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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 also the first single by the Mekons, released 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 Human League, Gang of Four and the Mekons. Fast Product also released the first singles by the Scottish punk bands Scars 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 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 socialist political outlook. Often packaging records with a caustic yet subtle sideswipe at consumerism (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.
Lloyd Cole also name-checked Fast Product in his song Women's Studies, from the 2013 album Standards.[1]
Later, the pair also established the Pop Aural label, releasing singles by such acts as The Flowers, Boots For Dancing and The Fire Engines.
The label was profiled in depth in the 2015 documentary film Big Gold Dream.[2]
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."[3]
- ^ "Lyrics / Standards". Lloyd Cole.com. Archived from the original on 9 January 2015. Retrieved 13 January 2015.
- ^ "Big Gold Dream: The story of Scotland's post-punk music scene". BBC. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
- ^ "How Joy Division appeared on a Scottish record label before Factory, Big Gold Dream". BBC. 12 April 2017. Retrieved 3 June 2018.