Iglauer started the label with his own savings to record and produce his favorite band Hound Dog Taylor & The HouseRockers, whom his employer, Bob Koester of Delmark Records, declined to record. Nine months after the release of the first album, he stopped working at Delmark Records to concentrate fully on the band and his label. Iglauer was also one of the founders of the Living Blues magazine in Chicago in 1970.
In 1982, the label won its first Grammy Award for the album, I'm Here, by Clifton Chenier. The second Grammy came in 1985 for Showdown! by Albert Collins, Johnny Copeland, and Robert Cray.
Since its founding, Alligator Records has released over 250 blues and blues/rock albums, as well as a now-defunct reggae series. Present and past Alligator artists include Marcia Ball, Koko Taylor, Lonnie Brooks, Lil' Ed & The Blues Imperials, Eddy "The Chief" Clearwater, Sam Lay, Smokin' Joe Kubek & Bnois King, Roomful of Blues, Eric Lindell, JJ Grey & MOFRO, Lee Rocker, Cephas & Wiggins, and Michael Burks. More recently, veterans Charlie Musselwhite and James Cotton have re-signed to the label.
Disc 1
01. Hound Dog Taylor - Give Me Back My Wig (3:35)
02. James Cotton - No Cuttin' Loose (3:22)
03. Albert Collins & Johnny Copeland - Black Cat Bone (4:58)
04. Professor Longhair - Big Chief (3:15)
05. Koko Taylor - That's Why I'm Crying (4:30)
06. Tinsley Ellis - Double Eyed Whammy (3:29)
07. Lucky Peterson - I'm Free (5:18)
08. A. C. Reed with Stevie Ray Vaughan - These Blues Is Killing Me (3:08)
09. Little Charlie and the Nightcats - Rain (5:19)
10. Kenny Neal - Look But Don't Touch (3:23)
11. Elvin Bishop - Fannie Mae (3:20)
12. Jimmy Johnson - Serves Me Right To Suffer (3:58)
13. Siegal-Schwall Band - Leavin' (3:20)
14. Clarence 'Gatemouth' Brown - Born In Louisiana (3:52)
15. Charlie Musselwhite - Leaving Your Town (3:17)
16. Roy Buchanan - Drowning On Dry Land (6:22)
17. Detroit Junior - If I Hadn't Been High (4:02)
18. Big Walter Horton - Trouble In Mind (4:38)
Disc 2
01. Albert Collins - Brick (4:36)
02. Katie Webster - Pussycat Moan (6:05)
03. Lil' Ed & The Blues Imperials - You Don't Exist Any More (4:04)
04. Carey Bell & Junior Wells - Second Hand Man (4:02)
05. Delbert McClinton - I've Got Dreams To Remember (4:32)
06. Paladins - Going Down To Big Mary's (2:55)
07. Big Twist & The Mellow Fellows - 300 Pounds of Heavenly Joy (3:06)
08. Son Seals - Goin Back Home (7:05)
09. Lonnie Mack - Strike Like Lightning (3:42)
10. Saffire - The Uppity Blues Women - The Middle Aged Blues Boogie (5:42)
11. Lonnie Brooks - Eyeballin' (3:35)
12. Kinsey Report - Full Moon On Main Street (4:23)
13. Sonny Terry - Crow Jane (3:50)
14. Clifton Chenier - I'm the Zydeco Man (2:49)
15. Fenton Robinson - You Don't Know What Love Is (3:54)
16. Pinetop Perkins - Blues After Hours (5:02)
17. Johnny Winter - Boot Hill (3:35)
