Sub Pop
Sub Pop is a record label in Seattle, Washington famous for first signing Nirvana, Soundgarden, and many other bands from the local scene. They are often credited with taking the first steps towards popularizing grunge music.
History
Sub Pop was started by Bruce Pavitt in 1980 as a fanzine called Subterranean Pop (which was changed to Sub Pop starting with the 2nd issue). Inspired by the cassette fanzine Fast Forward, Sub Pop began alternating issues with compilation tapes of American bands (though several foreign bands did appear on Sub Pop cassettes). There were nine issues of Sub Pop in all: six magazines and three cassettes (issues 5, 7, and 9). After issue 9, Sub Pop switched to an all-cassette format (cassettes featured early cover artwork by cartoonists Charles Burns and Peter Bagge, but the project was scuttled by the amount of work required to continue it. It continued as a column in the Seattle newspaper The Rocket for several more years.
Kim Thayil of Soundgarden introduced Pavitt to Jonathan Poneman, and the two decided to form a record label in 1986. With several bands from the local scene signed to their label, Pavitt and Poneman worked to popularize the music to popularize their label. Their first step was the Sub Pop Singles Club, a subscription service that would allow subscribers to receive singles by local bands on a monthly basis by mail. This allowed Sub Pop to become a powerful company in the local scene, as well as make their label's name synonymous with the music of the Seattle area, much in the same way Motown Records was to Detroit. To further increase grunge's popularity, Pavitt and Poneman had a journalist from the British magazine Melody Maker come to Seattle to write an article on the local music scene.
Though Sub Pop was important in popularizing grunge, some grunge fans have criticized Pavitt and Poneman for their actions. These fans felt that their role in popularizing grunge was motivated by greed rather than by love for the music.
Sub Pop is also known for sales representative Megan Jasper, who created the hoax of grunge speak.
Artists who have worked with Sub Pop
The following artists have either been signed to Sub Pop or had material released through them:
- Afghan Whigs
- Steven Jesse Bernstein
- Hot Hot Heat
- Iron & Wine
- L7
- Love as Laughter
- Low
- Mudhoney
- Murder City Devils
- Nirvana
- The Postal Service
- The Reverend Horton Heat
- Screaming Trees
- The Shins
- Sleater-Kinney
- Smashing Pumpkins
- Soundgarden
- Sunny Day Real Estate
- Tad
- The Supersuckers
- The White Stripes
- Ugly Casanova
- Vue