Defunct Socks
Description: Cruz Records was an offshoot record label of SST Records, owned by the Black Flag guitarist Greg Ginn. The label was founded in 1987. Its roster consisted mainly of pop punk and grunge bands, along with Ginn's solo records. The label has remained inactive since the mid-1990s although the pieces of its back catalog that are still in print are still available through SST Records.
Description: Enigma Records (also known as Enigma Entertainment Corporation) was a popular rock and alternative American record label in the 1980s. Enigma Records launched as a division of Greenworld Distribution, an independent music importer/distributor, in 1981. Four years later, in 1985, Enigma severed ties with Greenworld and became its own company. Enigma was initially located in Torrance, California, then El Segundo, California and finally Culver City, California. Enigma was founded and run by brothers William and Wesley Hein.
Description: The Cleveland Thunderbolts were an Arena football team based in Richfield, Ohio. The Thunderbolts were founded in 1991 and were a member of the Arena Football League (AFL). In 1994, the franchise relocated to Columbus The team played for four seasons total, making the playoffs once. They played their home games in the Richfield Coliseum. The team was moved to Cleveland by John J. Kuczek.
Description: Bertelsmann Music Group was a division of a German media company Bertelsmann before its completion of sale of the majority of its assets to Sony Corporation of America. Although it was established in 1987, the music company was formed as RCA/Ariola International in 1985 as a joint venture to combine the music label activities of RCA's RCA Records division and Bertelsmann's Ariola Records and its associated labels which include Arista Records. It consisted of the BMG Music Publishing company, the world's third largest music publisher and the world's largest independent music publisher and the 50% share of the joint venture with Sony Music, which established the German American Sony BMG from 2004 to 2008.
Description: Bizarre Records, self-identified simply as Bizarre, was a production company and record label formed for artists discovered by rock musician Frank Zappa and his business partner/manager Herb Cohen. Bizarre was originally formed as a production company. In 1967 Zappa's label, Verve Records, missed the deadline to renew their option on Zappa's recording contract after his second album, Absolutely Free, recorded with his group the Mothers of Invention. This gave Zappa and Cohen the upper hand in negotiating their own production deal with Verve.
Description: The Columbus Jets were a Minor League baseball team that played in Columbus, Ohio, from 1955 to 1970. The team moved from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada where they were known as the Ottawa Athletics. The Jets were a member of the Triple-A International League. The Jets' name came from Columbus' role in manufacturing aircraft by North American Aviation for World War II. They were the Triple-A affiliate of the Kansas City Athletics (1955–56) and Pittsburgh Pirates (1957–70). The Jets played their home games at Jets Stadium.
Description: The Minneapolis Marines were an early professional football team that existed from 1905 until 1924. The team was later resurrected from 1929 to 1930 under the Minneapolis Red Jackets name. The Marines were owned locally by Minneapolitans John Dunn and Val Ness, and composed primarily of working-class teenagers. Some of the first games were played at Camden Park, The Parade, and Bottineau Field. Later games were played at larger stadiums such as Nicollet Park and Lexington Park. The Minneapolis Marines are the first Minnesota-based team to join the National Football League, predating the Duluth Eskimos (1923) and Minnesota Vikings (1961).
Description: Castle Communications, also known as Castle Music, was a British independent record label and home video distributor founded in 1983 by Terry Shand, Cliff Dane, and Jon Beecher. Its video imprint was called Castle Vision. The label's production ceased in 2007, and its remaining rights are now chiefly vested in BMG Rights Management. Castle also operated a subsidiary label, Essential Records.
Description: The Wisconsin State League was a relatively stable post-war Class D minor league baseball circuit. The league formed with six clubs in the summer of 1940 and added two more expansion clubs, Janesville and Oskhosh, in 1941. Like most of the minors, the Wisconsin State League shut down from 1943 through 1945 during the height of the war effort. The league’s attendance and the financial viability of its clubs were already in decline when the National when the when the National League’s Boston Braves moved to Milwaukee in 1953.
Description: Dunwich Records was an independent American record label started by Bill Traut, Eddie Higgins and George Badonsky in Chicago in 1965. Dunwich was also a production company which licensed recordings to other labels, including Atlantic, Atco, Columbia, Mercury and SGC. The label was primarily known for the release of singles from the emerging Chicago rock scene in the 1960s. Only two artists, the Shadows of Knight and Amanda Ambrose, released albums on the label.
Description: Slap a Ham Records was an independent label from San Francisco owned and operated by Chris Dodge. The label lasted for about 13 years, officially shutting down in 2002. According to Dodge, this was due because of the September 11 attacks; "After the attacks, everyone stopped spending money" and as a result, Slap a Ham faced stagnate commerce, causing Dodge to go into debt.
Description: Cowboy Records was a record label in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded by Buddy DeSylva and Johnny Mercer in 1942. It was later owned by Jimmy DeKnight and Jack Howard. Artists who recorded for the label included Bill Haley, who made his first commercial single release with the label as Bill Haley and the Four Aces of Western Swing.
Description: Pye International started in November 1958, mainly for licensed recordings from foreign labels for the UK market, including Chess, A&M, Kama Sutra, Colpix, Warner Bros., Buddah, 20th Century, and King. It also released recordings from British artist Labi Siffre which were produced outside the company. Shut down in 1979.
Description: The United States version of Tiger Lily Records was a record label that was run by Roulette Records founder Morris Levy. Purportedly it was a tax scam created by Levy and was never intended to make a profit. Tiger Lily's primary modus operandi was to acquire demo tapes from artists or studios and then release them without the artists consent and sometimes without even the artist's knowledge. Other albums released by Tiger Lily have been identified as bootlegs of albums released in the early 1970s by Artie Ripp's Family Productions and two cases of performers who were actually signed to Tiger Lily Records have been identified.
Description: When the team was founded, they turned to the community for financial support. The response was so great that they were able to not only buy their uniforms but also construct their own ball field. The team got its name from the bright green uniforms and dark green stockings worn by the players. Originally, the team uniform boasted a large S.B. (for South Bend) on the front of their jerseys. In the first game they played, over 1,500 spectators came to watch the Greenstockings go up against a Valparaiso team. The visitors taunted the South Bend players by yelling that the S.B. stood for “silly boys,” and as a result, the team changed their uniforms to say South Bend.
