| I.R.S. Records | |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1979 |
| Founder | Miles Copeland III, Jay Boberg, Carl Grasso |
| Status | defunct since 1996 |
| Distributor(s) | A&M Records (1979-1985) MCA Records (1985-1990) EMI Records (1990-1996) |
| Genre | Various |
| Country of origin | United States |
I.R.S. (International Record Syndicate) Records was a record label, started in the United States in 1979 by Miles Copeland III along with Jay Boberg and Carl Grasso. Miles was also the manager of Wishbone Ash, The Police, and later, Sting, as well as other bands. I.R.S. was the sister label of Copeland's Illegal Records (UK).
I.R.S. releases were distributed by A&M Records until 1985, by MCA Records until 1990, and finally by EMI until the label folded in 1996.
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In 1985, Copeland brokered a deal to switch the label's distributor to MCA Records. Under the agreement, A&M continued to release the label's pre-1985 catalog, much of which still can be found under the A&M banner.
In 1990, the band Green Day included a mock letter from then-I.R.S. college radio rep Lori Blumenthal in one of their last cassette releases for Lookout Records. The fictional letter expressed IRS' interest in signing the band to the label. A mock reply letter from Lookout, also included in the cassette artwork, deemed I.R.S. a "cheesy" and "washed up" record label.
The last IRS release was the 1996 Buzzcocks CD All Set before it folded. Shortly after, Copeland formed Ark 21 Records.
Faulty Products was the UK holding company for I.R.S. Records of the UK record labels set up by Miles Copeland III. It included Illegal Records, Deptford Fun City Records and others. Faulty Products was also an American independent record label, and distribution company for other indie labels, between 1980 and 1982. Faulty handled artists that didn't go through I.R.S.' distribution deal with A&M Records.
Illegal Records was set up by Copeland with his younger brother Stewart and the manager of The Police, Paul Mulligan.[1] The label released The Police's debut single, "Fall Out".[2]
Deptford Fun City Records was set up by Copeland in the late 1970s as an outlet for Deptford bands such as Alternative TV[3] and Squeeze.[1][4]
No Speak Records was set up as an all-instrumental imprint of I.R.S. in January 1988. The label featured some of the many talented guitarists (and a few other instrumentalists) forced into unemployment by the Punk and New Age music takeover of the music industry.
From 1983 to 1987, I.R.S. Records sponsored a weekly MTV show called I.R.S. Records Presents The Cutting Edge, hosted by Peter Zaremba of The Fleshtones. The series focused heavily on bands that recorded for the label.
On the Charts was a 1994 compilation album that chronicled the acts of I.R.S. Records from 1979 to 1994, featuring the following:
Acts on I.R.S. included Foxy Shazam, R.E.M., Chrome Molly, The Animals, Wishbone Ash, Marillion (US & Canada only), Henry Badowski, Karel Fialka, The English Beat, Nuclear Assault, Human Switchboard, The Cramps, The Go-Go's, The Fleshtones, Oingo Boingo, Doctor and the Medics, Squeeze, Suburban Lawns, Over the Rhine, The Buzzcocks, The Alarm, Gary Numan, Wall of Voodoo, Skafish, General Public, John Cale, Renaissance, Belinda Carlisle, Sahotas, Camper Van Beethoven, Caterwaul, Gren, Dread Zeppelin, The Surfing Brides, Show of Hands, Lords of the New Church, Fine Young Cannibals, The Truth, Black Sabbath, Jane Wiedlin, Let's Active and Concrete Blonde.
An instrumental-only imprint, I.R.S. No Speak, released albums by Wishbone Ash, Stewart Copeland, and William Orbit. I.R.S. also produced the feature film Shakes the Clown, which starred Bobcat Goldthwait. They released David Lynch and Alan R. Splet's soundtrack to Eraserhead in the 1980s.