User:IllaZilla/Lookout! Records
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Lookout Records (often written with an exclamation point as Lookout! Records)[I] was an American independent record label closely associated with the punk rock revival of the late 1980s and early 1990s. It was founded in San Francisco in 1987 by musician and zine publisher Larry Livermore and Maximumrocknroll staffer David Hayes to document the emerging East Bay punk scene centered around the non-profit music venue at 924 Gilman Street in Berkeley. Lookout made a name for itself releasing records by local bands, including the sole album by Operation Ivy and the first two albums by Green Day, which remained its top sellers for much of the label's run.
Lookout Records | |
---|---|
Founded | 1987 (1987) |
Founder | Larry Livermore, David Hayes |
Defunct | 2012 (2012) |
Status | Inactive |
Distributor(s) | Mordam Records, RED Distribution |
Genre | Punk rock, alternative rock |
Country of origin | United States |
Location | Berkeley, California |
Official website | lookoutrecords |
For most of its first few years, Livermore ran the label from his home in the remote mountain community of Spy Rock, 160 miles north of the San Francisco Bay Area. After Hayes left Lookout at the end of 1989, Livermore moved the label's operations to Berkeley, brought Chris Appelgren and Patrick Hynes on as partners, and began signing bands from outside of California, including Screeching Weasel, the Queers, and Avail. After Green Day signed to major label Reprise Records in 1993 and achieved mainstream international success, Lookout quickly grew into a multi-million dollar business buoyed largely by sales of the band's back catalog and that of Operation Ivy. Through a partnership with Canadian independent label Mint Records, Lookout released albums by Canadian acts Cub and the Smugglers.
Livermore resigned from Lookout in 1997 amid disputes with Screeching Weasel frontman Ben Weasel over royalty payments. Hynes also stepped down to a more limited role, and ownership of the company was turned over to Appelgren, Molly Neuman, and Cathy Bauer. Under their direction Lookout purchased Weasel's Panic Button Records imprint and continued to expand its own roster, experiencing the most success with the Donnas and Ted Leo and the Pharmacists. The label began experiencing financial difficulties, however, and fell into arrears with royalty payments to its artists. Consequently, in the mid-2000s most of its highest-selling artists invoked clauses in their contracts allowing them to rescind the rights to their recordings, depriving the label of much of its income. Lookout ceased releasing new material in 2005, focusing on keeping its back catalog in print, but terminated its remaining business operations in early 2012.