Blue Thumb Records

US label founded in 1968; mostly appears just as "[b]Blue Thumb[/b]" or "".
Label Code: LC 1228 / LC 01228
Initially distributed by , the licensing & distribution moved in 1971 to , a subsidiary of Gulf & Western Company who purchased the label in 1972 as In 1974, Gulf+Western sold its entire record operation, which included and , to . (A label history [url=http://www.discogs.com/viewimages?label=Blue+Thumb+Records]is in images[/url]). For its successive sister label, please see [l=ABC Blue Thumb].

Blue Thumb Records was founded in mid-1968 by producer [a=Bob Krasnow] on the strength of a recording deal he struck with [a=Don Van Vliet] during recording sessions for the second album by [a=Captain Beefheart And His Magic Band]. The album had begun life as [i]It Comes To You In A Plain Brown Wrapper[/i], a conceptual double album for release on [l=Buddah Records]. However, Krasnow's idea of an independent label effected new directions. Vliet had considered re-naming his band "Blue Thumb", but this became the name for the new label. The resultant recording [i]Strictly Personal[/i], produced and engineered by Krasnow, became the first release on Blue Thumb as BTS 1.

Krasnow, who begun his career at , had previously effected a similar move with Vliet when he brought The Magic Band over from A&M Records [along with executives [a=Tommy LiPuma] & Don Graham] to the newly-formed Buddah label, created to gain distribution independence away from MGM for [l=Kama Sutra]. This had resulted in Krasnow co-producing the [i]Safe As Milk[/i] album and striking a working relationship with the band. [i]Strictly Personal[/i] on Blue Thumb was distributed by . The label's distribution, from BTS 20 through BTS 28, was by [l=Capitol] Records and starting with BTS 29 by ABC.

The label of was quite innovative, with a roster of artists rather 'left-field' or blues oriented, echoing the similar style of [a=Frank Zappa]'s [l=Straight] and [l=Bizarre Records] labels. Krasnow also created the sub-label [l=Banana Records (4)] for [a=National Lampoon] recordings, using the Blue Thumb "BTS" numbering system. By 1974 the label was being distributed by [l=ABC Records], who bought Krasnow out that year. Blue Thumb continued to be used as an imprint on some ABC releases (mainly for albums by The [a=Crusaders] and the [a=Pointer Sisters]) until late 1978 when [l=MCA Records] bought ABC Records and folded it and all of its affiliated labels a year later.
MCA revived Blue Thumb in 1995 as an imprint of [l=GRP Records, Inc.]. Following a series of label mergers and buyouts that eventually created the multi-national [l=Universal Music Group], Blue Thumb and GRP became subsidiaries of the [l=The Verve Music Group].
Blue Thumb was deactivated in 2005 and replaced with a relaunched .