2. Rough Trade, the shop was opened by Geoff Travis in
West London in February 1976. By 1978, it had a
distribution system and was taking and selling records
from bands benefiting from an emerging DIY culture.
Due to this success they decided to open start a record
label. By the end of 1979, a number of bands associated
with Rough Trade had started to release records on
their label, including Scritti Politti and The Raincoats..
When its first album, Stiff Little Fingers’ ‘Inflammable
Material’, was released later in the year, it became the
first independent record in history to sell over 100,000
copies and charted at number 14.
3. The Great success and size of its distribution meant that the
shop had to find a new location, in December 1980, the
label and distribution moved to Blenheim Crescent.
Rough Trade released over the next few years New acts
Including those such as ‘The Fall, Pere Ubu, Young Marble
Giants, This Heat, Robert Wyatt, Television Personalities,
Aztec Camera and James Blood Ulmer. Classic LP releases
include The Fall’s ‘Grotesque’, This Heat’s ‘Deceit’, Pere
Ubu’s ‘The Modern Dance’, Young Marble Giants’ ‘Colossal
Youth’, Scritti Politti’s ‘Songs To Remember’ and James
Blood Ulmer’s ‘Are You Glad To Be In America?’
4. In 1983 the label signed the ‘smiths’, a whole new teritory
for rough trade and found themselves becoming the
face of the emerging genre ‘Indie’. All four of their
studio albums reached the top two. After relocating to
Finsbury Park, in early 1991, after a series of
unfortunate business decisions . Rough Trade went
into Administration. All of the assets, including the
record company and the rights to the Rough Trade
name itself, were sold off in an attempt to cover
Distribution’s debts.
5. However after more than a couple of years Geoff Travis and
Jeannette Lee reacquired the rights to the Rough Trade
name and begin again as a record company with the help of
trading partner Sanctuary. They were back in west London,
too, which has always seemed the ‘spiritual homeland of
Rough Trade.’ In Spring 2001, Geoff and Jeannette DJ’d at
the V&A for the 25th anniversary party of the Rough Trade
shop and the good faith elicited convinced them that they
were absolutely right to re-launch the label. They had
already released a couple of albums and singles but it was
The Strokes first release ‘The Modern Age’ that ‘revitalised
‘Rough Trade and the British music industry.
