Stiff Records

Stiff Records is a British independent record label

formed in London, England, by Dave Robinson and Stiff Records
Jake Riviera. Originally active from 1976 to 1986, the
label was reactivated in 2007.

Established at the outset of the punk rock boom, Stiff

signed various punk rock and new wave acts such as
Nick Lowe, the Damned, Lene Lovich, Wreckless Eric,
Elvis Costello, Ian Dury, and Devo, also signing artists
with significant crossover appeal such as Motörhead,
Larry Wallis and Mick Farren. In the 1980s, with most Parent Universal Music Group
of their early signings having moved on, the label company (label)
found commercial success with Madness, The Pogues, Concord (American back
Tracey Ullman, The Belle Stars, Kirsty MacColl and catalogue)
others. Founded August 1976[1]

In December 2017, Universal Music Group acquired Founder Dave Robinson · Jake
Riviera
Stiff Records and ZTT Records.[2] Razor & Tie, a
division of the Concord Music Group, holds the Status Active
American rights to the Stiff catalogue.[3] The British Distributor(s) Universal Music Group
rights to the Stiff catalogue were held by BMG Rights Genre Pub rock · punk rock ·
Management under Union Square Music until 2022, new wave
when Universal relaunched the Stiff and ZTT labels.
Country of United Kingdom
origin

History Official website stiff-records.com (http://stiff-r

ecords.com)

Stiff Records logos Robinson and Riviera were well-known London music
business characters. Robinson had briefly worked for Jimi
Hendrix in the late 1960s and also managed minor pub rock
band Brinsley Schwarz in the early 1970s, in which Nick
Lowe was the bassist, vocalist and main songwriter; while
Riviera had been an early manager for another pub rock
band, Dr. Feelgood, from Essex. The label was started with a
The original Stiff A 2nd version of the
Records logo Stiff Records logo loan of £400 from Lee Brilleaux of Dr. Feelgood.[4]

Originally, Stiff had been called Demon, but the phrase "It’s
a stiff!" was more appropriate for the artists on the record label.[5] Stiff found quick success. Its first
release, on 14 August 1976, was a single (in the normal 7" vinyl 45 rpm format) by Nick Lowe, "So It
Goes", B-side "Heart of the City", with the striking catalogue number BUY 1.[1][6] That record sold
10,000 copies, but Stiff's next release, "Between The Lines" by Pink Fairies, sold only around half of
that.[7] Robinson and Riviera used money from their Advancedale management company to finance the
release of what is generally accepted as the United Kingdom's first punk single, "New Rose" by The
Damned, on 22 October 1976.

Early in 1977, Stiff Records picked up speed, signing Wreckless Eric, Ian Dury, and Elvis Costello, who
had once been a part-time roadie for Brinsley Schwarz. Bigger sales followed, and a distribution deal
with Island Records through EMI was set up. After arranging for Costello and Lowe to be signed directly
to CBS Records' Columbia label, a similar deal was made with Arista who released Ian Dury's first album
and the Live Stiffs Live album. The deal was short-lived and Stiff then made a deal with CBS Records for
Stiff releases in the United States, at both the Columbia and Epic subsidiaries on the Stiff/Columbia and
Stiff/Epic labels.

Robinson and Riviera were a fiery management combination, and after a series of disagreements, Riviera
left Stiff in early 1978 to form the short-lived Radar Records, taking Elvis Costello, Nick Lowe and
Yachts with him as a settlement package. Riviera's departure coincided with the end of the "5 Live Stiffs
Tour", which showcased emerging star Ian Dury. Dury's album New Boots & Panties!! had raced up the
charts and its sales kept the label in business over the following months. In 1979, Robinson signed
Madness, and Madness released albums from 1979 to 1984.[8]

The next few years were the halcyon period, with many Top 20 single chart placings, including the label's
first No. 1 single, "Hit Me with Your Rhythm Stick" by Ian Dury, and a number of other big-selling
albums. Stiff expanded rapidly and moved its premises twice. It also continued to release dozens of
obscure and uncommercial releases. For example, Stiff Records released the parody album The Wit &
Wisdom of Ronald Reagan. That LP, on Magic Records, was completely silent on both sides, with
Reagan's own slogan, "If it's a success it must be Magic!".[9]

At the end of 1983, Island Records bought 50% of Stiff, and Robinson ran both labels. Island was very
short of money at the time and Robinson had to lend it £1,000,000 to fund the share purchase and pay the
payroll. In 1984 Island Records released hit single "Relax" by Frankie Goes to Hollywood.[10] Stiff
signed The Pogues, but then Madness left under a cloud. The Island deal failed and Dave Robinson
regained control of the newly independent label in 1985. Hits by The Pogues and Furniture helped Stiff to
survive another twenty months, but the underlying causes for the failure of the Island deal finally became
too burdensome for Stiff and it was sold to ZTT in 1987.[11]

In 2007, ZTT and its parent company SPZ Group reactivated the label.[12] Stiff quickly broke one of the
UK's hottest new indie acts, The Enemy. It then released a string of well-received albums of new work
from legacy Stiff artists, including as Wreckless Eric, Henry Priestman, Any Trouble, and Chris Difford.
Brand new acts signed to the label included The Tranzmitors and Eskimo Disco. Swedish designer Tobbe
Stuhre[13] was appointed official Stiff Records designer.

In 2008, Union Square Music released The Big Stiff Box Set.

The Stiffs Tours

Robinson and Riviera had arranged package tours ‒ such as the 1975 Naughty Rhythms tour ‒ for acts
they managed before forming Stiff. The first tour, known as the Live Stiffs Tour or 5 Live Stiffs (3 October
– 5 November 1977), comprised five bands: Elvis Costello and The Attractions, Ian Dury and the
Blockheads, Wreckless Eric and The New Rockets, Nick Lowe's
Last Chicken in the Shop, and Larry Wallis's Psychedelic
Rowdies. Having signed all the named artists as individuals, bands
had to be formed in order to tour: these were largely based on the
session musicians used for the artists' solo records. There were 18
musicians on the tour, several doubling up, e.g. Dury playing
drums for Wreckless Eric while the last two "bands" had the same
line up (Nick Lowe, Larry Wallis, Dave Edmunds, Terry Williams,
Part of the train that was used on
Pete Thomas and Penny Tobin). the Be Stiff Route 78 Tour

The original idea was that the running order would rotate each
night, but Dury and Costello were clearly the strongest acts. Costello played mostly new material and
cover versions, rather than numbers from his recently released album My Aim is True, so the gigs usually
ended with most of the artists on stage performing Dury's "Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll". A live album
entitled Live Stiffs Live and a video of the tour were produced, but the tour only covered the UK.[14]

After the departure of Riviera, Robinson arranged a second tour, the Be Stiff or the Be Stiff Route 78 tour,
from October to November 1978 (UK), again comprising five acts; Wreckless Eric, Lene Lovich, Jona
Lewie, Mickey Jupp, and Rachel Sweet. The mainland section of the UK tour was undertaken by train
and the Irish section by coach, and then continued on to the USA without Jupp, who was afraid of flying.
The artists contributed to an EP with cover versions of the Devo song, and early Stiff single, "Be
Stiff".[15]

The final tour, the Son of Stiff Tour 1980, comprised Ten Pole Tudor, Any Trouble, Dirty Looks, Joe
"King" Carrasco and the Crowns, and The Equators. Undertaken by bus, this European tour was not
successful.[16] The tour led to a 12" EP Son of Stiff Tour 1980 (SON 1)[17] and a short movie directed by
Jeff Baynes. The movie has not been released for sale, but was shown on BBC4 in September 2006.[18]

Marketing and design

The label's marketing and advertising was often provocative and witty, billing itself as "The World's Most
Flexible Record Label". Other slogans were "We came. We saw. We left", "If It Ain't Stiff, It Ain't Worth
a Fuck", and "When You Kill Time, You Murder Success"[4] (printed on promotional wall clocks). On the
label of Stiff's sampler compilation Heroes & Cowards was printed: "In '78 everyone born in '45 will be
33-1/3". A very early Stiff sampler album, A Bunch of Stiff Records, introduced the slogan, "If they're
dead, we'll sign them" and "Undertakers to the Industry".[19]

Stiff also produced eccentric but highly effective promotional campaigns, such as the three package tours
in 1977 (Live Stiffs), 1978 (Be Stiff) and 1980 (Son of Stiff), Elvis Costello's "street performance outside
CBS Records.[20]

Barney Bubbles was responsible for much of the graphic art associated with the early Stiff releases.

Label artists
The Adverts Alberto y Lost Trios Paranoias
Alvin Stardust The Members
Any Trouble The Mint Juleps
The Belle Stars Motörhead
The Bongos Humphrey Ocean and the Hardy Annuals
Billy Bremner Graham Parker and The Rumour
Joe "King" Carrasco & the Crowns Pink Fairies
The Catch Plasmatics
Elvis Costello Plummet Airlines
The Damned The Pogues
Department S Pointed Sticks
Desmond Dekker The Dubliners[22]
Devo The Prisoners
Dr. Feelgood Roogalator
Ian Dury and the Blockheads The Sports
Electric Guitars Dave Stewart
The Enemy Rachel Sweet
The Feelies Bobby Tench
Fingerprintz Tenpole Tudor
Furniture Sam and the Womp
Ian Gomm Sean Tyla and Tyla Gang
Richard Hell and The Voidoids The Stiffs
Jakko Tracey Ullman
Mickey Jupp The Undead
King Kurt The Untouchables
Jona Lewie Max Wall
Lew Lewis Larry Wallis
Lene Lovich Wazmo Nariz
Nick Lowe Wreckless Eric
Kirsty MacColl Yachts
Madness[21] Yello

See also
Stiff Records discography
2 Tone

Further reading
Bert Muirhead (1983). Stiff, the Story of a Record Label, 1976-1982 (https://books.google.co
m/books?id=atvZAAAACAAJ). Blandford Press. ISBN 978-0-7137-1314-5.
Richard Balls (30 October 2014). Be Stiff: The Stiff Records Story (https://books.google.co
m/books?id=NOQkBQAAQBAJ). Soundcheck Books. ISBN 978-0-9575700-6-1.

References
1. "Stiff Records: If it ain't Stiff, it ain't worth a debt – Features – Music" (https://www.independe
nt.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/stiff-records-if-it-aint-stiff-it-aint-worth-a-debt-415
988.html). The Independent. 15 September 2006. Archived (https://ghostarchive.org/archive/
20220525/https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/stiff-records-if-it
-aint-stiff-it-aint-worth-a-debt-415988.html) from the original on 25 May 2022. Retrieved
7 December 2012.
2. "Universal Music Acquires Iconic British Labels Stiff Records and ZTT" (https://www.billboar
d.com/biz/articles/news/record-labels/8071006/universal-music-acquires-iconic-british-indie-l
abels-stiff). Billboard. Retrieved 23 January 2018.
3. "Home | Facebook" (http://www.stiff-records.com/contact-stiff/). Stiff-records.com. 12
October 2017. Retrieved 2 May 2020.
4. "The spirit of Stiff Records lives on" (https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/musi
c/features/the-spirit-of-stiff-records-lives-on-773546.html). The Independent. Retrieved
19 July 2017.
5. "The story of Stiff, the most anarchic record label of all time" (https://www.loudersound.com/f
eatures/the-story-of-stiff-the-most-anarchic-record-label-of-all-time). loudersound.com. 28
March 2018. Retrieved 4 June 2021.
6. "Discogs Nick Lowe: So It Goes/Heart of the City" (http://www.discogs.com/Nick-Lowe-So-It-
Goes-Heart-Of-The-City/release/1208199). Discogs. Retrieved 26 June 2011.
7. Dave Robinson International Times, Issue 4, Number 15
8. "The Madness Timeline: 1979". Archived from the original on 28 September 2007. Retrieved
10 February 2020.
9. "No Artist – The Wit And Wisdom Of Ronald Reagan (1980, Vinyl)" (https://www.discogs.co
m/No-Artist-The-Wit-And-Wisdom-Of-Ronald-Reagan/release/1421098). Discogs. Retrieved
2 May 2020.
10. "Relax – Frankie Goes To Hollywood". MusikBloggNo. Retrieved 11 February 2020.
11. "Stiff Records profile" (http://www.discogs.com/label/Stiff+Records). Discogs. Retrieved
30 December 2019.
12. "Stiff Records – The Legend Returns" (http://www.trakmarx.com/2007_03/22-stiff.html).
trakMARX. Retrieved 7 December 2012.
13. "Graphic Design" (http://www.buythehour.se/artwork). Buy The Hour. n.d. Retrieved 15 June
2024.
14. Balls, Richard (2000). Sex & Drugs & Rock'n'Roll: The Life of Ian Dury (1st ed.). London,
England: Omnibus Press. pp. 176–184. ISBN 0-7119-8644-4.
15. Balls, Richard (2000). Sex & Drugs & Rock'n'Roll: The Life of Ian Dury (1st ed.). London,
England: Omnibus Press. pp. 208–209. ISBN 0-7119-8644-4.
16. "The spirit of Stiff Records lives on – Features – Music" (https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-
entertainment/music/features/the-spirit-of-stiff-records-lives-on-773546.html). The
Independent. 25 January 2008. Retrieved 7 December 2012.
17. "Various – The Son Of Stiff Tour 1980 (Vinyl) at Discogs" (http://www.discogs.com/Various-T
he-Son-Of-Stiff-Tour-1980/release/919995). Discogs. Retrieved 7 December 2012.
18. [1] (http://bbc.ask-adders.com/program-details/son+of+stiff+tour+movie/20060917002500/)
Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20120215100638/http://bbc.ask-adders.com/program
-details/son+of+stiff+tour+movie/20060917002500/) 15 February 2012 at the Wayback
Machine
19. "A Bunch of Stiff Records (Vinyl) at Discogs" (https://www.discogs.com/Various-A-Bunch-Of-
Stiff-Records/release/1416413). Discogs. Retrieved 13 June 2016.
20. Jones, Allan (1 August 1977). "A Day in the Life of a Bunch of Stiffs" (http://www.elviscostell
o.info/articles/m/melody_maker.770801a.html). Melody Maker. Retrieved 11 February 2020.
21. "Stiff – Madness" (http://www.stiff-records.com/stiff-artists/madness/). Stiff-records.com.
Retrieved 19 July 2017.
22. "Pogues, The & Dubliners, The – The Irish Rover (Vinyl) at Discogs" (http://www.discogs.co
m/Pogues-Dubliners-The-Irish-Rover/release/2598815). Discogs. Retrieved 1 September
2013.

External links
The Official Stiff Records Site (http://www.stiff-records.com)
Stiff Discography site (http://www.buythehour.se/stiff)
Stiff Records (http://www.discogs.com/label/Stiff+Records) discography at Discogs
Tony Ferguson Interview (https://www.namm.org/library/oral-history/tony-ferguson) NAMM
Oral History Library (2021)

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