2MCE FM Alt.Eighties: Indie Labels
July 18, 2024
July 1982 saw the release of a landmark single in Australian alternative rock music. It was Hunters and Collectors Talking To a Stranger. There were many bands sounding alike in the early 80’s, not Hunters and Collectors, it was so refreshing to find something remarkably different, fresh and unique. This debut single was inventive, infectious funk and so very tribal. So impactful was its sound that Mushroom Records specifically formed a new alternative label, White Label Records, when they signed Hunters & Collectors, a label specifically designed for alternative artists. A specific label for alternative artists, such was the influence of these emerging independent/alternative labels in the early 1980s. (a major label wanting a piece of that action) Backed by the introduction of independent charts these labels became an influential publisher of the work of independent and emerging artists. Phantom Records was one of Australia’s first indie labels, Phantom Records was an a specialist record store established in 1978 on Pitt Street in Sydney. The label went on to release the debut records of many important Australian bands including the Hoodoo Gurus, Sunnyboys, Flaming Hands, Stephen Cummings, Machinations, The Kelpies, and an early EP by The Cockroaches.
Inspired, other Sydney record stores followed the Phantom model, Waterfront Records and Redeye Records being two notables.
This week on Alt.Eighties I pull out some of those early and influential singles that came to realisation because of the vision and entrepreneurial pursuits of these pathfinding independent labels, changing the Australian music scene forever.
