Safety Net Records was founded by ''

Miami Herald The ''Miami Herald'' is an American daily newspaper owned by the McClatchy Company and headquartered in Doral, Florida, a List of communities in Miami-Dade County, Florida, city in western Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County and the M ...

music critic ''The Oxford Companion to Music'' defines music criticism as "the intellectual activity of formulating judgments on the value and degree of excellence of individual works of music, or whole groups or genres". In this sense, it is a branch of mus ...

Bill Ashton, and is co-owned by Jimmy Johnson. Safety Net released

South Florida South Florida is the southernmost region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is one of Florida's three most commonly referred to directional regions; the other two are Central Florida and North Florida. South Florida is the southernmost part of th ...

classics such as The Essentials' "Fast Music in a Slow Town" EP and The Chant's "Two Car Mirage." In 1988, Safety Net released "The Wilderness", an album by Charlie Pickett & the MC3. According to Greg Baker, "Safety Net, like so many entities of the early 1980s scene, was a

co-op A cooperative (also known as co-operative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically-control ...

project that put music first and money fourth or fifth. In fact, back then there was little of the enmity and competition so common in today's rock scenes, including Miami's. Wimmer and Ashton each had

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 ...

s, yet the two often worked together. If Open didn't have the resources to put out a record everyone knew deserved release, Safety Net would. And vice versa. For instance, when Open couldn't release an EP by The Bobs, Safety Net simply slapped on its own

label A label (as distinct from signage) is a piece of paper, plastic film, cloth, metal, or other material affixed to a container or product, on which is written or printed information or symbols about the product or item. Information printed dir ...

. (The Bobs, with their evocatively clever lyrics and funky arrangements, were a far cry from the better-known

soft-rock Soft rock is a form of rock music that originated in the late 1960s in Southern California and the United Kingdom which smoothed over the edges of singer-songwriter and pop rock, relying on simple, melodic songs with big, lush productions. S ...

a cappella ''A cappella'' (, also , ; ) music is a performance by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. The term ''a cappella'' was originally intended to differentiate between Ren ...

group with the same name). Later, the Bobs's Bob Rupe would produce a number of local records and get signed by national labels as a member of two cutting-edge bands."

Releases

* The Essentials - Fast Music in a Slow Town (EP) - 1982. Fast Music in a Slow Town was recorded at Sync Studios and produced by big daddy Charlie Pickett with engineers Andy Clark and Frank Falestra. * The Chant - Three Sheets to the Wind - 1985. * The Bobs - In Public (

cassette Cassette may refer to: Technology * Cassette tape (or ''musicassette'', ''audio cassette'', ''cassette tape'', or ''tape''), a worldwide standard for analog audio recording and playback ** Cassette single (or "Cassingle"), a music single in th ...

) - 1985. "Several years ago, local

musician A musician is a person who composes, conducts, or performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general term used to designate one who follows music as a profession. Musicians include songwriters who wri ...

and producer Jim Johnson had a hunch. This is the result. This eight-song tape captures the now-defunct Bobs at a 1983 concert at a now-defunct (What else is new?) club. Six of the cuts are not available on any other Bobs recordings. The band played everything from

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while the ...

and

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 ...

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...

. The performance is tough and tight, and the production and recording quality is very good. The Bobs should have been at least as popular as

Hüsker Dü Hüsker Dü () was an American punk rock band formed in Saint Paul, Minnesota, in 1979. The band's continual members were guitarist/vocalist Bob Mould, bassist/vocalist Greg Norton, and drummer/vocalist Grant Hart. They first gained notabili ...

." * Charlie Pickett & the MC3 - The Wilderness - 1988. Produced by

Peter Buck Peter Lawrence Buck (born December 6, 1956) is an American musician and songwriter. He was a co-founder and the lead guitarist of the alternative rock band R.E.M. He also plays the banjo and mandolin on several R.E.M. songs. Throughout his car ...

. * The Chant - Two Car Mirage - 1989. Produced by The Chant, John Keane and James Klotz. Executive Producer Bill Ashton. Recorded in Atlanta's Channel One Studio. It was released by Safety Net Records, and bears the cutter NET 12. It is also available in CD format, and also includes their debut

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

, 1985's Three Sheets to the Wind, sans one track.

References

{{Authority control American independent record labels