Missing Link Records

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Missing Link Records is a record store in Melbourne, Australia. The shop first opened in 1971, but was then called Archie and Jughead's, named after the comic. The shop's co-founders, David Pepperell and Keith Glass, established the shop as a much-needed rock record shop. The original aim for the shop was to stock imported records from the United States that were not readily available in Australia at that time.

In 1978, Archie and Jughead's became Missing Link (after a brief stint of being called Dr. Peppers). The name was being used by Keith Glass for a record label. The name was taken from a wild 60s Australian rock band, The Missing Links, and was felt to greater embody the contemporary punk rock / new wave scene of which the shop had become a part, while still reflecting the owners' past. Missing Link had become an integral part of Melbourne's independent music scene, promoting and selling local releases, and acting as a source of new music from overseas.

The original owners eventually moved on, but Missing Link has remained at the forefront of independent music in Australia.

Today, the shop is one of the main punk and indie rock retail outlets in Australia.

The shop is located at Basement 405 Bourke St., Melbourne.

Missing Link Records is also a vinyl-oriented record store in Indianapolis, Indiana which opened in 1993. The name was inspired by the legendary 1970's Australian record label but otherwise there is no connection to Missing Link Records in Australia.

Missing Link in Indianapolis has evolved into the largest vinyl record store in Indiana, featuring more than 100,000 records on two floors on the south edge of Broad Ripple in Indianapolis.

[edit] The Missing Link record label

Missing Link Records started as a record label in 1977. The initial releases were two retrospective 7-inch singles featuring bands the shop's cofounders had been in the 60s: The Union in the case of Pepperell and Cam-pact in the case of Keith Glass. The label continued to release 60s retrospectives, local Australian contemporary punk and new wave, and licenced material from overseas. International licenced releases included those by Flying Lizards, The Residents and Dead Kennedys. Notable local artists released in Missing Link Records include the Go-Between, the Birthday Party, Whirlywirld, and the Laughing Clowns. Glass was also the manager of The Birthday Party in their early years.

In 2006, the shop started releasing records again under the Missing Link name. The releases include local Australian acts such as Agents of Aborrence, Los Diablos, Terror Firma, The Focus, True Radical Miracle, Mutiny and licenced releases for the Australian market by Minus the Bear, Regulations, and Bouncing Souls.