Potted history
Rough Trade Records was started in 1978. It came out of the Rough Trade shop that was started in 1976 in West London by Geoff Travis. It was the time of the punk and reggae explosion in London and the shop was very popular with bands that wanted to put records out. Geoff thought he might as well put them out himself, so in 1978 he put out a single by a French band called Metal Urbain and then it just blossomed from there. Then, in the early 80s, Geoff found The Smiths. Before that, Rough Trade was seen as a kind of cult post-punk label, but when Geoff signed The Smiths it became a lot more mainstream and The Smiths became one of the biggest independent bands ever. And that carried on into the mid-80s when Geoff started Rough Trade Distribution which, to cut a long story short, was quite badly managed. Towards the end of the 80s, it went under and brought down Rough Trade Records with it. Geoff continued to put records out under different names like Trade 2 and Rough Trade Recordings, with the same ethics. Then, in the mid-90s, he re-acquired the name and here we are again riding the crest of a wave.