Backstreet Records was an MCA Records

MCA Records

MCA Records was an American-based record company owned by MCA Inc., which later gave way to the larger MCA Music Entertainment Group , of which MCA Records was still part. MCA Records was absorbed by Geffen Records in 2003...

 subsidiary label founded in 1979 by Danny Bramson, who at the time was executive director of MCA's Universal Amphitheatre

Gibson Amphitheatre

The Gibson Amphitheatre is a theatre located in Universal City, California, USA. It seats up to 6,189 for concerts, including 6,089 chairback seats...

. The name was derived from the Bruce Springsteen

Bruce Springsteen

Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen , nicknamed "The Boss," is an American singer-songwriter who records and tours with the E Street Band...

 song "Backstreets". The label's first release was the self-titled debut album by Tears in August 1979. The first major signing to the label was Tom Petty

Tom Petty

Thomas Earl "Tom" Petty is an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He is the frontman of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and was a founding member of the late 1980s supergroup Traveling Wilburys and Mudcrutch. He has also performed under the pseudonyms of Charlie T...

, ending a legal battle between Petty and MCA over his recording contract which was acquired when MCA purchased ABC Records

ABC Records

ABC Records was an American record label, founded in New York City in 1955 as ABC-Paramount Records. It originated as the main popular music label operated the Am-Par Record Corporation, the music subsidiary of the American Broadcasting Company . ABC-Paramount Records' first president was Samuel H....

. The label's roster of artists also included J.J. Cale

J.J. Cale

JJ Cale , born John Weldon Cale on December 5, 1938, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, is a Grammy Award-winning American singer-songwriter and musician. Cale is one of the originators of the Tulsa Sound, a loose genre drawing on blues, rockabilly, country, and jazz influences. Cale's personal style has...

, Keith Sykes, Nils Lofgren

Nils Lofgren

Nils Hilmer Lofgren is an American rock music recording artist, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist...

, Men Without Hats

Men Without Hats

Men Without Hats is a Canadian New Wave group from Montreal, Quebec. Their music was characterized by the distinctive baritone voice of their lead singer Ivan Doroschuk as well as their elaborate use of synthesizers and electronic processing...

, and Walter Egan

Walter Egan

Walter Egan is an American rock musician, best known for his 1978 gold status hit single "Magnet and Steel" from his album Not Shy, produced by Lindsey Buckingham and Richard Dashut of Fleetwood Mac fame...

. The label's last release was in 1983, after which it was absorbed into MCA Records.

Backstreet also released rock-oriented soundtrack album

Soundtrack album

A soundtrack album is any album that incorporates music directly recorded from the soundtrack of a particular feature film or television program. In some cases, not all the tracks from the movie are included in the album; however there are rare cases of songs in the trailers that do not appear in...

s to several films produced by its parent company Universal Studios

Universal Studios

Universal Pictures , a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, is one of the six major movie studios....

, including Where the Buffalo Roam

Where the Buffalo Roam

Where the Buffalo Roam is a 1980 American semi-biographical comedy film which loosely depicts Hunter S. Thompson's rise to fame in the 1970s and his relationship with Chicano attorney and activist Oscar Zeta Acosta. Art Linson directed the picture, while Bill Murray portrayed the author and Peter...

, Nighthawks

Nighthawks (film)

Nighthawks is a 1981 thriller film starring Sylvester Stallone, Billy Dee Williams, Rutger Hauer, Lindsay Wagner, Persis Khambatta, and Nigel Davenport. It was directed by Bruce Malmuth. The original music score was composed by Keith Emerson.-Storyline:...

, The Border, Cat People

Cat People (1982 film)

Cat People is a 1982 American erotic horror film directed by Paul Schrader and starring Nastassja Kinski, Malcolm McDowell and John Heard. The film co-stars Annette O'Toole, Ruby Dee, Ed Begley, Jr. and John Larroquette. Jerry Bruckheimer served as executive producer...

and Doctor Detroit

Doctor Detroit

Doctor Detroit is a 1983 comedy film, written by Bruce Jay Friedman, Robert Boris and Carl Gottlieb. The film stars Dan Aykroyd, Howard Hesseman, Lynn Whitfield, Fran Drescher, and Donna Dixon, with a special appearance by James Brown. The film was directed by Michael Pressman.James Brown performed...

.