Ruthless Records was the name of a

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

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 ...

record label "Big Three" music labels A record label or record company is a brand or trademark of Sound recording and reproduction, music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a Music publisher, ...

. Founded in

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 6 – A funeral service is held in West Germany for Nazi Grand Admiral ...

by the Effigies, it was not a real business, but a name used by Chicago and Minneapolis punk bands from 1981 to 1990:

Big Black Big Black was an American punk rock band from Evanston, Illinois, active from 1981 to 1987. Founded first as a solo project by singer and guitarist Steve Albini, the band became a trio with an initial lineup that included guitarist Santiago Dur ...

, the Effigies, End Result, Naked Raygun, Rifle Sport and

Urge Overkill Urge Overkill is an American alternative rock band, formed in Chicago in 1986, consisting of Nathan Kaatrud, who took the stage name Nash Kato (vocals/guitar), and Eddie "King" Roeser (vocals/guitar/bass). They are widely known for their song " ...

. The Effigies operated the label from its creation in 1981 until 1984, when they found the label to be distracting from their priorities with the band. They handed the label over to Big Black founder

Steve Albini Steven Frank Albini (; July 22, 1962 – May 7, 2024) was an American musician and audio engineer. He founded and fronted the influential post-hardcore and noise rock bands Big Black (1981–1987), Rapeman (1987–1989) and Shellac (band), ...

, who ran the label until it dissolved in

1990 Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...

. Ruthless Records was an independent label run as a cooperative by Jon Babbin (later founder of Criminal IQ Records), The Effigies, Naked Raygun and

fame. After the release of The Effigies' ''Haunted Town'' EP, frontman John Kezdy was dissatisfied with the way

Autumn Records Autumn Records was a 1960s San Francisco–based pop record label. Among the notable acts on its roster was The Beau Brummels, a band who released a pair of top 20 singles, " Laugh, Laugh" and " Just a Little". Also on the Autumn Records rost ...

handled their expenses and decided to start the label with Babbin. Naked Raygun and Big Black came on board shortly after and all three acts worked together to get their initial records released. It wasn't really a company or anything of that sort, just a way for these bands to get their records out. The bands themselves were pretty much responsible for the creation and costs of their own records; Ruthless was just a central name/address to give the appearance of a record company to join like-minded bands. The latter half of Ruthless' existence (from about 1985 on) was run almost exclusively by Steve Albini and most of the releases were by bands outside Chicago. The label ended around 1990.

Roster

*Appliances SFB *

*Black Spot *

Brick Layer Cake A brick is a type of construction material used to build walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Properly, the term ''brick'' denotes a unit primarily composed of clay. But is now also used informally to denote building un ...

*Circle Seven *Dark Arts *Dig Dat Hole * The Effigies *End Result * Naked Raygun *Primos * Rifle Sport *

Label discography

* Effigies – "Bodybag"/"Security" 7", 1982 * Big Black – ''

Lungs The lungs are the primary organs of the respiratory system in many animals, including humans. In mammals and most other tetrapods, two lungs are located near the backbone on either side of the heart. Their function in the respiratory syste ...

'' EP, (RRBB02, December 1982) * Effigies – ''We're Da Machine'' EP, (E1003, 1983) * Circle Seven – ''Suburban Hope'' 12" (1000, 1983) * Naked Raygun – ''

Basement Screams ''Basement Screams'' is the debut EP by American punk rock band Naked Raygun, released on Ruthless Records in 1983. Quarterstick Records reissued the EP in 1999, and added the street version of "I Lie" and the 222 S. Morgan St. sessions as bonu ...

'' 12", (03, 1983) * Naked Raygun – ''Flammable Solid'' 7", (311057, 1983) * Big Black – ''

Bulldozer A bulldozer or dozer (also called a crawler) is a large tractor equipped with a metal #Blade, blade at the front for pushing material (soil, sand, snow, rubble, or rock) during construction work. It travels most commonly on continuous tracks, ...

'' EP, (RRBB07, December 1983) * Big Black – Live Cassette, (Recorded at 950, November 1983) * Effigies – ''For Ever Grounded'' LP, (1984) * Effigies – ''Haunted Town'' 12", (1984 Re-release) * Effigies – ''Fly on a Wire'' LP, (1985) * End Result – ''Ward'' EP, (1985) * Rifle Sport – "Plan 39"/"Dub" (RRRS-013, 1985) * Rifle Sport – "Complex EP" (RRRS-014, 1985) *

– ''Strange, I'' 12" (1986) * Dark Arts – ''Long Way From Brigadoon'' 12" (1986) * Appliances sfb – "Them"/"Green Door" (1987) * Rifle Sport – ''White (Made in France)'' LP (1987) * Black Spot – ''Burn'' LP (1989) * Rifle Sport – ''Live at the Entry, Dead at the Exit'' LP/CD (1989) *

– ''Eye For An Eye, Tooth For A Tooth'' 12" (1990) * Rifle Sport – ''Primo'' (Big Money-Ruthless BMI-011, 1991) * Rifle Sport – "Little Drummer Boy"/"Shanghaied" (Big Money-Ruthless BMI-012, 1991)

References

External links

Official Effigies site

Ruthless Records
on

Discogs Discogs ( ; short for " discographies") is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. Database contents are user-generated, and described in ''T ...

American record labels Record labels established in 1981 Record labels disestablished in 1990 Punk record labels Companies based in Chicago {{US-record-label-stub

Roster

Label discography

See also

References

External links