Epitaph Records
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Epitaph Records | |
---|---|
Country of origin | United States |
Location | Hollywood, California |
Official website | epitaph |
Epitaph Records is an American
History
Early years (1980s)
In 1989, Gurewitz signed NOFX to Epitaph. They released their debut for the label, S&M Airlines, that same year, featuring the video for its title track and the cover of Fleetwood Mac's "Go Your Own Way", which featured guest vocals by Gurewitz and Greg Graffin, also a member of Bad Religion. This was followed by Bad Religion's next two albums – No Control and Against the Grain – which sold 60,000[5] and 100,000[6] copies respectively.
Breakthrough success (1990s)
By 1993, more punk acts had signed to Epitaph, including
Although Bad Religion was the founding band of Epitaph, releasing their early records through the label, they switched over to Atlantic in 1993, with Recipe for Hate being their first record outside of the label. Brett Gurewitz is thought to have left Bad Religion as a result of internal disputes, but actually left the band in 1994 so he could run Epitaph full-time. That year Bad Religion and Epitaph received widespread fame, both within and outside the punk community, when Bad Religion (even though they had left Epitaph by this time), NOFX, Rancid and The Offspring all released hit records. This was a big year for punk in the mainstream; Rancid appeared on Saturday Night Live the following year, playing "Ruby Soho" and "Roots Radicals". The Offspring eventually left for Columbia Records in a contract dispute, but their album Smash became the bestselling independent album of all time, with more than 11 million units sold worldwide to date.[7]
Change in style (2000s)
In 2001, Brett Gurewitz returned to Bad Religion, and the band returned to Epitaph Records,[8] releasing seven more albums, the latest being Age of Unreason (2019).
In mid-2005 Epitaph was added to the official list of
During this time, the label started to stray from its traditional punk rock output by signing a number of
Recent years (2010s)
Epitaph signed Weezer in 2010, the label releasing Hurley later that year.[13] The label signed Social Distortion in the same year.[14] Epitaph signed Australian punk band Dangerous! in 2011 and released album Teenage Rampage. Epitaph had also signed the Canadian punk rock band Propagandhi. The label has also been more active in signing bands from the emo revival including The Menzingers, Joyce Manor, Pianos Become the Teeth, Defeater, The World Is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die, and Touché Amoré.
Sales certifications
Epitaph has issued two albums that have been certified as platinum or multi-platinum, for sales of over 1 million units, by the Recording Industry Association of America: Smash by The Offspring, which has been certified six-times platinum, and ...And Out Come the Wolves by Rancid, which has been certified platinum.[15]
Seven albums released by the label, or its subsidiaries Hellcat and ANTI-, have been certified gold for sales of 500,000 copies: Ignition by The Offspring, Punk in Drublic by NOFX, Let's Go by Rancid, Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards by Tom Waits, The Drug in Me Is You by Falling in Reverse, The Warrior's Code by Dropkick Murphys and Sempiternal by Bring Me the Horizon.[15]
Notable artists
Current
- Adult mother
- The All-American Rejects
- Architects (World ex. Australia, South Africa and New Zealand)
- Bad Religion
- Bad Suns
- Cold Hart
- Converge
- Cover Your Tracks (inactive since 2016)
- Danny Elfman
- Drain
- Descendents
- Defeater
- Falling in Reverse
- The Frights
- The Garden
- The Ghost Inside
- Hot Water Music
- Hunny
- Jamie T
- Joyce Manor
- Justin Pierre
- La Dispute
- The Lawrence Arms
- Lil Lotus
- The Linda Lindas
- Magnolia Park
- Mannequin Pussy
- The Menzingers
- Millencolin
- Off With Their Heads
- Parkway Drive (World Ex. Australia & New Zealand)
- Pennywise
- Pianos Become the Teeth
- Propagandhi
- Quicksand
- Raised Fist
- Refused
- Remo Drive
- Retox
- Saosin
- Save Face
- SayWeCanFly
- Sleepwave
- Social Distortion
- Soul Glo
- Teenage Wrist
- Thrice
- This Wild Life
- Too Close to Touch
- Touché Amoré
- The World Is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die
Former
- 1208 (Disbanded)
- 98 Mute (Disbanded)
- 59 Times The Pain(Disbanded)
- Agnostic Front
- ALL
- Alesana
- Alkaline Trio (active with Rise Records)
- Atmosphere
- Avion Roe (Disbanded)
- Beatsteaks
- Beautiful Bodies (Disbanded)
- Big Talk
- The Blood Brothers (re-releasing old material)
- Bombshell Rocks
- Bob Log III
- The Bouncing Souls (active with Pure Noise Records)
- Bring Me the Horizon (active with Sony Music)
- Burning Heads
- ANTI-)
- The Blackout (Disbanded)
- The Business (Disbanded)
- Circle Jerks
- Claw Hammer (Disbanded)
- Coffin Break (Disbanded)
- The Color of Violence
- The Cramps (Disbanded)
- Culture Abuse (Disbanded)
- Dag Nasty
- Danger Doom (Disbanded)
- Dangerous!
- Daredevils (Disbanded)
- Fueled By Ramen)
- Dead Fucking Last
- Death by Stereo (active with Indecision Records)
- Desaparecidos
- The Distillers
- Division of Laura Lee
- Down By Law
- The Draft (disbanded)
- Dwarves
- Error (Disbanded)
- Eleven Seven Label Group)
- Every Time I Die (disbanded)
- Eyedea & Abilities (Disbanded)
- Farewell
- Frank Turner (active with Polydor/Xtra Mile)
- Frenzal Rhomb
- From First to Last
- Gallows (re-releasing old material in North America)
- Gas Huffer (Disbanded)
- The Ghost of a Thousand (Disbanded)
- Green Day (re-releasing old material in Europe;)
- Guttermouth
- H2O (active with Bridge Nine Records)
- Heavens (disbanded)
- The Higher (Disbanded)
- Hell Is for Heroes
- The Hives
- Heideroosjes
- Humpers
- I Against I
- I Am Ghost (Disbanded)
- I Killed the Prom Queen (Disbanded)
- Ikara Colt (Disbanded)
- The (International) Noise Conspiracy (disbanded)
- I Set My Friends on Fire
- The Joykiller (Disbanded)
- Wayne Kramer
- L7
- Leathermouth
- Letlive
- Madball
- Matchbook Romance (Disbanded)
- The Matches
- Motion City Soundtrack
- New Found Glory (active with Revelation Records)
- New Bomb Turks
- Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
- No Fun at All (Burning Heart Records)
- NOFX (active with Fat Wreck Chords)
- Obey the Brave (Disbanded)
- The Offspring
- Osker (Disbanded)
- Our Last Night
- Pete Philly and Perquisite (Disbanded)
- The Pietasters
- Poison Idea (Disbanded)
- Pulley
- Rancid (now on Epitaph's sub-label Hellcat Records)
- Randy
- Red Aunts (Disbanded)
- Rich Kids on LSD (Disbanded)
- Ruth Ruth
- ANTI-)
- Satanic Surfers
- Scatter the Ashes
- Settle
- Set Your Goals
- The Sidekicks (Disbanded)
- Sing It Loud (Disbanded)
- Sleeping with Sirens (active with Sumerian Records)
- SNFU (Disbanded)
- Some Girls
- The Sound of Animals Fighting
- The Special Goodness
- Story of the Year
- Straightfaced
- Ten Foot Pole
- Terrorgruppe
- Thelonious Monster
- Thursday
- Total Chaos
- Tricky
- Turbonegro
- U.S. Bombs
- The Vandals (active with Kung Fu Records)
- Vanna (Disbanded)
- Voodoo Glow Skulls (active with Dr. Strange Records)
- The Weakerthans (on hiatus)
- Weezer (active with Atlantic Records)
- ANTI-)
- You Me at Six (active with BMG Rights Management)
- Zeke
Compilations
- Punk-O-Rama series
- Unsoundseries
- How We Rock
- Spirit of the Streets
- Epitaph / Union skate/surf DVD series
- Football Schmootball (1st)
- DC Video (3rd)[16]
- Circle One (5th)
- Out of Print Compilations
- Bored Generation skate/surf enhanced CD-ROM (1996)
- More Songs About Anger, Fear, Sex & Death (1992)
- New Noise (2010)
- New Noise 2 (2011)
See also
- Epitaph Records discography
- List of record labels
- Hellcat Records
- ANTI-
References
- ^ "Epitaph & Anti- Partner With AMPED for US Physical Distribution". Billboard. October 18, 2019.
- ^ ISBN 0-7535-0257-7, p. 150
- ISSN 0886-3032.
- ^ Bad Religion Homepage. "Suffer". Archived from the original on April 8, 2007.
- ^ "No Control (album) – The Answer – The Bad Religion Page – Since 1995". Retrieved June 7, 2015.
- ^ "Against The Grain (album) – The Answer – The Bad Religion Page – Since 1995". Retrieved June 7, 2015.
- ^ "Bio: The Offspring". Archived from the original on March 11, 2007.
- South Florida Sun-Sentinel, March 1, 2002, p. 36
- ^ a b "RIAA – default members – June 07, 2015". Record Industry Association of America. 2015. Retrieved June 7, 2015.
- ^ "News". National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. April 30, 2017.
- ^ "Mammoth Press". Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved June 7, 2015.
- ^ "F.A.Q.: Community: Fat Wreck Chords". Archived from the original on February 14, 2014. Retrieved June 7, 2015.
- ^ Luerssen, John D. (2010) "Weezer Sign to Epitaph, Announce 'Hurley' Album[permanent dead link]", Spinner, August 5, 2010. Retrieved May 8, 2011
- ^ Goodman, Dean (2010) "Rock band Weezer honors 'Lost' star on new album", Reuters, August 11, 2010. Retrieved May 8, 2011
- ^ a b "Gold & Platinum – Record Industry Association of America: Epitaph". Record Industry Association of America. Retrieved November 15, 2017.
- ^ "DC Video". Archived from the original on June 10, 2011.