I.R.S. records was one of the first successful independent "punk rock" labels. Miles Copeland III started I.R.S. Records (International Record Syndicate, Inc.) in the U.S. in 1979 after some success in the U.K. with his Faulty Products/Illegal Records labels there. Miles was the older brother of Stewart Copeland, a drummer with the mid-'70s UK band Curved Air, but was much more into the production/business end of things than Stewart. (A third brother, Ian, went into the booking end of the music business). When Curved Air went inactive after Amnesty '86, Miles managed Stewart's new band, originally called Strontium 90, but later, the Police.

The Police were in the middle of a late-'70s phenomenon in the U.K.: pub bands, playing what was first called "pub rock," drifted into the angry-young-man style that became known as "punk rock." Miles Copeland took his brother's band's first single, "Fall Out"/"Nothing Achieving," around to all the UK labels, but could find no takers in the disco-steeped late '70s corporate music culture. So he launched his own label, Illegal Records, and sold over 70,000 copies of the Police single. Miles started several other labels, including Deptford Fun City, and grouped them all under the umbrella of Faulty Products.

Miles Copeland negotiated a contract with A&M Records for the Police, and when it came time to launch his labels in the U.S., A&M was interested. Analogous to the Faulty Products umbrella, he set up International Records Syndicate, Inc. (I.R.S.) here, and initially put out records under the Illegal Records label with International Records Syndicate prominently displayed. Other labels under the I.R.S. umbrella were A Step Forward Records, Rough Trade, Fásiön Music, Deptford Fun City Records, Industrial Records, and Spy Records. This rather quickly evolved, however, to I.R.S. being a label in itself.

The use of the name I.R.S. was obviously a wry allusion to the more famous IRS, the Internal Revenue Service. Miles Copeland and his brothers had grown up as sons of a C.I.A. official, and spent most of their lives outside the U.S. as their father was assigned in various places. As another tip of the hat toward their Federal Government background, brother Ian named his booking agency Frontier Booking International (F.B.I.).

I.R.S. was initially distributed by A&M. In early 1985, I.R.S. switched to MCA for distribution of all new material, although A&M continued to issue product recorded before 1985. In 1990, I.R.S. became distributed by Enigma. MCA continued to issue some material recorded between 1985 and 1990.

Tracks on each album are listed in the order they appear on the album. An asterisk (*) before the record number indicates we do not have information on the correct playing sequence of the tracks, and consequently they are listed in alphabetical order for that album. This discography was put together from our record collections, Phonolog, A&M, Polygram, and Schwann Catalogs, and information contained on Mr. Bill's I.R.S. Corner. Several of the label photos are courtesy of Mr. Bill's I.R.S. Corner.

We would appreciate any additions or corrections to this discography. Just send them to us via e-mail. Both Sides Now Publications is an information web page. We are not a catalog, nor can we provide the records listed below. We have no association with I.R.S. Records. Should you be interested in acquiring albums listed in this discography (which are all out of print), we suggest you see our Frequently Asked Questions page and follow the instructions found there. This story and discography are copyright 2001 by Mike Callahan.