I.R.S. Records

I.R.S. Records
Founded	1979
Founder	Miles Copeland III, Jay Boberg, Carl Grasso
Status	defunct since 1996
Distributor(s)	A&M Records (1979-1985) MCA Records (1985-1990) EMI Records (1990-1996)
Genre	Various
Country of origin	United States

I.R.S. (International Record Syndicate) Records was a record label, started in the United States in 1979 by Miles Copeland III along with Jay Boberg and Carl Grasso. Miles was also the manager of Wishbone Ash, The Police, and later, Sting, as well as other bands. I.R.S. was the sister label of Copeland's Illegal Records (UK).

I.R.S. releases were distributed by A&M Records until 1985, by MCA Records until 1990, and finally by EMI until the label folded in 1996.

History

In 1985, Copeland brokered a deal to switch the label's distributor to MCA Records. Under the agreement, A&M continued to release the label's pre-1985 catalog, much of which still can be found under the A&M banner.

In 1990, the band Green Day included a mock letter from then-I.R.S. college radio rep Lori Blumenthal in one of their last cassette releases for Lookout Records. The fictional letter expressed IRS' interest in signing the band to the label. A mock reply letter from Lookout, also included in the cassette artwork, deemed I.R.S. a "cheesy" and "washed up" record label.

The last IRS release was the 1996 Buzzcocks CD All Set before it folded. Shortly after, Copeland formed Ark 21 Records.

Faulty Products

Faulty Products was the UK holding company for I.R.S. Records of the UK record labels set up by Miles Copeland. It included Illegal Records, Deptford Fun City Records and others. Faulty Products was also an American independent record label, and distribution company for other indie labels, between 1980 and 1982. Faulty handled artists that didn't go through I.R.S.' distribution deal with A&M Records.

Illegal Records

Illegal Records was set up by Copeland with his younger brother Stewart and the manager of The Police, Paul Mulligan.^[1] The label released The Police's debut single, "Fall Out".^[2]

Deptford Fun City Records

Deptford Fun City Records was set up by Copeland in the late 1970s as an outlet for Deptford bands such as Alternative TV^[3] and Squeeze.^[1][4]

No Speak Records

No Speak Records was set up as an all-instrumental imprint of I.R.S. in January 1988. The label featured some of the many talented guitarists (and a few other instrumentalists) forced into unemployment by the Punk and New Age music takeover of the music industry.

The Cutting Edge

From 1983 to 1987, I.R.S. Records sponsored a weekly MTV show called I.R.S. Records Presents The Cutting Edge, hosted by Peter Zaremba of The Fleshtones. The series focused heavily on bands that recorded for the label.

On The Charts

On the Charts was a 1994 compilation album that chronicled the acts of I.R.S. Records from 1979 to 1994.

1. Our Lips Are Sealed - The Go-Go's
   
2. Mexican Radio [Edit] - Wall of Voodoo
   
3. Only a Lad - Oingo Boingo
   
4. The Future's So Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades - Timbuk 3
   
5. Save It for Later - The English Beat
   
6. She Drives Me Crazy - Fine Young Cannibals
   
7. Mad About You [Single Mix] - Belinda Carlisle
   
8. Tenderness - General Public
   
9. The One I Love - R.E.M.
   
10. Joey - Concrete Blonde
    
11. Rain in the Summertime [Edit] - The Alarm
    
12. Dizz Knee Land - dada
    

Acts

Acts on I.R.S. included Foxy Shazam, R.E.M., Chrome Molly, The Animals, Wishbone Ash, Marillion (US & Canada only), Henry Badowski, Karel Fialka, The English Beat, Nuclear Assault, Human Switchboard, The Cramps, The Go-Go's, The Fleshtones, Oingo Boingo, Doctor and the Medics, Squeeze, Suburban Lawns, Over the Rhine, The Buzzcocks, The Alarm, Gary Numan, Wall of Voodoo, General Public, John Cale, Renaissance, Belinda Carlisle, Sahotas, Camper Van Beethoven, Caterwaul, Gren, Dread Zeppelin, The Surfing Brides, Show of Hands, Lords of the New Church, Fine Young Cannibals, The Truth, Black Sabbath, Jane Wiedlin, Let's Active and Concrete Blonde.

An instrumental-only imprint, I.R.S. No Speak, released albums by Wishbone Ash, Stewart Copeland, and William Orbit. I.R.S. also produced the feature film Shakes the Clown, which starred Bobcat Goldthwait. They released David Lynch and Alan R. Splet's soundtrack to Eraserhead in the 1980s.

See also

• List of record labels

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Paul Marko "Popular music genres: an introduction - Google Books". books.google.com. http://books.google.com/books?id=r4bmVbNSnk4C&pg=PA177&dq=Deptford+Fun+City+Records&as_brr=3&client=firefox-a&cd=2#v=onepage&q=Deptford%20Fun%20City%20Records&f=false. Retrieved 2010-01-08. 
2. ^ "The I.R.S. Records Story at Mr Bill's I.R.S. Records Corner: The history of I.R.S. Records!". www.irscorner.com. http://www.irscorner.com/irsstory.html. Retrieved 2010-01-08. ^{[dead link]}
3. ^ "Punk rock: so what? : the cultural ... - Google Books". books.google.com. http://books.google.com/books?id=Pnb1g3oIzTIC&pg=PA65&dq=Deptford+Fun+City+Records&as_brr=3&client=firefox-a&cd=3#v=onepage&q=Deptford%20Fun%20City%20Records&f=false. Retrieved 2010-01-08. 
4. ^ "The Roxy London Wc2: A Punk History". The Roxy Club London:Punk, 2007, ISBN 0955658306. http://books.google.com/books?id=rcnVLioLCNIC&pg=PA229&dq=Deptford+Fun+City+Records&as_brr=3&client=firefox-a&cd=4#v=onepage&q=Deptford%20Fun%20City%20Records&f=false. Retrieved 2010-01-08. 

External links

• I.R.S. Records I.R.S. Records history 1979-1985, Billboard charts; photo galleries; US and international discographies.
• Mr. Bill's I.R.S. Records Corner
• Discogs: I.R.S. discography
• Illegal Record discography discogs.com
• Faulty Products discography irscorner.com