Slash Records
Slash Records was an American record label based in Los Angeles, started in 1978 by Bob Biggs. It began with local punk bands, releasing the Germs’ early work and, in 1980, X’s Los Angeles. The label became one of the first successful independent labels in alternative music.
After Jem went bankrupt in 1981, Slash teamed up with Warner Bros. for distribution. It released albums by Fear, The Blasters, L7, Los Lobos, Rank and File, and The Del Fuegos. In 1981 Slash started Ruby Records, a subsidiary that issued records by Misfits, Dream Syndicate, and The Gun Club. By the mid-1980s Slash expanded beyond Southern California, releasing titles by Robyn Hitchcock and Burning Spear.
From 1982 to 1996, Slash’s North American releases were distributed by Warner Bros. Records and Reprise; international releases were handled by PolyGram. The label was sold to London Records in 1996. In 2000, Universal (the result of MCA-PolyGram’s merger) closed Slash as an active label. London Records’ Roger Ames later moved to Warner and kept the rights to London and Slash; Warner acquired Slash’s back catalog (except for Rammstein and Harvey Danger).
In 2003 Ames licensed the Slash name back to Bob Biggs, who relaunched the label. It released only one album, Shiner Massive, before shutting again due to losses. Since 2018 Slash has existed as a reissue label only.
Between 2016 and 2017, Warner sold rights to several former Slash artists, including Violent Femmes to Concord, Failure to PIAS, Soul Coughing to Woah Dad!, and Grant Lee Buffalo to Chrysalis. Bob Biggs died in October 2020.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 13:49 (CET).