Y'know Lookout records (more HERE) sure didn't start out a pop-punk label. In fact, it almost started out as a vanity label, what with it's first release being an LP by its co-founder, Lawrence Livermore and his band The Lookouts! That LP, One Planet, One People, once described as "Bob Dylan meets MDC", along with the Plaid Retina 7" that followed it as well as the Stikky LP and Plaid Retina single that came out not too much later) marked Lookout as a Maximum-Rocknroll-styled hardcore-holdover label. However it would be the three releases that I've skipped, Operation Ivy's Hectic, Crimpshrine's Sleep, What's That? and Isocracy's Bedtime for Isocracy (Lookout 3, 4 and 5 respectively), that would realy define the label's direction.
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| I wore mine down to the threads |
While I've talked about Operation Ivy impact on me personally (see HERE), I'd like to add that I think that they were the viral band of the label's early days, the one whose records spread the Lookout brand of independently-minded but pop-friendly punk rock to the world beyond Berkley, California.
While we've offered you up a bevvy of boots of Op Ivy (see HERE) I'd like to add these Uncut Gilman St. Demos to the mix as they show the band's development well without in any way jeopardizing the need for every decent man, woman and child to own the real deal, Energy.
So how were important were Op Ivy to the success of Lookout? Let us know in the COMMENTS section (which is where you'll find the Uncut Gilman St. Demos link).
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ReplyDeleteI love(d?) op ivy. I remember first seeing the record in the collection of a girl i kinda had a crush on. She described it as "the perfect combination of punk and ska." At the time, that was enough for me. And it still is.
ReplyDeleteAmen, cute girl, amen.
DeleteGreen Day and Ted Leo had more of an impact IMHO
ReplyDeleteAll three were very influential Lookout'ers
DeleteI'll second Green Day.
ReplyDeleteBut that whole bullshit Maximumrocknroll/Gilman SF scene always worked against anyone associated with Lookout! for me, so I wasn't terribly into much of their catalogue.
I loved that scene. Loved it. There may have been some bullshit involved 'tho...
DeleteFrom what I understand there was over an albums worth of unreleased Op Ivy songs - so why didn't Lookout release them? Might have helped salvage the label.
ReplyDeleteI think when you have a bad enough business model nothing can really save you. And, yeah as DG says below they did lose their rights to OP Ivy a few years ago.
DeleteI get the impression that Lookout's business problems were less the result of a lack of quality products, and more the result of mismanagement of money and relationships with long-standing artists.
ReplyDeleteOp Ivy brings back some memories. I've always thought this band's popularity is a great example of a good album finding its audience, even without a lot of touring or promotion. Too bad the band had called it quits before they got popular, but life happens.
Love when good-but-ignored albums find their audience later on, it's a re-affirming thing.
DeleteThey lost any and all rights to Op Ivy stuff right after Green Day rescinded the rights to their music. The loss of those two is pretty much what did the label in. I think there were problems with getting the members of Op Ivy on board with issuing any of the unreleased stuff before then.
ReplyDeleteAs for Op Ivy's legacy being over-stated all I can say is this: third wave of ska. Without Op Ivy that doesn't happen. Also no Op Ivy means no Rancid and no Hellcat. The only Lookout band with an equal influence on music is maybe Green Day with the pop-punk trend.
Seconded.
Deletethanx
ReplyDelete