The Indie’s Turn
Sub Pop Records
By Brighid Mooney

Many things have come out of the Pacific Northwest over the past several decades: Nirvana and the birth of grunge, Starbucks, the Mariners, my college roommate, a steady, unceasing drizzle and Sub Pop Records. 

Born out of Seattle in the late 1980s, Sub Pop began as a humble harbinger of grunge - that dirty, down-home musical movement that, for its brief, illustrious existence, took over America with distorted power chords and flannel shirts. Begun as a music fanzine called Subterranean Pop by college student Bruce Pavitt, the zine quickly turned into a small-time label as Pavitt used it to release cassettes designed to highlight the local music scene. During this time Pavitt was also writing a regular column for a local music paper called the Rocket and worked as a DJ at Seattle's KCMU.

In 1986, Pavitt teamed up with Jonathan Poneman, a local music promoter, and the alternative label Sub Pop was officially created with its first album release, the local Green River's EP, Dry As A Bone.  Pavitt had gone to high school in the Midwest with Soundgarden guitarist Kim Thayil, and the band was signed to the Sub Pop label in ‘87, soon releasing the single "Hunted Down."  Later that year, the band's first EP, Screaming Life, was released and, along with their second EP, FOPP, the following year, became a huge underground sensation. Soundgarden was soon to find major label success, and success for the indie label that gave them their start wasn't far behind.

Although featuring music from around the country, Sub Pop was at that time primarily interested in the local music scene and quickly acquired local favorites of the Seattle grunge scene like Mudhoney and Tad. But what turned the fortunes of the label around was the signing of a Seattle band called Nirvana. Sub Pop released Nirvana's first single, "Love Buzz," and immediately sent the band on what turned out to be a fledgling and quickly aborted British tour. Nirvana recorded Bleach, their first full-length album, soon after, and with the help of a successful last-ditch PR stunt in which Pavitt flew a writer from England's Melody Maker to Seattle in an attempt to hype the burgeoning Seattle music scene, the band, and the sound they made famous, soon had the eyes and ears of the world. By the time Nirvana and Soundgarden had signed on to major labels, Sub Pop's place in music history was secure.

Since then, Sub Pop's sound has mellowed as they have acquired more pop-friendly bands from the new indie-rock canon. But as if an attempt to hold onto and preserve the sound they helped spread to the world, Sub Pop has never lost touch with their alternative beginnings.  In 1998 they released the Jesus and Mary Chain album Munki, and in 1992 they compiled all of the recorded material of the Vaselines, one of the main influences of their seminal band, Nirvana, and released the Way of the Vaselines: A Complete History.

With the turn of the new century, the Sub Pop sound has grown and evolved to include many of the best and best-known bands of the indie rock movement, just now starting to enjoy more mainstream success. Recently, Sub Pop has been home to bands like the Constantines, whose 2003 album Shine A Light was a critics’ favorite, and recently re-released the Constantines self-titled debut album, never before available in the United States. Sub Pop is also home to other indie bands like Iron and Wine, whose album Our Endless Numbered Days was an indie rock favorite of this year, and who aptly covered the radio-friendly first single of another Sub Pop band, The Postal Service, whose debut album Give Up was highly lauded among critics and fans alike. Along with these fan favorites, Sub Pop has also provided refuge for bands such as the Shins, the Thermals, Hot Hot Heat and the Makers. The Shins’ 2001 album Oh, Inverted World was the band's breakout debut, and was followed last year by the equally well-received Chutes Too Narrow. The Thermals had a hit with 2003's More Parts Per Million and this year Sub Pop also released their follow up album Fuckin A.

But for all of their musical accomplishments, Sub Pop hasn't forgotten that other CD-recorded medium: comedy. In 2002, they released their "first intentional comedy record" with Shut Up, You Fucking Baby from comedian David Cross. The following year saw the release of a DVD documentary of Cross' comedy tour called Let America Laugh and that was followed up this year with Cross' second album, It's Not Funny. Sub Pop's most recent acquisition was the female punk band Sleater-Kinney, formerly of the nearby Olympia's Kill Rock Stars label, who joined Sub Pop in October.

With nearly 100 bands signed on, Sub Pop is a small label that isn't really that small anymore and whose success has been more than commensurate with its growth. By their willingness to change with the ever mercurial popular music scene and by placing their focus on the always prolific Pacific Northwest, Sub Pop has outstayed many of their indie label contemporaries and continues to grow and change into a future as full of possibility as it is uncertainty. Though Pavitt has now turned over most of the day to day responsibility to his partner, Poneman, his fanzine-to-label transition and ultimate success is a story of hope and perseverance to all those struggling in the DIY world of independent music.

 Click here to discuss this article on our new forum!

The little flags you see on our site are links to Amazon. We hope you will consider purchasing items through these links, as they help with the maintenance of the site.