Fast Product
Encyclopedia
Fast Product was an independent record label
Independent record label
An independent record label is a record label operating without the funding of or outside the organizations of the major record labels. A great number of bands and musical acts begin on independent labels.-Overview:...

, established in Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...

 by Bob Last in December 1977. Its first release was also the first single by the Mekons, released on 20 January 1978.

The label is probably most notable for having issued the first records by a number of early and influential post-punk
Post-punk
Post-punk is a rock music movement with its roots in the late 1970s, following on the heels of the initial punk rock explosion of the mid-1970s. The genre retains its roots in the punk movement but is more introverted, complex and experimental...

 bands from Northern England
Northern England
Northern England, also known as the North of England, the North or the North Country, is a cultural region of England. It is not an official government region, but rather an informal amalgamation of counties. The southern extent of the region is roughly the River Trent, while the North is bordered...

, including the original Human League
The Human League
The Human League are an English electronic New Wave band formed in Sheffield in 1977. They achieved popularity after a key change in line-up in the early 1980s and have continued recording and performing with moderate commercial success throughout the 1980s up to the present day.The only constant...

, the Gang of Four
Gang of Four (band)
Gang of Four are an English post-punk group from Leeds. Original personnel were singer Jon King, guitarist Andy Gill, bass guitarist Dave Allen and drummer Hugo Burnham. They were fully active from 1977 to 1984, and then re-emerged twice in the 1990s with King and Gill...

 and the Mekons. Fast Product also released the first singles by the Scottish punk bands Scars
Scars (band)
Scars were a Post-punk band that hailed from Edinburgh, Scotland, and were a part of that city's bustling music scene of the late 70s - early 80s.-History:...

 and 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.

Fast Product's releases challenged pop music
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...

 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 socialist
Socialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...

 political outlook. Often packaging records with a caustic yet subtle sideswipe at consumerism
Consumerism
Consumerism is a social and economic order that is based on the systematic creation and fostering of a desire to purchase goods and services in ever greater amounts. The term is often associated with criticisms of consumption starting with Thorstein Veblen...

 (for example, the image of a wall of gold discs 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.

The label was name-checked by the Clash
The Clash
The Clash were an English punk rock band that formed in 1976 as part of the original wave of British punk. Along with punk, their music incorporated elements of reggae, ska, dub, funk, rap, dance, and rockabilly...

 in a lyric from the song, "Hitsville UK
Hitsville UK
"Hitsville UK" is a song and the 13th single released by The Clash, and the second off their fourth album Sandinista!. It is a duet between lead guitarist Mick Jones and his one-time girlfriend Ellen Foley....

", the band's homage to UK indies
Independent record label
An independent record label is a record label operating without the funding of or outside the organizations of the major record labels. A great number of bands and musical acts begin on independent labels.-Overview:...

:
"When lightning hits Small Wonder
Small Wonder Records
Small Wonder Records was a UK independent record label owned and managed by Pete Stennett, that specialised in releasing records by punk rock and post-punk bands. It operated out of a record shop of the same name at 162 Hoe Street, Walthamstow, E17, east London...

/It's Fast Rough
Rough Trade Records
Rough Trade Records is an independent record label based in London. It was formed in 1978 by Geoff Travis who had opened a record store off Ladbroke Grove...

 Factory
Factory Records
Factory Records was a Manchester based British independent record label, started in 1978 by Tony Wilson and Alan Erasmus, which featured several prominent musical acts on its roster such as Joy Division, New Order, A Certain Ratio, The Durutti Column, Happy Mondays, Northside and James and...

 Trade".

Bob Last also established the Pop Aural label, releasing singles by such acts as The Flowers, Boots For Dancing
Boots For Dancing
Boots for Dancing were a post-punk band from Edinburgh, Scotland, active between 1979 and 1982, and featuring several musicians from other notable bands.-History:...

 and The Fire Engines
The Fire Engines
The Fire Engines are a post-punk band from Edinburgh, Scotland. The band was a part of the same literary art-punk scene as the Scars and their most famous contemporaries, Josef K. They grew out of the Dirty Reds which had actor Tam Dean Burn as singer....

.

Singles

  • FAST 1 The Mekons - "Never Been In A Riot" / "32 Weeks" / "Heart & Soul" 7" (1978)
  • FAST 2 2.3 - "Where To Now?" / "All Time Low" 7" (1978)
  • FAST 4 The Human League
    The Human League
    The Human League are an English electronic New Wave band formed in Sheffield in 1977. They achieved popularity after a key change in line-up in the early 1980s and have continued recording and performing with moderate commercial success throughout the 1980s up to the present day.The only constant...

     - "Being Boiled
    Being Boiled
    "Being Boiled" is a song composed by Sheffield musicians Martyn Ware and Ian Craig Marsh, with lyrics by Philip Oakey, and recorded by them as The Human League...

    " / "Circus Of Death" 7" (1978)
  • FAST 5 Gang of Four
    Gang of Four (band)
    Gang of Four are an English post-punk group from Leeds. Original personnel were singer Jon King, guitarist Andy Gill, bass guitarist Dave Allen and drummer Hugo Burnham. They were fully active from 1977 to 1984, and then re-emerged twice in the 1990s with King and Gill...

     - "Damaged Goods" / "Love Like Anthrax" / "Armalite Rifle" 7" (1978)
  • FAST 7 The Mekons - "Where Were You?" / "I'll Have To Dance Then (On My Own)" 7" (1978)
  • FAST 8 Scars
    Scars (band)
    Scars were a Post-punk band that hailed from Edinburgh, Scotland, and were a part of that city's bustling music scene of the late 70s - early 80s.-History:...

     - "Adult/ery" / "Horrorshow" 7" (1979)
  • FAST 9a Earcom One (The Prats
    The Prats
    The Prats were an Edinburgh-based punk rock group, active from 1977 to 1981. More recently, their track "General Davis" was featured in the opening credits of Jonathan Demme's 2004 film, The Manchurian Candidate.-History:...

    , The Flowers, Blank Students, Graph & including pink cardboard flexi disc
    Flexi disc
    The flexi disc is a phonograph record made of a thin, flexible vinyl sheet with a molded-in spiral stylus groove, and is designed to be playable on a normal phonograph turntable...

     of Jo Callis) 12"
  • FAST 9b Earcom Two
    Earcom 2: Contradiction
    Earcom 2: Contradiction is an EP of six tracks by three different bands, released in October 1979 on the Fast Product label.The most famous of the bands is Joy Division which contributed two tracks recorded as part of the Unknown Pleasures session by Martin Hannett. The tracks were not included on...

    (Joy Division
    Joy Division
    Joy Division were an English rock band formed in 1976 in Salford, Greater Manchester. Originally named Warsaw, the band primarily consisted of Ian Curtis , Bernard Sumner , Peter Hook and Stephen Morris .Joy Division rapidly evolved from their initial punk rock influences...

    , The Thursdays & Basczax
    Basczax
    Basczax were a British post-punk band that was formed in Redcar in August 1978.-History:The band was formed by Mick Todd , who recorded a demo of "Karleearn Photography", which convinced Jeff Fogarty and Alan Savage to join...

    ) 12"
  • FAST 9c Earcom Three (DAF
    DAF
    -Science, nature and technology:* Decay accelerating factor, a protein involved in the complement system* Delayed auditory feedback, a device used to delay a person's voice to their own ear, which reduces stuttering and cluttering...

    , Noh Mercy, The Middle Class, Stupid Babies, From Chorley) double 7" (1979)
  • FAST 10 The Human League
    The Human League
    The Human League are an English electronic New Wave band formed in Sheffield in 1977. They achieved popularity after a key change in line-up in the early 1980s and have continued recording and performing with moderate commercial success throughout the 1980s up to the present day.The only constant...

     - "The Dignity of Labour
    The Dignity of Labour
    The Dignity Of Labour is a 12" vinyl record released in 1979. The tracks were written and performed by The Human League with the line-up Ware, Marsh and Oakey...

    " 12" (some with flexi-disc) (1979)
  • FAST 12 Dead Kennedys
    Dead Kennedys
    Dead Kennedys are an American punk rock band formed in San Francisco, California in 1978. The band became part of the American hardcore punk movement of the early 1980s. They gained a large underground fanbase in the international punk music scene....

     - "California Uber Alles
    California Über Alles
    "California Über Alles" was the first single by the Dead Kennedys. The record was released in June 1979 on Optional Music with "The Man with the Dogs" as the b-side...

    " / "Man with the Dogs" 7"

Albums

  • FAST 11 The First Year Plan - Compilation of single releases, licensed to EMI, so also has cat no EMC 3312)
  • Mutant Pop - US reissue of early Fast Product and Pop Aural singles by the Mekons, the Gang of Four
    Gang of Four (band)
    Gang of Four are an English post-punk group from Leeds. Original personnel were singer Jon King, guitarist Andy Gill, bass guitarist Dave Allen and drummer Hugo Burnham. They were fully active from 1977 to 1984, and then re-emerged twice in the 1990s with King and Gill...

    , the Human League
    The Human League
    The Human League are an English electronic New Wave band formed in Sheffield in 1977. They achieved popularity after a key change in line-up in the early 1980s and have continued recording and performing with moderate commercial success throughout the 1980s up to the present day.The only constant...

    , The Flowers, 2.3 and Scars
    Scars (band)
    Scars were a Post-punk band that hailed from Edinburgh, Scotland, and were a part of that city's bustling music scene of the late 70s - early 80s.-History:...

     (PVC/JEM Records 1980)

Miscellaneous

  • FAST 3 Fast Product The Quality Of Life No.1 (zine
    Zine
    A zine is most commonly a small circulation publication of original or appropriated texts and images. More broadly, the term encompasses any self-published work of minority interest usually reproduced via photocopier....

     issued March 1978)
  • FAST 6 Fast Product The Quality Of Life No.2 (zine
    Zine
    A zine is most commonly a small circulation publication of original or appropriated texts and images. More broadly, the term encompasses any self-published work of minority interest usually reproduced via photocopier....

    issued April 1979)
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