Trojan Records
| Trojan Records | |
|---|---|
| Parent company | Sanctuary Records Group |
| Founded | 1968 |
| Founder | Lee Gopthal |
| Genre | |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Official website | www |
Trojan Records is a British record label founded in 1968. It specialises in ska, rocksteady, reggae and dub music. The label currently operates under the Sanctuary Records Group. The name Trojan comes from the Croydon-built Trojan truck that was used as Duke Reid's sound system in Jamaica. The truck had "Duke Reid - The Trojan King of Sounds" painted on the sides, and the music played by Reid became known as the Trojan Sound.
Trojan Records was founded in 1968 by Lee Gopthal, who had previously run a record store called Musicland, and before that collaborated with Chris Blackwell of Island Records on mail order sales. By 1970, Trojan Records artists who were successful in the pop music charts included: Lee Perry's Upsetters, Bob and Marcia, The Cimarons, Desmond Dekker, Bruce Ruffin, Nicky Thomas and Dave and Ansell Collins. Trojan's main function was not to develop new artists, but to serve as a sister label for Island Records. Monetary success came from releasing Jamaican music supplied by producers such as Duke Reid, Byron Lee and Leslie Kong, in a series of popular, budget-priced compilations such as Tighten Up, Club Reggae and Reggae Chartbusters. Trojan Records released songs from Toots and the Maytals (the artist who introduced the term “reggae” in song) and helped to raise the popularity of reggae in the UK. Matthew Sherman explains, “(Toots) he was also gaining exposure in the UK -recordings from 1969 and ’70 were licensed to Trojan records, who issued two more albums, "Monkey Man" (1969) and "From the Roots" (1970), both of which did very well in the UK and helped Toots gain a following there.” Musicians such as drummer Paul Douglas and Jackie Jackson can be heard on Trojan releases for multiple artists, including Clancy Eccles and Toots and the Maytals. The music became especially popular in British youth subcultures, such as the mods, skinheads and suedeheads.
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