Blue Thumb Records

US label founded in 1968; mostly appears just as "Blue Thumb" or "".
Label Code: LC 1228 / LC 01228
Initially distributed by , the licensing & distribution moved in 1971 to , a subsidiary of Gulf & Western Company who purchased the label in 1972 as In 1974, Gulf+Western sold its entire record operation, which included and , to . (A label history is in images). For its successive sister label, please see ABC Blue Thumb.

Blue Thumb Records was founded in mid-1968 by producer Bob Krasnow on the strength of a recording deal he struck with Don Van Vliet during recording sessions for the second album by Captain Beefheart And His Magic Band. The album had begun life as It Comes To You In A Plain Brown Wrapper, a conceptual double album for release on Buddah Records. However, Krasnow's idea of an independent label effected new directions. Vliet had considered re-naming his band "Blue Thumb", but this became the name for the new label. The resultant recording Strictly Personal, produced and engineered by Krasnow, became the first release on Blue Thumb as BTS 1.

Krasnow, who begun his career at , had previously effected a similar move with Vliet when he brought The Magic Band over fro