Editing SST Records (section)

{{short description|Record label}}
{{use mdy dates|date=April 2016}}
{{Infobox record label
| name        = SST Records
| image       = SST Records logo.svg
| founded     = {{start date|1966}} (as Solid State Tuners)<ref name="chick">{{cite book|last=Chick|first=Stevie|title=Spray Paint The Walls: The Story of Black Flag|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9781604864182|url-access=registration|publisher=[[PM Press]]|page=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9781604864182/page/18 18]|year=2011|isbn=978-1-60486-418-2}}</ref><br />1978 (as SST Records)
| founder     = [[Greg Ginn]]
| genre        = {{hlist|[[Rock music|Rock]]|[[punk rock]]|[[alternative rock]]|[[Heavy metal music|heavy metal]]}}
| distributor  = Various
| country    = [[United States]]
| location    = [[Taylor, Texas]]
| website     = {{URL|https://sstsuperstore.com}}
}}

'''SST Records''' is an American [[independent record label]] formed in 1978 in [[Long Beach, California]] by musician [[Greg Ginn]]. The company was first founded in 1966 by Ginn at age 12 as '''Solid State Transmitters''',<ref>{{Cite news |last=Chick |first=Stevie |date=2011-06-13 |title=Greg Ginn turns a radio parts company into SST Records |language=en-GB |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2011/jun/14/greg-ginn-sst-records |access-date=2023-08-08 |issn=0261-3077}}</ref> a small business through which he sold electronics equipment. Ginn repurposed the company as a record label to release material by his band [[Black Flag (band)|Black Flag]].

Music writer [[Michael Azerrad]] wrote, "Ginn took his label from a cash-strapped, cop-hassled store-front operation to easily the most influential and popular underground indie [label] of the Eighties".<ref>Azerrad, p. 14</ref> Along with other independent American labels such as [[Twin/Tone Records|Twin/Tone]], [[Touch and Go Records]], [[Epitaph Records|Epitaph]], [[Alternative Tentacles]], and [[Dischord Records|Dischord]], SST helped to spearhead the nationwide network of underground bands that formed the  pre-[[Nirvana (band)|Nirvana]] indie-rock scene.<ref name = "Spin 2005">{{Citation | last = Dolan | first = Jon | title = The Revival of Indie Rock | newspaper = Spin | page = 53  | date = January 2005 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=fyLttHWpa9EC&q=minnesota&pg=PA53 | access-date = 19 April 2015 }}</ref> These labels presided over the shift from the [[hardcore punk]] that then dominated the American underground scene to the more diverse styles of alternative rock that were emerging.<ref name = "Reynolds 2006">{{cite book | last = Reynolds | first = Simon | title = Rip It Up and Start Again: Postpunk 1978-1984 | url = https://archive.org/details/ripitupstartagai00reyno | url-access = registration | publisher = Penguin Books | date = 2006 | isbn = 978-1-1012-0105-3}}</ref> SST initially focused on releasing material by [[hardcore punk]] groups from [[Southern California]]. As many of the bands on the label sought to expand beyond the limitations of the hardcore genre, SST released many key albums that were instrumental in the development of American [[alternative rock]], including releases by the [[Minutemen (band)|Minutemen]], [[Hüsker Dü]], the [[Meat Puppets]], [[Bad Brains]], [[Soundgarden]], [[Sonic Youth]], and [[Dinosaur Jr.]] After a peak release schedule in the late 1980s, SST began venturing into [[jazz]] releases. SST is now based in [[Taylor, Texas]]. Sonic Youth, Soundgarden, Dinosaur Jr., and the Meat Puppets have reclaimed the rights to their respective SST material after leaving the label.