Propaganda Records company and Propaganda label are an independent Finnish

record company A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the produc ...

and a

record label A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the produ ...

established in 1981. Since the beginning

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

-based Propaganda specialized in independent

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

music and

hardcore Hardcore, hard core or hard-core may refer to: Arts and media Film * ''Hardcore'' (1977 film), a British comedy film * ''Hardcore'' (1979 film), an American crime drama film starring George C Scott * ''Hardcore'' (2001 film), a British documen ...

. The label dominated the Finnish hardcore punk and underground scene from the early 1980s until 1986. Releases were soon distributed in

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

and the United States. They soon began reissues in West Germany.

Propaganda history

The Finnish Propaganda Records was founded in the beginning of 1981 in Helsinki by Heikki Vilenius. The actual label logo Propaganda had already been created in the summer of 1979 for the Propaganda fanzine issues. Soon after the first releases the founder had a continuing radio program at Finnish

Yle Yleisradio Oy (Finnish, literally "General Radio Ltd." or "General Broadcast Ltd."; abbr. Yle ; sv, Rundradion Ab, italics=no), translated to English as the Finnish Broadcasting Company, is Finland's national public broadcasting company, founde ...

with name

Suomirock Finnish rock (Finnish: ''suomirock'' or ''suomirokki''—also known as Finnsrock, Finnrock or Finrock) refers to rock music made in Finland. The initial rock and roll boom of the 1950s was preceded by a long tradition of popular culture. ''Suomirock ...

. The name has become as an important part of meaning of Finnish rock within the later decades. Quite soon after 1the firstst Propaganda compilation album, ''Propaganda - Russia bombs Finland'', in 1982 they announced co-operation with

rockabilly Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music. It dates back to the early 1950s in the United States, especially the Southern United States, South. As a genre it blends the sound of Western music (North America), Western music ...

shop Jensen Studio and Rockphone with a show at

Lepakko Lepakko or Lepakkoluola was a self-managed social centre in Ruoholahti, Helsinki, Finland, functioning from 1979 to 1999. History The building was a paint company warehouse located at Porkkalankatu 1 in the Ruoholahti district of Helsinki, whi ...

luola, the former addict flophouse, with a pile of performing bands. Rockphone traded Propaganda issues well and imported actual punk rock until

The Lords of the New Church The Lords of the New Church were an English/American supergroup with a line-up originally consisting of four musicians from 1970s punk bands. This line-up comprised vocalist Stiv Bators (ex- the Dead Boys), guitarist Brian James (ex- the Da ...

from

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

via aeroplane. Later Propaganda arranged several hardcore shows in the year by the same way. Puntala-rock 1983 was one of the same kind of festivals around Finland. The event has returned latest since 2000 and has always performers around the world. In the late 1982 album issues Valtion vankina (As Prisoner of State) from

Riistetyt Riistetyt are a Finnish hardcore punk band from Tampere. After Rattus and Kaaos, Riistetyt were one of the first groups in Finland to play hardcore punk. Originally formed as Cadgers, the band was created in 1981 and recorded one split 7-inch with ...

and Ei raha oo mun valuuttaa (Money Is Not My Currency) from

Appendix Appendix, or its plural form appendices, may refer to: __NOTOC__ In documents * Addendum, an addition made to a document by its author after its initial printing or publication * Bibliography, a systematic list of books and other works * Index (pub ...

were just what was needed to offer a total shot of Finnish

. A small

flat Flat or flats may refer to: Architecture * Flat (housing), an apartment in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia and other Commonwealth countries Arts and entertainment * Flat (music), a symbol () which denotes a lower pitch * Flat (soldier), ...

record Totaalinen

Kaaos Kaaos was a Finnish hardcore punk band from Tampere, Finland. Formed in March 1980, they were one of the first hardcore punk bands in Finland to release a record. Though their lineup has changed frequently through the years, the band is somewhat ...

(Total Chaos] by

was enough for a while. Soon in 1983 the other

hillbilly Hillbilly is a term (often derogatory) for people who dwell in rural, mountainous areas in the United States, primarily in southern Appalachia and the Ozarks. The term was later used to refer to people from other rural and mountainous areas west ...

Herbert Egoldt from West German

Rock-O-Rama Rock-O-Rama was a German record label started in 1980 by Herbert Egoldt. The label folded in 1994 after a police raid. History Egoldt bootlegged 1950s rockabilly recordings in the early 1970s before starting the Rock-O-Rama mail order service, ...

Records was interested to reissue and issue a couple of dozen albums from Finnish Propaganda Records. If the reason began from Egoldt's rockabilly years with

John Peel John Robert Parker Ravenscroft (30 August 1939 – 25 October 2004), known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey (DJ) and radio presenter. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly fr ...

in Britain since the late 1960s or comment by

, who wrote to Egoldt in May 1980: "One thing about the records. Why do German singers sing in English? Is it because it is fashionable? Or is it a marketing consideration? Whichever it is, I think they should sing in German anyway." Now those were singing in Finnish in West Germany and in

Western Europe Western Europe is the western region of Europe. The region's countries and territories vary depending on context. The concept of "the West" appeared in Europe in juxtaposition to "the East" and originally applied to the ancient Mediterranean ...

. That will make a lot of sense. The Bastards were among the first ones to tour in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

. Since beginning of 1984 the albums were distributed by new company the German

SPV GmbH SPV GmbH (short for ''Schallplatten Produktion und Vertrieb GmbH'', "Vinyl Production and Distribution Company") is a German independent record label. Founded on 1 January 1984, it has slowly grown to be one of the largest independent distributor ...

to all of Western Europe. In the same time in 1983 Propaganda was already like hot stuff in

Western countries The Western world, also known as the West, primarily refers to the various nations and states in the regions of Europe, North America, and Oceania.

as the

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

Maximum Rocknroll ''Maximumrocknroll'', often written as ''Maximum Rocknroll'' and usually abbreviated as ''MRR'', is a not-for-profit monthly zine of punk subculture. Based in San Francisco, ''MRR'' focuses on punk rock and hardcore music, and primarily featur ...

'' from

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

wrote reviews and articles. As the albums were at Top 10 lists on couple of dozens MRR

radio station Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radio ...

s all over United States including the

university A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

stations in many states. Later

Terveet Kädet Terveet Kädet are a Finnish hardcore punk band, the first in Finland. The group was founded in Tornio in January 1980. They have had a major influence on bands from all over the world, especially in Brazil (which some have claimed was because of ...

appeared on ''Maximum Rocknroll'' international punk and hardcore compilation album, Welcome to 1984. But as much earlier The Bastards reached appearing on World Class Punk compilation from

ROIR ROIR (pronounced "roar"), or Reachout International Records, is a New York City-based independent record label founded in 1979 by Neil Cooper. Background ROIR was founded the same year that the Sony Walkman launched, and initially, the label ex ...

with 1982 material. Propaganda was a moment earlier for a while a local company for Reachout International Records in Finland as

Mykel Board Mykel Board (born January 31, 1950) is an American journalist, musician, and writer of English-language haiku. Bibliography * ''Even A Daughter Is Better Than Nothing'' Garrett Country Press (2005) * ''I A, Me-ist'' Hope and Nonthings Pres ...

was visited in Finland and made a promotion at Finnish broadcasting company Yle.

was as well a

columnist A columnist is a person who writes for publication in a series, creating an article that usually offers commentary and opinions. Column (newspaper), Columns appear in newspapers, magazines and other publications, including blogs. They take the fo ...

from ''Maximum Rocknroll'', but his own home district was at

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

like for his own company Seidboard International and for

Neil Cooper (ROIR) Neil Cooper (1930–2001) was the founder and head of independent US cassette and record label ROIR."A record firm that zigs while all the rest zag" by John Milward in ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'', Thursday, March 29, 1990

. In 1984 changed Riistetyt and The Holy Dolls were the first ones to tour around the United States from the east coast to the west coast with 30 gigs. They played at

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

during

1984 Summer Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the secon ...

with

Dead Kennedys Dead Kennedys are an American punk rock band that formed in San Francisco, California, in 1978. The band was one of the defining punk rock, punk bands during its initial eight-year run. Dead Kennedys' lyrics were usually political in nature, sa ...

at Olympic Hall,

Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena The Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena was a multi-purpose arena at Exposition Park (Los Angeles), Exposition Park, in the University Park, Los Angeles, University Park neighborhood of Los Angeles. It was located next to the Los Angeles Memorial ...

. Italian

Raw Power ''Raw Power'' is the third studio album by American rock band the Stooges (credited as Iggy and the Stooges), released on February 7, 1973 by Columbia Records. The album departed from the "groove-ridden, feel-based songs" of the band's first two r ...

was the other band with the Riistetyt during the tour. The Brazilian punks were very keen on that foreign material, fashion stuff and bands. Later

was reissued there. It took until 2001 as

toured in

for the first time. Since then there have been a lot of large tours around Brazil. In the late 1980s Propaganda made more

melodic rock Arena rock (also known as AOR, melodic rock, stadium rock, anthem rock, pomp rock, corporate rock and dad rock; ; ) is a style of rock music that originated in the mid-1970s. As hard rock bands and those playing a softer yet strident kind of po ...

blues rock Blues rock is a fusion music genre that combines elements of blues and rock music. It is mostly an electric ensemble-style music with instrumentation similar to electric blues and rock (electric guitar, electric bass guitar, and drums, sometimes w ...

and made the incoming of

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest hard ...

The next century

Since 1993 have been many reissues on many labels and a pile of new bands performing with various

music genre A music genre is a conventional category that identifies some pieces of music as belonging to a shared tradition or set of conventions. It is to be distinguished from ''musical form'' and musical style, although in practice these terms are some ...

Propaganda fanzine

Propaganda magazine, fanzine started in Finland in early 1979 and was in the beginning issued from

Häme Häme (; Swedish: ''Tavastland'', Latin: ''Tavastia'') is the name of a geographical region in Finland, associated with the Tavastians, or Häme people (''hämäläiset''), a subgroup of the Finnish people. The precise area referred to can vary ...

. Later in 1980 it was located in northern Helsinki. A dozen of different zines have been reissued with reissued

vinyl record A phonograph record (also known as a gramophone record, especially in British English), or simply a record, is an analog sound storage medium in the form of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove. The groove usually starts nea ...

s past the last two decades in Germany and Finland. During a couple of last years in Helsinki founded Oranssi ry. has made an

archive An archive is an accumulation of historical records or materials – in any medium – or the physical facility in which they are located. Archives contain primary source documents that have accumulated over the course of an individual or ...

concerning around 300 fanzine issues from Finland and including yet some Propaganda issues. The

operation Operation or Operations may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * ''Operation'' (game), a battery-operated board game that challenges dexterity * Operation (music), a term used in musical set theory * ''Operations'' (magazine), Multi-Ma ...

is financed by the Finnish government via

Ministry of Education and Culture The Ministry of Education and Culture is a Cabinet position in the governments of several nations. In some nations the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Culture are separate departments; in others, the Ministry of Education and Culture als ...

and is run with Suomen Jazz and Pop Arkisto (JAPA). JAPA has 300 meters as archived material and it is administering DigiWiki-portal.JAPA DigiWiki
/ref> The issues are still alive.

Co-operatives

Records, West Germany * Rough Trade, United States * Finnlevy,

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

* Kråklund Records, Finland * Höhnie Records, Germany *

Havoc Records High Altitude Venus Operational Concept (HAVOC) is a set of crewed NASA mission concepts to the planet Venus. All human portions of the missions would be conducted from lighter-than-air craft or from orbit. Background Venus is a planet with a ru ...

, United States *

Playground Music Scandinavia Playground Music Scandinavia AB (PGM) is Scandinavia’s biggest independent record company and distributor founded in 1999. The company operates in Scandinavia with offices in Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Norway, and with local distribution partner ...

Scandinavia Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion#Europe, subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, ...

Svart Records Svart Records is a Finnish independent record company focused on heavy metal music, especially doom metal. It concentrates mostly on releasing LP reissues of albums previously unavailable on vinyl. Discography * Callisto, ''Providence 2LP'' (S ...

, Finland

Some of the roster

* Bastards * Pyhät Nuket * Holy Dolls * Nuket * Massacre * 013 * Korroosio * Plastic Tears * Tinneri * Dave Forestfield * Jussi Kettu * Rudi * Kansan Uutiset * Vaurio * Destrucktions

References

Oranssi archiv - 300 fanzine issues
* JEeJEeJEe – suomalaisen rockin historia ( WSOY); pages 324-327 * JeeJeeJee/Radiomafia (Santtu Luoto, Yle); parts From Propaganda to hardcore and

Yö Yö ( en, night) was a Finnish rock band, formed in 1981 in Pori, Finland. The band has had many line-up changes during their history, and almost 20 different musicians play or have played with the band. Yö's first line-up included singer Ol ...

-part *

, issues 1983-1984 * Suomipunk 1977–1998 (Jarkko Kuivanen, Yle); book * Jungle, record collector magazine; 1/1995 * Parasta lapsille - Suomipunk 1977-1984 (Mika Saastamoinen, Johnny Kniga); book
Suntuubi - Punk

External links

Propaganda Records official website

Propaganda discography at Discogs.com

Propaganda Records discography at Discogs.com
{{Authority control Record labels established in 1981 Post-hardcore record labels Punk record labels Hardcore record labels Indie rock record labels Alternative rock record labels Rock record labels Pop record labels Finnish record labels