Riot City Records
Riot City was a British record label based in Bristol, active between 1980 and 1988, and run by Heartbeat Records boss Simon Edwards along with Dave Bateman and Shane Baldwin from the band Vice Squad. Vice Squad's Last Rockers EP was Riot City's first release - it reached number 1 in the UK Alternative Chart and sold 22,000 copies.
The label released dozens of singles, albums, and EPs by bands including Chaotic Dischord, The Ejected, Chaos UK, and Abrasive Wheels, selling over 200,000 records in total.
In 1982 an American punk compilation album "Hell comes to your House" (Reagan 1) was licensed from Bemisbrain Records USA, and issued on the subsidiary Riot State Records label. In 1985 Chaotic Dischord released the spoof NOW! album, "NOW! That’s What I Call A Fuckin' Racket (Vol 1)" (GRR 1) on another subsidiary, Not Very Nice Records.
Riot City received its share of criticism, with journalist Garry Bushell describing the label as "the dustbin of punk", and members of Crass accusing the label of being the "back door to EMI" (Vice Squad had gone on to sign with EMI).
Riot City folded in the late-1980s and label boss Edwards continued with his job as a route planner with the AA. In 1994 he returned to the music industry as head of Trash City Records.
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