In the Beginning, God created Fundamental...

Sex, drugs, rock n’ roll, Quaaludes, LSD and Mescaline, the mafia, Morris Levy, Stiffed, stolen LPs and prog rock imports, Flipper, Butthole Surfers, Roky Erickson, Scratch Acid, Jesus Lizard, Eugene Chadbourne, Shockabilly, Jimmy Carl Black, Executive Slacks, Bunnydrums, Ruin, Stickmen, Bill Laswell, Philly punk, Naked Prey, Chip Kinman, Blackbird, Savage Republic, Red Temple Spirits, Shock Therapy, Dirtball, Used Carlotta, Six String Drag, Michael Hurley, NIL 8, Lilybandits, One Riot One Ranger, Bluegrass, Drovers Old Time Medicine Show, the Stanley Brothers, Blue Mountain, Spoon, John Stirratt, Love Tractor, Busted Hearts, Bill Mallonee, Tim Lee, Jack Logan, David Wolfenberger, Nutria, Urban Hillbilly Quartet, Goodness and Ken Will Morton (and Suicide), carousing the American highways and back roads, hawking music to record stores and camping, Philadelphia, Georgia, Cleveland, Minneapolis, San Francisco, Seattle, Chicago, Amsterdam, Arnhem, Hamburg, Munich, Brussels, Paris, Warsaw, London and Yorkshire, Important, JEM, Rounder, Greenworld, Red Rhino, Tony K, Rough Trade and Semaphore, Burnside, Red Eye, unpaid bills and Sonic Rendezvous, Bushmills, Black Bush, German bier, Heineken, Brand, vodka, Tetley’s, Everards and Tennetts, Glasgow, the Overtoun House, Guatemalan mission work and the Second Coming of Christ, Southern Miss, Ole Miss, Brett Favre, LSU, Belfast and IRA violence, civil rights in Mississippi, Princeton Theological Seminary, Carl McIntire, Bob Jones University, the Reverend Ian Paisley, and a doctorate in Irish history: This is the FUNDAMENTAL story. Arising out of previous adventures that imported, distributed and manufactured music from North America and Europe, THE FUNDAMENTAL RECORDING COMPANY was born in Covington, Georgia in April, 1984 - a move that saved me from exile in Philadelphia and returned me to the family homeland. Within four years FUNDAMENTAL became the center of the American independent music industry. FUNDAMENTAL has existed to various degrees of seriousness, and has had several additional homes, first in Oxford, Mississippi and now in Chicago with Tim Jon White. Music is the heart and soul of American culture and recording companies/labels represent a microcosm of the social, economic, and religious history of the United States: this travelogue will articulate the history and significance of the most important music and recording company since the time of Elvis, Merle Haggard, Johnny Cash, the Beatles and Creedence Clearwater Revival.

The History of Fundamental Records

Check back to read about the exploits of Fundamental Records founder, Richard Jordan, as he reviews the history of Fundamental and other assorted sundries in the history of the music business.