Discover the Untold Underground Tale of Trade Mark of Quality

A Pig's Tale: The Ultimate Book for Music Addicts,
Record Collectors, and Curious Minds

Discover the Untold Underground Tale of Trade Mark of Quality

A Pig's Tale: The Ultimate Book for Music Addicts,
Record Collectors, and Curious Minds

When a pair of longhaired music freaks got ahold of studio outtakes from Dylan, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, and others, what else could they do but create a music phenomenon!

A Pig's Tale
by Ralph Sutherland and Harold Sherrick

336 full color pages
softcover edition
a complete discography of the entire TMQ catalog, including over 100 LPs and EPs
well over 350 images of rare albums, colored vinyl, and inserts
unraveling the underground history of Trade Mark of Quality and Pigman

Los Angeles in the Summer of 1969

In that hot summer of ’69 two longhaired music freaks created an underground LP record album of unreleased tracks by one of their music gods and put it out on the streets of Los Angeles. No one had ever been crazy enough to do such an audacious thing before. The god’s official record label was not amused but the music fans were thrilled. Were these guys pirates or heroes? It was so much fun the first time, they soon pressed up even more records of forbidden musical fruit. They were on a roll. The following year, in 1970, one of the culprits put The Pig image in a circular logo with the name “Trade Mark of Quality.” TMQ and Pigman were born!

With a cast of outrageous characters, here is the story of Trade Mark of Quality aka TMQ aka The Pig, the first bootleg record label of its kind, spawning many later imitators. From the end of the '60s to the mid '70s, TMQ and Pigman led the way, trotting down a muddy trail, feeding the habits and needs of music addicts around the world. Who were these fellow travelers? Carl? The Greek? Merlin? Hans? Rob Snout? Casper? Sheldon? The Blue Hasslebeast? Ol’ Fred? (Not to mention, The Brooklyn Boys, The Record Suits and The Feds!) What was the connection between TMQ and the Viet Nam war, revolutionaries, guns, pot and the moon landing? It’s all here!

Included in A Pig’s Tale is not only the Trade Mark of Quality and Pigman saga, but reproductions of all the rubber stamped and illustrated album jackets from every genuine TMQ record release, including the earliest releases from ’69 right up to the last titles in 1976. Everything you ever wanted to know about the real TMQ label is here: A complete discography of artists and track listings, sources of recordings, catalog numbers, master tape and record matrix info, colored vinyl pressings, record labels, graphics, photos, vintage news clippings, articles and more, all collected together, at last, in one volume.

A Pig’s Tale by Ralph Sutherland and Harold Sherrick, with their unique point of view, guides the reader through the never before told history of Trade Mark of Quality. It’s all here for the music lover and fan, the hardcore record collector, and the just plain curious.

WARNING! THESE EVENTS COULD NEVER HAVE HAPPENED IN ANOTHER TIME AND PLACE!

(Pigman says, “Be cool, put some sounds on the turntable and groove on with ‘A Pig’s Tale’!”)

This is the book you've been looking for!

This book is for you if you are:

a music lover or fan of Dylan, The Stones, The Beatles, The Grateful Dead, or the rock of the late 1960s or early 1970s
are seeking a fascinating historical account of the history of bootlegs
a hardcore collector looking for detailed information on TMQ releases
curious and eager to explore the untold stories of the music industry

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

The TMQ book is absolutely brilliant in every way - I couldn’t put in down until I read it from cover to cover - thoroughly fantastic photos as well - GET IT.

-John W.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Anyone who is interested in the story about bootleg albums from the late 60s thru the 80s should read this. This is a true story of real music fans and their love of the music, we are talking about rare outtakes, concerts and unreleased songs.

-Cole M.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

For serious music lovers who already owned at least 5 versions of every album release from their favourite bands, bootleg recordings were the holy grail that enabled the music fan to delve deeply into the history of their idols and to time travel back to places they had never been able to be present at in history. One of those bootleg labels was Trade Mark of Quality and it was hugely important in the history of underground unofficial recordings. The vinyl albums that they released are now highly treasured artefacts and can command big money when they change hands. They were also innovative. They were releasing beautiful coloured and multi coloured highly limited releases way before the major official record labels cottoned onto it. This book captures that history in incredible and beautiful detail. It is an ABSOLUTE MUST for serious music lovers and collectors and is an invaluable reference to that unbelievably exiting period in the late 60s and 70s when it meant everything to track down these elusive records.

-Paul W.