Wax Trax! Records
Wax Trax! Records was an influential American record label from Chicago , Illinois .
history
The origins of the independent label Wax Trax go back to the record store of the same name, which Jim Nash and Dannie Flesher opened in Denver in 1978 . In the same year they moved to Chicago. Most of the records from punk and new wave artists were sold. In the early 1980s, the company began to acquire licenses and to sell smaller editions under its own label name. These included u. a. selected singles and EPs by Brian Eno or Divine .
After all, the label signed emerging EBM and industrial musicians such as the Ministry group around Al Jourgensen or the Belgian Front 242 . Wax Trax became the pioneering label of this movement with the success of industrial rock. Front 242's 1988 single Headhunter became the label's best-selling single. Ministry also had international success. The publications of the German group KMFDM also made their way into the Billboard Dance Charts and sold hundreds of thousands. In retrospect, a journalist for the Chicago Sun-Times wrote of Wax Trax: "As important as Chess Records was for the blues and soul , so was Wax Trax from Chicago for punk, new wave and industrial" . The side projects of numerous musicians such as Jourgensens Revolting Cocks , the Excessive Force project by Sascha Konietzko and Buzz McCoy and 1000 gay DJs with Trent Reznor should also be published on Wax Trax. In addition to rock and industrial, international underground artists from the fields of techno , electro and industrial dance have also been relocated to Wax Trax. So published u. a. The KLF early titles on the label before they became internationally known as a remixer for Depeche Mode or the Pet Shop Boys . The same goes for the British electro duo Chris & Cosey . Also Ljubljana , the Young Gods or Underworld were temporarily to catalog the record company.
In the early 1990s, however, Wax Trax ran into more and more financial difficulties. Numerous successful artists migrated to larger major labels. So appeared z. B. Ministrys Psalm 69: The Way to Succeed and the Way to Suck Eggs on Sire Records . Front 242 was even able to win mainstream viewers through their participation in the Lollapalooza Festival, but later broke up. The Canadian Front Line Assembly went to Roadrunner Records after their early years with the label . 1992 Wax Trax was declared bankrupt , the remnants of the label were bought by TVT Records from New York . 1994 still appeared with Black Box - Wax Trax! Records: The First 13 Years a box set with the most successful releases since the label was founded. Some of the former musicians from Wax Trax's back catalog stayed with TVT before this music label too had to file for bankruptcy in the mid-2000s.
In 1995, label founder Nash died of his HIV disease; Flesher retired completely from the music business and died in 2010. In 2011 and 2014, the label was revived with concerts and limited releases.
Artist (selection)
Documentation
- Julia Nash: Industrial Accident: The Story of Wax Trax! Records documentary, 2019
Web links
- Website
- Wax Trax! Records at Discogs (English)