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Concept
Touch and Go Records
Summary
Touch and Go Records is an American independent record label based in Chicago, Illinois. After its genesis as a handmade fanzine in 1979, it grew into one of the key record labels in the American 1980s underground and alternative rock scenes. Touch & Go carved out a reputation for releasing adventurous noise rock by the likes of Big Black, the Butthole Surfers, and The Jesus Lizard. Touch & Go helped to spearhead the nationwide network of underground bands that formed the pre-Nirvana indie rock scene, and helped preside over the shift from the hardcore punk that then dominated the American underground scene to the more diverse styles of alternative rock emerging at the time.
The zine was formed in 1979 in East Lansing, Michigan as Touch and Go magazine, a self-printed fanzine written and produced by Tesco Vee and Dave Stimson. It wasn't until 1981 that it grew into an independent record label. Vee (later front man of The Meatmen) was bored with the punk sounds of the day, and captivated by the emerging hardcore movement in America. Inspired, he put out records by the Necros, The Fix, the Meatmen, and Negative Approach. In 1981, Necros bassist Corey Rusk joined with Tesco to run the label. In 1983, Tesco handed Touch and Go over to Rusk and his wife Lisa when he left Michigan for Washington, D.C. With the label under their ownership, the Rusks hired Terry Tolkin who signed the Butthole Surfers and Virgin Prunes to the label, and also produced the Gods Favorite Dog compilation. Soon the Rusks relocated the label to Chicago, and Touch and Go released material in the mid-'80s to mid-'90s by bands such as the Butthole Surfers, Big Black, the Jesus Lizard, Scratch Acid, the Didjits, Slint, Girls Against Boys and Killdozer, and continued into the new millennium with artists on its roster including Shellac, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, TV on the Radio, Arcwelder, CocoRosie, Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, and the Black Heart Procession. Lisa Rusk left the label after she and Corey divorced. Corey Rusk continues to run the label.
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