Other acts signed to the label in the early to mid-eighties included The Blackouts, Minimal Compact, Revolting Cocks, Wiseblood, Coil, Luc Van Acker, and The Young Gods. The band’s first club hit was “Headhunter” in 1988 from the label’s all-time top-selling album, Front By Front. A few years later Front 242 signed with European label Red Rhino then supported Depeche Mode in 1987 while maintaining its relationship with Wax Trax! Records. Front 242 then supported Ministry on their American tour as the opening act. Jourgensen, who worked for the label, encouraged the signing of the Belgian electronic act Front 242 in 1984. Wax Trax! Records had its most success in the eighties marketing 12 inch singles of cutting edge electronic artists. The following year Ministry signed with Sire and released a string of commercially successful albums. Then Ministry released several more singles for Wax Trax! Records including the legendary club hit “Every Day Is Halloween” in 1984. They went on to sign briefly with Arista Records for their debut album With Sympathy in 1983. The band steadily evolved toward a harder, more industrial sound. Ministry started as a synth-pop project based around Jourgensen’s experimentation with new electronic sounds. Initially, they suggested he play guitar for their band Divine, but then Jourgensen decided to make and submit his own demo and call it Ministry. In 1981 the label released Ministry’s debut single “Cold Life” after the band’s founder Al Jourgensen met Jim and Dannie. Some of the early bands they signed included Strange Circuits, Strike Under and Divine. Early Success with MinistryĪfter Jim and Dannie relocated to Chicago in 1978, they formed the record label that took the same name as their stores except added an exclamation mark. The Wax Trax stores became important local scene hangouts that helped expose countless underground punk bands and new wave acts experimenting with new electronic instruments. And though she will need to wait to learn if the building gets landmark protection and a plaque detailing the significance of Wax Trax!, she’s overjoyed by the outpouring of support and personal nature of the signees’ comments.These stores helped promote British acts that didn’t get much exposure otherwise in the United States. She has until March 1 to submit the requisite paperwork. “Wax Trax! played such an important role in music,” says Julia Nash, whose online petition had garnered more than 4,400 signatures by early Monday. Like that of the iconic Chicago blues label and recording studio, the Wax Trax! legacy continues to resonate beyond borders and across generations. In many ways, Wax Trax! can be seen as an equivalent to Chess Records, whose former location at 2120 S. ![]() Julia Nash’s focus remains on honoring her father and his partner by having the city recognize their accomplishments. She fears that if left unprotected, the building - currently home to a oral surgery practice - could be subject to redevelopment or other gentrification whims. Julia Nash adores the beautiful white porcelain brick on the facade. Wax Trax! filed for bankruptcy in 1992 and the store left Lincoln Avenue soon after, hanging on for a few more years in Bucktown. Tickets were sold at the store, whose exterior structure looks much the same today as it did decades ago. As what Shanahan calls “ringleaders of the misfits,” they played instrumental roles in bringing relatively unknown artists - English goth pioneers Bauhaus and Australian post-punks the Birthday Party included - to the city for their Chicago debut. In addition to helping promote shows, Jim Nash and Flesher produced them. Wax Trax! Records was a “destination” long before the term evolved into a marketing concept. Offering expert guidance and engaging conversation, Jim Nash, Flesher and their staff, largely comprised of deejays and musicians, tipped off customers to cutting-edge artists and must-hear albums that existed on the fringe. So did the people working behind the counter. Huge posters, custom displays, television sets playing videos and a baby-blue neon sign contributed to the creative atmosphere and palpable energy. Offbeat, independent, bootleg and import vinyl LPs filled the bins. The store carried a vast range of genres - dance, soul, R&B, heavy metal, electronic, rockabilly, hardcore, glam, avant-garde and more - and thousands of titles that couldn’t be found anywhere else. A record label of the same name, started by Jim Nash and Flesher in 1980, remains synonymous with industrial music by the likes of Front 242 and KMFDM. ![]() When Wax Trax! opened its doors in 1978 in a building that once housed a funeral parlor, there was nothing like it in the city - or country. ![]() ![]() The storefront, covered in white porcelain brick, was once Wax Trax! Records.
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