American Recordings (record label) - Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.

org/wiki/American_Recordings_(record_label)

American Recordings (record label)

American Recordings (formerly Def American
American Recordings
Recordings) is an American record label headed by producer
Rick Rubin. The label has featured artists such as Slayer, the
Black Crowes, ZZ Top, Danzig, Trouble, Tom Petty, Johnny
Cash, The Mother Hips, and System of a Down.

Contents
Company history Parent Universal Music
Distribution company Group
Current artists Founded 1988
Former artists Founder Rick Rubin
Soundtracks
Distributor(s) Republic Records
Infinite Zero Reissue Artists
(United States)
See also
Fiction
References Records/EMI
External links (United Kingdom)
Universal Music
Enterprises
Company history (reissues)
Genre Thrash metal,
The label Def American Recordings was founded after Rick
alternative metal,
Rubin left Def Jam Recordings in 1988. Among the first acts to
hip hop, rock n' roll,
be signed were Slayer (which followed Rubin from Def Jam),
Danzig, The Four Horsemen, Masters of Reality, and country, blues
Wolfsbane, as well as indie rockers the Jesus and Mary Chain Country of United States
and controversial stand-up comedian Andrew Dice Clay. Rubin origin
continued his association with hip-hop music as well by
Location Los Angeles,
signing artists such as the Geto Boys and Sir Mix-a-Lot. Def
California
American had its first major success with The Black Crowes'
1990 debut album, Shake Your Money Maker, which was Official www.umgcatalog
eventually certified quintuple platinum by the RIAA. The website .com (https://www.u
group's 1992 follow-up, The Southern Harmony and Musical mgcatalog.com/)
Companion, gave the label its first No.1 album. Rapper Sir
Mix-a-Lot obtained a number-one hit with the song "Baby Got Back" as well as a platinum-selling
album entitled Mack Daddy. Heavy metal acts Slayer and Danzig also enjoyed notable commercial
success, with Slayer in particular having several gold certified albums. Rubin produced many of the
recordings on the label, as well as directing other related ventures.

Rubin changed the name of the company from Def American Recordings to American Recordings
in 1993 after reportedly seeing the word "def" in the dictionary. The company was reportedly

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renamed because he believed that finding the word in a notable

source was against the anti-establishment image that he was
trying to project. A mock funeral (https://raptology.com/loud-end
-for-def-records/) was held for the word "Def" on August 27, 1993.
The guest list included Black Panthers with prop shotguns, The
Amazing Kreskin, Tom Petty and Rosanna Arquette, The Red Hot
Chili Peppers' Flea, Sir Mix-a-Lot and Warner Bros. Records
chairman (and pallbearer) Mo Ostin, with Reverend Al Sharpton
presiding. Before Def was lowered to its final resting place, some
of the 1,500+ mourners placed flowers and various musical and
personal memorabilia in the open casket. Afterwards, mourners
followed a 19th-century-style horse-drawn hearse and a six-piece The rarely seen original Def
brass band playing "Amazing Grace" to the after party—named American logo. Note its
Ciao Def—at a bowling alley.[1] The new birth certificate was resemblance to the Def Jam
obtained and the company name changed to American Recordings logo.
Recordings.

American had several sub-labels over the years, including Onion Records, Ill Labels, Wild West,
Whte Lbls, and Infinite Zero. The last was a partnership with Henry Rollins that specialized in
reissues of obscure albums. None of these labels made the distribution transition after American
Recordings left Warner Bros. Records in 1997, and their recordings were deleted.

Distribution
The first Def American release was Reign in Blood by Slayer, which had a Def Jam Recordings logo
on its first pressing. Fans of heavy metal music consider it one of the most critically acclaimed and
important albums in the genre's history, and it continues to obtain much high praise from fans and
critics.[2] A Def Jam Recordings logo was also present on its follow-up album. However, because
Russell Simmons felt that Slayer's music was not in line with Def Jam, and because Def Jam's then-
distributor Columbia Records refused to release it, it was released through Geffen Records, and
Rubin took the rights of the release to the new label with him after the split. Danzig's 1988 debut
album was the first release to bear the Def American logo. Initially, the label was distributed by
Geffen through Warner Bros. Records (now known as Warner Records), but when Geffen refused
to distribute the self-titled album by the Geto Boys and the controversy it caused, distribution was
absorbed by Warner Bros. proper, which released all subsequent Def American titles.

American's distribution has been handled through several labels over the years. American's first
incarnation was distributed by Geffen Records through Warner Bros. Records from 1988 to 1990.
After a falling-out with Geffen over the content of the Geto Boys' only Def American release,
Warner Bros. itself took over distribution duties from 1990 to 1997 in the United States, while the
international distribution was handled by BMG. However, sub-label Ill Labels was distributed by
hip-hop specialist and former Warner Bros. subsidiary Tommy Boy Records as part of its deal. For
a brief time during the 1990s, the label also distributed Too Pure Records in the US.

Rubin signed a distribution deal with Columbia Records in 1997, which distributed the label's titles
until 2001. That year, Universal Music Group, through its Island Def Jam Music Group division,
took over distribution. In 2005, with the exception of the recordings of Johnny Cash, the label
returned to the aegis of Warner Bros. Records. Non-US distribution was handled by Sony Music
Entertainment until the deal with Columbia expired.

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In 2007, Warner Bros. Records, which was American's home from 1990 to 1997, acquired the
rights to the extensive American Recordings catalog, which included Johnny Cash, The Black
Crowes, The Jayhawks, Slayer, and Danzig. However, American's current roster (except Tom Petty)
was transferred to BMG successor Sony BMG (now known as Sony Music Entertainment) in
mid-2007 after a legal battle between Warner and Rubin over the details of their former
arrangement, in which American Recordings would sign and provide creative services for artists,
while Warner Bros. was only to handle promotion, sales, marketing, and distribution because
Rubin was prompted to move his label with his appointment to co-chairman of Columbia Records
in the spring of 2007.

In 2012, Rick Rubin, upon his exit from Sony Music Entertainment, signed a new deal with
Universal Republic Records (now Republic Records) for a new incarnation of American
Recordings. The first albums to be released under this new deal were ZZ Top's La Futura and The
Avett Brothers' The Carpenter.[3] During this period, American moved all of its catalog to
Universal Music Group, the exceptions being System of a Down, which remained with Columbia
Records & Sony Music Entertainment, plus Chino XL's Here To Save You All and Tom Petty's
Highway Companion, which remained with Warner Records & Warner Music Group.

Current artists
▪ The Avett Brothers
▪ Band of Horses
▪ Denny Weston Jr.
▪ Kae Tempest
▪ System of a Down
▪ ZZ Top

Former artists
▪ American Head Charge
▪ Dan Baird
▪ Barkmarket
▪ Frank Black
▪ The Black Crowes
▪ Blackeyed Susans
▪ Johnny Cash
▪ Chino XL
▪ Andrew "Dice" Clay
▪ Julian Cope
▪ Danzig
▪ Deconstruction
▪ Digital Orgasm (Whte Lbls/American)
▪ DJ Kool
▪ Donovan

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▪ Pete Droge
▪ Electric Company (Onion/American)
▪ Fireside
▪ Flipper
▪ The Four Horsemen
▪ The Freewheelers
▪ John Frusciante
▪ Geto Boys
▪ God Dethroned
▪ God Lives Underwater
▪ Gogol Bordello
▪ The Jayhawks
▪ The Jesus and Mary Chain
▪ Kwest Tha Madd Lad
▪ Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
▪ Laika
▪ Lords of Acid (Whte Lbls/American)
▪ Lordz of Brooklyn (Ventrue/American)
▪ Loudermilk
▪ Love and Rockets
▪ Luna Halo
▪ Manmade God
▪ Masters of Reality
▪ MC 900 Ft. Jesus
▪ Medicine
▪ Messiah (Whte Lbls/American)
▪ Milk
▪ The Mother Hips
▪ Mouse on Mars (Too Pure/American)
▪ Noise Ratchet
▪ The Nonce (Wild West/American)
▪ Ours
▪ Paloalto
▪ Tom Petty
▪ Jonny Polonsky
▪ Pram
▪ Psychotica
▪ Raging Slab
▪ The Red Devils
▪ The Jim Rose Circus Sideshow

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▪ Ruth Ruth
▪ Sir Mix-a-Lot (Rhyme Cartel/American)
▪ Skinny Puppy
▪ Slayer
▪ Stiffs, Inc.
▪ Supreme Love Gods
▪ Survival Research Laboratories
▪ Swell
▪ Thee Hypnotics
▪ Th' Faith Healers
▪ Thomas Jefferson Slave Apartments
▪ Trouble
▪ Unida
▪ Saul Williams
▪ Wesley Willis
▪ Wolfsbane

Soundtracks
▪ Big Daddy
▪ Chef Aid: The South Park Album
▪ The Doom Generation
▪ Jackass: The Movie

Infinite Zero Reissue Artists

▪ James Chance And The Contortions
▪ Devo
▪ Flipper
▪ Gang of Four
▪ Louise Huebner
▪ Iceberg Slim
▪ Mississippi Fred McDowell
▪ The Monks
▪ Matthew Shipp
▪ Trouble Funk
▪ Alan Vega
▪ Tom Verlaine
▪ Alan Watts
▪ James White and the Blacks

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See also
▪ List of record labels

References
1. "Loud End For DEF Records" (https://raptology.com/loud-end-for-def-records/). Raptology.
2020-02-06. Retrieved 2020-02-06.
2. Merlin (7 October 2011). " 'Reign In Blood' Turns 25!" (https://web.archive.org/web/2013040712
4609/http://www.metalhammer.co.uk/news/reign-in-blood-turns-25/). Metal Hammer UK. Future
Publishing Limited. Archived from the original (http://www.metalhammer.co.uk/news/reign-in-blo
od-turns-25/) on 7 April 2013. Retrieved 1 March 2013.
3. Jem Aswad (22 August 2012). "Exclusive: Rick Rubin Brings American Recordings to
Universal Republic" (https://web.archive.org/web/20121008031849/http://www.billboard.biz/bbb
iz/industry/record-labels/exclusive-rick-rubin-brings-american-recordings-1007870952.story).
Billboard. Archived from the original (http://www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/industry/record-labels/exclu
sive-rick-rubin-brings-american-recordings-1007870952.story) on 8 October 2012. Retrieved
11 October 2012.

External links
▪ Official website (http://americanrecordings.com)
▪ American Recordings (https://musicbrainz.org/label/f5be9cfe-e1af-405c-a074-caeaed6797c0)
publishing catalog at MusicBrainz

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