Description
Greg Ginn started SST Records in the sleepy beach town of Hermosa Beach, CA, 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 them 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, music journalist 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 obscure yet influential bands, SST was the most popular indie label by the mid-80s–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.
Featuring never-before-seen interviews with the label’s former employees, as well as musicians, managers, producers, photographers, video directors, and label heads, Corporate Rock Sucks presents a definitive narrative history of the ’80s punk and alternative rock scenes, and shows how the music industry was changed forever.
Additional Praise:
“SST Records became a radiant supernova of creativity and possibility. A true and livable alternative to lame shit. And then, somehow, it fell apart when it was poised to create another universe. It became radioactive, a black hole. This book is that ‘somehow’–part archeology, part autopsy.” —Todd Taylor, Razorcake
“Jim Ruland tells the whole messy saga [of SST Records] in his un-put-downable CORPORATE ROCK SUCKS.” —Rolling Stone
“The DIY label’s messy history… is quite a tale, and its related here in unflinching detail, making Corporate Rock Sucks as much an autopsy as a celebration of defiant ‘fuck you’ punk rock ethics… Corporate Rock Sucks should inspire a new generation of outliers to seek out some of the most thrillingly uninhibited art to emerge from the punk rock underground.” —LOUDER
“Fascinating, entertaining, and revealing… a must-read.” —AV Club
“The improbable rise and slow-motion implosion of SST Records is legendary, but nobody has painted a complete picture of the dark saga until now. Ruland combines his personal knowledge of the SoCal punk scene, in-depth research, and interviews with key players to tell the whole sordid tale. Corporate Rock Sucks is a must-read for fans of ’80s/’90s hardcore, punk, and alternative rock.” —S.W. Lauden, editor of Forbidden Beat: Perspectives on Punk Drumming
“When tracing the lineage of independent record labels in the American Punk scene during the 1980s, SST Records can definitely be cited as the vanguard to the whole shebang. With a history gnarled with legal issues, money issues, blown release dates, hard-living, and a devilish penchant for pushing against punk’s parameters, their tale is a tough one to wrangle, but Jim manages to cut through all the convolutions to deliver the straight dope on the influential imprint in a concise, informative and entertaining way.”–Tony Rettman, author of Straight Edge: A Clear-Headed Hardcore Punk History and NYHC: New York Hardcore 1980-1990.
