Rough Trade-In the 70's

THE 70'S


The Rough Trade story began on 20th February 1976. The Rough Trade offererd an alternative to the middle-of-the-road rock music that dominated the music scene

Rough Trade began as a Punk focused shop.Punk  at the time was the furthest reach from mainstream music possible, but over time the genre basis expanded and Raggae Rough Trade was interested in characters and individuals. They weren't interested in musicians who wanted to be famous. In January 1977, when a record by the Buzzcocks appeared in store, Rough Trade found itself in the right place at the right time to make an impact. When Spiral Scratch was released in 1977, the idea of putting out a single without the support of an established record company was the most original idea to hit the music world at the time. Rough Trade was to become the headquarters of a revolt against this corporate monopoly  it was stocking records by bands inspired by the idea that they could do it themselves. In 1978 Rough Trade had a distribution system and was taking and selling records from bands benefiting from an emerging DIY culture. It was logical, then, that they should start a record label.

 Early independent labels had to hand over their distribution to the likes of EMI or CBS. But one man at Rough Trade challenged that monopoly. Richard Scott joined Rough Trade in 1977 and became the architect of a grand scheme that was nothing short of revolutionary: independent nationwide distribution. Due to the distribution system in Rough Trade, it seemed logical, then, that they should start a record label. By the end of 1979, a number of bands now commonly associated with Rough Trade had started to release records on the label, including Scritti Politti and The Raincoats. When Rough Trades first album, Stiff Little Fingers’ ‘Inflammable Material’, was released later in the 1979, it became the first independent record in history to sell over 100,000 copies and charted at number 14.