Corporate Rock Sucks: The Rise and Fall of SST Records (Green Apple Books)

Submitted by the Event Organizer

Join us on Tuesday, April 26th at 7pm PT when Jim Ruland is joined by Eugene Robinson to celebrate his book, Corporate Rock Sucks: The Rise and Fall of SST Records, at 9th Ave!

Masks and Proof of Vaccination Required

Praise for Corporate Rock Sucks

“Take the most influential Southern California punk label from the 1980s, combine it with the master touch of music historian Jim Ruland, and you get this incredible historical narrative that is difficult to put down.”—Greg Graffin of Bad Religion

“When tracing the lineage of independent record labels in the American Punk scene during the 1980s, SST Records can definitely be cited as the vanguard to the whole shebang. With a history gnarled with legal issues, money issues, blown release dates, hard-living, and a devilish penchant for pushing against punk’s parameters, their tale is a tough one to wrangle, but Jim manages to cut through all the convolutions to deliver the straight dope on the influential imprint in a concise, informative and entertaining way.”—Tony Rettman, author of Straight Edge: A Clear-Headed Hardcore Punk History and NYHC: New York Hardcore 1980-1990

“The improbable rise and slow-motion implosion of SST Records is legendary, but nobody has painted a complete picture of the dark saga until now. Ruland combines his personal knowledge of the SoCal punk scene, in-depth research, and interviews with key players to tell the whole sordid tale. Corporate Rock Sucks is a must-read for fans of ‘80s/‘90s hardcore, punk, and alternative rock.”—S.W. Lauden, editor of Forbidden Beat: Perspectives on Punk Drumming

About Corporate Rock Sucks

A no-holds-barred narrative history of the iconic label that brought the world Black Flag, Hüsker Dü, Sonic Youth, Soundgarden, and more, by the co-author of Do What You Want and My Damage.

Greg Ginn started SST Records in the sleepy beach town of Hermosa Beach, CA, to supply ham radio enthusiasts with tuners and transmitters. But when Ginn wanted to launch his band, Black Flag, no one was willing to take them on. Determined to bring his music to the masses, Ginn turned SST into a record label. On the back of Black Flag’s relentless touring, guerilla marketing, and refusal to back down, SST became the sound of the underground.

In Corporate Rock Sucks, music journalist Jim Ruland relays the unvarnished story of SST Records, from its remarkable rise in notoriety to its infamous downfall. With records by Black Flag, Minutemen, Hüsker Dü, Bad Brains, Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr, Screaming Trees, Soundgarden, and scores of obscure yet influential bands, SST was the most popular indie label by the mid-80s–until a tsunami of legal jeopardy, financial peril, and dysfunctional management brought the empire tumbling down. Throughout this investigative deep-dive, Ruland leads readers through SST’s tumultuous history and epic catalog.

Featuring never-before-seen interviews with the label’s former employees, as well as musicians, managers, producers, photographers, video directors, and label heads, Corporate Rock Sucks presents a definitive narrative history of the ’80s punk and alternative rock scenes, and shows how the music industry was changed forever.

About Jim Ruland

Jim Ruland is the co-author of Do What You Want with Bad Religion, and My Damage with Keith Morris, the founding vocalist of Black Flag, Circle Jerks, and OFF! Ruland has been writing for punk zines such as Flipside and Razorcake for more than 25 years and his work has received awards from Reader’s Digest and the National Endowment for the Arts.

About Eugene Robinson

Eugene Robinson is an author, journalist, actor and vocalist who has fronted the avant-garde rock band Oxbow since its inception in 1988, along with fronting the Italian supergroup BUNUEL. He is the author of Fight: Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Ass-Kicking But Were Afraid You’d Get Your Ass Kicked For Asking, a crime novel A Long Slow Screw, published in English, French and soon-to-be Italian, and a play The Inimitable Sounds of Love: A Threesome in Four Acts, published in both French and English. He’s interviewed Chris Rock, Charles Manson, Samuel Jackson, Billy Bob Thornton, Halle Berry and has seen his work appear in GQ, the New York Times, Hustler, Decibel, and more, with his more contemporary work appearing weekly on Look What You Made Me Do, his substack, as well as The Eugene S. Robinson Show Stomper podcast.

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