If you've ever identified as an emo kid, chances are, you know at least one of the many bands on the Hopeless Records roster – Guttermouth, Avenged Sevenfold, All Time Low, Sum 41, to name a few. Now, the Southern California-based record label is celebrating 30 years of working with pop-punk greats with an exhibit at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. All Things Considered host Juana Summers recently visited the exhibit and met with Louis Posen, founder and president of Hopeless Records.
As they walked through displays of artifacts, they stopped at the label's first ever release in 1993: a seven inch record from punk band Guttermouth. "The first song on the seven inch was called 'Hopeless' and where the name of the label comes from," Posen told her. As for how he started the label in the first place, with no experience in the music industry: "I was doing a video for Guttermouth, and they dared me to put out the seven inch for them.
..so I went and bought a book called How to Run an Independent Record Label and asked my brother and his friend for $1000 and put out the Guttermouth seven inch.
And here we are, 30 years later." Posen said it's a "pretty amazing feeling" to see his work commemorated in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, "but it's not about me. This is really about great artists, a great team – and of course, the fans who make this all happen.
" The core of Hopeless' music hasn't changed, but a lot of things have. "Our community is really diversifying, which is an impo.