An early Punk label, set up by Miles Copeland of BTM (q.v.) and Alternative TV's Mark Perry, Step Forward was a member of the 'Faulty Products' group, alongside Illegal and Deptford Fun City. The company's signings reflected Perry's radical attitude, with the likes of The Fall and Chelsea sticking closely to their anti-capitalist principles; refreshing, when you consider how many Punk bands were hurrying to sign up to major companies at that time. That said, Sham 69, another of the Step Forward bands, went to to sign for Polydor and have a number of hits... The label lasted from 1977-c.83, and put out twenty-three singles / EPs, in an SF-0 series, and ten albums. There was a pause of several months after the first half-dozen releases; when things got going again, in August 1978, the original melticoloured label (1) had been replaced by a more sober one (2). When Sham 69 signed to Polydor in late 1977 their maxi-single 'I Don't Wanna' b/w 'Ulster' and 'Red London' (SF-4; 10/77) was reissued by that company, which resulted in injection moulded versions appearing; there were two, one with a black 'A' at 2 o'clock, one without (3).
With regard to manufacture, a lot of '70s Step Forwards appear to have been pressed by Linguaphone, others by CBS. According to Music Master, distribution was initially by Lightning; Faulty Products took over that job in 1978, and by the end of 1979 Pye was doing it. Thanks to Nicholas Hough for the second scan, and to James Denholm for the third. The discography below only covers the 1970s.
Copyright 2006 Robert Lyons.