Founder of Los Angeles independent record label, Slash Records, Bob Biggs, has passed away at the age of 74. Biggs had been battling an undisclosed illness for a long time, according to Deadline. 

Slash Records first formed out of the punk zine, Slash, back in 1978. Slash Records’ first release was Lexicon Devil, a three song 7” released by the Germs, with the record label releasing their first full album, also by the Germs, in 1979. While the zine folded in 1980, the record label continued and went on to introduce punk to larger audiences first in Los Angeles, and eventually the nation, through hosting artists such as Faith No More, L7, Misfits, Failure, Dream Syndicate, Harvey Danger, Imperial Teen, Soul Coughing and many more. 

The label was sold to London Records, a subsidiary of Warner, back in 1986, with Biggs continuing to lead Slash until the label closed down in 2000. The rights to Slash Records were bought back from London Records in 2003, with the label being relaunched as a reissue label.

Slash Records exclusively became a reissue label in 2018, with the label’s parent company, Warner Music, selling off the rights to several former slash artists, including Violent Femmes, Failure, Soul Coughing and Grant Lee Buffalo to various labels between 2016 and 2017. While the record label no longer releases new music, Slash Records remains recognized as one of the first and most successful independent record labels in alternative music prior to its acquisition by Warner Music Group. 

Biggs had also helped with some of the artwork that was released by artists on his label, including building the burning “X” that appeared on X’s debut album, and by painting the babies that appeared on Swan’s 2014 album To Be Kind. In addition to album artwork, Biggs had helped co-direct Faith No More’s “We Care a Lot Video.”