Alternative Tentacles is an

independent record label An independent record label (or indie label) is a record label that operates without the funding or distribution of major record labels; they are a type of small- to medium-sized enterprise, or SME. The labels and artists are often represent ...

established in 1979 in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " 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 fourth most populous in California and 17t ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the mo ...

. It was used by Dead Kennedys for the self-produced single " California Über Alles". After realizing the potential for an independent label, they released records for other bands as well. Dead Kennedys guitarist East Bay Ray and vocalist

Jello Biafra Eric Reed Boucher (born June 17, 1958), known professionally as Jello Biafra, is an American singer, spoken word artist and politician. He is the former lead singer and songwriter for the San Francisco punk rock band Dead Kennedys. Initially a ...

formed Alternative Tentacles, but Biafra became the sole owner in the mid-1980s. Alternative Tentacles no longer owns the rights to Dead Kennedys recordings after a 2000 lawsuit.

History

Alternative Tentacles subsequently released records of other bands of the alternative/punk scene including releasing records (which were later released by other labels) by bands including The Dicks, 7 Seconds, and the

Butthole Surfers Butthole Surfers are an American rock band formed in San Antonio, Texas, by singer Gibby Haynes and guitarist Paul Leary in 1981. The band has had numerous personnel changes, but its core lineup of Haynes, Leary, and drummer King Coffey has be ...

. In 1981, Alternative Tentacles released the compilation '' Let Them Eat Jellybeans!''. Some of the best known bands that have released albums through Alternative Tentacles are Dead Kennedys, NoMeansNo, D.O.A., and Alice Donut. In addition to musical acts, Alternative Tentacles also publishes

spoken word Spoken word refers to an oral poetic performance art that is based mainly on the poem as well as the performer's aesthetic qualities. It is a late 20th century continuation of an ancient oral artistic tradition that focuses on the aesthetics o ...

albums, many by Jello Biafra himself. Another common theme of Alternative Tentacles records over the years has been the artwork of Winston Smith, which has appeared on many of their records, catalogs, posters and shirts. Smith also designed the Alternative Tentacles logo.A Crash Course in Alternative Tentacles.
Alternative Tentacles. 2004. Web. In April 2019

Kerrang ''Kerrang!'' is a British weekly magazine devoted to rock, punk and heavy metal music, currently published by Wasted Talent (the same company that owns electronic music publication ''Mixmag''). It was first published on 6 June 1981 as a one-of ...

ran a long form feature called "An Oral History of Alternative Tentacles". Within that article were quotes on the modern political stance of the label:

"Alternative Tentacles has a long history of making political statements. Two of their biggest selling T-shirts since America’s 2016 election are the ‘Nazi Trumps Fuck Off’ and ‘Trump Hates Me’ designs. Anti-Trump sentiments have also been expressed on the A.T Batcast podcast. So it came as a surprise to the staff to find out that there are Trump supporters who are also fans of A.T. “They think that Trump is punk,” Chris sighs. “He’s the chaos factor, so they see him as someone who’s fucking up the government. It’s amazing to me that people are surprised Jello is anti-Trump. Like, where have you been?!”
This label has questioned every single president – including Obama – since 1979,” adds Dominic, “and we will continue to do so. We support questioning everything, we are feminists, we like to challenge norms, and we aren’t afraid to take a side. I’ll say it again: If you support Trump, fuck you. That shaking things up you love so much is destroying people’s lives.”

In March 2020,

Bandcamp Bandcamp is an American online audio distribution platform founded in 2007 by Oddpost co-founder Ethan Diamond and programmers Shawn Grunberger, Joe Holt and Neal Tucker, with headquarters in Oakland, California, US. On March 2, 2022, Bandcamp ...

ran a feature on their site entitled "The Lesser-Known Classics of Alternative Tentacles Records" as part of their label profile series.

United Kingdom branch

In the early 1980s, Alternative Tentacles opened an office in the UK (eventually settling at 64 Mountgrove Road in London) to release special editions of American punk records that were unavailable in Europe, many of which were licensed from other independent U.S. labels. Among these were releases by SST Records' groups Black Flag and

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 ...

, the Dischord Records compilation '' Flex Your Head'', and an EP of tracks from the

Bad Brains Bad Brains are an American rock band formed in Washington, D.C. in 1976. Originally a jazz fusion band under the name Mind Power, they are widely regarded as pioneers of hardcore punk, though the band's members have objected to the use of this ...

eponymous 1982 album, as well as U.K. pressings of all American Dead Kennedys releases. It was also a distribution hub for Elemental Records.

Legal trouble

In 1985, Los Angeles prosecutors charged Biafra with "distributing harmful matter to minors" for artwork contained in the Dead Kennedys album '' Frankenchrist''. The artwork was a poster reproduction of the painting " Work 219: Landscape XX", also known as "Penis Landscape" by H.R. Giger. The case ended in a hung jury and charges were not re-filed. Biafra presented a detailed account of the trial on his second spoken word album, '' High Priest of Harmful Matter − Tales from the Trial''. In early 2000, the label and Biafra were named in a lawsuit brought by his former Dead Kennedys bandmates. The suit claimed that Biafra had failed to pay the band's members a decade's worth of royalties on the band's albums, totaling some $76,000. All sides agreed the initial underpayment of royalties was due to an accounting error. However, the jury ultimately ruled that Alternative Tentacles and Biafra were "guilty of malice, oppression and fraud" by not promptly informing his former bandmates of the matter and instead withholding the information during subsequent discussions and contractual negotiations. The other Dead Kennedys members only learned of the royalty underpayment from a

whistleblower A whistleblower (also written as whistle-blower or whistle blower) is a person, often an employee, who reveals information about activity within a private or public organization that is deemed illegal, immoral, illicit, unsafe or fraudulent. Whi ...

at the record label. A 2003 appeal upheld the verdict and judgment against Biafra and the record label of $200,000 in compensation and

punitive damages Punitive damages, or exemplary damages, are damages assessed in order to punish the defendant for outrageous conduct and/or to reform or deter the defendant and others from engaging in conduct similar to that which formed the basis of the lawsuit ...

. The result of the case saw the rights to the Dead Kennedys albums turned over to the other band members, who licensed them to Manifesto Records in the United States (and to other labels in the rest of the world). Dead Kennedys albums accounted for about half of all sales by Alternative Tentacles, leading to financial uncertainty for the label. In October 2002, the label moved to

Emeryville, California Emeryville is a city located in northwest Alameda County, California, in the United States. It lies in a corridor between the cities of Berkeley and Oakland, with a border on the shore of San Francisco Bay. The resident population was 12,905 as ...

Artists

Current artists

* ArnoCorps * The Bellrays * Citizen Fish * Cross Stitched Eyes * The Darts * Dash Rip Rock * Dead Ending * Death Hymn Number 9 * Disaster Strikes * eX-Girl * Feral Ohms * itchy-O *

* Jello Biafra and the Guantanamo School of Medicine * Jucifer * Leftöver Crack * Legendary Shack Shakers * Nardwuar the Human Serviette *

Pansy Division Pansy Division is an American rock band formed in San Francisco, California, United States, in 1991 by singer-songwriter Jon Ginoli and bassist Chris Freeman. Conceived as the first openly gay rock band featuring predominantly gay musicians, ...

* Pins of Light * The Silver Machine * Skarp * Spindrift * Subhumans * Tsunami Bomb * Turn Me on Dead Man * Unsane * Victim's Family * Witch Hunt * The World/Inferno Friendship Society

Former artists

* 7 Seconds * Akimbo * Alice Donut *

Amebix Amebix were an English crust punk band. Formed as the Band with No Name, the band's original run was from 1978 to 1987, during which time they released two EPs and three albums. The group reunited in 2008, released another full-length album ...

* Beatnigs * Black Flag * Black Kali Ma * BlöödHag * Blowfly * BGK *

Brujeria Various types of witchcraft and occult religious practices exist in Latin American and Afro-Caribbean cultures, known in Spanish as (pronounced ). Influenced by indigenous religion, Catholicism, and European witchcraft, the purpose may ran ...

* Brutal Juice * Burning Image * Buzzkill *

* The Causey Way * Chill Eb *

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words '' Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρ ...

* Christian Lunch * Comets on Fire * Creeps On Candy * Crucifucks * Dead Kennedys * The Dicks * D.O.A. * Doc Corbin Dart * Dog Faced Hermans * The Dot Wiggin Band * Duh * East Bay Ray * Eat *

Eugene Chadbourne Eugene Chadbourne (born January 4, 1954) is an American banjoist, guitarist and music critic. Life and career Chadbourne was born in Mount Vernon, New York, but grew up in Boulder, Colorado. He started playing guitar when he was eleven or twel ...

* Evan Johns and The H-Bombs *

The Evaporators The Evaporators is a Canadian garage rock band formed in 1986 in Vancouver, British Columbia. Nardwuar, its founding member, is also known for interviewing musicians and celebrities. As of 2007, the band consists of vocalist/keyboardist Nardwu ...

* eX-Girl * F-Minus * Facepuller * False Prophets * The Fartz * The Flaming Stars * Fleshies * Flipper * Free Beer * Galloping Coroners (Vágtázó Halottkémek) * Geza X * God Bullies * Grong Grong * Grotus * Half Japanese * Howard Zinn * Hack * The Hanson Brothers * Hissanol * Husker Du * Jarboe * Jungle Studs *

Kepone Chlordecone, better known in the United States under the brand name Kepone, is an organochlorine compound and a colourless solid. It is an obsolete insecticide, now prohibited in the western world, but only after many thousands of tonnes had bee ...

* Klaus Flouride * Lard * Les Thugs * Life After Life * Logical Nonsense * The Looters * Los Gusanos * Ludicra * Mat Callahan * MDC * Melvins * M.I.A. * Michael Gira * Mischief Brew * Mojo Nixon *

Molotov Cocktail A Molotov cocktail (among several other names – ''see other names'') is a hand thrown incendiary weapon constructed from a frangible container filled with flammable substances equipped with a fuse (typically a glass bottle filled with ...

* Nausea *

Neurosis Neurosis is a class of functional mental disorders involving chronic distress, but neither delusions nor hallucinations. The term is no longer used by the professional psychiatric community in the United States, having been eliminated from t ...

Noam Chomsky Avram Noam Chomsky (born December 7, 1928) is an American public intellectual: a linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, historian, social critic, and political activist. Sometimes called "the father of modern linguistics", Chomsky ...

* Nomeansno * No WTO Combo * Pachinko * Part Time Christians * Peligro * Pitchshifter * Porch * Ratos de Porão * TARANTELLA * The Phantom Limbs * Radiopuhelimet * Saturn's Flea Collar * Sibling Rivalry * The Skatenigs * Skrapyard * Slim Cessna's Auto Club * SNFU *

Star Fucking Hipsters Star Fucking Hipsters is an American punk rock band from New York City who have released albums on Fat Wreck Chords and Alternative Tentacles records. They have been called a "punk supergroup" and feature members from numerous notable bands i ...

* Stickdog * Teddy & the Frat Girls * Thrall * Toxic Reasons * Tragic Mulatto * Triclops! *

Tribe 8 Tribe 8 was a LGBTQ punk rock band from San Francisco, considered one of the first queercore groups. The band took their name from the practice of tribadism, with "tribe eight" being a play on the word ''tribade'', a sexual practice sometimes ...

* Tumor Circus * T.S.O.L. * Ultra Bide * VHK * Voice Farm * Ward Churchill * Wesley Willis * White Trash Debutants * The Witch Trials * The Yuppie Pricks * Zeni Geva * Zolar X

Discography

* Alternative Tentacles discography

References

External links

Official site
{{Authority control Alternative rock record labels American independent record labels Companies based in San Francisco Companies based in Emeryville, California Punk record labels Record labels established in 1979 Rock record labels Spoken word record labels Music of the San Francisco Bay Area