One step beyond

Despite all the blah blah blah about punk, it's oft forgotten that the two main protagonists were both signed to major labels (the Pistols to EMI and others, and The Clash to CBS) whereas other equally significant figures like Dave Robinson are air-brushed out of the retrospective documentaries - Robinson founded the Stiff label, the first real indie label in popular music. Stiff, set up in 1976 (or year zero) was the template for later successful and popular lables like Rough Trade, Postcard, Beggars Banquet, Setanta and the early Creation.

There was a time, as odd as it may seem now, when the indie vs. major issue was important in a socio-political sense and slogans about labour and capital were thrown around with heady abandon - whereas these days it's all about radio-friendly, share-indexing, unit-shifting corporate bullshit. The Stiff label may only have made a dent in the overall scheme of things but its legacy, as seen from the labels mentioned above, is lasting.

It began when Robinson (then Graham Parker's manager) and Jake Riviera (then Nick Lowe's manager) borrowed £400 to bring out the Lowe single So It Goes/ Heart Of The City with the catalogue number Buy 1. The albums that followed - The Damned's New Rose (the first-ever punk album), Elvis Costello's My Aim Is True, Wreckless Eric's The Whole Wide World and Ian Dury's Sex & Drugs & Rock'N'Roll were as much a definitive soundtrack of the late 1970s punk/new wave interface as you could ever wish for in your record collection. Apart from the collector's item T-shirt - If It Ain't Stiff, It Ain't Worth A Fuck - there were also the semi-legendary Stiff's Greatest Stiffs Live tours which, apart from the usual suspects, also included the likes of Rachel Sweet and Lene Lovich. Despite Costello and Nick Lowe leaving the label to set up Radar, Ian Dury kept things afloat through hit singles like What A Waste and Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick while the album New Boots And Panties stayed in the top 30 for two consecutive years. Further chart ammunition was discovered when a North London ska-based outfit called Madness signed to the label and went on to become one of the biggest-selling outfits of the 1980s, believe it or believe it not.

True to its indie roots, Stiff ploughed most of its money back into developing new artists and while acts like The Members, Richard Hell, Billy Bremner and The Yachts may not be household names, they had a fair amount of followers in their day and were only allowed to produce music because of Stiff's A&R policy. The variety on the label was commendable in those monochrome days - everything and everybody got a shot in the studio, including Tenpole Tudor (Swords Of A Thousand Men), Dave Stewart and Barbara Gaskin (It's My Party), Motorhead (White Line Fever), The Belle Stars (Sign Of The Times), Jona Lewie (You'll Always Find Me In The Kitchen At Parties) and Tracy Ullman (Breakaway).

As the 1980s progressed two major chart acts in Kirsty MacColl and The Pogues joined the label and added, amongst others, two memorable songs to the Stiff catalogue - Fairytale Of New York and A New England.

The inclusion of Desmond Dekker and Eddy Grant, alongside the licensing of material by American acts like Devo and Jane Aire, couldn't help the label's steady financial decline and despite at one time having a turnover of £4 million, its assets were sold on to ZTT for just £300,000 in 1986. It is now primarily a reissue label. The just-released A Hard Night's Day, The Story Of Stiff Records is a 45-song collection of classic Stiff singles and all the acts are present and correct here doing what they did so well. Strangely enough, the album is released on the MCA label. Pop has eaten itself.

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