today we unveil the brainchild of Bruce Pavitt and Jonathan Poneman...best known for foisting Nirvana on the world, these two toiled away in the upper corner of the PacNW making zines and a couple of cassettes w/ the Sub Pop imprint before actually coming out w/ a plastic disc...and then there was no stopping them. they correctly assessed that a watertight vision of graphics, sound, and sense of purpose would enable their efforts to be noticed eventually, and they also hit upon the bright idea of a 'Single of the Month' club, where they'd convince non-label bands to provide enough songs for a one-off single, subscriptions which were sold in advance. brilliant, and a ton of good stuff came out of that.
imo, sub pop's got two stories...pre-Nevermind and post-Nevermind. before Cobain changed everyone's lives (at least at the label), Sub Pop was known for farming out local grunge...i'm sure everyone knows about the stooge-inspired riffs (iggy, not curly), long tangled hair, and flyin' the flannel. for whatever reason, the Seattle area was hot bed of such denizens, and some of them made pretty great music (others not so much...Cat Butt, anyone?). so i'll try to do a split between old school grunge and new school post-grunge (which is a far wider ranging beast, though in my mind not nearly as effective on the whole). btw, photographer Charles Peterson probably did as much if not more to help define and create the sub pop aesthetic w/ his amazing gig photography...check out the section called 'the grunge years' on his site if you are unfamiliar w/ his work)
today's kickoff is from the best early band on the roster, Mudhoney. they were the first band to get noticed outside the local area, and i think the first to tour the UK. some great songs couldn't keep the momentum, and their subsequent cash-grab in the post-Nevermind sweepstakes/frenzy by signing to Warner Bros didn't break 'em like they thought.
they are still toiling though, and worth seeing if you've never seen Arm, Peters,Turner and Lukin bashing it out. good stuff.
In n Out of Grace
You Got It (Keep it out of My Face)
When Tomorrow Hits
imo, sub pop's got two stories...pre-Nevermind and post-Nevermind. before Cobain changed everyone's lives (at least at the label), Sub Pop was known for farming out local grunge...i'm sure everyone knows about the stooge-inspired riffs (iggy, not curly), long tangled hair, and flyin' the flannel. for whatever reason, the Seattle area was hot bed of such denizens, and some of them made pretty great music (others not so much...Cat Butt, anyone?). so i'll try to do a split between old school grunge and new school post-grunge (which is a far wider ranging beast, though in my mind not nearly as effective on the whole). btw, photographer Charles Peterson probably did as much if not more to help define and create the sub pop aesthetic w/ his amazing gig photography...check out the section called 'the grunge years' on his site if you are unfamiliar w/ his work)
today's kickoff is from the best early band on the roster, Mudhoney. they were the first band to get noticed outside the local area, and i think the first to tour the UK. some great songs couldn't keep the momentum, and their subsequent cash-grab in the post-Nevermind sweepstakes/frenzy by signing to Warner Bros didn't break 'em like they thought.
they are still toiling though, and worth seeing if you've never seen Arm, Peters,Turner and Lukin bashing it out. good stuff.
In n Out of Grace
You Got It (Keep it out of My Face)
When Tomorrow Hits
