Creation Records' Doing It For the Kids LP

Thirty years ago, on August 8, 1988, Creation Records released an album they hawked for the price of a seven-inch single. That album, Doing It For the Kids, featured 15 tracks from Creation Records’ fledging roster that included My Bloody Valentine, Felt, and the Jazz Butcher among others.

The release of that record came less than a day after a show – also titled Doing It For the Kids – at the Town & Country Club along Highgate Road in London that featured the majority of the bands from the album. That August 8 also saw the simultaneous release of two seven-inch singles from My Bloody Valentine (“You Made Me Realise”) and The House of Love (“Destroy the Heart”) that are some of the most influential releases in modern music history.

This was an incredible time for the independent music labels.

A few years earlier, Rough Trade came out with the Smiths, Stiff Little Fingers, Aztec Camera, and the Sundays to name a few.

At the time of Creation Records’ ascent, 4AD Records came out as well with a roster that included the Pixies, Lush, Modern English, the Breeders, and the Cocteau Twins to also name a few that tastes success and a stir in the music industry.

Creation exploded like a supernova and their high point was the mid-1990s with Oasis. They shut down rather surprisingly in 1999.

But going back to Doing It For the Kids. It’s one of those albums that provided a glimpse into all these then-new and promising bands. Growing up in Manila, Doing It For the Kids had the same effect that The Best of Punk and New Wave Rock, the Times Square soundtrack, and local releases 10 of A Different Kind and Alert Level did for someone looking for new music.

Surprisingly, in the back bin market, the record of Doing It For the Kids only sells for a high of 11.25 Euros (roughly PhP700).

Even so, this is still a landmark album. Happy to have this.