Giant Records was launched as a joint-venture in 1990 between Warner Bros. Records and Irving Azoff, who had sold his companies to MCA Records for $15.7 million. Azoff had wanted to call his label Big Records originally, but that name had been taken. Warner saw this as a replacement for Geffen Records, which had been purchased by MCA Music Entertainment the same year. Giant used the catalog numbers that would have been assigned to Geffen, had it remained with Warner Bros. See also: 1989 in music, 1990 in British music, other events of 1990, 1991 in music, 1990s in music and the list of years in music // January 21 - MTVs Unplugged premieres on cable television with musical guest, Squeeze February 6 - Billy Idol is involved in a serious motorcycle accident... Warner Bros. ... Irving Azoff is a famous music industry manager of bands such as Jewel, The Eagles, Bush, REO Speedwagon, Dan Fogelberg, Seal, Journey, Christina Aguilera, and Van Halen. ... The Music Corporation of America, commonly known as MCA, is a United States based corporation in the music business. ... Geffen Records is an American record label, owned by Universal Music Group. ...

A start-up label for Warner Music Group (then called WEA), that at the time also bankrolled another new imprint, Interscope Records. Warner Music Group (WMG) is one of the four major record labels. ... Interscope Records is an American record label owned and operated by Universal Music Group. ...

Giant had some hits with such acts as MC Hammer, Tara Kemp, Color Me Badd, Jade, Lord Finesse, and teen pop star Jeremy Jordan. The company also signed Steely Dan, Deep Purple, Morbid Angel and later Brian Wilson, and released If Only My Heart Had A Voice by Kenny Rogers in 1993, who had previously recorded a number of albums for Warner's Reprise Records label. MC Hammer (born Stanley Kirk Burrell on March 30, 1962) is an American rapper who was popular during the late 1980s and early 1990s, known for his dramatic rise to and fall from fame and fortune, his trademark parachute pants, and for leaving a lasting influence on hip hop culture... Tara Kemp is an American pop singer from San Francisco, California best known for releasing the single entitled, Hold You Tight in 1991. ... Color Me Badd were a male R&B vocal group which was formed in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. ... Jade was a R&B group active during the early to mid-1990s. ... Lord Finesse is a Hip Hop artist and producer, hailing from The Bronx, New York. ... There have been a number of noteworthy men named Jeremy Jordan: Jeremy Jordan (actor) Actor/Musician Jeremy Jordan (porn star) American male porn star This is a disambiguation page — a list of pages that otherwise might share the same title. ... Steely Dan is an American rock band centered around the core members Walter Becker and Donald Fagen. ... This article is about the rock band. ... [[ Morbid Angel is a Florida-based death metal band assembled in 1983. ... Brian Douglas Wilson (born June 20, 1942 in Hawthorne, California), is an American pop musician, best known as the lead songwriter, bassist, and lead singer of the American rock band The Beach Boys. ... Kenneth Donald Kenny Rogers (born August 21, 1938, in Houston, Texas) is a prolific American country music singer, photographer, producer, songwriter, actor and businessman. ... Reprise Records is an American record label, owned by Warner Music Group, operated through Warner Bros. ...

Giant also licensed some independent artists, such as Too Much Joy, Big Head Todd and the Monsters, Letters to Cleo, Certain Distant Suns, and Denzil. Too Much Joy is the name of an indie music group formed in the early 1980s in Scarsdale, New York by high school acquaintances inspired by the music of The Clash. ... Big Head Leo & the Monsters is a rock band formed in 1986 in Colorado. ... Letters to Cleo was an alternative rock band from Boston, Massachusetts (although they originally started out as a ska band). ... Certain Distant Suns was a band that was very big on the Chicago music scene of the early 1990s. ... Denzil are a rock/powerpop band from Bournemouth, England, based around singer-songwriter Denzil Thomas. ...

While the company was good at launching the careers of new artists (namely R&B, hip-hop, and Country acts), it often had trouble sustaining their success for an extended period of time. In 1993, Giant became dissatisfied with the way Warner was handling its international affairs and subsequently struck up a deal with Bertelsmann Music Group (BMG) to distribute its records outside of the U.S. Hip Hop-themed graffiti emerged in New York in the 1970s Hip hop (also see hip-hop or hiphop) is both a music genre and a cultural movement developed in urban communities starting in the 1970s, predominantly by African Americans and Latinos – primarily those of Puerto Rican ethnic heritage. ... 1993 (MCMXCIII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar and marked the Beginning of the International Decade to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination (1993-2003). ... BMG (Bertelsmann Music Group) is one of the six divisions of Bertelsmann. ...

By the mid/late 1990s, Giant was quickly unraveling. In a bid to begin anew, the company changed most of its staff and renamed itself Revolution Records in 1996. By decades end, the company went back to calling itself Giant Records again, to little effect. Revolution Records was launched in 1996 as a subsidiary of Giant Records. ... 1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty. ...

In 2001, Warner Music Group ended its joint-venture with Giant, which was absorbed into its Warner Bros. parent. The last Giant release, however, did carry the originally intended Big Records name.

See also

• List of record labels
• Giant Records