It has released punk, powerpop, garagerock, hardrock, glam and its roster has included artists such as False Alarm, The Fleshtones, Gaza Strippers, Garrett Uhlenbrock,aka Skinny Bones, Walter Lure, Lime Spiders.
The first year of the show featured a variety of hosts including Jools Holland, Jeffrey Vallance, and Wazmo Nariz before settling on Peter Zaremba, the lead singer of The Fleshtones.
Red Star Records was an independent, U.S. record label founded by former New York Dolls manager, A&R/record producer Marty Thau in 1977, who signed some of the most influential, American punk rock and new wave bands during the 1970s such as Suicide, The Real Kids, and The Fleshtones.
Some of the acts from outside of California who played at the Starwood include; The Damned, Dokken, Devo, The Jam, Cheap Trick, The Ramones, Dead Boys, The Stranglers, AC/DC, Slade, Vince Vance & the Valiants, Rush, and The Fleshtones.
As a sideline, the group - then consisting of both guys (Glen Tig, Harry Gantz, Greg Vines, Shaun) and gals (Jamie K. Sims, Karin Bradford, Nel Moore) - go-go danced onstage with rock-scene friends the dB's and the Fleshtones at clubs Irving Plaza, CBGB, Maxwell’s, and Tier Three.
The venue was owned by Hilly Kristal and was known as a forum which introduced artists such as The Ramones, Misfits, Television, the Patti Smith Group, Mink DeVille, The Dead Boys, The Dictators, The Fleshtones, The Voidoids, The Cramps, Blondie, The Shirts, and Talking Heads.