Demon Music Group

Demon Records is a British record label, founded in 1980 by former United Artists A&R executive Andrew Lauder and Jake Riviera, who had previously started Stiff Records. The pair had also founded Radar Records in 1978 and F-Beat in 1979.

History

The label was originally planned to release one-off singles, with early releases from the Subterraneans (featuring NME journalist Nick Kent), the Spectres (formed by Glen Matlock), TV21, and Department S. Demon's first chart success came with Department S's "Is Vic There?", which reached #22 in the UK Singles Chart.

Further chart success followed with Bananarama'a "Aie-a-Mwana". The label then changed direction towards launching long-term artists. Lauder left to join Island Records in 1981, and Demon started a subsidiary label, Edsel Records, the same year, for reissues of 1960s and 1970s albums. By 1982, Lauder had returned, and Demon had spawned further sub-labels, including Hi Records (the Memphis soul label), and Drop Out (psychedelic rock).