Blast First

Blast First is a sub label of one-time independent record label, Mute Records, founded in approximately 1985. It was named after a phrase taken from the first number of the radical Vorticist journal Blast, published by Wyndham Lewis in 1914. Lewis's "Manifesto" begins with the words "BLAST First (from politeness) ENGLAND". The label was founded by Paul Smith to give UK release to albums by Sonic Youth, a US band with which he was then working closely. It went on to specialise in music at the more extreme end of the spectrum, and featured more hardcore rock bands than the master label of its synth pop-oriented parent company. Before Mute Records was sold to the EMI group, Blast First fitted into the company's profile, which included...