1990–1995: Origins, early success, and joint ventures In 1989, Ted Field began to build Interscope Records as a division of his film company,
Interscope Communications. To run it, he hired John McClain, who had played a central role in
Janet Jackson's success at
A&M Records, and Tom Whalley, who had been the head of
A&R at
Capitol Records. Separately, Iovine, who had produced records for
U2,
Bruce Springsteen,
Stevie Nicks, and
John Lennon, among others, was trying to raise money to start a label. "I thought, 'Music is going to change,'" Iovine said in 1997. "'Young bands aren't going to be asking for me.' But I love working with the new thing. I always liked the part of the business that's the first time you hear something, and I knew I wasn't in that business anymore." Based in
Los Angeles, California in the
Westwood neighborhood at an office building on 10900
Wilshire Boulevard, Interscope was run by "music men". It was a departure from the music industry practices of the 1970s and 1980s, when labels traditionally appointed lawyers and promotion executives to senior positions. A founding tenet of the label was that artists would have complete creative control. Interscope began to develop a significant presence in the genre of
alternative rock in 1992. In addition to a second Primus album, the label released
No Doubt's
self-titled debut,
Helmet's
Meantime,
4 Non Blondes'
Bigger, Better, Faster, More!, acquired and re-released
Rocket from the Crypt's
Circa: Now!, and, through a joint venture with
TVT/
Nothing Records, the
Nine Inch Nails EP
Broken. However, Interscope's success with alternative and rock music was eclipsed by controversy which began in September 1992, when Vice President
Dan Quayle called on Interscope to withdraw
2Pacalypse Now, stating that it was responsible for the death of a Texas state trooper, who was shot to death in April by a suspect who allegedly was listening to the album on the tape deck of a stolen truck when he was stopped by the officer. The trooper's family filed a civil suit against Shakur and Interscope, claiming the record's violence-laden lyrics incite "imminent lawless action". Earlier in 1992, Interscope negotiated a $10-million deal with
Dr. Dre and
Marion "Suge" Knight to finance and distribute their label,
Death Row Records. It was initiated by McClain, who met Dre when he was recording his solo debut,
The Chronic. Original plans had called for the album to be released through Sony, but Sony passed on
The Chronic due to "the crazy things going on around Death Row" and the contractual status of Dr. Dre. After hearing the album, Iovine agreed to put it out, although doing so required a complicated distribution agreement with
Priority Records, Dre's label as a member of
N.W.A.
The Chronic was released in December 1992. By the end of the following year,
The Chronic had sold almost 3 million copies.
Snoop Dogg's debut
Doggystyle had sold more than 800,000 copies in its first week alone, and Primus and 4 Non-Blondes had released records which hit the US Top 20. In 1993, with an estimated gross of $90 million, Interscope became profitable ahead of projections. Interscope further established its strength in the alternative and rock genres in 1994. A $2.5 million investment to establish a joint venture with
Trauma Records yielded three number-one Modern Rock tracks and a platinum-certified album with
Bush's
Sixteen Stone. The Nine Inch Nails album
The Downward Spiral went to number two on the US charts and was widely acclaimed.
Marilyn Manson's
Portrait of an American Family,
The Toadies album
Rubberneck and Helmet's
Betty were commercially successful and critically embraced.
1995–2000: Gangsta rap controversy, acquisition by MCA, Aftermath and Shady In May 1995, the controversy related to gangsta rap and explicit lyrics intensified as
U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole accused Interscope of releasing music that glorified violence and degraded women. Among others, the label was criticized by
William J. Bennett, a former Education Secretary, and
C. DeLores Tucker, the chairwoman of the National Political Congress of Black Women. In September, Time Warner announced it would disassociate itself from Interscope by selling its half-interest in the company to Field and Iovine for $115 million. Ownership in Interscope was aggressively pursued by
EMI,
BMG,
PolyGram and MCA. On December 1, 1995, the
Los Angeles Times noted that with five albums on that week's pop charts and sales of $350 million over the previous three years, "what may have been a smart move politically for Time Warner is now looking like a financial fiasco." In February 1996,
MCA Records—then owned by
Seagram—bought 50% of Interscope for a reported $200 million. Under the agreement, Interscope retained complete creative control over the label's recordings. MCA was not required to distribute material that it deemed offensive. MCA also acquired Interscope's music publishing arm. Dre left Death Row in mid-1996 due to what was then reported as tension over the creative direction of the label, and founded
Aftermath Entertainment, a new joint venture with Interscope. In November that same year, Aftermath debuted with the album
Dr. Dre Presents the Aftermath. The Death Row deal remained in place until 1997, when Knight was imprisoned for parole violations. In November 1996, with records by Bush, Snoop Dogg, No Doubt, and Tupac Shakur, Interscope became the first label in 20 years to hold the top 4 positions on the
Billboard charts. Six additional Interscope releases were in the Top 100. The label was frequently criticized for overspending on artist acquisitions and joint ventures, however, with revenue for 1996 estimated at $250 million, it operated at a profit. In 1996, MCA Music Entertainment was renamed
Universal Music Group. In 1998, the Universal Music Group parent company Seagram acquired
PolyGram Records. MCA's
Geffen Records and PolyGram's
A&M Records were merged into Interscope, and in early 1999, Interscope Records began operating under the umbrella of
Interscope Geffen A&M Records, with Iovine and Field serving as co-chairmen. Iovine's assistant (and former intern) Dean Geistlinger saw
Eminem perform at the Rap Olympics in Los Angeles in 1997 and passed Eminem's CD on to Iovine; Iovine, in turn, passed it on to Dre. In February 1999, Interscope and Aftermath released
The Slim Shady LP. The album entered the charts at number two, and won two Grammy Awards. Later in 1999 Eminem and his manager,
Paul Rosenberg, founded
Shady Records. In 1998, Interscope signed a joint-venture deal with
Ruff Ryders. On June 22, 1999, Interscope/Flip records released
Limp Bizkit's second studio album
Significant Other selling 643,874 copies in the first week. It would go on to sell 16,000,000 copies worldwide. By the close of the decade, Interscope sales accounted for nearly one-third of Seagram's 27% share of the U.S. music market. Records by Limp Bizkit, Eminem, Dre,
Eve,
Nine Inch Nails,
Enrique Iglesias,
Blackstreet,
Smash Mouth and others generated an estimated $40 million in profit during the final six months of 1999.
2000–2010: Departure of Field, DreamWorks, Cherrytree Records and Beats Interscope/Shady released Eminem's
The Marshall Mathers LP on May 23, 2000. The fastest-selling rap album in history, it sold 1.76 million copies in its first week. On October 19, 2000, Interscope/Flip records released Limp Bizkit's third studio album,
Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water and it would shift 1.05 million copies in its first week in the United States, becoming the fastest-selling rock album in history. Cementing
Nu Metal's status in pop culture as a top selling genre during the 2000s. Also Interscope began its relationship with U2 after it acquired the US rights to market and distribute the album ''
All That You Can't Leave Behind''. Iovine had been trying to sign U2 since 1990. Described as an amicable parting, Field said he was "anxious to become an entrepreneur again." An agreement with Universal allowed Field to resign a year before his contract was set to expire. Conversely, Whalley, Interscope's president since 1998, accepted the position of chairman of Warner Bros. Records in May 2000 and was not released from his Interscope contract until it expired in August 2001. Interscope/Shady released
The Eminem Show, in May 2002 and the soundtrack for Eminem's semi-autobiographical film
8 Mile in October; the two titles combined sold more than 11,000,000 records before the end of the year. In 2002,
New York City rapper
50 Cent signed to Interscope with a $1 million advance. 50 Cent's major-label debut album ''
Get Rich or Die Tryin' was released on February 6, 2003, through Interscope. The album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200'' and the album went on to be certified 9× platinum in America. In April, it was announced that 50 Cent would sign and develop artists for release on
G-Unit Records, which would be marketed and distributed through Interscope. 50 Cent's success allowed G-Unit artists to release their own projects. On September 23, 2003, Interscope/Flip Records released Limp Bizkit's fourth album
Results May Vary, selling 325,000 copies in the first week. Debuting at No. 3 on
Billboard 200, ending Limp's number 1 streak from their previous releases. It would go on to be certified Gold in 2003 and later Platinum in 2008. Ending Limp Bizkit's commercial peak, the album would be their lowest-selling of their career up to that point. The band would go in hiatus in 2006, after releasing
The Unquestionable Truth (Part 1), their first EP and later their first greatest hits album called
Greatest Hitz in 2005. They both would sell 2,000,000 and 3,500,000 for a combined total of 5,500,000 worldwide. In November 2003, Universal Music Group acquired
DreamWorks Records and in 2004 it was merged into Interscope Geffen A&M. The DreamWorks A&R staff was retained, and the label's artists were divided between Geffen and Interscope. Among others, Interscope inherited
Blink-182,
The All-American Rejects, and
Nelly Furtado. G-Unit artist
Lloyd Banks released his debut studio album,
The Hunger for More in June 2004 through Interscope. Anchored by the success of the single,
On Fire, the album debuted atop the
Billboard 200 and achieved platinum status by the RIAA. In March 2005, Interscope launched
Cherrytree Records with
Martin Kierszenbaum, its head of international operations. Kierszenbaum, also a producer and A&R executive, focused initially on developing artists from outside the United States.
Feist and
Robyn were among Cherrytree's first artists. Four of Interscope's releases were in the top 10 of the year end sales charts in 2005:
The Massacre (50 Cent) at number one,
Encore (Eminem) at number two,
Love.Angel.Music.Baby. (
Gwen Stefani) at number six, and
How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb (U2) at number eight.
The Game's
The Documentary appeared at number 16, and
The Black Eyed Peas album
Monkey Business charted at number 18. In 2006, Dre and Iovine established
Beats Electronics. Dre had been approached by his attorney to start a line of sneakers, and when he told Iovine about the idea, Iovine said: "You know speakers, not sneakers." 'Beats by Dr. Dre Studio Headphones' were introduced in January 2008 at the annual
Consumer Electronics Show. "It took us two years to get them right, but when I heard I knew it was going to be big," Iovine said in 2010. "It's just like listening to a hit record." The marketing for Beats integrated endorsements from Interscope artists including
Gwen Stefani,
M.I.A. and
Pharrell, Lady Gaga, and
will.i.am. Lady Gaga's studio debut
The Fame was released in August 2008; it was re-released with eight new songs as
The Fame Monster in November 2009. Interscope held the top four positions on the 2009 year-end Hot 100 charts with The Black Eyed Peas' "
Boom Boom Pow" (number one) and "
I Gotta Feeling" (number four); Lady Gaga's "
Poker Face" charted at number two and "
Just Dance" was at number three.
2010–2020: Lady Gaga, Madonna, Eminem, departure of Iovine and appointment of John Janick In June 2010 Eminem's
Recovery entered the
Billboard 200 at number one, his sixth album to do so.
Born This Way by Lady Gaga was released in May 2011, and debuted at number one in 23 countries. In the US, with more than one million copies sold in its first week, it had the highest first-week album sales in five years. Four of the album's singles—"Born This Way", "Judas", "The Edge of Glory", and "You and I"—charted in the top ten of the
Billboard Hot 100. Interscope signed
Madonna and
Van Halen in 2011. Both artists were previously signed to
Warner Bros. Records; both released their first records for Interscope in 2012. In October 2012,
John Janick was named president and COO of Interscope Geffen A&M. The founder of
Fueled By Ramen, Janick had previous success with artists including
Jimmy Eat World,
Fall Out Boy,
Panic! at the Disco and
Paramore. At the time of his appointment, it was reported that Iovine had chosen Janick as his eventual successor—Iovine's attention had increasingly turned to Beats, which dominated the headphone market with 2012 revenues of $512 million. In May 2014, following Apple's acquisition of Beats, Iovine resigned. As anticipated, Janick was named chairman and CEO of Interscope Geffen A&M. Six Interscope releases appeared in the
Billboard year end album charts in 2014:
The Marshall Mathers LP 2 by
Eminem,
Ultraviolence by
Lana Del Rey,
V by
Maroon 5,
Native from
OneRepublic, Lady Gaga's
ARTPOP, and
Oxymoron by
Schoolboy Q. In December 2014 it was announced that
Selena Gomez, previously signed to
Hollywood Records, had signed with Interscope.
Imagine Dragons'
Smoke + Mirrors debuted on the
Billboard album charts at number one in March 2015. A week later,
Kendrick Lamar's album
To Pimp a Butterfly appeared at number one, a position it held for two consecutive weeks. Lamar won five Grammys in 2016. In August 2017,
JoJo announced she had re-signed to Interscope, in a joint venture deal to launch her own music imprint,
Clover Music. In October 2018,
YG Entertainment teamed up with Interscope Records in a global partnership for
Blackpink. Interscope and Universal Music Group would represent the girl group worldwide, outside of Asia. In May 2019, Australian
pop rock band
5 Seconds of Summer signed with Interscope Records, following their departure from
Capitol Records. On March 27, 2020, the band released their fourth studio album
Calm. The album was a commercial success and received generally positive reviews from critics who praised the band's artistic growth and maturity. The album charted in more than 25 countries on several charts, the album peaked in the top 10 on 17 charts and debuted atop the charts at number one in Australia, the UK and Scotland.
2024–present: Reorganization under Interscope Capitol Labels Group Interscope became the flagship label of
Interscope Capitol Labels Group beginning in 2024. The label also signed American singer
Jennifer Hudson, her first time being under a UMG label after being under four different labels with
Sony Music since 2006. The singer also announced she would release her fourth album,
The Gift of Love, her first ever Christmas album, which was released on October 18, 2024 and
Zombies 4: Dawn of the Vampires. As of 2026, releases of Interscope Records, included but not limited to
Lady Gaga,
Billie Eilish and
Kendrick Lamar, scoring multiple nominations and wins in the major award categories of
Grammy Awards (such as
Song of the Year,
Record of the Year and
Album of the Year). Their releases were awarded Song of the Year for three consecutive years already from 2024 to 2026. ==Corporate evolution==