Razormaid Records

Razormaid was started in 1984 by Joseph Watt and Art Maharg in San Francisco, California as a music service for working club DJs. Their objective was to offer something other than just the regular versions that everyone had in their record bins. They created their own special versions of songs by editing and sometimes remixing the hottest club tunes being played (or about to be played) around the world. Their re-edited tracks set them apart from every other DJ service at the time and the music that they chose was some of the most cutting edge stuff available. Razormaid was not only creating some of the most memorable club mixes for DJs, but their attention to the look of their product's packaging was another landmark. Clever and witty design were always part of Razormaid's ability to stay one step ahead of the competition. Die cut jackets, full color printed sleeves and colored vinyl became the norm for every release. Each jacket, sleeve and vinyl pressing were designed with matching colors and each sleeve (once inserted into the die cut jacket) spelled out a letter of the word RAZORMAID in their cataloging scheme. Issue numbers such as R1, A2, Z3, O4, R5, M6, A7, I8, D9 and !10 were just another way for Joseph and Art to keep Razormaid on the forefront of the club DJ music market. Razormaid hit the peak of their popularity in the late 80's and early 90's. During that time, some Razormaid issues were selling at local record shops for as much as $200 US. Some DJs were known to play the Razormaid version over the regular extended club mix of a song because Razormaid would edit together all of the different vocal and dub mixes together in a way that drove dance floors crazy and kept DJs smiling. Sometimes the Razormaid tunes would sound better than their regular release counterparts. Joseph and Art even made names for themselves with the major record labels and had some of their work released to the general public. Such groups as Data, Depeche Mode and Erasure (to name just a few) were some of the artists to showcase Razormaid mixes along with the standard mixes. Around 1992 Art Maharg passed away and the service took some different turns with changes in the choice of music and with the graphic design of the product itself. Joseph Watt still runs Razormaid Records today but unfortunately the status of Razormaid today amongst working club DJs, as compared to their status in the 80's, is nothing like it once was. Still, Mr. Watt has yet to lose sight of the big picture by providing a remix service like no other on this planet. NOTE: Widespread deterioration problems exist with many of the colored CDr discs sold in the 2000's. The deterioration starts with digital noise in the tracks and eventually leads to unplayability. NOTE: Regarding the official and unofficial release discussions please read the reply by Mr. Joseph Watt himself: https://www.discogs.com/forum/thread/800928?utm_campaign=user-mention&utm_medium=pm&page=1&utm_source=relationship#7954177