Grunt Records was formed in 1970 when Jefferson Airplane renegotiated their contract with RCA Records. Initially, Paul Kantner, Grace Slick, Jorma Kaukonen, Jack Casady, and Bill Thompson were responsible for managing. The name was inspired by a working title for the Volunteers album, "Squat on My Grunt."[1] The first artists signed to the label were Jefferson Airplane, Hot Tuna, Peter Kaukonen, Jack Bonus, Papa John Creach, 1, and Richmond Talbott.[2]
Thompson took over management of Grunt in 1973 and signed former Airplane drummer Joey Covington and Jack Traylor to the label. In 1974, RCA dropped all Grunt artists except for Jefferson Starship and Hot Tuna. Jorma Kaukonen signed to a solo deal with RCA in 1979, and Hot Tuna released Final Vinyl. Jefferson Starship and Starship used the label until Grace Slick left the band and joined Jefferson Airplane for a reunion tour and album on Epic Records.
To promote the label, Greg Irons and Tom Veitch wrote two issues of a comic book called Grunt Comix.[3]
