Headquarters: Stuart, FL
Inactive Roster[]
- Half Japanese
- Moe Tucker
- Happy Family
- Bongos, Bass, & Bob
- Coo Coo Rocking Time
- Jad Fair & Daniel Johnston
Key Releases[]
- Half Japanese - Charmed Life
- Moe Tucker - Life In Exile After Abdication
- Bongos, Bass, & Bob - Never Mind the Sex Pistols, Here's Bongos, Bass, and Bob
Biography[]
50 Skidillion Watts, named after a Half Japanese song, was founded by Penn Jillette with money earned through his Miami Vice appearance with the basic idea to put out both out-of-print and new records by Half Japanese, one of Penn's favorite bands. 50 Skidillion Watts also released albums by Velvet Underground drummer Moe Tucker (as Penn is a huge Velvets fan as well) and a few other smaller bands. 50 Skidillion Watts doesn't really exist anymore; if it exists, it's on paper only—they got burned by a distribution deal with Dutch East India Company, and it turns out that if they were to release anything else or re-issue anything, the distributor would get all the money. Luckily, some of the 50 Skidillion Watts records have been leaking out slowly on other labels recently, including Jagjaguwar and Drag City. Unfortunately, very few of the Half Japanese records recorded for the label have made it out, including Charmed Life, widely regarded as one of the best Half Japanese albums.