Blue Hat only just qualifies for inclusion on this site, as it released its first single, 'Boogie Town' b/w 'System Nine', by The Poole Family (BHR-1), as late as November 1979. All but one of its records appeared in the '80s. Numbers were generally in a BHR-0 series; they reached BHR-52 in 1987 but the vast majority seem not to have been used. In the early '80s the label design changed: it became white with blue printing and the initial hat was replaced by a stylized 'topper'. The label is mainly notable for the fact that it released a single by a band called Graduate, 'Mad One' (5-BHR; 1980), which featured Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith, soon to be in Tears For Fears. Christopher MacAdams has a site dedicated to the band; it features a page about Blue Hat Records and can be found here. Orzabal also produced the Poole Family single, which was pressed by RCA and distributed by Pinnacle. As Klepsie of the 45cat site has kindly pointed out, two of a trio of uncredited singles mentioned in Stephen Pile's 1988 book 'The Return of Heroic Failures' as allegedly having achieved admirable low sales were actually by Tony Hill and were on Blue Hat; they were 'Cuckoo Clock' (BHR-8; 12/82) and 'I Am A Pirate King' (BHR-12; 1983). The third, 'Old King Cole', remains elusive but it may well have been another Blue Hat record. The sales figures were said to be 3, 11 and 1 respectively; but, as the book insisted, they were unconfirmed at the time of printing.
Copyright 2006 Robert Lyons.