It is over 30 years ago now that the Rough Trade shop opened its doors to the public in Notting Hill, West London. Disco and soft-rock ruled the airwaves, The Clash had just signed to CBS and Geoff Travis set up the company with a group of friends as a communistic, DIY alternative to the increasingly stale mainstream. Over the ensuing years the Rough Trade Shop, Rough Trade Records and Rough Trade Distribution profoundly altered the landscape of modern music.
Run with punk's revolutionary zeal, Rough Trade cast its net wide in its search for musical innovation, from French and Northern Irish punk rock to classic Jamaican dub. The label released many of the most important and enduring records of the 1980s by artists including: The Smiths, Scritti Politti, The Pop Group, The Raincoats, Galaxie 500, The Go-Betweens, Aztec Camera, Robert Wyatt, The Fall, Arthur Russell, Ivor Cutler and Linton Kwesi Johnson. Rough Trade looks back on three fascinating decades of innovation, noise and change, taking in ups and downs, twists and turns and some of the best music ever committed to vinyl.