Bad Taste Records

Lore & Background

Bad Taste Records emerged in Lund, Sweden, as one of the pioneering forces in the country's punk rock and punk/hardcore scene during the early 1990s. Its name was taken from Peter Jackson's film *Bad Taste*, reflecting a DIY, irreverent spirit. The label's first release, the EP *Skate to Hell* by Satanic Surfers, came out in 1994, marking the start of its catalog. For a period, Bad Taste collaborated with the record shop Love Your Records, strengthening its local roots.

Reader's Guide

Bad Taste Records holds significance as one of the foundational labels in the Swedish punk and hardcore scene of the early 1990s. Alongside Burning Heart Records, it helped establish a platform for Swedish punk acts at a time when the genre was gaining international attention. The label's first release, *Skate to Hell* by Satanic Surfers, set the tone for its early output. Its collaboration with Love Your Records further anchored it in the local music community. Over the years, Bad Taste expanded its musical scope, moving from punk and hardcore into rock, emo, and rap, as seen in its diverse roster including CunninLynguists, Promoe, and Denison Witmer. This diversification allowed the label to remain relevant as musical trends changed. The label's legacy lies in its role in nurturing early Swedish punk and its adaptability, though it never abandoned its roots entirely. Its catalog represents a cross-section of underground music from the 1990s onward, and its name—drawn from a cult film—remains a recognizable marker of independent Swedish music history.

Did You Know?

• The label's name comes from Peter Jackson's movie *Bad Taste*.
• Its first release was the EP *Skate to Hell* by Satanic Surfers in 1994.
• Bad Taste Records was one of the first labels in the Swedish punk/hardcore scene, alongside Burning Heart Records.
• The label worked with the record shop Love Your Records for a couple of years.

Origins & the Lund Punk Scene

Bad Taste Records is a label based in Lund, Sweden, and it earned its place as one of the first record labels to take root in the country's punk rock and punk/hardcore scene during the early 1990s. It held that pioneering position alongside Burning Heart Records, and the two imprints together helped establish the label infrastructure for Swedish punk in a period when very few dedicated imprints existed. The name itself is borrowed from Peter Jackson's film Bad Taste, a choice that immediately signals the label's affinity for offbeat, genre-defying entertainment. The catalogue's first entry arrived in 1994: the EP Skate to Hell by Satanic Surfers, a release that set the tone for the label's early punk-focused output. During those initial years, Bad Taste also worked in tandem with the record shop Love Your Records, a collaboration that anchored the label in the local music community and gave their releases a physical retail presence. This combination of a specific city, a specific sound, and a tight-knit local partnership gave Bad Taste a well-defined identity in its formative period, one that would later serve as the springboard for its broader musical explorations.

A Roster That Spans Genres

The list of artists who have pressed records through Bad Taste Records reads like a snapshot of the label's evolving musical curiosity. Early punk and hardcore names such as Satanic Surfers, Intensity, Misconduct, and Hard-Ons anchor the catalogue's roots, while acts like Chixdiggit, Pridebowl, and Dropnose point toward the emo and rock currents that later entered the label's orbit. The roster also stretches well beyond those genres: CunninLynguists and Looptroop Rockers bring rap into the mix, while Joey Cape, David & the Citizens, and Denison Witmer represent more rock-oriented territory. Other names on the list—All Systems Go!, Astream, Early to Bed, ELWD, Embee, Four Square, Langhorns, Last Days of April, Logh, Mohammed Ali, Navid Modiri & Gudarna, Once Just, Promoe, Pyramid Vritra, Sahara Hotnights, Svenska Akademien, Turtlehead, Quit Your Dayjob, Wilma Vritra, and Within Reach—further illustrate just how wide the label's net has cast over the years. The sheer variety of these thirty-plus acts suggests a label that has always been more interested in energy and authenticity than in strict genre policing.

From Punk Purists to Genre Wanderers

When Bad Taste Records put out its first release in 1994, its identity was firmly locked into the punk rock and hardcore world. Satanic Surfers' Skate to Hell EP was the opening statement, and for a couple of years the label worked closely with the Love Your Records shop, reinforcing its position as a dedicated punk imprint in Lund. However, the label's trajectory has shifted noticeably over time. What began as an exclusively punk/hardcore operation has gradually drifted toward a broader palette that now encompasses rock, emo, and rap. The roster tells that story clearly: alongside the original punk acts, you will find rap groups like CunninLynguists and Looptroop Rockers, emo-oriented bands, and a range of rock artists. This diversification does not appear to be a wholesale abandonment of the label's roots; rather, it reads as a natural expansion of taste and opportunity. The fact that the label still operates today, maintaining an official website, a dedicated events page, and a YouTube channel, suggests that this broader orientation has kept it relevant and active well beyond the early-1990s punk wave that first put it on the map.

Pioneering the Swedish Punk Infrastructure

In the early 1990s, the Swedish punk rock and hardcore scene was still finding its footing, and very few dedicated labels existed to give local and touring bands a home for their recordings. Bad Taste Records, operating out of Lund, was one of the first to fill that gap, sharing the pioneering mantle with Burning Heart Records. Together, these two imprints helped create the basic label infrastructure that a young scene needs to sustain itself. The label's early partnership with the record shop Love Your Records is a telling detail: it shows that Bad Taste was not merely a studio operation but a node in a local network of music retail and community engagement. The choice to name the label after Peter Jackson's film Bad Taste also set a tone of irreverence and genre flexibility that would later manifest in the label's musical diversification. Decades later, the label still maintains an official website, a dedicated events page, and a YouTube channel, evidence that the foundations laid in that early Lund punk community continue to support an active, if evolved, operation.