Frontier Records the independent Los Angeles-based record label founded in 1980, celebrates its 30th anniversary this year with their 100th release, YES L.A., scheduled for later this year. Owned and operated by Lisa Fancher, Frontier is instrumental in releasing classic punk, alternative country, paisley underground, goth and pop records that are considered classic ‘must-haves’ to critics and serious music collectors alike.
Among the first to tap into the Los Angeles punk scene, Frontier Records’ initial success was releasing the classic Circle Jerks record Group Sex. This was later followed by Orange County’s Adolescents’ debut known as the Blue Album TSOL’s Dance with Me and Christian Death’s Only Theatre of Pain. However, it was the eponymous debut LP from Suicidal Tendencies that spawned the unexpected MTV smash “Institutionalized” that put Frontier on the map. If you caught the Don Johnson vehicle Miami Vice episode featuring Suicidal, you’d know the mainstream finally caught up with the underground.
