It began as a record shop in Denver, Colorado, opened by life partners Jim Nash and Dannie Flesher, who sold the store in 1978 and moved to Chicago.

But it was the release of Cold Life by Ministry in 1981—along with the licensing of Front 242's Endless Riddance EP—that set the stage for Wax Trax!

were Minimal Compact (Next One Is Real), Front 242 (including Jean-Luc De Meyer side project C-Tec), KMFDM, PIG, VNV Nation, Underworld, Meat Beat Manifesto, Front Line Assembly, Young Gods, Sister Machine Gun, My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult, Coil, Chris & Cosey, Chris Connelly, Die Warzau, In the Nursery, Controlled Bleeding, The KLF, Braindead Soundmachine, Cubanate and Laibach.

The label also released a bevy of side projects by Al Jourgensen and Paul Barker of Ministry, including Revolting Cocks, Acid Horse (a collaboration with Cabaret Voltaire), Pailhead (a collaboration with Ian Mackaye of Minor Threat), PTP (short for "Programming The Psychodrill"), Lead into Gold (a solo vehicle for Barker), and 1000 Homo DJs.

[12] Dannie Flesher retired from the music business and subsequently died of pneumonia on Sunday, January 10, 2010, in Hope, Arkansas.

Records Anniversary commemorative concert with proceeds that benefited the non-profit "Center on Halsted;" hosted by "The Nash Group 2449 (The Nash family and friends including Metro Chicago's owner Joe Shanahan)" on April 15, 16 and 17th, 2011 in Chicago, Illinois; with performances by former Wax Trax!

Artists: Front 242, My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult; Luc van Acker, Paul Barker, and Chris Connelly formerly of Revolting Cocks with special guest Jamie Duffy; and En Esch, Günter Schulz, Raymond Watts formerly of KMFDM; additional artists included Rights of the Accused, as well as Chicago DJ's and VJ's.

Notably not included in the event were Ministry's Al Jourgensen and KMFDM's Sascha Konietzko, who issued a joint statement, saying:"Jourgensen was never asked to participate, and Sascha Konietzko's (and KMFDM's) desire to participate and perform was declined by the event organizers.

However, while we are both in no way associated with this event, we want to make it clear that we do support the good works of the charity involved and honor the memory of Wax Trax!

In 2016 Julia Nash began work on directing and producing a documentary about the history and impact of her father and his partner's independent store and label.

In 2019, Vans sponsored in coordination with Record Store Day, a six city North American tour to promote the film.