Editing Fast Product (section)

{{Short description|Independent record label}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2014}}
{{Use British English|date=January 2014}}
{{More footnotes needed|date=September 2010}} 
'''Fast Product''' was an [[independent record label]] established in [[Edinburgh]] by Bob Last, his partner, Hilary Morrison and Tim Pearce in December 1977. Its first release was the first single by [[the Mekons]], on 20 January 1978.

The label issued the first records by a number of early and influential [[post-punk]] bands from [[Northern England]], including the original [[The Human League|Human League]], [[Gang of Four (band)|Gang of Four]] and [[the Mekons]].  Fast Product also released the first singles by the Scottish punk bands [[Scars (band)|Scars]] and [[The Flowers (Scottish band)|The Flowers]]. The label also released compilations of various new bands called 'ear comics' or ''Earcom''. Many of the label's releases were also produced by Bob Last with Morrison producing photographs and visuals for the record sleeves.

Fast Product's releases challenged [[pop music]] conventions (hence the label's early monikers: "difficult fun" and "mutant pop"), and through its releases and marketing invoked a [[DIY]] punk spirit and generally [[socialism|socialist]] political outlook. Often packaging records with a caustic yet subtle sideswipe at [[consumerism]] (for example, the image of a wall of [[gold disc]]s on the cover of the Mekons' second single), Fast Product attempted to show that all aspects of the record business, from musicianship to design to distribution, could be taken out of the hands of the major labels.

[[Lloyd Cole]] also name-checked Fast Product in his song Women's Studies, from the 2013 album [[Standards (Lloyd Cole album)|Standards]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Lyrics / Standards |url=http://www.lloydcole.com/music/standards/lyrics.html |website=Lloyd Cole.com |access-date=13 January 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150109202208/http://www.lloydcole.com/music/standards/lyrics.html |archive-date=9 January 2015 |df=dmy }}</ref>

Later, the pair also established the Pop Aural label, releasing singles by such acts as [[The Flowers (Scottish band)|The Flowers]], [[Boots For Dancing]] and [[The Fire Engines]].

The label was profiled in depth in the 2015 documentary film [[Big Gold Dream]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Big Gold Dream: The story of Scotland's post-punk music scene |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3qj44nL2664z9XF4FNKNh0f/big-gold-dream-the-story-of-scotlands-post-punk-music-scene |access-date=2023-01-03 |website=BBC |language=en-GB}}</ref>

The story of Fast Product was extensively covered in the 2022 book Hungry Beat written by Douglas MacIntyre and Grant McPhee with Neil Cooper, published by White Rabbit Books

Bob Last has joked that [[Factory Records]] is "Fast 13" - the label's final release - saying "I just never told them they had a catalogue number."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p04zw8vt|title=How Joy Division appeared on a Scottish record label before Factory, Big Gold Dream |website=BBC |date=12 April 2017 |language=en-GB|access-date=2018-06-03}}</ref>