Missing Link Records is a record store in Melbourne, Australia. The shop first opened in 1971, but was then called Archie and Jughead's, named after the comic. The shop's co-founders, David Pepperell and Keith Glass, established the shop as a much-needed rock record shop. The original aim for the shop was to stock imported records from the United States that were not readily available in Australia at that time. Melbourne is the state capital and largest city in the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-largest city in Australia, with a population of approximately 3. ... Archie Comics is an American comic book publisher known for its many series featuring the fictional teenagers Archie Andrews, Betty Cooper, Veronica Lodge, Reggie Mantle, and Forsythe Jughead Jones. ...

In 1978, Archie and Jughead's became Missing Link (after a brief stint of being called Dr. Peppers). The name was being used by Keith Glass for a record label. The name was taken from a wild 60s Australian rock band, The Missing Links, and was felt to greater embody the contemporary punk rock / new wave scene of which the shop had become a part, while still reflecting the owners' past. Missing Link had become an integral part of Melbourne's independent music scene, promoting and selling local releases, and acting as a source of new music from overseas. Punk rock is an anti-establishment music movement beginning around 1976 (although precursors can be found several years earlier), exemplified and popularised by The Ramones, the Sex Pistols, The Clash and The Damned. ... New Wave is a term that has been used to describe many developments in music, but is most commonly associated with a movement in American, Australian, British, Canadian and European popular music, in the late 1970s and early 1980s born out of the punk rock movement. ... In the context of popular music, the term indie (from independent) is often used to refer to a number of genres, scenes, subcultures and stylistic and cultural attributes, characterised by (real or perceived) independence from commercial pop music and mainstream culture and an autonomous, do-it-yourself approach. ...

The original owners eventually moved on, but Missing Link has remained at the forefront of independent music in Australia.

Today, the shop is one of the main punk and indie rock retail outlets in Australia.

The shop is located at Basement 405 Bourke St., Melbourne.

The Missing Link record label

Missing Link Records started as a record label in 1977. The initial releases were two retrospective 7-inch singles featuring bands the shop's cofounders had been in the 60s: The Union in the case of Pepperell and Cam-pact in the case of Keith Glass. The label continued to release 60s retrospectives, local Australian contemporary punk and new wave, and licenced material from overseas. International licenced releases included those by Flying Lizards, The Residents and Dead Kennedys. Notable local artists released in Missing Link Records include the Go-Between, the Birthday Party, Whirlywirld, and the Laughing Clowns. The Flying Lizards is a experimental music group that made several record albums: avant garde and free improvising musicains including Deborah Evans, Deborah Strickland, David Toop, Steve Beresford and David Cunningham have been members at some time. ... The Residents The Residents are an avant garde music and visual arts group. ... The Dead Kennedys are a punk rock band from San Francisco, California. ... The Go-Between is a novel by L.P. Hartley (1895 – 1972), published in London in 1953. ... The Birthday Party was an Australian rock music group, active in the late 1970s and early 1980s. ... Whirlywirld was a post punk musical project of Ollie Olsens in the early 1980s, and played in the Melbourne little band scene. ... The Laughing Clowns were an Australian rock and roll band fronted by vocalist and guitarist Ed Kuepper and backed by drummer Jeff Wegener. ...

In 2006, the shop started releasing records again under the Missing Link name. The releases include local Australia acts in Agents of Aborrence, Los Diablos, Terror Firma, The Focus, True Radical Miracle, and licenced releases for the Australian market by Minus The Bear, Regulations, and Bouncing Souls. Minus the Bear is a Seattle band with five releases to their credit. ... The Bouncing Souls are a punk band, formed in 1987. ...

External links

• Missing Link