful 16 The tour led to a 12 EP Son of Stiff Tour 1980 SON 1 17 and a short movie directed by Jeff Baynes The movie has not been released for sale but was shown on BBC4 in September 2006 18 Marketing and design EditThe label s marketing and advertising was often provocative and witty billing itself as The World s Most Flexible Record Label Other slogans were We came We saw We left If It Ain t Stiff It Ain t Worth a Fuck and When You Kill Time You Murder Success 4 printed on promotional wall clocks On the label of Stiff s sampler compilation Heroes amp Cowards was printed In 78 everyone born in 45 will be 33 1 3 A very early Stiff sampler album A Bunch of Stiff Records introduced the slogan If they re dead we ll sign them and Undertakers to the Industry 19 Stiff also produced eccentric but highly effective promotional campaigns such as the three package tours in 1977 Live Stiffs 1978 Be Stiff and 1980 Son of Stiff Elvis Costello s street performance outside CBS Records 20 Barney Bubbles was responsible for much of the graphic art associated with the early Stiff releases Label artists EditThe Adverts Alberto y Lost Trios Paranoias Alvin Stardust Any Trouble The Belle Stars The Bongos Billy Bremner Joe King Carrasco amp the Crowns The Catch Elvis Costello The Damned Department S Desmond Dekker Devo Dr Feelgood Ian Dury and the Blockheads Electric Guitars The Enemy The Feelies Fingerprintz Furniture Ian Gomm Richard Hell and The Voidoids Jakko Mickey Jupp King Kurt Jona Lewie Lew Lewis Lene Lovich Nick Lowe Kirsty MacColl Madness 21 The Members The Mint Juleps Motorhead Humphrey Ocean and the Hardy Annuals Graham Parker and The Rumour Pink Fairies Plasmatics Plummet Airlines The Pogues Pointed Sticks The Dubliners 22 The Prisoners Roogalator The Sports Dave Stewart Rachel Sweet Bobby Tench Tenpole Tudor Sam and the Womp Sean Tyla and Tyla Gang The Stiffs Tracey Ullman The Undead The Untouchables Max Wall Larry Wallis Wazmo Nariz Wreckless Eric Yachts YelloSee also EditStiff Records discography 2 ToneFurther reading EditBert Muirhead 1983 Stiff the Story of a Record Label 1976 1982 Blandford Press ISBN 978 0 7137 1314 5 Richard Balls 30 October 2014 Be Stiff The Stiff Records Story Soundcheck Books ISBN 978 0 9575700 6 1 References Edit a b Stiff Records If it ain t Stiff it ain t worth a debt Features Music The Independent 15 September 2006 Archived from the original on 25 May 2022 Retrieved 7 December 2012 Universal Music Acquires Iconic British Labels Stiff Records and ZTT Billboard Retrieved 23 January 2018 Home Facebook Stiff records com 12 October 2017 Retrieved 2 May 2020 a b The spirit of Stiff Records lives on The Independent Retrieved 19 July 2017 The story of Stiff the most anarchic record label of all time loudersound com 28 March 2018 Retrieved 4 June 2021 Discogs Nick Lowe So It Goes Heart of the City Retrieved 26 June 2011 Dave Robinson International Times Issue 4 Number 15 The Madness Timeline 1979 Archived from the original on 28 September 2007 Retrieved 10 February 2020 No Artist The Wit And Wisdom Of Ronald Reagan 1980 Vinyl Discogs Retrieved 2 May 2020 Relax Frankie Goes To Hollywood MusikBloggNo Retrieved 11 February 2020 Stiff Records profile Discogs Retrieved 30 December 2019 Stiff Records The Legend Returns trakMARX Retrieved 7 December 2012 Wildlight Studios 2002 Buy The Hour Buythehour se Retrieved 7 December 2012 Balls Richard 2000 Sex amp Drugs amp Rock n Roll The Life of Ian Dury 1st ed London England Omnibus Press pp 176 184 ISBN 0 7119 8644 4 Balls Richard 2000 Sex amp Drugs amp Rock n Roll The Life of Ian Dury 1st ed London England Omnibus Press pp 208 209 ISBN 0 7119 8644 4 The spirit of Stiff Records lives on Features Music The Independent 25 January 2008 Retrieved 7 December 2012 Various The Son Of Stiff Tour 1980 Vinyl at Discogs Discogs Retrieved 7 December 2012 1 Archived 15 February 2012 at the Wayback Machine A Bunch of Stiff Records Vinyl at Discogs Discogs Retrieved 13 June 2016 Jones Allan 1 August 1977 A Day in the Life of a Bunch of Stiffs Melody Maker Retrieved 11 February 2020 Stiff Madness Stiff records com Retrieved 19 July 2017 Pogues The amp Dubliners The The Irish Rover Vinyl at Discogs Discogs Retrieved 1 September 2013 External links Edit Wikimedia Commons has media related to Stiff Records The Official Stiff Records Site Stiff Discography site Stiff Records discography at Discogs Tony Ferguson Interview NAMM Oral History Library 2021 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Stiff Records amp oldid 1149055427, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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