Twin/Tone Records

Twin/Tone Records was an independent record label based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, which operated from 1977 until 1994. It was the original home of influential Minnesota bands the Replacements and Soul Asylum and was instrumental in helping the Twin Cities music scene achieve national attention in the 1980s. Along with other independent American labels such as SST Records, Touch and Go Records, and Dischord, Twin/Tone helped to spearhead the nationwide network of underground bands that formed the pre-Nirvana indie-rock scene. These labels presided over the shift from the hardcore punk that then dominated the American underground scene to the more diverse styles of alternative rock that were emerging.

Twin/Tone originated in the Minneapolis punk rock scene. The label was begun by Peter Jesperson, music and sports writer Charley Hallman, and Paul Stark. Releases by the pop/rock group The Suburbs were both Twin/Tone's first release (The Suburbs EP in 1978) and its last (Viva! Suburbs! in… More