They Might Be Giants

Restless Records was started in El Segundo, California in 1986 by Enigma Records and primarily released alternative, metal and punk records. Restless also licensed and released records from Bar/None Records, Metal Blade Records and Mute Records. And Restless had a fully owned subsidiary Pink Dust... Records. In 1991 Restless and a number of Enigma Records titles were acquired by Bill Hein and Joe Regis and re-launched in Hollywood, California. In 1992, Restless acquired the Twin/Tone Records label and classic titles by such artists as The Replacements, Soul Asylum, The Jayhawks and Ween. This added to Restless' already substantial catalog of titles by They Might Be Giants, The Cramps, The Dead Milkmen, Devo, The Flaming Lips, Stiff Little Fingers, T.S.O.L. among others. In 1993 Restless co-founded Alternative Distribution Alliance with Warner Brothers Music Group to handle its distribution and certain titles released by Warner Bros., Elektra Records, Atlantic Records, their affiliates and Sub Pop Records. Sub Pop subsequently became a partner in the venture. Within 10 years, ADA went on to become the largest distributor of independent music in America.
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Elektra Records is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group. In 2004, it was consolidated into WMG's Atlantic Records Group. After five years of dormancy, the label was revived by Atlantic in 2009. Elektra was formed in 1950 by Jac Holzman and Paul Rickolt in Holzman's St. John's... College dorm room. Each invested $300. The usual spelling of the Greek mythological Pleiad Electra was changed. Holzman famously explained, “I gave her the ‘K’ that I lacked”. He found the 'C' in the original name "too soft" but liked the "solid bite" of the letter 'K', citing its use in the Kodak name. The first Elektra LP, New Songs , was a collection of Lieder and similar 'art' songs which sold few copies. During the Fifties and early Sixties the label concentrated on folk music recordings, releasing a number of best-selling albums by Theodore Bikel, Ed McCurdy, Oscar Brand, Judy Collins and protest singers such as Phil Ochs and Tom Paxton. Holzman also recorded Josh White, who was without a record deal as a result of McCarthyite blacklisting. In 1964, Elektra launched Nonesuch Records.
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Bar/None Records is an independent record label based in Hoboken, New Jersey. Tom Prendergast started Bar/None in early 1986. Having previously worked in pirate radio and booked and promoted bands in his native Ireland, Prendergast moved to Hoboken in 1982 and started Pier Platters record store,... which subsequently developed a national reputation as one of the finest alternative stores in the country. With the store as a laboratory to try out records and to track the new and obscure, Prendergast figured a label was the next logical step. The first release on Bar/None was by Rage To Live, whose leader, Glenn Morrow, soon became a partner in the label. Morrow had already built a network of contacts in the alternative music community having toured nationally with his previous band, The Individuals, and had also worked in the A&R department of Warner Bros. and as the managing editor of New York Rocker magazine. The next act Bar/None signed gave them the success they needed to actively establish a roster of talent and worth.
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