After a period of rapid contraction the label slowly expired, terminating operations and removing its music from online distribution channels early in 2012.

[3] Opposition emerged to the controversial local topics upon which Livermore opined and so he turned to the theme punk rock, a form of music he had followed in the late 1970s.

[4] Livermore began to reacquaint himself with the ongoing punk music scene by listening to the Maximum Rocknroll (MRR) radio show, broadcast weekly from Berkeley and featuring prominent scenester and future fanzine publisher Tim Yohannan and his cohorts.

[6] He also began living part-time in the San Francisco Bay Area, splitting his time between the city and his home in the mountains of Mendocino County.

[8] A vibrant local scene began to congeal, based around the Gilman Street Project, an all-ages venue inspired, bankrolled, and coordinated by the popular Maximum Rocknroll, launched the night of December 31, 1986.

David Hayes initially wanted to start a new label of his own for the purpose, to be known as Sprocket Records, with a view to a first release for the band Corrupted Morals.

[12] Livermore, a columnist for Maximum Rocknroll (MRR) who knew Hayes as a so-called "shitworker" for the publication, convinced the latter that a partnership was in order to advance their common goal.

[18] Before long Appelgren would be traveling to Livermore's Laytonville home to help with the stuffing of 7-inch vinyl into sleeves and packaging records for mailorder, becoming the label's first paid employee.

[20] In addition to differences in musical taste which became more apparent over time, the pair were temperamentally ill-suited, with Hayes understated and reserved and Livermore boisterous and gregarious.

[22]Although the winds of change had begun to blow even in 1988, David Hayes would remain very active with Lookout through the summer of 1989, albeit with dissatisfaction regarding the label's direction growing, and his expressed desires of departure becoming more frequent.

[23] Hayes had gradually come to find working with Livermore to be insufferable and sought peace and artistic freedom through formation of his own record label.

[24] The anti-commercial Hayes flatly rejected this proposal with the declaration that "there's too much golden light around Lookout right now," adding that work on his label of love had come to feel "too much like a job.

Screeching Weasel released their third and fifth to seventh albums, My Brain Hurts (1991), Wiggle (1993), Anthem for a New Tomorrow (1993), and How to Make Enemies and Irritate People (1994).

Lookout became famous for releasing albums that featured a very distinctive "Ramonescore" pop punk sound including bands such as Screeching Weasel, The Mr T Experience, The Queers, Crimpshrine, Green Day, Sweet Baby, Squirtgun, The Wanna-Bes and others.

Livermore rebelled at the new line, charging that MRR had increasingly become "a lifestyle journal for retro-punks" who "think if they dress up in the same clothes they wore 15 years ago, if they drink the same beer and play the same guitar riffs, that somehow it'll be the glory days of punk all over again.

The shift in direction and new releases from veteran acts like The Smugglers and The Mr. T Experience could not offset declining album sales and financial mismanagement including unprofitable showcases at the Warped Tour and CMJ.

On August 1, 2005, Green Day followed Avail, Blatz, Filth, Operation Ivy, Screeching Weasel, Riverdales, Lillingtons and Enemy You in announcing they had rescinded the master rights for their Lookout Records material.