Stiff Records

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Stiff (English stiff, rigid, immobile, corpse, prudish person) was one of the most famous and successful British independent labels of the punk - wave - ska era. "If it ain't stiff it ain't worth af ** k" was one of the record company's slogans for their products - in German, for example, "If it ain't stiff, it's for an A * sch."

Artist on Stiff Records

The artists on Stiff Records have included over the years

Best chart positions

Singles

Three singles on the label made it to number 1 position in the UK charts :

  • Ian Dury & the Blockheads with Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick (on Jan 27, 1979)
  • Dave Stewart & Barbara Gaskin with It's My Party (October 17, 1981) and
  • Madness with House of Fun (on May 29, 1982)

Albums

Of the albums it made it to the top of the UK charts:

  • Madness with Complete Madness (first on May 22, 1982, a total of 3 weeks)

just missed the top position:

  • Ian Dury & the Blockheads with Do It Yourself (1979 / 2nd place)
  • Madness with One Step Beyond ... (1979 / 2nd place)
  • Madness with Absolutely (1980 / 2nd place)

other Stiff albums were in the top 20

  • The Pogues with If I Should Fall from Grace with God (1988 / 3rd place)
  • Ian Dury with New Boots and Panties !!! (1977 / 5th place)
  • Madness with 7 (1981 / 5th place)
  • Madness with Keep Moving (1984 / 6th place)
  • Madness with The Rise and Fall (1982 / 10th place)
  • Graham Parker with The Up Escalator (1980 / 11th place)
  • The Pogues with Rum, Sodomy & the Lash (1985 / 13th place)
  • Elvis Costello with My Aim is True (1977 / 14th place)
  • Tracey Ullman with You Broke my Heart in 17 Places (1983 / 14th place)
  • Lene Lovich with Flex (1980 / 19th place)

Just a publicity gag (and not in the charts) were two albums that Stiff Records gave away in the late 1970s in view of the conservative governments in the USA and Great Britain : The Wit and Wisdom of Ronald Reagan and The Wit and Wisdom of Margaret Thatcher ( German for example: "The Wisdom of Reagan" or Thatcher). The vinyl discs in LP -Size not played from a single sound on both sides.

history

Stiff Records was founded in July 1976. Dave Robinson and Andrew Jakeman (later he called himself Jake Riviera ) needed a loan of 400 British pounds , which the then singer of the band Dr. Feelgood , Lee Brilleaux, granted. From those £ 400 Robinson made an annual turnover of £ 3.5 million in just a few years.

The first single on Stiff Records was So it Goes by Nick Lowe, the later step-son-in-law of Johnny Cash . The letters BUY and the number one were chosen as the catalog number. Read one after the other, BUY1 means in German: "Buy one". Word jokes like this shaped the entire time the Stiff label existed. Nick Lowe produced the single New Rose and the LP Damned Damned Damned by The Damned on Stiff. The latter is considered by many to be the first punk album. It was released on February 18, 1977. In 1987 the last vinyl disc with the Stiff logo was released.

Discography

The first 20 singles on the Stiff label

  • BUY 1: Nick Lowe - So it Goes / Heart of the City
  • BUY 2: The Pink Fairies - Between the Lines / Spoiling for a Fight
  • BUY 3: Roogalator - All Aboard / Cincinnati Fatback
  • BUY 4: Tyla Gang - Styrofoam / Texas Chainsaw Massacre Boogie
  • BUY 5: Lew Lewis and his Band - Boogie on the Street / Caravan Man
  • BUY 6: The Damned - New Rose / Help
  • BUY 7: Richard Hell - Another World // Blank Generation / You Gotta Lose
  • BUY 8: Plummet Airlines - Silver Shirt / This is the World
  • BUY10: The Damned - Neat Neat Neat // Stab Yor Back / Singalongascabies
  • BUY11: Elvis Costello - Less Than Zero / Radio Sweetheart
  • BUY12: Max Wall - England's Glory / Dream Tobacco
  • BUY13: The Adverts - One Chord Wonders / Quick Step
  • BUY14: Elvis Costello - Alison / Welcome to the Working Week
  • BUY15: Elvis Costello - Red Shoes / Mystery Dance
  • BUY16: Wreckless Eric - Whole Wide World / Semaphore Signals
  • BUY17: Ian Dury - Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll / Razzle in my Pocket
  • BUY18: The Damned - Problem Child / You Take my Money
  • BUY19: Yachts - Suffice to Say / Freedom (Is a Heady Wine)
  • BUY20: Elvis Costello - Watching the Detectives // Elvis Costello & the Attractions - Blame It on Caine / Mystery Dance (1977, UK Charts: # 15)
  • BUY21: Nick Lowe - Halfway to Paradise / I Don't Want the Night to End
    • BUY 9 (Motorhead - Leavin 'Here / White Line Fever ) was only released after the fact.

The first 20 albums on the Stiff label

  • SEEZ 1: The Damned - Damned Damned Damned (1977, UK Charts: # 36)
  • SEEZ 2: Various Artists - A Bunch of Stiff Records
  • FIST 1: Various Artists - Hits Greatest Stiffs
  • SEEZ 3: Elvis Costello - My Aim is True (1977, UK Charts: # 14)
  • SEEZ 4: Ian Dury - New Boots and Panties !!! (1977, UK Charts: # 5)
  • GET 1: Various Artists - Live Stiffs Live (1978, UK Charts: # 28)
  • SEEZ 5: The Damned - Music for Pleasure
  • SEEZ 6: Wreckless Eric - Wreckless Eric (1978, UK Charts: # 46)
  • SEEZ 7: Lene Lovich - Stateless (1979, UK Charts: # 35)
  • SEEZ 8: Jona Lewie - On the Other Hand There's a Fist
  • SEEZ 9: Wreckless Eric - The Wonderful World of Wreckless Eric
  • SEEZ10: Mickey Jupp - Juppanese
  • SEEZ12: Rachel Sweet - Fool Around
  • SEEZ13: The Rumor - Frogs, Sprouts, Clogs and Krauts
  • SEEZ14: Ian Dury & the Blockheads - Do it Yourself (1979, UK Charts: # 2)
  • SEEZ16: Lew Lewis - Save the Wail
  • SEEZ17: Madness - One Step Beyond ... (1979, UK Charts: # 2)
  • SEEZ18: Rachel Sweet - Protect the Innocent
  • SEEZ19: Lene Lovich - Flex (1980, UK charts: # 19)
  • SEEZ20: The Feelies - Crazy Rhythms
    • SEEZ11 and SEEZ15 were supposed to be LPs by Jane Aire & the Belvederes and the Sports, respectively, but were not released

literature

  • Bert Muirhead: Stiff - The Story of a Record Label , Poole / Dorset 1983, ISBN 0-71371-314-3 .

Web links