Trojan Records

Trojan Records is a British record label founded in 1968. It specialises in ska, rocksteady, reggae and dub music. The label currently operates under the Sanctuary Records Group. The name Trojan comes from the Croydon-built Trojan truck that was used as Duke Reid's sound system in Jamaica. The truck had "Duke Reid - The Trojan King of Sounds" painted on the sides, and the music played by Reid became known as the Trojan Sound.

History

Trojan Records was founded in 1968 by Lee Gopthal, who had previously run a record store called Musicland, and before that collaborated with Chris Blackwell of Island Records on mail order sales. By 1970, Trojan Records artists who were successful in the pop music charts included: Lee Perry's Upsetters, Bob & Marcia, The Cimarons, Desmond Dekker, Bruce Ruffin, Nicky Thomas and Dave and Ansell Collins. Trojan's main function was not to develop new artists, but to serve as a sister label for Island Records. Monetary success came from releasing Jamaican music supplied by producers such as Duke Reid, Byron Lee and Leslie Kong, in a series of popular, budget-priced compilations such as Tighten Up, Club Reggae and Reggae Chartbusters. The music became especially popular in British youth subcultures, such as the mods, skinheads and suedeheads.

In 1971, Island Records pulled out of its partnership with Trojan Records. Around the same time, there was a declining interest in Jamaican music among British youths, who ventured towards other genres when Rastafarian lyrics and slower tempos entered the music. In 1974, Trojan had made attempts to anglicize the reggae on the label, by re-mastering and overdubbing string arrangements over the original Jamaican recordings. They also brought in more British reggae artists, such as Symarip and Greyhound. However, the company was still out of step with the British reggae fanbase; largely missing out on the Rasta and the lovers rock phases of reggae, which could have brought more commercial success. In 1974 (finalized in 1975), Trojan was bought by the Saga company, which focused on releasing budget LPs.

In 1985, Colin Newman bought Trojan Records from Marcel Rodd, the CEO of Saga. By the late 1980s, Trojan was unearthing and compiling many ska, rocksteady and reggae recordings and re-issuing them for the first time in 25 years. They contributed some reggae classics to be remixed for TV commercials for TDK, Adidas and the 2000 UEFA European Football Championship. They also started the popular Trojan Box Set series, which usually feature 50 songs on a 3-CD (or vinyl record) set in a simple cardboard package. In 2001, the Sanctuary Records Group purchased Trojan Records. The deal gave the label leverage to buy music rights controlled by other vintage reggae labels, secure worldwide distribution, and enact slicker marketing campaigns. In June 2007, Universal Music Group bought Sanctuary Records (ironically, Universal Music, by that point, had also become the parent of Island Records).

Influence on skinheads

Trojan skinheads, influenced by traditional 1960s skinhead culture, are named after Trojan Records, to stress the influence of black Jamaican music and the rude boy style to the skinhead subculture. This designation emphasizes differences from the punk rock-influenced Oi! skinheads of the 1980s, and (especially) the white power skinheads. The logo of Skinheads Against Racial Prejudice (SHARP) is based on the Trojan Records logo, although the helmet is reversed to face the opposite direction.

Sub-labels

Further reading

• Michael de Koningh & Laurence Cane-Honeysett: Young, Gifted And Black, The Story Of Trojan Records, 2003, Sanctuary Publishing, UK, ISBN 1-86074-464-8.
• Neville Staple (2009) Original Rude Boy, Aurum Press. ISBN 978-1-84513-480-8

External links

• Official Trojan Records site