Corporate Rock Sucks: The Rise & Fall of SST Records is coming April 12, 2022, from Hachette Books and is now available for pre-order.
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A no-holds-barred narrative history of the iconic label that brought the world Black Flag, Hüsker Dü, Sonic Youth, Soundgarden, and more, by the co-author of Do What You Want and My Damage.
What is SST? Greg Ginn started SST Electronics in the sleepy beach town of Hermosa Beach, California, to supply ham radio enthusiasts with tuners and transmitters. But when Ginn wanted to launch his band, Black Flag, no one was willing to take it on. Determined to bring his music to the masses, Ginn turned SST into a record label. On the back of Black Flag’s relentless touring, guerilla marketing, and refusal to back down, SST became the sound of the underground.
In Corporate Rock Sucks, Jim Ruland relays the unvarnished story of SST Records, from its remarkable rise in notoriety to its infamous downfall. With records by Black Flag, Minutemen, Hüsker Dü, Bad Brains, Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr, Screaming Trees, Soundgarden, and scores of other influential bands, SST was the most popular indie label on the planet until a tsunami of legal jeopardy, financial peril, and dysfunctional management brought the empire tumbling down. Throughout this investigative deep-dive, Ruland leads readers through SST’s tumultuous history and epic catalog.
Corporate Rock Sucks features over 50 photographs–many published for the first time–from Linda Aranow, Alison Braun, Edward Colver, Fred Hammer, Wild Don Lewis, Naomi Peterson, EJ Porter, Paul Rachman, and SPOT. Implementing interviews with the label’s former employees, as well as musicians, managers, producers, photographers, video directors, and label heads, Corporate Rock Sucks presents an unauthorized narrative history of the ’80s punk and alternative rock scenes, and shows how the music industry was changed forever.
Corporate Rock Sucks was originally published on Jim Ruland
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