Sub Pop: Classic or Dud?

Must say - and I could be totally wrong - the success of "Smells Like Teen Spirit" pretty much killed the "Sub Pop sound" era of the label. The Stooges-type bands (as likely Bad Company and Aerosmith influenced) ceased to be the label's interest at that point (eg. no more Green River Jnrs like 89's Blood Circus or Swallow) and they diversified far afield (or full circle: back to new versions of the oddballs on SUB POP 100). Part of the appeal of an underground scene is its "undergroundness", and the sense of momentum that carries when growing. After Nirvana hit, the "old" Sub Pop's work was done. Maybe?

Something more recent (97?): I did like "Baby Talk" on that Cheap Trick single they did w/ Albini. Good bass sound...

sub pop were the ultimate label that made me think that, in 1992-94, things could maybe change, that music could get less horrible and bad. more so than kill rock stars, more so than k, mainly because i guess they seemed less cliquey and olympia-insidery i'm sure that's due to the heavy percentage of bands with guys in them and the way my psyche works, but looking at a chunk of the catalog now is really making my mouth drop open.

also the voice of mark arm = classic and since sub pop put out most of his stuff they are sprinkled with the dust.

search: 'afternoon delight'; the afghan whigs 'congregation' and 'uptown avondale'; velocity girl 'what you left behind,' 'audrey's eyes,' 'warm/crawl'; soundgarden 'hunted down'; the spinanes 'spitfire'; mudhoney ... oh, hell, just mudhoney; green river 'queen bitch'; nirvana 'floyd the barber'; the fastbacks 'on the wall' and 'gone to the moon'; sebadoh 'bakesale'; elastica 'stutter'; l7 'packin' a rod' and 'shove'; seaweed 'squint'; the reverend horton heat '400 bucks'; every version of 'swallow my pride' (green river x 2, soundgarden, fastbacks, pearl jam + mark arm) because it is THE BEST SONG EVER EVER.

destroy: i never really got earth. and chixdiggit were really sort of, well no REALLY, dumb.

Dud: The whole grunge fiasco.

Their current roster is probably the best it's been since the mid 90s we're-not-just-grunge-y'know heyday of Velocity Girl and the Spinanes and suchlike..

It seems like so many of Sub Pop's bands sound like great ideas until you actually hear them. They sure knew how to do seven-inches, but the full albums never seemed to work out.

lesser (but still good): Afghan Whigs, Mudhoney, Zumpano, Love As Laughter (great bands but not so consistent albums IMO)

Velocity Girl - Copacetic
Velocity Girl - Simpatico
Pond - S/T
Pond - The Practice of Joy Before Death
Eric's Trip - Love Tara
Six Finger Satellite - The Pigeon is the Most Popular Bird
Afghan Whigs - Congregation

-David Cross' stand up 2xCD
-Love As Laughter's Sea to Shining Sea
-Pleasure Forever's new one is fucking killer
-and they now have the Constantines. This can only lead to good things.

What is up with Sub Pop not releasing anything on eMusic or the Amazon MP3 store? It seems like they have decided to only release downloads on iTunes, which is annoying. Anyone have a link to their justification for this?

there was an article on stylus a few weeks ago about indie labels and digital distribution and why some labels didn't go with some retailers, but I can't seem to find it on there now, and can't remember if they talked to sub pop directly. but it was a good article!

http://www.stylusmagazine.com/articles/weekly_article/brave-new-world-the-indies-go-digital.htm

Still nothing on why they are only on iTunes...

it probably has to do with how itunes handles payouts

Et voila!

so ... anybody planning on going to this: http://www.subpop.com/sp20 ?

halfway tempted to jump a last minute plane out there just to see The Fluid, Green River and the Vaselines .. but there also a number of clunker bands or bands I've just plain never heard

No Codeine or Green Magnet School... no credibility.

Blood Circus, as I keep saying.

i'm not even sure if green magnet school were even on sub pop to be honest...

Some sort of co-release, I think.

The Fluid is more than enough cred. Man, they ruled live.

gms had two sub pop 45s, one of their own and one split with six finger satellite..

the sleeper of the Sub Pop weekend is gonna be the Gutter Twins show on Sat evening, kind of a separate show. and i know there's lots of great stuff at the fest (wish i could go but halfway across the US), but boy, do the Gutter Twins kill it live.

i thought they had some big falling out on tour a few months ago and were finished?

uh. i had no idea. apparently not though!

(what's the source on that?)

Caught a glimpse of Sub-pop's version of cease and desist (for the newly leaked Mogwai album)

"Hiiiiiii guyssssss……

Isn’t this a wonderful album? We at Sub Pop think so, too. We like it so much that we’re paying a pretty penny to put it out. Sorry we have to be a Grinch about these matters, but we kindly request that you remove this (and all subsequent Sub Pop) release.

We do appreciate your enthusiasm, and we hope that our request (we don’t like the word demand, because we’re the cuddly type of suits) will not discourage you from buying our humble wares when it is released on 2/15/11.

Thank you, and have a good day."

wow sub pop still puts out albums huh

why wouldn't they?

future is in youtube-and-lathecut-only releases

everyone knows that cassingle will be the only format that matters in the 2k11

it's super annoying and sad that Sub Pop has to pretend that they're the ones in the wrong by politely asking a poor innocent uploader to remove an album that hasn't been released yet

like Matador would be all "take our fucking album down, you clown"

we’re the cuddly type of suits

this is not comforting.

keep misreading that as cuddly type of sluts

now you're talking

the smarm factor is so high in that email. i prefer WGW's proposed response; it's tougher, but refreshingly straightforward.

maybe assclown, instead of just clown. idk; that's just the litigator in me.

Poor innocent uploader was just sharing the new Mogwai with his closest 1,390,000 friends :-/

They were just gonna open up an AIM window and talk about it at once.

man i would be totally listening to blood circus right now

Go nuts:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCCZmJ4hA8k

I'm not surprised by that Sub Pop letter, it just shows me (again) that Seattle is a city full of passive-aggressive pussies.

it is! and thanks, ned.

still corners AND memoryhouse? i might start liking sub pop again..

Niki & The Dove too (but that may only be of interest to me).

don't know em, will have to listen

Gawd, I got some free Sub Pop stickers from friends at a record shop and couldn't believe how difficult it was for me to decide whether I should stick them anywhere or not. In full realization of being shallow, I am somewhat of a sticker guy and kinda developed an infatuation for them in my early 8-yr old skateboarding days... meaning, stickers were like, life man.

Or at least made stuff "look cool". I currently have a Merge sticker on the back of my mp3 player.. and have like 20more if any ilxors want some (pay fer ur own postage).

Anyways, I eventually threw the SP stickers away b/c I kinda had little respect for the label. They're great at defining their own niche, but I cannot think of a single act I like on the label. A whole bunch of bands I've listened to albums of maybe once, twice... never more. Just mediocre retro-act after another.

I laughed:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/25/virginia-tech-nirvana-letter_n_3653449.html

They put out some bullshit, but they put out some great stuff too.
I mean
P I S S E D J E A N S
Sub Pop still got it.

https://cascade.madmimi.com/promotion_images/0786/1789/original/SUB-POP-USA-cover.jpg?1413218591

Bruce Pavitt's SUB POP USA: The Subterranean Pop Music Anthology 1980–1988 Features Essays by Calvin Johnson, Ann Powers, Larry Reid, Gerard Cosloy, and Charles R. Cross; "The Insight Into This Period of Rock History Could Only Have Been Delivered by Bruce"—Kim Thayil, Soundgarden."

Bazillion Points Books is proud to announce the Nov. 15 release of SUB POP USA: The Subterranean Pop Music Anthology 1980–1988, (ISBN 978-1-935950-11-0) by Bruce Pavitt, an unprecedented, 400-page cross-genre survey of American independent music during the 1980s. Combining all nine issues of Pavitt's Subterranean Pop zine and six years of monthly Seattle Rocket newspaper columns, the book chronicles the rise of regional American indie pop, punk, hardcore, art/noise, metal, spoken word, hip hop, and rock’n roll—over 1,000 bands all told—alongside Pavitt's own path as DJ, zine editor, record store owner, music booster, and ultimately founder of Sub Pop Records.

In addition to unseen photographs by Charles Peterson and Michael Lavine, and early artwork by Charles Burns, Jad Fair, and Lynda Barry, the book includes indie perspective and regional background via original essays by Calvin Johnson (Beat Happening/K Records/Dub Narcotic Sound System); Ann Powers (NPR Music; Los Angeles Times); Larry Reid (Fantagraphics); Gerard Cosloy (Conflict, Matador Records); and Charles R. Cross (the Rocket, Heavier Than Heaven).

http://www.bazillionpoints.com/shop/sub-pop-u-s-a-the-subterraneanan-pop-music-anthology-1980-1988-by-bruce-pavitt

that looks neat!

https://bandcamp.com/labels

20$ a month they pay

Disappointing. Thought it'd be like a one-stop Love Battery/Velocity Girl shopping experience.

This is oddly appropriate, as the Sub Pop brand has the charm/personality of an airline: https://variety.com/2018/music/news/sub-pop-records-branded-airplane-1202894579/

Can someone explain to me why Sub Pop is celebrating its 30th anniversary this week?

n/m it's the anniversary of them being a limited company or something

Mark Arm is 68 years old and still shaped like a 12-year-old (Mudhoney at #SPF30 ) pic.twitter.com/6KfgqhoSid

— President Bran Warms (@awardtour) August 12, 2018