"If They’re Dead, We’ll sign them”
In 1976, Dave Robinson and Jake Riviera launched Stiff Records, releasing the likes of Elvis Costello, Ian Dury, Nick Lowe, Wreckless Eric, Damned, Nick Lowe, Madness and the likes, as well as rejuvenating the 45-rpm single and inventive marketing and irreverent sloganeering, before the label went bankrupt in 1986.
Author Richard Balls, who has just published his book Be Stiff - The Stiff Records Story, talks to Trevor Reekie about the English label that gambled everything to create an influential legacy that continues to endure.
Stiff Records recording artist Nick Lowe / Photo by Dick Wingate.
Music Details
Artist:Devo
Song:Be Stiff
Composer: Casale, Lewis
Album:Q; Are we not men, A: We are Devo
Label:Stiff Records
Artist:Wreckless Eric
Song:Be Stiff
Composer: Eric Goulden
Album:Be Stiff EP
Label:Stiff Records
Artist:Nick Lowe
Song:So It Goes
Composer: Lowe
Album: The Big Stiff Box Set
Label:Stiff Records
Artist:Elvis Costello
Song: Watching The Detectives
Composer: Elvis Costello
Album: My Aim is True
Label:Stiff Records
Artist: Wreckless Eric
Song: Whole Wide World
Composer: Eric Goulden
Album: The Big Stiff Box Set
Label:Stiff Records
Artist:Larry Wallis
Song: Police Car
Composer: Larry Wallis
Album: If It Ain't Stiff...
Label:Stiff Records
Artist: Ian Dury & The Blockheads
Song: Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll
Composer: Dury, Jankel
Album: The Big Stiff Box Set [Disc 1]
Label:Stiff Records
Artist: Madness
Song: Madness
Composer: Prince Buster
Album: It's... Another Madness Too
Label:Stiff Records
Artist:Plasmatics
Song: Butcher Baby
Composer:Wendy O’Williams, Plasmatics
Album: The Big Stiff Box Set [Disc 2]
Label:Stiff Records
Artist:The Damned
Song:New Rose
Composer:James
Album: The Big Stiff Box Set [Disc 1]
Label:Stiff Records
