All language subtitles for Industrial.Accident.The.Story.of.Wax.Trax.Records.2018.1080p.WEBRip.x264-RARBG_English

JULIA: It's all right.

Hi, George.

That's a big Barnabas dog.

[WINDOW WHIRRING]

We're scared
to get out of the car.

Negatives.

Mark.

WOMAN: We had no idea what was there.

I mean, when we opened
the door to that barn,

what was inside every single
one of those LP boxes

and filing cabinets
and garbage bags,

it didn't belong there.

It would've disappeared.

It would've never been seen.

The only place for it to be
was back here in Chicago,

where it started.

Period.

[ROCK MUSIC PLAYING]

♪ Stainless steel providers

♪ Another tire
Let it catch on fire

♪ A metal motor mantra

♪ Makes you waste
The time of day

♪ You'll sit on a timebomb
Forever and ever

♪ Now breathe breathe breathe
Breathe!

♪ Breathe!

♪ Quick locate and detonate
Your public enemy

♪ Stainless steel
Believe it's real

♪ It's all you mean to me

♪ What's that sound
What's that sound

♪ It bleeds efficiency

♪ The way I feel
On stainless steel

♪ And all it means to me

JELLO: I guess I first went
to the original Wax Trax!
store on Ogden Street

in Denver, maybe a week
or two after it opened.

And this was the time

when mid '70s
was supposed to be

all about adult rock, soft
rock and Denver and Boulder,

where I was growing up
were kind of the
ground-zero testing grounds

for who was going to be
the next Eagles.

So imagine
my pleasant surprise

when I get to
the Wax Trax! store

at that original location
on Ogden.

And there on the front door
is John Denver's greatest hits

with nails through his eyes

and blood painted coming down.

STEVE: The first Wax Trax!
store was on Ogden street
in Denver,

which was a rough part
of Capitol Hill

down the street
from the Bluebird Theater

and Sid King's show lounge,

which is a famous strip joint.

PATTY: When Jim and Dannie
opened the first Wax Trax!

on Ogden street,

it's like they moved
everything from their
apartment into the store.

They'd been
working as carpenters
and cabinet makers.

They had this
huge record collection

and their house was full
of all these cool things,
and everything.

I was like, "Okay,
this is really great."

Yeah, Jim and Dannie
were an amazing couple.

I mean, they fit together

like... glue.

What Jim had, Dannie didn't.

And what Dannie had,
Jim didn't.

You definitely got
the sense that they
really loved each other.

But they had some
amazing ways of showing it.

It was including like beating
the shit out of each other.

STEVE KNUTSON:
Being out, gay,

couple, at that time

in where they lived,
in Kansas and Denver
was a big deal.

And they didn't
apologize for it.

They didn't hide from it.
They didn't give a shit.

You know, they didn't care
what anybody thought.

STEVE: When I met
Jim and Dannie,

we were all really obsessed
with David Bowie.

They'd seen him
on the Ziggy Tour.

We were also as obsessed

with Roxy Music.

And we love the New York
Dolls and T-Rex.

We liked all of this
because it connected back
to Rock and roll.

But it was sort of new.

I found this
community of people

with David Bowie
and Lou Reed and all that.

That's when
really things changed.

They were selling Rockabilly.

They were selling
girl groups, garage rock,

glam rock, psyche music,

space rock, old RnB
and soul records.

Here is a place
that sold in 1975,

and going into 1976,

everything that became
the Punk cannon
two years later.

JELLO: Spring of '77,
the whisper goes around,

"The Ramones are
coming to Denver, the Ramones
are coming to Denver."

When the first record came out,
I wrote a fan letter to them.

And their manager,
Danny Fields,
wrote me back immediately.

So they come to town,

and I, through Danny,

I picked them
up at the airport.

And me and my friend,
we borrowed his mom's car.

And first thing we did
was go to Wax Trax!

And they loved it.

So, the Ramones
were coming to Denver.

Yeah. We're all going.

This place called Ebbets Field,
where you couldn't dance.

You had to sit down in rows,

all the way to this
little stage, and stuff.

The Ramones came in,

just raving about Wax Trax!

saying it was the best record
store they had ever seen.

And this is still
the little Ogden location.

But they were
that impressed with it.

Man, they blew
the roof off the place.

STEVE: All of these things
that they kind of provoked

and kind of made
a subculture out of,

and just sort of attitude,

in that little scene
that we had

became punk rock.

We felt very validated
after punk rock happened.

It's like,
"See? We were right."

Jim was kind of getting
into all of these
different areas

of putting out the kind
of music that he likes.

He was a really passionate fan.

And he wanted
everybody to see this

and love it as much as he did.

JELLO: Jim and Dannie
brought out

a new-wave band from LA
called The Nerves.

STEVE: The Nerves are famous
for having written

Hanging on the Telephone
that Blondie used later.

Anyway, they performed

and it was a complete
drunken mess.

MAN: We opened,
my band in front.

It was too loud,

and the cops
just came upstairs.

It was like Andy Griffith

and Barney Fife showed up.

STEVE: Jim was so belligerent
that he got arrested.

Jim was standing at the door,

he's got his arms
behind his back,

he's been cuffed,

and he's yelling at Dannie,

who's yelling at the cops

because he wants
to get arrested, too,

'cause he's not
gonna leave Jim
alone to be arrested.

At the same time Jim
is yelling at him,

something about,
he didn't turn off
the coffee maker at home.

It was just that kind
of madness, you know?
All the time.

♪ It's good to hear
your voice, you know
it's been so long

♪ If I don't get your calls
then everything goes wrong

♪ I want to tell you something you've known all along... ♪

PATTY: Parties
were a big part of it.

Parties, dress-ups,

a lot of parties,
a lot of dressing-ups,

a lot of kind of
edgy dressing up.

It was just normal.
It was just what you did.

You're young, you know?

You like music.
You're into subculture.

You are the subculture.

You know, the music,
the record store,

was all about misfits.

The whole scene,
from David Bowie on,

was about misfits.

People that didn't belong
anywhere else.

And they all ended up
at Wax Trax! Records,

going to the shows
and going to the parties.

And that really,
I have to say,

was one of the most
important things was that,

because of Wax Trax!,

there was actually a place
to meet like-minded people.

Otherwise, we may never
have found each other.

STEVE KNUTSON: One time,

I don't know, we were hanging out at the store late,

and they were like,
"Let's go to the bar."

He told me this story
about how he met Dannie

and, you know, how they
got together pretty quickly.

And how he left his wife,

and he said, "Yeah,
I told her I'm leaving you

"'cause you don't have a dick."

And I couldn't believe
that he said that.

I was in high school,
he was out of high school.

And we met and fell in love
and got married

and had two great children,
beautiful children.

We kind of just
synced with the way
we thought about things

and laughed about things.

Sarcasm was always
a part of it, too,

but he was just really funny.

You know, we just connected.

In hindsight,
there were things

that I could've
picked up on that I didn't.

He came home from work

and just said, "I don't
love you anymore.

"I want a divorce."

And I'm going,

"You loved me yesterday.

"You loved me last week,
you know?

"What was it?"

And he said, "Well,
I don't know, but I just...

We just need to not be this.

We talked again.

And we sat down
and it all came out.

He started to cry. He...

'Cause I really thought
maybe he was having an
affair with this girl

that was hanging around
all the time.

But he was having an affair. It
just went a little differently.

PATTY: Jim and Dannie
met in a cruising park.

And Jim was there

with his son, Aaron.

And Dannie came by.

Where we lived
was very close
to my mother's,

where I would
take the kids every day.

And so I'd drop the kids off

and as I drive up the street,

I could see the front
of our apartment

and Dannie's car was there.

He was truly in pain.

He was acknowledging
something in himself

that he had a difficult
time accepting

and didn't want
it to change his life...

...because of the life he had.

'Cause we were happy.
We had a happy life.
He loved his kids.

You know,
but the two of them
fell in love

and you can't choose
who you fall in love with.

And, you know,
we remained friends

until the end, really.

DANNIE: Well, we started out
in Denver, Colorado,
in 1974 as a record store.

And then, like I said,
everything sort of flew past
Denver

and we were going
to Kansas City,

or Chicago
or New York
to see shows.

And sold that to a couple
of good friends of ours

and moved to Chicago in 1978.

STEVE: He was sick of Denver,
and he wanted to move
the store to Chicago.

And they wanted
to come out and look around,

so they came
and stayed with me.

And I remember, the third day
that we were together,

they came back that night,
said, "We found a place.

"We found an amazing place.

"It's over on Lincoln.

"And it's right next
to the Biograph Theater."

They left all the furniture
in Denver.

We just took the records.

We just took the records
of Roxy Music table

and maybe some personal stuff.

They'd already built or had

all the bins made in the shop.

And it was painted.

So when we got
up there, basically,

we just put the records
in the bins
and opened the store.

♪ Everybody plays a game

♪ We don't have to say the name

♪ If we take a summary

♪ Boys and girls
Just ain't the same

♪ I don't have to say no more
You know what... ♪

STEVE ALBINI: It was literally the first day that I came to Chicago.

Somebody at the dorm,
I can't remember who,

saw me loading my records
into the dorm room

and saw that they were
a bunch of oddball records
there...

...and said, "Oh, there's a
record store in town you
really should go to.

"It's called Wax Trax!."

I mean, we had heard, our
friends here in Chicago,
about a record store

that was in Denver

that was into sort
of this new wave

of, you know, punk rock.

Certainly the Roxy Music,
David Bowie,

Brian Eno, T.Rex...

When my roommate,
John Sulek, and I

had heard that Wax Trax!
was coming to Chicago,

we began camp out
in front of that address

on Lincoln Avenue
hoping to bump into them.

To me, your store
stands for excitement.

FRANKIE: I knew this girl
named Marty.

And she also lives
in the same neighborhood I did,

which was Newtown.

I got to know them

and they knew I liked Glam
Rock and, you know, Roxy Music
and David Bowie.

And they were like,
"Oh, you know,

"there's these guys
that are gonna move here
and open up a record store.

"That's really cool, you know.

"And they have all this kind
of stuff that we like."

You know, "Oh, really?"
"Bootleg." "Bowie." "Wow!"

STEVE ALBINI:
What was great about it

was that it was like a chaotic sort of overwhelming thing.

But everything in it was
all part of the same story.

And it's like,
it was really weird

to see a place
that was literally built
for people like me.

And it was magical.

LARRY: You know, talk about
falling down the rabbit hole,

just going into this
alternate reality,

'cause record stores
didn't look like that
where I came from.

And they didn't
sound like that.

They didn't have girls
with two-toned hair

and people smoking
behind the counter

and all this sort of thing.

And it was, you know,
quite an eye-opener.

FRANKIE: Bright,
big colors. Colorful.

You know,
tons of promo everywhere.

They'd do displays

and put stuff up
on the walls and...

You know, it was like jumping

into the center of a collage

with music playing.

It's like, "Oh, my God.

"I'm distracted,
for some reason."

DAVE: Well, one year,
we come up,

I think it was 1982 or 1983,

we took the L down to Wax Trax!

And it was the first time I'd
ever been to a record store

that had... everything.

I was so blown away
that this...

entire genre of music existed

without anybody really knowing.

Like, this was underground shit.

And there was
this network of bands

and labels and fan scenes

that communicated
with each other

off the radar of any
sort of commercial scene.

Like nobody knew
this was happening.

I had no idea
this was happening.

I loved Rock music

and I was a shitty
little vandal kid.

But I had never heard
something that made me
want to fucking break shit.

MAN: Very nice.

WOMAN: Wax Trax!

You walk into 1980,

our city was, you know,

it was in shambles.

The neighborhoods
that we now all live in

were just derelict,
crime-ridden...

So there were like these,

I would have to say almost
like, misfits of, like,

you know, kind of punk rock,

kind of new wave,
kind of gay, kind of disco.

You know, there was
this really interesting
sort of time

where people just really
wanted something

to release the pressure
of how hard it was.

And the scene begins to grow.

People were looking
for something real.

And Chicago was a great place
to be at that time.

When Jim and Dannie
moved the store to Chicago,

what happened after that,
is that Jim and Dannie
started doing other shows,

bringing in
ex-famously-Bauhaus show.

Jim and Dannie
were in touch with our label

at the time,
which was 4AD Records.

We were going to play
in New York.

So, we thought,
"Well, New York is
not that far from Chicago.

"So perhaps
we can set up a gig
via Wax Trax!, you know?"

And that's what we did.

♪ Stigmata

♪ Martyr

DAVID: And they were
most personable.

And they took us
to their apartment building.

We were made to feel
very welcome.

In fact, for all of us,
the impression

was that we had entered
into some kind of

a very camp,
very gay enclave

in the middle
of this tough city.

Now we're entering Wax Trax!

We're seeing Gary here.

JULIA: It was almost like,
"Yeah." We just...

This is where Dad lives now.

We went there.

And we hung out
in a record store.

Like, it was not like,
"What is this place.
Interesting."

-No.
-JULIA: We were just there.

AARON:
That was your way of life.
That's all you knew.

JULIA: Yeah.

JULIA: They had this
penthouse apartment

on Surf in Broadway,

Queen Wilhelmina's ballroom.

Massive, massive living room.

We would roller skate in there,

dad had a wheelchair.

Like wheel around the place.

Dannie was

probably one
of the kindest, gentlest

people I have ever met.

And it was quite
a juxtaposition to my dad...

Yeah, yeah.

...who would, you know,
he could like tear you on.

And he could like
rip on people.

And just fuck with people.

We were driving
in Chicago at one point,

and Dad said, "Dannie!
Slow down, slow down,
slow down!"

So this lady of the night
is walking around, you know?

He's like, "When she
starts to move over
to the van, you guys,"

"open the door, right?"

So he calls this prostitute
over to the van

and they come like,
"Hey, big boy" kind of thing.

And so Dad's like,
"Open the door, open the door."

So we opened the door, and
there's these two little kids

in the van,
and this woman was like...

I don't know what she did.
We were laughing so hard.

But she backed off
pretty quickly.

Yeah, that's Dad.

Dannie, Southern gentleman.

I mean, in someways, Jim and
Dannie did seem like the old
married couple

'cause they balanced
each other really well.

Jim was the manic
bouncing off the walls,

kind of prone
to hysteria sometimes,

and Dannie was always
very even-keeled.

Just kind of mellowed him out
and balanced him.

FRANKIE: It's a team.

Dannie was Jim's backbone.

So, Jim could be Jim.

He was behind him.

He embellished Jim.

And that's why
they were a team.

JULIA: I saw 'em kiss in the reflection of a mirror,

in their apartment.

And I was like...

It was one of those things
like, "Holy shit."

And I wanted to look away,

but I was like,
"This is crazy!

"These guys aren't friends.
They're more than friends.

You know, I was
completely blown-away,

confused, had no idea.

And that was that.

I kept it in,
didn't say anything

and told my brother

on the way to school one day.

JOE: There were some bands
that Jim and Dannie

just were really
in love with

in Europe.

Things like, as I remember,

a lot of the 4AD.

The 4AD catalog was something
that they really loved.

They loved the way it felt,
the way it looked,

Factory was another one,
of course.

SEAN: In the store,

it was usually New Order, Joy Division, A Certain Ratio,

Cabaret Voltaire,
Portion Control.

Each person
that I worked with

had their own taste,

and then had the taste
of the store,

I guess, as it were.

Everybody shared
Jim and Dannie's passion
for the same music.

I mean, he had been
a bit of a record label,

you know, sort of
surreptitiously,

for grey market,
black market records.

But just to throw yourself
into it like that...

I got the impression
that it was just
a one-off thing.

We're just gonna do this...

I mean, we have a ton
of customers who
come in for this stuff,

and it's like,
"Hey, let's put out a record..."

And then I think
it was kind of fun.

That Strike Under, twelve-inch',
which is just
an astonishing record.

I mean, that's like
a brilliant snapshot

of the Chicago Punk scene.

There was like a dance number
on there,

which sort of like owned up
to the fact that in Chicago,

punks would go to the dance
clubs and dance, you know?

I didn't get the impression
that that was true in LA

or like, you know,
in other Punk scenes.

I didn't get the impression
that dyed-in-the-wool
Punk Rockers

were into going to night
clubs to dance.

But you know, Wax Trax!
was a fulcrum for that.

So I used my introduction
to the whole sort of
"How do you get a record?"

Because that was just out of...

That's not what
people didn't do that.
Companies did that.

But Jim and Dannie did this.
They got this record made.

FRANKIE: The Divine single
was sort of a novelty thing

that pulled people in more

to like, "How weird," you know?

Like, Divine, that crazy,
bizarre drag queen,

who was already
a legend with the films,
and everything.

There was interest there.

STEVE ALBINI:
Totally hilarious.
Totally camp. You know?

How could you not be
rooting for Divine?

Like, such a likable persona,
you know?

And that was the only place
in town that was like that.

That had that sort
of camp, trashy sensibilities.

And my very special thanks
to Jim and Dan
of Wax Trax! Records.

JELLO: Jim or Dannie,
or somebody, introduced me
to a friend of theirs

they were starting to work
with named Al Jourgenson.

And were just like, "Hi, Hi."
"Like your stuff." Whatever.

Although I hadn't really
heard his yet.

Jim and Dannie decided
to put out this demo
I did in my...

I was living
right off Southport.

Just a demo
on a four-track machine,

which later turned out to be
Cold Lifeand I'm Falling.

And I played it for 'em
in the store.

And he heard it and was like,
"Whoa, we gotta do this."

He'd just released
the Divine single.

And so, he put this record out.

I wasn't planning on putting it out, or even having a band.

As a matter of fact, I didn't even have a name for the band.

Jim always had someone

that he thought was
the greatest thing in the world.

Now, it's Al.

♪ Cold

♪ Cold

♪ Cold

♪ Your body's
In the hands of fools

♪ With swimming pools
And low IQ's...♪

AL: I mean, it wasn't like
this well-thought-out
thing from Ministry,

but what happened was that,

that record
and the subsequent, like...

Everyday is Halloween
and Nature of Love,

started really taking off.

LARRY: I don't think
it became real

until probably
the Ministry record.

Because that started
to get some club play

and started to get
some attention.

It was catchy
and it sold a shit
load of records.

That was really nice.
That helped the label a lot.

JOE: What Jim and Dannie
did on Lincoln Avenue,

was create sort of this,
um, meet-up.

One of the first sort of ideas

that a retail and/or
a record store, was a meet-up.

You'd go and you'd
see your friends

on a Saturday afternoon.

LARRY: Before I even worked
there, Wax Trax!,
it was a gathering place

for my friends,
our little group.

It was just somewhat
of a clubhouse.

You could go in there,
you could drink,
you could smoke,

you could listen to music.

But, also, you know,
what else can you do?

What else do you want to do?

Cool social shit was going on

that they weren't necessarily
getting any other way.

It was more than just a place
to go and buy records.

It was a place
to hang out and meet up

with, you know,
like-minded individuals

and bands would form
in record stores, you know.

It was like a social hub.

LARRY: You'd see
regular people
coming in.

You know, same people
come in at a regular time

on Friday night,
Saturday night.

It was just
sort of a gathering place

for that sort of, you know,

the disenfranchised
or misfit kids.

Whatever you want to call 'em.

STEVE ALBINI: The staff there
were really knowledgeable

and really, you know,
really forthcoming

if you showed
an interest in something.

Somebody there knew
the backstory

of every piece of vinyl
in that record store.

Like somebody there
decided to buy that record

and put it in the store
for a reason.

And if you found that person,
they would let you in
on that reason.

♪ To hell with poverty

♪ The check will arrive
We'll turn the boast again ♪

You would get an education
as well as a record.

You learned about
the interrelationship

of all the different members
of the different groups.

Like how, "That guy came
from this band
and started this band."

Or, "This band came
through here on tour,

"and they were really terrific,

"but this guy is in another
band, and they sucked.

"Don't bother with that one."

You hear all this stuff
that was really great,

and, you know, really
fleshed out your appreciation

of all the records
that you're buying, you know.

JOE:
There was talk about, like,

there were a lot of records that
weren't available in America.

And why couldn't there be

a distribution or a platform

for some of
the European labels?

And that it would be produced
here in Chicago.

The endless Riddance 12-inch
was imported by a label

or a shop in the streets
called Wax Trax!

But we didn't know that,
of course.

I didn't even know
that 12 inches
weren't imported in America.

Until we received
one day a fax

from the label saying,
"Hey, we love your 12-inch
Endless Riddance. Take One."

"We'd like to license it
for the States.
"I was like, "What?"

LARRY: The Front 242 record
was taking it
to a whole other level.

Ministry was a local act
Jim and Dannie supported now.

But to go internationally,
and reach out once again,

reach out to this band they
got the Front 242 single into
the store.

Jim and Dannie loved it.

PATRICK: At the time,
we were kind of
in sort of a post-punk area.

So those bands were trying
something else.

Like getting out of the punk
but with the same philosophy,
in a way.

Like small equipment.

Not trying to have like
big contracts with labels.

Trying to do stuff on their own.

Buying recording machine,

trying to produce stuff
on their own.

And the history of Front 242

is very much linked
with technology.

We realized that if we
were buying synthesizers,

drum boxes,
and stuff like that,

we could create something
without being really musicians.

And that's how we started.

In the studio, I tell you,

we worked a lot
with exchange of cassettes.

We have to take home,
we try sound,
have fun with this sound,

and then it's more
like a collage.

It's never like...

We're not musicians.
So, we don't really know
what we do.

RICHARD: We were, I guess,
back then, really influenced

by people like
Throbbing Gristle,
Cabaret Voltaire.

They also had a concert,
I think, that was not only
about the music,

but a way to behave
versus the industry.

You know, to be on your own,
to produce and create
the music by yourself.

To have your own label,
your own industrial label,

it was proving to me
that not being a musician,

not being part of a scene
or the industry,

you could make something
very strong and efficient.

So, the first idea of image
of the band was to have
something physical.

Maybe aggressive, as well,

like, you know,
to try to break the rules

and break the way
electronic music was back then

presented on stage.

PATRICK: I think
it was also a challenge

to try to avoid that sort of
cold, away feeling

about electronic music
that people would say,

"It's just like stiff guys
behind computers."

And we believe
that there was maybe an era

where we could go
that no one was not really...

There were maybe DAF
that was kind of in this era,

it was a bit more
like muscles and sweat.

And I guess that's
when we started

to use the term while
we're doing electronic music,

but it's also talking
to the body.

And naturally it became
electronic body music.

JIM: There is a lot
of people out there

that will respond to this music

but there's no exposure for it.

A major label is
not interested in a record

unless it's going to sell
at least 50,000 copies.

They wouldn't even consider
signing them.

That sort of thing. But...

You know, we feel that
there is a big market
out there

for that type of stuff.

LARRY:
Thing about Jim and Dannie,
Jim, in particular was

his obsession with
turning people onto music.

He used to love these records
and thought, you know,

that more people
should be hearing these.

I mean, they like music
and they wanted to have a shop

where people could find records
that you could not find in
another place.

That's the start of it.

And then, they realized
that sometimes,

you know, there was music that
had no chance to be on a record,

so, "Why don't we produce it
ourselves and create a label?"

I think that's the way it came.

Because maybe
they were a bit frustrated

not to find what
they really liked on a record.

"So, let's do it ourselves."

♪ Love

♪ Love

♪ Love

♪ Love

♪ Love

♪ Hey

RICHARD:
I think around '84, '85,

when we started to tour
with Ministry
at a support band.

I knew Ministry.

I had the 12-inch gold live.

So when they told us that we'd go touring the stage,

and open for Ministry,

I was like, "Wow."
I had a connection.

I knew the band.
But only this track.

There was a very cool
interaction,

even if the music back
then of Ministry was
completely different,

but there was a connection.

And the fact that Jim and
Dannie were there, too,
all the time, you know.

AL: The initial contact
with Front 242

is because Wax Trax!
record label

is also a record store
to retail outlet.

And what happens
is that a lot of these bands

from Europe
that we're big fans of...

The distributors in America,

it's very difficult sometimes
for the American distributors

to get independent product

from Belgium,
from Amsterdam, and things.

So, we said, "Why not just
go direct and get them
from the band

"license them
over here and do that?"

That's how the whole concept
of Wax Trax! started.

And that's how we
got together with Front 242.

It's just because we're fans.

RICHARD: Right after the tour, he called me.

He said, listen, you know,
I got this deal with Sire.

And before I start working
on my album for Sire,

why don't you come over
and we try to do something

and do something for Wax Trax!?

And that's how it started.

LUC VAN: And Richard
just came back from
an American Tour

and was overexcited

and said, "I'm going back,
you know.

"I'm gonna do
a studio project with Al.

"And it's gonna be
one or two songs.

"Do you want to join me

"and come with me to Chicago?"

I said, "Sure. Why not?"

Next thing I knew,
I was on a plane

with Richard to Chicago.

And I met Jim and Dannie,
of course.

They picked us up
at the airport with Al.

And the first thing
I ever saw of Al

was Al at the airport
showing his ass to us,

like even before I
went over that red line.

I saw Al's ass, you know,

and only a few hours later,
I saw his dick, you know.

So, it's like,
"Nice meeting you,
Al Jourgenson.

Yeah.

This week, Australia's biggest
ever computer exhibition

was held in Sydney.

For three days, the display
center at Cedar Point

was filled with silicon chips
and floppy disks

and liquid crystal
display units.

Now, for my money,
the star of the show was this,

the Fairlight Computer
Musical Instrument. It's...

RICHARD: He called me, I don't remember exactly when,

but we played September,
October and I was in January
in Chicago.

So, in between,
he called me and said,

"Listen, you know,
I got this deal with Sire.

"You know,
I got a big amount of money.

"I'm gonna buy a Fairlight."

AL: This Fairlight, when
it originally came out,

the record label
bought it for me.

And it was like $60,000
in 1982 money.

RICHARD: Fairlight, then was
a very expensive machine.

It was a machine that would
give you the possibility

to make samples,
digital samples, and put
them in a sequencer.

Peter Gabriel was using
that kind of machine.

Peter Gabriel
was like a world star

and he had the money
to afford a Fairlight.

We went to the music store
and we opened the box.

And it's such an expensive
piece of gear, you know.

There's a bottle of champagne
in the box when you open it.

And plastic champagne glasses.

So, we're in the shop, you know,

and we're drinking
warm champagne

because it was
in the box, and we...

I'll never forget, you know.
I was like, "Whoa."

To me that was the Walhalla
of sampling.

We thought the stuff
sounded pretty cool.

We didn't know what we
were doing on the Fairlight,

and it's just real
repetitive and drony

because nobody
knew how to edit
beats and all that on it yet.

We were really naive.

But, we thought,
"Wow, we're onto something.

"This kind of sounds cool."

The problem we had is that we
could use the Fairlight.

Turn it on, make a page
of sequence,

but we could not
make a second page,

so we had like 16 or 24 bars
of music that was turning.

But we could not figure out
how to do a second one

to stick them together.

Because that was
only eight bars,
or something, of music.

We always came up
with this hypnotic...

grooves, you know.

And that's how
the Revolting Cocks'
sound developed.

But the flavor of the music
of Revolting Cocks

was something very repetitive.

Because that's all we could do.

LARRY: Big Sexy Land
was the first
full-length record

by a Wax Trax! band.

It wasn't a licensed act.
it was a homegrown act.

The Revolting Cocks covers
with the original three guys.

Those are Dannie's relatives

taken on a bridge in the '40s
or '50s in Arkansas.

Those were the three guys.
Me, Richard and Luc.

We're instead
just Dannie's relatives.

Because we didn't want it
to be like a fashion contest.

We were just like,
"Put up those
old crazy miner guys."

BILL LEEB: To me, that was
one of the first times

where a true collaboration

of a bunch of guys from
different big bands
getting together

like an industrial super group.

Everybody came from
a different band that
was incredibly successful.

And I think that's spurned

a lot of other bands
to do that, you know.

What do you think of the impact

of Wax Trax!, you know?

Well, basically, you know,
being a regional store

for so many years,
we're able to, in Chicago,

influence musical tastes

by what we feel is good music.

Just like the radio plays crap,

we do the opposite.

[ROCK SONG PLAYING]

MAN: You have reached
Wax Trax! records label.

MAN 1: Hi, this is
the Record Gallery
in Dallas, Texas.

WOMAN:
This is Constance Jackson.

I'd like to know
if we could get Front 242,
The Revolting Cocks...

MAN: I have to talk
to you tonight.
It's Monday night.

We have to do a reader ad
for tomorrow.

ANDY: I mean, at the same time

that Jim was rapidly signing
new bands like KMFDM and Pig,

and Front 242
was hitting their peak,

that was when Al and Paul

unleashed the Luxa/Pan
explosion on us.

PAUL: My brother was in the band, Blackouts, with Erich Werner and Bill Rieflin.

I started playing
with the band.

I don't know, eventually
we met Al, or he came
to one of our shows,

He asked me if The Blackouts
wanted to join him

and tour as Ministry.

AL: I had no band,
they had no singer,

so, it was like, "Okay.

"Join forces."

PAUL: He really liked
what we were doing.

And I think he wanted his sound

to be harder than it was.

Maybe a year later,

Al asked me to go to England

to work on some new material.

Al and I stayed there
straight for six months

and we worked
with Southern Studios.

We were in there
whenever it wasn't booked.

The Jesus and Mary Chain did
their first record at Southern.

And so, they were wrapping up
when we got there.

And I really think that
that first Jesus and Mary
Chain record

really sprouted that whole

whatever the fuck scene is.

It's like, "Just be as
obnoxiously as loud as you
fucking possibly can be.

"And just fuck you."
It's so badass.

We also went to see Big Black

somewhere in
London at that time

and were really thrilled
about how aggressive it was.

We would go back to the studio
and go, "All right,
what do we got?

"Let's listen to what we got."

You know, like,
"this isn't cutting it."
You know what I mean?

Look, we gotta fucking
run this thing

through a bunch of mic pre's
so that it's just like...

You know, like, we gotta
toughen it up more and more.

AL: So I just
got so pissed off
with keyboards

that I just went back to
doing guitar, which is
what I grew up on.

That's Rape and Honey.
That was on both fronts.

I found a way to like
keyboards again

and I found my stroke back
with the old guitar days.

So, there was a nice
convergence there, too.

At the time, we weren't
dividing our projects.

You know, at the time,
we were just writing music

that ostensibly
was gonna go to Ministry,

to a new Ministry record.

Sire was paying the bills,

so, you know, we could just
go in there and just do it.

In 1987, I think
January '87, I think it was,

I was in London
at Southern Studios.

And we were in the kitchen
making tea.

And the door opened
and this guy
comes in and said,

"This is Al from Ministry."

You know, I had heard of
Ministry 'cause I had worked at
a record store

and I knew them from Arista.

So, I was like,
"Okay, like, that's weird."

Ministry? 'Cause I think
it was really kind of

lightweight kind of dense
electronic band thing.

You know, the thing about him

is that he was
a very charismatic,

very charming, sweet guy

who had a pretty over-the-top facade, you know?

He was very...
He came off like this lunatic.

So, he said,
"I have this one song
I want you to check out."

He gave me a cassette.
I had found a spot to sit down.

I listened to the cassette,
and I mean,
it was a good fucking song.

And then towards the end,
I thought, "Man, let's do this."

So, I just wrote lyrics,
you know.

I wrote this song is called
I Will Refuse.

♪ I will refuse♪

This song that
was largely predicated

on the conversations
that he and I were having

about his frustration
of being in a major label.

You know? He was so frustrated.

He was just furious about it.

And I was saying,
"I will refuse."

Like fucking, you know,
I won't get involved.

So I was thinking it was gonna
be just a track on this record.

And then,
a couple of months later,

I get a call and Al was like,
"We wanna do another song.

"We love this thing so much,

"we don't want to put it
on the Revco record.

"We want to do
something separate."

I go in there

and there's no set limitations.

Like, "Okay, this has
to be a Ministry song.

"Or this has to be for radio.

"Or this has to be for that,
or this has..."

We'll just record
with whoever happens
to be there at the time.

[punk rock music playing]

It developed into a successful

fantastic world, you know,

that they ruled.

And it wasn't anywhere else.

It was like the burning
center of America.

It wasn't New York,
it wasn't LA.

You know, it was like
in the center of America,

where all the hillbillies
and the losers
and the dorks live,

accordingly to the East
and the West.

♪ I hope no one
can find me

♪ Set in his ways
crying alone ♪

People knew that
we're flying in from Europe,
knew to do, just...

go by the studio,
go by the store.

And then, you know, like,

art came out of it,
just music came out.

We bought a DAT player
so that we could actually

play the Wax Trax!
releases that were
being made that week.

We would, you know,
have artists that would
come and actually

test out a... Either a test
pressing and/or a DAT

on a live dance crowd
in Smartbar.

It really touched on me that

it felt like a community,
you know?

It made me think, "I gotta get the fuck out of Cleveland,

because there's more
like-minded people here
in Chicago,

and I'd like to be a part
of some scene."

That trip to Chicago
collectively made me
leave the city feeling like,

"All right, there's really
something happening here."

ANDY: '87 was when things
really were taking off.

I don't think any of us,
including Jim and Dannie,

were aware of it
at that moment.

And, really,
that was the explosion
of Wax Trax!

So it's true that
between '86 and the late '80s,
before the '90s,

there was... It was the
beginning of the scene,
like, it was concrete.

It was not one or two bands,
it was more bands,

playing live, in America,
"Wax Trax!" above it.

[SINGING in FRENCH]

BILL LEEB: All of it was good.

I can't think of any of that
stuff that wasn't really
good or viable

or edgy or didn't
have a purpose.

I'd never heard anything
like that before, you know?

Fetus or Laibach, I mean,

other artists,
Greater Than One,
Cosey Fanni Tutti.

You couldn't pin it down
somehow, you just knew that...

Sort of, outrageous,
I think, would be the word.

It was just like unapologetic,
was their style.

It was like experimental music,
white noise.

They were deep
and dark elements.

They were not
like anyone heard.

They were not commercial.

JOE: Pushing the envelope.

Pushing the political and comedic aspects of things, and sort of,

what could they get away with? You know?

There's no such thing
as bad press, you know?

Just keep throwing gas
on the fire.

I got a letter in the mail
from Wax Trax!,

inviting KMFDM to open
for the entire Ministry tour

starting in late '89,
during its "The Mind
is a Terrible Thing" tour.

EN ESCH: And it was the time when Wax Trax! was interested in all those European artists.

And so that was totally,
coincidental, yeah?
And obviously...

It was Al Jourgenson,
basically,

who wanted to have a weird
European band on his tour
back in the days.

And so he made it possible
that we come over there
and tour with them.

We were realizing
what a potential there is.

US as a country, a big market,

long tour, second tour,
all that exciting,

totally nuts people everywhere
and they were totally into it.

And they said, "Well, you know,

we actually really want...
We want to sign KMFDM.

We're gonna give you like
a three-album deal."

I said,
"Why would you do that?

How many records of these two
licensed ones have you sold?"

They were like, "I dunno,
maybe 60, 70, 80,000."

I was like, "Holy cow."

♪ Black man, white man,
Rip the system

♪ Black man, white man,
Rip the system

[VOCALIZING]

EN ESCH: They turned
into a band,
just like over time...

KMFDM performances
were more like

in the art circles, like,

soundscapes, and in galleries doing readings and exhibitions.

It was basically
industrial noises,

it was vacuum cleaners
and feedbacking bass guitar,

and hammers on steel.

We call them in Germany...

[SPEAKING GERMAN]

Genius amateurs.
Cause that was very, like,
kind of a move, you know,

certain people didn't want to
make normal music anymore.

They wanted to be fucked up,
and dissonant, and stupid.

It was about the attitude.

ANDY: Some of the early
KMFDM records,
there were a lot of samples,

but on later records,
they would, Gunter
from the band would

play, like, endless guitar
solos and Sascha would
sample them and chop it up.

That became the backbone
to later KMFDM releases.

EN ESCH: He was a friend
from mine from Hamburg,
and we hired him to be, like,

a metal-style guitar player,

and double up our
other samples we had
from metal guitars.

Gunter's playing these crazy
custom-made guitars, like,

like something you'd see from
Gene Simmons, you know?

And he's like a guitar player's
guitar player.

EN ESCH: So we got a little
harder, we were kinda
influenced by Ministry.

But also Gunter Schulz
came into the picture.

It developed from maybe
stealing someone's riffs,

and then it's a very short way

to the point where
you start playing your own
riffs all of a sudden.

JIM: Most independent labels,
I find, that've been
really successful,

or somewhat successful, have had
a vision of a particular sound
maybe, you know?

Pretty much what
we wanna do now
is work with

self-produced projects
and the people we've met.

FRANKIE: I remember Jim had interest in what we were doing, naturally,

because he knew me,
and, you know, Mars from
Ministry, and all that shit.

And he was interested.

I think he was sort of like,
"Well, what can you do?"

All right, this is goodnight
from Thrill Kill Kult.

-I'm Jacky. He's...
-Groovie.

-And you are?
-Buzz.

I'm Buck.

-And we're...
-The...

The Thrill Kill Kult.

We put together, like,
three songs, on a cassette,
and were like,

"All right, here's what
we're working on."

They were like,
"This is really weird,
this is really different.

"We wanna put it out!"

He sorta said, you know,
"Go, go with it."

And so we did

compose our first EP.

And I suppose some people
saw us initially as a very
serious band, you know?

They really took out those
dark elements out of us,

the Satanic overtones
and things.

They really thought of us as,
like, ooh, ominous scary
band, you know?

And I had people that were
Satanic people that were like,

"We have your name on the altar,
and we all, you know..."

♪ I was raised in Mississippi

♪ I was raised in Mississippi

♪ I was raised in Mississippi

♪ I was raised in Mississippi

It wasn't about
"Worship Satan,
kill for Satan."

All the people that
take things the wrong way,

that come out
around some idea like this,

"Oh, you're anti-religious,"
or "You love Satan."

It was blasphemous.
I did draw on holy cards
that I'd xeroxed,

and made silly faces on them.
It was a doodle.

I wasn't really trying to rebel.
It was like
I really didn't care.

ANDY: You knew about Wax Trax! from the outside, and you'd hear this

brutal, aggressive music,
you don't think that
there's humor to it.

But really,
it's there in the music.
It's in plain sight.

I mean, Revolting Cocks...

I... I just don't know how
you cannot get the wink.

Even with so much Wax Trax!
music, I think people
missed the sense of humor,

much like they missed
Jim and Dannie's
sense of humor.

I mean, the music
is seriously good.
It's not novelty music.

But there's this wry sense of
humor that runs through it.

MARSTON: Jim and Dannie loved Laibach, but they loved Laibach because

it was so, like, over the top, and ridiculous, almost,

even though I don't know
whether they take themselves
really seriously,

or not so much.
I don't really think they do.

♪ Es gibt ein Leben

♪ Es gibt ein Leben

♪ Es gibt ein Leben

I'm not sure I get it.

I don't know
what's going on with them.

I could be wrong,
but I think it was a joke.

I'm pretty sure it was a joke
and a lot of people missed it,

but maybe I missed it.
I didn't take it seriously.

LUC VAN:
Perfect Wax Trax! band,
you know?

How provocative can you be,
you know?

It takes intelligent people
to understand that,

and I don't think...

that everybody's intelligent
enough to get humor
of Wax Trax!, you know?

It's like, very... it's very...

This is what it's all about.

Okay? Get it?

I mean, it's quite hard to
pinpoint a sound of Wax Trax!

'Cause the bands were very
different, and what they did,
you know.

Some of it was quite
rock 'n' roll, some of it
was electronic,

some of it was
"industrial," I guess-ish.

But that's what I liked about
Wax Trax!, it didn't have a
house style, did it?

Cause you put us next to
Revolting Cocks, we don't sound
anything alike, you know?

Yet we're on the same label.

And that's what
I think was part
of its strength,

was that it had this...
such diversity
of sound and artists.

I'd love to say that Wax Trax!
records was doing Wax Trax!
music, you know,

not necessarily industrial,
or metal, or whatever.

There was a...
dare spirit, you know?

You could have bands
like Lead Into Gold,

or Front 242, which were
quite different in a way.

But it all matched.

BILL LEEB:
We were like a big family.

When we went out on tour,
we had friends who'd help
us out and do stuff.

I think that's what kept it
going and made it fun.

The thing is, they created a
space for all of us, you know?

All the Wax Trax! people,
you know? Where we could
do whatever we wanted.

♪ One you lock the target

♪ Two you bait the line

♪ Three you slow
spread the net

♪ And four you catch the man

LUC VAN:
They would support you.
They'd be like,

"Oh, that's really brilliant.
Go and do that.

"Go to a studio, record that."

They would push you.
You didn't have to ask, like,

"Can I do a new recording?"
No, no, you were
already in the studio,

you were recording.

CHRIS: You know,
when you talked to Al,
he was doing everything.

You know, you talk
to Al, he'd say,

it was just like,
"I'm gonna do this,
and we're gonna do
this,

we're gonna tour
this, I'm gonna
do that,"

and you know it was just like,
okay, all right, we're gonna do
it all.

And he did. I mean, in a sense,
he was in the studio 24/7.

He called me up, and he was
playing "Stigmata"
down the phone to me.

And... what was it? I can't remember the turn of phrase...

"Man, this shit is hard
as nails. Hard..."

Then he held the phone up
to the speaker...

[IMITATES STATIC]
...down the phone.

And he just started going
into this, "We're going
to be enormous!

You should be the singer
for Revolting Cocks!"

So it was at that point that
I just, sort of, you know...

That's when Jim Nash stepped in,
and sort of got me a ticket.

♪ Yeah

♪ Yeah

[UPBEAT MUSIC PLAYING]

♪ Suck it and see, salute me

♪ Suck it and see, salute me

♪ Suck it and see, salute me

JOE: Really,
one of the classic,
metro Wax Trax! moments,

is the RevCo show.

I mean, you goddamn
son of a bitch.

MAN: The band comes on stage
with the Revolting
Pussies dancing in front,

who're immediately
the spectacle,
and taking off their tops.

LUC VAN: Al got a razor blade
and cut his arm open to have
real blood stuff on stage.

The Fairlight
was covered in blood.
And I remember, just like...

That's real blood!

CHRIS: That was really nuts.
And that's when I realized
that Al

thrived on chaos.

LUC VAN: Al always gets, like, the completely whacko side of things.

ANDY: And I really thought,
this would answer
those critics,

who say that Wax Trax! bands
don't play live, they don't
know how to play instruments.

I'm like, this is it.
We're gonna show 'em.

And, we proved
the exact opposite.

All that was re-recorded,
you know, before
the "live" album came out.

It was still a fantastic show,
and the record sounds great,

but, yeah, not that live.

-MAN: Okay.
-WOMAN: Okay. Indie label profile questions.

for mister...

-...that is a lot of work.
-MAN: A lot of money.

You know, as far as I can,
it's such...

The cash flow problems
of doing an indie label
are unbelievable.

And if I didn't have a store
to go to rip off,

you know, run into the ground
practically every month,
you know what I mean?

SEAN: There were two different businesses and they were constantly

taking money out of one
for the other and the other...

I didn't know
what the hell was
going on, half the time,

with the label and the store.

The Wax Trax! name, by then,
had a cache to it,

and there were people
who would buy anything
with the Wax Trax! name on it.

And there seemed to be
enough of them that...

that there were no risks.

With Jim's business acumen,

and the way they built Wax Trax!
into such a strong brand,

with a certain sound,
there was even a venue
or two in San Francisco

that would hold
"Wax Trax! parties."

First time I went on
a business trip
when I worked for the label,

was, I went to
the Winter Music Conference
in Florida.

And they wanted
to have a Wax Trax! night
at their club.

And it was filled to the brim
with kids just losing
their shit

to Wax Trax! record
after Wax Trax! record.

DJs were playing
only Wax Trax! records.

Wax Trax! always had a really
good market in the Bible Belt.

We always knew that.

Retail was really good
to Wax Trax! in the Bible Belt.

It almost seemed,
the more conservative
a small town you were in,

the more you needed
a Revolting Cocks record.

There were kids
who were stuck
in small towns

that, you know, didn't have
access to any of this.

There wasn't a record store
that sold Wax Trax!
or industrial music.

They didn't have connections
with friends that, you know,
had the same interests.

And so, by receiving
those packages,

they didn't feel like
they were on a desert island.

ANDY: There's an aspect
to Wax Trax! music
that's a little pretentious.

And so you would expect the guys
behind it to be that, but...

But they weren't.
Jim and Dannie were hillbillies.
They were just

normal, normal guys.

There, you could go in on any
Saturday, when they open,

you've got the owner
of Wax Trax!

and the record label,
vacuuming or something,

and talking to you about
the new music
and everything...

Again, I don't know about other
places but they were
approachable by everybody.

You know, I wanted to talk to
people who ran record companies

because I wanted
to make records.

Having them
listen to your idea,

and coming up with solutions
to make these ideas happen

was a big change for me.

The fact that those guys
wanted to support artists
who have no idea

what the fuck they were doing,
was the charm of Wax Trax!

There's no separating that.

It's like... Yeah, let's talk
about business people and what
they would do.

Who gives a fuck?
You know? Like,

that has zero, you know,
to do with this business,
you know.

It's... it's crazy.

LARRY: I think it was around
1990s, when

the business aspects
of it started to really
rear their ugly heads,

and it became apparent that
the model was not sustainable.

Things were unraveling,
and to keep at that level...

Like, wait.

You have this much money,
you haven't sold
a damn record yet.

Wait, how much
is this gonna cost?
We need that...

And I hate math,
and I hate all that stuff.

I'm like, "We have to be
sensible here."

They were not into figures.
They didn't...

I'm not saying they didn't care,
but they didn't realize.

They had the money coming in,
they would spend it on products,
or whatsoever.

Jim let the artists spend
as much as they wanted
in the studio.

He didn't care how much
the artwork would cost,
or you know...

It was really
throwing it at the wall.

We didn't have a focus
at that point in time.

We kinda put every release
through the same machinery.

Jim had set up a lot of
partnerships around
the world.

We had a close relationship
with Southern Records
in England,

and we had a close relationship with Play It Again Sam in Brussels.

At a certain point in time,
it seemed to make sense

for us to partner more
officially.

And we became
Play It Again Sam's
home in the US.

MATT: There were a lot of records that that deal required Wax Trax! to put out.

Even if it came to already...
even if you didn't
have to pay for recording,

saying yes to a record
was saying yes
to spending $25,000.

PATRICK: To carry the whole
catalog became...

made Wax Trax!
have a heavier structure
than they could carry.

And it kind of made
the boat sink.

The stuff on Wax Trax!,
the original stuff,
before Play It Again Sam,

that was because Jim and Dannie
saw a vision, you know?

There was something in those
bands that was part of them.

That made Wax Trax!

When the stuff came shipped in,
and they had to release it,

that wasn't Jim and Dannie,
that wasn't Wax Trax!

It was just something
they were obligated to do.

And I think that kinda
translated, and I think
fans caught on.

We already were dealing
with DJs and radio stations

that were only willing
to take a couple of records
from us a month.

And suddenly, we're sending
them, like, eight at a time.

We really just cannibalized
the support we had.

We forced people
to pick and choose.

And the writing was on the wall
that that relationship couldn't
sustain itself.

AL: In retrospect, sure,
everything could've been
done better.

You know, you try and do
something out of just like...

Just strictly about
the music and positive

and you're a fan and all that,

and it just bogs down,
with everyone all
of a sudden realizing, like,

"Wow! We're like
in the music business."

And you're being whispered
to by various managers,
and this and that.

"This is how it's done!
You don't do it like that.

You don't do it on
positive energy
and a contract on a napkin,

"or a handshake."

It becomes successful.
And once you get successful,

everyone just like,
it's torn apart.

I had heard that we didn't have
any contracts with our artists.

And that was weird
and different.

But we worked
really hard for the artists,

so I didn't think that
there was gonna be,
that it was an issue.

Wax Trax! had a really
great thing going on.

They had a very
unique aesthetic.
They had a very unique sound.

If people find out,
as with Factory Records,

that there's no contracts
or anything,

then, yeah,
business is business.

People are gonna swoop in
and just snap that stuff up.

Some independent labels that
operated without contracts

had verbal agreements
with their artists,
that if the artists left,

the records they made before
would stay with that label.

That agreement didn't exist,
verbal or otherwise,

with Jim and Dannie,
and the bands at Wax Trax!

Very clearly,
what was about to happen was

not only were some
of Wax Trax!'s biggest acts

gonna go begin
to work with other labels,

but they wanted to take
their records with them.

RICHARD: Leaving Wax Trax!
was heartbreaking, honestly.

It's curious to say that
because we decided to go.

But I think it was a period
where we realized

that Wax Trax!
had reached their

maximum in terms
of distribution, promotion.

It was like the business of it.
It wasn't the friendship of it.

We reached our point, you know?
And unfortunately, at that time,

things were going through
their transitions, too.

And as big as a lot of
the Wax Trax! records seemed,

a lot of those guys and gals
who were insanely talented,

they all still had other jobs.

You know? They weren't...
This was... you know...

So if you have
an opportunity, major label
comes along and says,

"This can be your only job.
You don't have to work
in the warehouse anymore.

"You don't have
to be a barback
at shelter anymore."

Hell yeah, that's what you do.

You know, I mean,
Jim and Dannie operated
the label on trust,

and, you know...

Then, that trust was violated.

And not by the artists,
but by the sharks that
were circling the artists.

Not only is the cutting edge
hard to find,

but once the mainstream
settles on what
the cutting edge is,

chances are it isn't
the cutting edge anymore.

And even in a place that's
supposed to be at the
cutting edge,

music can be a tricky business.

Wax Trax!, which was one of
Chicago's strongest
independent labels,

made a few wrong moves,
and has been in Chapter 11
since last year.

ANDY: Most of the big bands
had left the label.
We'd lost Front 242,

we'd lost Thrill Kill Kult,
we'd lost all the Ministry
side projects.

And it was gonna
be a real uphill battle
to rebuild the label.

And I think Jim and Dannie,
they needed an easy out.

They needed relief,
they needed an escape.

And all the other
opportunities had gone away.

Nobody would touch the label

because Wax Trax!
didn't have contracts
with any of its artists.

Steve Gottlieb from TVT
turned out to be

that company
that was willing
to do that for them.

As is often the case
in those kinds of deals,

Jim and Dannie chose
to put the company
through bankruptcy

as a way to right the ship
and get this deal done with TVT.

TRENT: Nine Inch Nails
ended up being a terrible
catalyst in a lot of ways.

At that time, just like,
somebody big comes
out of Seattle,

and they sound like this,
okay, sign every band
that's like that.

Nine Inch Nails started
to break out. "What is it?"

"Oh, it's industrial music."
"Okay, who else is that?"

You know, major labels
start coming in.

TVT would've seen
that as an opportunity of,

"Oh, lemme just scoop up
all this other shit"
and, you know...

Without any respect
for what the artistry behind it,
or what it means,

or what was good about it,
or resonated with culture.

It was just an asset.

I mean, they started out
with like...

Licensing and whatever, like...

TV series, melodies,
something like that.

That's why they're
called TVT tunes,
or whatever, TV Tunes.

There was all of a sudden,
there were bands like
Utah Saints, stuff like that,

but also like, early stages of people like Korn and, you know, people like that.

The whole thing
got bigger and bigger.

JOE: I think that
the scene itself had grown,
and it was tough.

And then...

You know, Jim got sick.

LIZ: You know, he didn't care
about the store, the label,
nothing anymore.

Why should he?
He's gonna die, he's...

Family.

Just...

Olivia, just...
that was the greatest thing.

JEANNE: All he wanted
to be was a grandpa.

And he really kind
of lost interest.

It was... the record label
and the store were
almost second to him,

that was his whole life then.

He had a granddaughter,

and he left work early
to be with her.

BILL: When I went
into the record store,
it was... I was...

I was really saddened
by what I saw
cause it was just,

"Wow, this is not Wax Trax!."

This isn't even
the first store on...

Ogden Avenue
and Denver's Wax Trax!
This was just a shell.

It was a place
to put some records

so that you still had a record
store, I guess. I don't know.

You know, things changed
when it moved to Damen,
okay, we know that.

That's just a fact.

I mean, the store
was such a presence to me
on Lincoln Avenue.

Walking into the Damen store
was just like...

was like, "Well,
we have a store
'cause we have to."

Basically, it just seemed like
it was made up of Wax Trax!
records,

inventory from our label,
Wax Trax! label,

and then some random records
left over from the store on
Lincoln Avenue.

The record store was
basically non-existent,

but, yeah, at that time,
I don't think...

I don't even know if Jim cared
whether he had a record store,

I think he just put it there.

Walking into the label,
it was...

Again, just this amazing
feeling, but there
was a lot of tension.

There was a lot
of stuff going on
at that time.

You know, Jim was sick.

Dannie was running around,
and...

they had just formed
this alliance with TVT.

And there were a lot of people
that weren't really into it.

So a lot of the staff
that were there,

was not all that happy that
TVT was now calling the shots.

JULIA: Sometimes he'd
be feeling like shit, and he
was sick, and he'd be in bed.

And that was that.
But every day,
I was over there,

I mean, he'd either
be attached to an IV pole
running around the apartment.

But he didn't...
He wasn't really any different.

There were a couple of times
when he was... really sick.

I feel like it was like
March of '95, maybe.

March, April, and it was like,
okay, he is dying.

JEANNE: He asked me
to come up. He said,
"I'll buy you a ticket.

"I just want you
to come up here."

And so I did.

And we all kinda
stayed together
at the apartment.

So I went in and I got him
a soda cracker
and I brought it back.

And he started to eat it,
and he said,

"Do you think you
could give me some water?

"Something to drink
with this?" And I said, "No."

He said, and it was almost
too good to be true,

"What did I ever do to you?"

And I said, "Well,
where should we begin?"

And we always had
that kind of relationship.

He had humor till the end.
He really did.

Somewhere.

We're in the front room saying
goodbye to Dannie, had already
said goodbye to Dad.

And he got up out of bed
and walked into the kitchen,

which he wasn't doing
on his own.

And stood in the doorway of
the kitchen and his bedroom,
and just stood there,

and Dannie and I
were looking at him, like,
"What're you doing?"

He's like, "I just wanted
to say goodbye again,"
with a huge smile.

I'm like. "Okay, Dad. Goodbye.
I'll see you tomorrow."

And he turned around and went
back to bed, and that morning,
the next morning,

I got the call from Dannie.

MAN: A sad note to report.

Jim Nash, president
and co-founder
of Wax Trax! Records,

died from AIDS on Tuesday
at the age of 47.

Based here in Chicago,
Wax Trax! is credited with

pioneering the industrial
music genre, with artists
such as Ministry, RevCo,

KMFDM and Front 242.

GINA: We were trying
to get a game plan
for the next morning,

because we knew it was
gonna be pandemonium.

We knew the phones
were gonna be crazy.

So the next morning,
we came to work,
business as usual,

but just ready for the circus
that was about to happen.

And our phones were
very, very busy, and it was...

people we didn't know,
just fans, and of course,
friends and family calling,

just to make sure that
what they had heard was real,

trying to get in touch
with Julia or Dannie.

So, it was a crazy day.

DANNIE:
In just about two seconds,
we're going to be done.

MAN: I was wondering
if I could ask you a couple
of questions about your partner,

about Jim?

I was just wondering
if you could just,
you know, tell me...

how you decided to get together,
and what're your
memories of him?

We met in 1972 at a...
in Topeka, Kansas,

and we went
to a David Bowie concert.

And...

Wait a minute.

I don't know
what to say about Jim.
He's... It's like...

Once he passed away, it just
took half of me, you know?

Half of the company,
half of the excitement.

I'm totally getting
back into this...

JULIA: It made a lot of sense
why Dannie was so,
kind of, just like...

...spinning, and not grounded
at all, and just like...

...was just lost,
because I felt that way.

In a sense, we were kind of,
like, controlled by my Dad,

who controlled a lot of shit,
what was going on.

And so to have that person
not there, controlling
you every

kind of what was going on,
what was happening, you know,

you're just kind of like,
"What now?"

And, so I can't even imagine
how Dannie felt
after 27 years of that.

I felt terribly for Dannie.

You know? I just, I couldn't...

imagine what that was like
for him. I mean, He really
lost more than his partner.

He lost his whole life.
He lost such a big chunk
of his life.

Personally, obviously,
but professionally, too.

I don't think he wanted to be
in a position to run a label.

I think at that point,
he was just a figurehead,
it was a name.

He wasn't running it, you know.
TVT was obviously in charge.

You know, Dannie just...

...was a name on a piece of
paper that had, you know...

But I don't think he cared about
any of those bands or anything.

I don't think he cared
about a lot after that.

Wax Trax! I think was pretty
much... dead to him.

TVT was a great, big, unfocused
monster, that didn't really know
what it wanted.

Which kind of made that whole
thing an impossible situation
for Dannie.

GINA: I don't think
that Dannie was...

a willing participant anymore
in their arrangement.

I don't think they wanted to
pay Dannie anymore, either.

They severed the ties, and...

paid off whatever
obligations they had,

and they had come to me
and said,

"We're going to close
the Chicago office."

JULIA: Right away,
there was definitely...

Dannie had a lot of sadness.

He was a lot quieter.
You know, that was the only
change in the beginning,

and that was expected.

Then it gradually started
to become, he was going
out all the time,

and never around, and...
I think when...

I noticed things really
kind of getting weird
was when I had to tell him,

"You can't take this
kind of money
out of the ATM every day,

"because you're not bringing
that kind of money in.

"And you're maxing out
what you can take.

"It's gone."

JEANNE: Dannie
was on drugs for his AIDS.

And I think he was probably
doing a few other things
along with it.

And he really wasn't...

Not the Dannie we knew.
He was not himself
at that point in time.

I know there were several times
after the office closed,

where we were in the city
doing stuff, and I
would swing by just to say hi,

and there were times when he
didn't want any company at all.

That was unlike him.
Usually, he'd be like,
"Oh, come on up and have a beer!

"Smoke a joint, whatever!"

But he became
a little reclusive.

FRANKIE: That period
was another twist
for all of us.

Leaving town, and going and living at his mom's house.

GINA: I'd heard he was
spending a lot of time
in Arkansas with his family.

I know that we would
drive by the office,
and the first floor had been

turned into retail,
and the garage
was a pizza place.

You know, it was just,
so bizarre.

I'd get little snippets
of what was going on,

that he'd moved to Arkansas,
all this sort of stuff.

So I knew that he was there.

And then I'd heard that no one
could get a hold of him.

I don't think I spoke to him
once after he moved to Arkansas.

Dannie just disconnected...

and it's kind of a blur
what happened.
We've heard stories.

But we don't really know.

GINA: But it's almost like he
didn't want anyone's help.
He just...

I think he just wanted to die,
and... and that's it.

JULIA: And, you know,
I'd promised him,

when my dad was at his sickest, and after he'd passed away,

I'm like, "You know, Dannie,

"you have nothing
to worry about.
If you ever get sick,

"you're living with us.
We're taking care of you.

"This is where
you're gonna be."

He... There was never,
for one second,

that he wasn't gonna be...
He was my parent.

You know? He was another parent.

CHRIS: He'd kinda disappeared, not off my radar,

it wasn't like I wasn't
thinking about him,
I just wasn't there anymore.

I had seen him
a couple of times,
and then I didn't... see him.

And...

Then I got...

A few phone calls.

You know...

'Cause we didn't know.
And then I found out.

WOMAN: We've got some guests
here with us

talking about something
happening on Chicago's
north side.

MAN: Metro Theater in the north side will hold a three-night multimedia concert

in honor of the legendary
Wax Trax! Records,

appropriately called
the Wax Trax! 33
and a third year anniversary.

WOMAN: Metro owner
Joe Shanahan is here

and Julia Nash, whose
father was one
of the founders of Wax Trax!

-Thanks for being here, guys.
-JOE: Good morning.

MAN: Tell us about the music
we will hear.

I mean, you're putting
the bands back together
in some form or fashion.

JOE: I think there was
a ten-year breather
where people were...

Yeah, nobody cares, you know?

People like me?
Yeah, my Wax Trax!
CDs were in boxes, you know.

They weren't out and open,
you know.

They were in storage!
They were in storage
in my apartment.

JULIA: I was saying,
"Are you sure, three days?"

Are you sure people
are going to come to this?"

I still... I was
questioning, like,

Really? This may
not be a good idea.

I thought it was just
like a little local
good-time shop, you know?

I didn't know that
it reached so far and wide,

that people traveled
from all over to come
to that store. I had no clue.

PATTY: And it was
the first time
that I recognized...

that power.
Because I was friends
with them since 1974.

But it didn't occur to me
what they had done.

AL: Turned the fucking
world on its ear
for a while, man.

It gave so many people
encouragement, hope, drive,
to do what we were doing.

It was inspiration to a lot
of people that I can see
now in retrospect.

You don't know that's going on while it's happening.

BILL LEEB: I look at Wax Trax! You can't separate Wax Trax! from Jim and Dannie.

And then all of the people
that embraced that,

and sort of followed
their madcap adventure.

LUC VAN: It was a celebration
of people who loved
being part of this group,

you know, like this scene.

If you've never been part
of a scene or community,

that's impossible to explain,
you know?

JULIA: People were coming up
to me the entire time.

Every single minute,
I was grabbed
by someone else,

that I'd never met
before in my life,

that was telling me how...
how their life has
been changed forever

because of the music
they put out on that label.

And that's what made
me think like,

this is an important story.

Because what I thought was
just these two guys
and their love for music,

and their excitement
for it all.

To have that kind
of an impact on
people and their lives,

and people around the world,
for that matter,
that's a huge thing.

PATRICK: I think a lot of
people realize how important
Wax Trax! was for them.

Not only musicians, bands,
but the audience.

How many times did I read,
"Wax Trax! changed my life"?

How many times did I read it?
And I can tell you,

even for me, Wax Trax!
changed my life.

PATTY: I saw, like, the love...

in the music that
they had developed,
it was... profound to me.

BILL LEEB: It's a live,
thriving, great thing
that will always be there.

LUC VAN: It's not nostalgia.

It's a continuation.
And I think that's
what I wanna say,

It's something
Jim and Dannie started,
and which is still going.

FRANKIE: Nothing ends...

Unless you say it's over.
You know?

[INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC PLAYING]

[VOCALIZING]

♪ Minds are empty,
heads are hollow

♪ You might find out
The truth is hard to swallow

♪ There's a place down there,
Where heads are square

♪ Laws are tough,
and you are bare

♪ There is a law
And there is a lawman

♪ Who is the right
And who is the wrong man

♪ It doesn't take much
To kill that guy

♪ Don't get in my face
And ask me why

♪ Texas is the place

♪ Hang 'em high

♪ Beers, steers, and queers

♪ Cowboy

♪ Beers, steers, and queers

♪ Texas is full of women
And willing

♪ Eyes too close
Billy hillbillies

♪ Who are these people
Raised in bars...

♪ Sex on farms

♪ Texas hoedown
This is the lowdown

♪ You're full of shit
Destined to go down

♪ Let's go down, herd 'em up

♪ If you agree
Then let's word 'em up

♪ And if you don't

♪ Then shut the fuck up

♪ Beers, steers, and queers

♪ Beers, steers, and queers

[VOCALIZING]

♪ I've spent my life
Go kicking shit

♪ Not gonna give up
Ain't about to quit

♪ Life is a bucket of...

♪ Gettin' rough
feeding stock

♪ Get in my way

♪ I'll knock you off

♪ Beers, steers, and queers

♪ Cowboy

♪ Beers, steers, and queers

[VOCALIZING]

♪ Beers, steers, and queers

♪ Cowboy

♪ Beers, steers, and queers

♪ I'm a crazy mother
In a drunken state

♪ A redneck asswipe
Who thinks he's great

♪ So full of shit
Diarrhea for fingers... ♪