Shrapnel Records
| Shrapnel Records | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Parent company | Sony Music Entertainment |
| Founded | 1980 |
| Founder | Mike Varney |
| Distributor(s) | The Orchard |
| Genre | Heavy metal, speed metal, neo-classical metal, hard rock, instrumental rock |
| Country of origin | U.S. |
| Location | Novato, California |
| Official website | www |
Shrapnel Records is a guitar-oriented record label started in 1980 by record producer Mike Varney.
Guitarist Marty Friedman (ex-Megadeth, ex-Cacophony), one of the label's most successful artists, first appeared on the album Unsung Guitar Heroes II in 1980 with the band Vixen. Vixen would later change their name to Hawaii and release the album One Nation Underground for Shrapnel. In 1981, a friend gave Mike Varney a tape featuring a 17-year-old Swedish guitarist named Yngwie Malmsteen. A year later, Malmsteen wrote to the label stating that he wanted to export his music to America. Varney, who started writing a column called "Spotlight" for Guitar Player magazine in 1982, featured Malmsteen in his February 1983 column. The record executive flew Yngwie to California and set him up with vocalist Ron Keel's new band called Steeler. Steeler's self-titled album became a best selling release for Shrapnel Records.
The Shrapnel Records label and a growing worldwide interest in virtuoso "neoclassical-fusion" guitar playing helped launch the careers of dozens of other technically adept guitarists such as David T. Chastain, Vinnie Moore, Tony MacAlpine, Paul Gilbert, Bruce Bouillet, Joey Tafolla, Jason Becker, Michelle Meldrum and Nicole Couch (Phantom Blue), Greg Howe, Richie Kotzen, Borislav Mitic and the aforementioned Marty Friedman.
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Wikipedia