Pravda Records was started in 1984 by Kenn Goodman, who wanted to put out a record by his band, The Service. "It seemed that other people thought we were a label, so we became one." After putting out other records by the Hollowmen, Shy Strangers, Claude Pate, and Green, the label was officially up and running and looking for an office bigger than Kenn's apartment bedroom. In 1986, the Pravda retail store was opened in Chicago to help fund the label and sell other independent and import music. Other releases such as 13 Nightmares, The Farmers, and the first installment of the K-Tel tribute series were released and some of them actually started selling!
The philosophy of the label has always been to release different styles of music for people with open minds. "All people have voices they prefer, sounds they enjoy, instruments they like, and moods they like to slide into when listening to music," explains Kenn. "That's why we have a diverse roster of talented artists, and not one label sound."
After selling the retail side of the business in 1992, the label became the main focus and today has over 70 releases, including the beautiful lush sounds of Susan Voelz, the haunting country punk of Gringo, the instrumental swinging grooves of The Civil Tones, to the insane trash pop of The New Duncan Imperials and the garage rock of Wake Ooloo. We enjoy different music here at Pravda, and the common thread present is the quality of the music.
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