25 Years of Touch and Go Records
Published September 28, 2006
Oh, sure, we all love indie labels. But it just so happens indie zines are required by the unofficial official indie zine code of conduct to especially love a label like Touch and Go. After all, they're currently living one of the teeny tiny dreams which all zines secretly cherish: to grow up one day and become a label. And maybe Touch and Go is even a little nearer and dearer to the Modern Pea Pod's heart than some other labels of their ilk, simply because of geography. 
Way back in 1981, when those of you who were alive then and reading this were either wishing they could grow Don Johnson stubble or still puking milk onto their mothers' shoulders, Corey Rusk was playing in an '80s hardcore band in Ohio. And even though he was still in high school (or perhaps because college hadn't yet sunk her pacifying hooks into him), one of his overwhelming desires was to release a seven-inch. Unlike most high school students, however, Rusk was actually cool enough to know someone who had a zine.
And what was that zine called? Say it with the class: Touch and Go.
But back to the story: why exactly does the Modern Pea Pod feel such an affinity for Touch and Go records? 
It's surely not harcore music — except for the occasional vague mention of AFI (a band who, frankly, true hardcore kids would snort at), the Modern Pea Pod likes to pretend modern day hardcore music was never invented. It's the fact Corey Rusk moved to Detroit from Ohio, and Tom Vee (the original man behind the mirror at Touch and Go) was supposedly living in an apartment in East Lansing — and that connection even strays away from the purely geographical.
Touch and Go Records' early existence in Detroit helps us all to remember that Detroit is not simply the genre town it's often pigeonholed as. Today, for the most part, the harcore scene in Detroit is rarely publicized. We all know there are bands of thin, pierced punk kids out there, playing underneath ghoulishly awesome monikers within the fallen-down city; but much like the Yeti, only those strictly involved with that scene seem to know quite where it lingers.
- 25 Years of Touch and Go Records
- Published: September 28, 2006
- Type: News
- Section: Music
- Filed Under: Music: Indie Rock, Music: Punk Rock
- Writer: Modern Pea Pod
- Modern Pea Pod's BC Writer page
- Modern Pea Pod's personal site
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Comments on this articleComments
how did a touch and go article get written without one mention of steve albini?
but albini is, without a doubt, the man who has lead t&g's aesthetic for the last 20 years. he's not all-important, but he did touch a large portion of their catalog, either through "engineering/recording" or through his own bands. when you think of touch and go, you think of steve albini, even if you don't know it.
Funny, when I think of Touch & Go, I think of the Butthole Surfers, somehow.
oh shut up. you know what i mean. and no, you don't.
Personally, when I wrote this article, I didn't think that there was entirely a point to mentioning Steve Albini. When a label has existed as long as Touch as Go has existed, many different personalities and forces exert influence over it. While Albini has recorded several Touch & Go artists, he wasn't the one who signed them. He has no official ties to Touch & Go Records except that his producing (or whatever Albini prefers to call it at this particular moment) credit occasionally shows up in the liner notes.
To me, focusing on Albini would have been a disservice to Touch & Go and to the man himself. It would be much more interesting to talk about Albini within the context of both the evolution of labels to which he has contributed, as well as the corresponding evolution of his personal musical aesthetic. As for Touch & Go, with twenty-five years of existence, it would be far easier to write a book about the label's history than write a quick article which includes everything that everyone wants to hear about Touch & Go.
It would be interesting to see someone write an in-depth article on Albini. Maybe you should try it.
ok. true. given. accepted.
tell me this: did you conciously NOT include any mention of albini?
i dunno about writing an article on albini... like you said, "it would be far easier to write a book..."
I consciously felt that I should focus on the creators of Touch & Go. While writing the article, Steve Albini didn't occur to me. It wasn't until after I'd written the article, and my editor was like, "You didn't even mention Steve Albini", that I was like... oh well... maybe i should. But, after re-reading it, I couldn't really think of anywhere this particular article could go with mentioning Albini.
Does that make sense?
When I think of Steve Albini, he's his own separate entity. Well, unless I'm sitting at home playing six degrees of Steve Albini.
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