Don't fret if you are an American reading this - we are not doing ten songs about the US taxman! This is I.R.S. Records, founded in 1979 by Miles Copeland III, Jay Boberg and Carl Grasso, as a subsidiary arm of A&M Records.
The Copelands are an interesting lot - three brothers whose father was a CIA agent, who all ended up in music. Miles and Ian ran a talent booking agency called Frontier Booking Incorporated (FBI), and Miles would also work as an agent, band manager and producer. The youngest brother, Stewart Copeland, joined the police... sorry, The Police.
After A&M, it would be part of MCA Records from 1985-90, then EMI through to 1996 when it finished - the last record being All Set by Buzzcocks. There would be several brief revivals of the label by EMI from 2011, but by 2015 was shit down again.
They handled some of the great new wave acts during those years - but only ever achieved three US platinum records; Document by REM, Beauty & The Beat by The Go-Go's, and The Raw and The Cooked by Fine Young Cannibals.
Here are ten crackers released by I.R.S. in their prime.
1. The Alarm: Sixty Eight Guns
Probably the biggest band to emerge from the Welsh punk scene, The Alarm got some early breaks supporting U2 in 1981, which would lead to them heading to the US to support the Irishmen on their 1983 War tour, giving them good exposure and some success in America. Sixty Eight (or 68 if you prefer) Guns was the dynamic hit single from 1984 debut album Declaration. It was written by Mike Peters and Eddie MacDonald, apparently after Peters had read a book about 1960s street gangs in Glasgow. Hitting number 17, it was to be their biggest UK hit.
Official music video - here
2. The Bangles: The Real World
Before Manic Monday and some of their more polished later pop work, The Bangles were a properly jangly garage pop band. The Real World is the lead track of their 1982 debut self-titled EP recorded for IRS by veteran producer Craig Leon. It was the only recording made with original bass player Annette Zilinskis, before she left and was replaced by Michael Steele (ex - The Runaways).
Official music video - here
3. Concrete Blonde: Joey
This Hollywood based band had their name suggested to them by label mate Michael Stipe, who said it married the contrast between their hard sound and introspective lyrics. Joey was their biggest charting single, coming from the dark 1990 album, Bloodletting. It was the last track they recorded the vocals on - lead singer Johnette Napolitano knew what it was going to be about, but couldn't face writing or singing it, as it was a hard subject for her. In the end, the lyrics were jotted down in a cab ride to the studio. It is about someone in love with an alcoholic, said to be a thinly veiled reference to her relationship with Wall Of Voodoo's Marc Moreland.
Official music video - here
4. Let's Active: Every Dog Has His Day
Let's Active was the vehicle for Winston-Salem (North Carolina) producer, Mitch Easter. His legend comes from producing the Chronic Town EP for REM in 1982, and then their first two albums, Murmur and Reckoning, with Don Dixon. Every Dog Has His Day was the title track of their 1988 album, produced by John Leckie (who produced the first three Simple Minds albums, along with several by XTC and The Bends by Radiohead). Trouser Press said that the album was full of "unsettled emotional lyrics and eccentric pop melodies."
Official music video - here
5. The Cramps: Green Door
Psychedelic Jungle, the second album by psychobilly band The Cramps, was released on I.R.S. in 1981. The band at this time consisted of mainstays (and husband and wife duo) Poison Ivy (Kirsty Wallace) and Lux Interior (Erick Purkhiser), along with Gun Club legend Kid Congo Powers and Nick Knox. The album was half rock n roll and rockabilly covers, with the rest written by Interior and Ivy. Green Door was originally sung by Jim Lowe in 1956, but is well known to older UK readers, for the cover done in 1981 by Shakin' Stevens.
Original audio - here
6. Oingo Boingo: Private Life
Oingo Boingo are the musical muse for film score wiz, Danny Elfman (working frequently with directors Tim Burton, Sam Raimi and Gus Van Zant). He formed the band in 1979 out of the ashes of his surrealist musical theatre troupe, The Mystic Knights Of The Oingo Boingo. Oingo Boingo took a new direction musically from the old troupe, particularly inspired by the wave of ska coming in from the UK (The Specials, Madness etc.). Private Life was the lead single from second album, Nothing To Fear. The record was harder edged than previous work, with more prominent guitar and percussion.
Official music video - here
7. Timbuk 3: The Future's So Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades
Pat MacDonald wrote it based on something his wife said about the band's growing success, that he thought was just an ironic quip. The song is a quirky mid-80s pop classic about a nuclear scientist, that belies a darker undertone about the potential for a nuclear holocaust. Most young listeners at the time seemed to take it at face value as a graduation song. The band has rebutted several attempts over the years to licence it for adverts, most notably when AT&T offered them $900,000!
Official music video - here
8. Wall Of Voodoo: Mexican Radio
Talking of classic 80s quirky pop - there is none finer than this tune. Mexican Radio refers to the so-called Border Blasters, unregulated Mexican radio stations that could be picked up on AM frequencies in southern parts of the US. The band would often listen to such stations driving around LA, and the song started with a demo by singer Stan Ridgway, repeating the line "I'm on a Mexican Radio" over a distorted guitar riff. It was to be their only Top100 Billboard song (#58), so they are considered to be a one-hit wonder. For UK readers, if you are thinking the name Stan Ridgway sounds familiar, it is - as he had a much bigger UK hit with his Vietnam themed single Camouflage.
Official music video - here
9. The Go-Go's: We Got The Beat
Formed in the LA punk scene in 1978, The Go-Go's would become the cornerstone of the US new wave movement. Belinda Carlisle and Jane Wiedlin (and original bassist, Margot Olivarria) were at the Sex Pistols last ever gig, in January 1978, in San Francisco. Carlisle would even briefly be the drummer for legendary nihilist punk band, The Germs (as Dottie Danger). Classic power pop track We Got The Beat was originally released in 1980 for Stiff Records, after they had impressed on tour with Madness. But a new version of the song, written by guitarist Charlotte Caffrey, was done for the debut album Beauty & The Beat in 1981. She had been reluctant to share her work with the band, worried that it might not sound punk enough!
Live version - here
10. R.E.M.: Strange
This may be considered an odd choice, given there are five great I.R.S. albums and an EP to chose from. But, it is a) from Document, one of the aforementioned biggest selling records the label put out, and b) it is also the name of the first band I was in (aged 17), chosen from a bunch of record covers laid out in front of us for inspiration (we also badly covered the song too). It (REM's, not ours) is an interesting, but fairly straight up, garage rock cover of a song by art-punk band Wire, from their seminal debut album, Pink Flag. It's a fun version, but doesn't have quite the same edgy, detached eeriness of the original.
Original Audio only - here
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