One of the first really successful house-music labels to have major label distribution, TWISTED America Records started life as TRIBAL America under ace A&R man Rob DiStefano. After IRS Records, an EMI subsidiary, was shut down by its parent, the label went through a dormant period and reemerged in its present form. MCA Records gave TWISTED America distribution until shortly after the MCA and PolyGram families of labels merged, which created the Universal Music Group, when MCA Records decided that it no longer wanted to be involved in house music.

Shortly thereafter, it returned to EMI distribution under its reissue label the Right Stuff, which released several maxi-singles, most notably remixes of several classic Yōko Ōno tracks. When that venture proved to be less than what either party wanted, a much smaller TWISTED America returned to independent distribution, despite returning to the prefixes it was granted with the MCA numbering system. At that time, the label unveiled a Web site and a digital-download store.