DGC Records | |
---|---|
Parent company | Universal Music Group |
Founded | 1990 2007 (relaunch) |
Founder | David Geffen |
Defunct | 1999 2013 (relaunch) | (original)
Status | Inactive |
Distributor(s) | Interscope Records (United States) Polydor Records (United Kingdom) |
Genre | Various; general focus on rock |
Country of origin | United States |
Location | Santa Monica, California |
Official website | www |
DGC Records (an initialism for the David Geffen Company) was an American record label that operated as a division of Interscope Geffen A&M Records, which is owned by the Universal Music Group.
History
DGC Records was launched in 1990 as a subsidiary label of Geffen Records and was distributed by Warner Bros. Records until 1991, when it was acquired by MCA Music Entertainment Group. The label was created as a response to the success Geffen had with the harder rock acts on its roster. Though it initially focused on more progressive rock and heavy metal, as the decade progressed it also embraced the emergence of (and become a seminal label of) alternative rock, with influential acts like Nirvana, Sonic Youth, Hole, Weezer and Beck. The label also released early titles by hip hop band The Roots.
In 1999, during the consolidation of Geffen's Universal Music Group parent and PolyGram, the DGC label ceased operations. The retained acts went on to record for the main Geffen label. In the years to follow, the DGC title and logo occasionally appeared on reissues of its past catalog items. In 2007, the label was revived as a brand for Interscope Records, inheriting many alternative acts signed to Interscope Geffen A&M (including acts that previously recorded for DreamWorks Records). Since its reactivation, it has released albums by Weezer, Beck, Counting Crows and Rise Against. DGC Records, in partnership with MySpace Records and indie Lucky Ear Music, signed up-and-coming Los Angeles based artist Meiko. In December 2010, Luke Wood stepped down as president of the label.[1][2] The label went inactive in 2013.
To date, the best-selling album in the DGC catalog is Nevermind, the 1991 album by Nirvana, reaching international sales of 25 million copies worldwide, with ten million copies sold in the United States, and was one of the first albums on the label to be certified Diamond.
Artists
The following artists have recorded for DGC Records:
- The All-American Rejects
- All Time Low
- Arc Angels
- Murray Attaway
- Beck
- Bivouac
- Black Lab
- Black Tide
- Blink-182
- Boss Hog
- Brand New
- The Candyskins
- Cell
- Ceremony
- Toni Childs
- Ciccone Youth
- Coldplay
- Counting Crows
- Rivers Cuomo
- Dashboard Confessional
- D.O.E.
- Drivin' N' Cryin'
- Elastica
- Embrace
- Enter Shikari
- Escape the Fate
- Fluorescein
- The Freewheelers
- froSTed
- Galactic Cowboys
- Game
- Girls Against Boys
- Gutterboy
- Ted Hawkins
- Harvester (American band)
- Hog
- Hole
- Hunk
- Jasper and the Prodigal Sons
- Jawbreaker
- Jimmy Eat World
- King of Kings
- Klaxons
- Linoleum
- Little Caesar
- Loud Lucy
- Aimee Mann
- Meiko
- Thurston Moore
- Nelson
- Nirvana
- Papa Roach
- Pell Mell
- Pere Ubu
- Pitchshifter
- The Posies
- Queens of the Stone Age
- The Raincoats
- Remy Zero
- Rev Theory
- Rise Against
- Tyson Ritter
- Kane Roberts
- The Roots
- St. Johnny
- Sammy
- 60 Ft. Dolls
- Skiploader
- Sloan
- Slowpoke
- Sonic Youth
- Southern Culture on the Skids
- Street Drum Corps
- The Sugarplastic
- Sugartooth
- The Sundays
- Switches
- that dog.
- Teenage Fanclub
- Terri Nunn
- Them Crooked Vultures
- TV on the Radio
- Urge Overkill
- Veruca Salt
- Kate Voegele
- Billy Joe Walker, Jr.
- Warrior Soul
- Weezer
- White Zombie
- Wild Colonials
- Wolfmother
- Yeah Yeah Yeahs
- Yelawolf
- Rob Zombie
See also
References
- ↑ Halperin, Shirley (1 February 2011). "Luke Wood Named President and COO of Beats Headphones". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 15 October 2012.
- ↑ "Luke Wood, Beats Electronics LLC: Profile and Biography". Bloomberg.com.