The 99 Records Story

From ESG to LCD, Ed Bahlman’s punk-funk record label, 99 Records, is one of the most influential New York imprints ever.

The nondescript exterior doesn’t show it, but musical history was made at 99 MacDougal Street in New York’s Greenwich Village. The address currently houses a couple Indian fast-food joints, one specializing in a sort of Punjabi burrito, but three decades ago a different kind of cultural fusion was being cooked up. Downstairs, in what is now another faceless Village comedy club, was the headquarters of 99 Records, a record-store-turned-record-label vital to the evolution of New York dance music, post-punk and hip hop… read more >