Originally trying their hand at producing small runs of bootleg records for the store, in 1980 Wax Trax! branched out into a quasi-legitimate record label. Throughout the ‘80s, Wax Trax! became the meeting place for ideas and a primary home for many kids that lived outside mainstream culture.īeyond retail, there was no master plan. A combination of Jim and Dannie’s infectious personalities coupled with their passion for counter culture quickly gained national notoriety as Wax Trax! became a Mecca for fans looking for international new wave, punk rock and experimental music scenes that were being brought into the U.S. Early seminal post-punk and experimental bands such as Joy Division, Throbbing Gristle, and Cabaret Voltaire were first exposed to Chicago through the Wax Trax! store. The core of the Wax Trax! retail store focused on importing music and design that was currently emerging in Europe. From the beginning, Jim and Dannie’s ability to combine obscure and fringe music with underground culture created a language that set Wax Trax! apart from traditional U.S. Within a year, the new location at 2449 North Lincoln Avenue became a nucleus for the underground culture that was emerging in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s. Originally launched in Denver in 1975, founders Jim Nash and Dannie Flesher moved their small independent record shop, Wax Trax! Records, to Chicago in the fall of 1978. Tracing the bizarre journey of two music-obsessed men from the bible belt to Chicago, this film travels through the underground culture of music and art as these two men expose emerging music and artists to fans from around the world for the first time. Wax Trax! Films presents INDUSTRIΛL ΛCCIDENT: The Story Of Wax Trax! Records focuses on the story behind the independent record store and label. Heck, they were likely pioneers in the realm of treating their dogs to cannabis products, which seems to have finally caught on with the main-stream world of late.On April 16th, INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENT: The Story of Wax Trax! Records shall see its official release, complete with a special Record Store Day soundtrack to commemorate the occasion. As much of the scene involved hanging around venues before and after the shows, this culture even trickled down to the pets that fans would bring along with them. These bands cultured small groups of die-hard fans that were quite distinguished from the pack with colorful and aggressive hair styles, colorful and geometric clothing styles, and sobriety outlooks ranging from straight-edge to exotic substance use. In the nineties, the label signed Sister Machine Gun, Braindead Soundmachine, Excessive Force, Black Dog Productions, and Psykosonik. By the late eighties, acts that joined the roster included Fini Tribe, Front Line Assembly, My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult, PIG, KMFDM, and Meat Beat Manifesto. Other acts signed to the label in the early to mid-eighties included The Blackouts, Minimal Compact, Revolting Cocks, Wiseblood, Coil, Luc Van Acker, and The Young Gods. The band’s first club hit was “Headhunter” in 1988 from the label’s all-time top-selling album, Front By Front. A few years later Front 242 signed with European label Red Rhino then supported Depeche Mode in 1987 while maintaining its relationship with Wax Trax! Records. Front 242 then supported Ministry on their American tour as the opening act. Jourgensen, who worked for the label, encouraged the signing of the Belgian electronic act Front 242 in 1984. Wax Trax! Records had its most success in the eighties marketing 12 inch singles of cutting edge electronic artists. The following year Ministry signed with Sire and released a string of commercially successful albums. Then Ministry released several more singles for Wax Trax! Records including the legendary club hit “Every Day Is Halloween” in 1984. They went on to sign briefly with Arista Records for their debut album With Sympathy in 1983. The band steadily evolved toward a harder, more industrial sound. Ministry started as a synth-pop project based around Jourgensen’s experimentation with new electronic sounds. Initially, they suggested he play guitar for their band Divine, but then Jourgensen decided to make and submit his own demo and call it Ministry. In 1981 the label released Ministry’s debut single “Cold Life” after the band’s founder Al Jourgensen met Jim and Dannie. Some of the early bands they signed included Strange Circuits, Strike Under and Divine. Early Success with MinistryĪfter Jim and Dannie relocated to Chicago in 1978, they formed the record label that took the same name as their stores except added an exclamation mark. The Wax Trax stores became important local scene hangouts that helped expose countless underground punk bands and new wave acts experimenting with new electronic instruments. These stores helped promote British acts that didn’t get much exposure otherwise in the United States.
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