Sub Pop
Sub Pop is a record label founded in 1986 by Bruce Pavitt and Jonathan Poneman. Sub Pop achieved fame in the early 1990s for signing Seattle bands such as Nirvana, Soundgarden, and Mudhoney, central players in the grunge movement.[1] They are often credited with helping popularize grunge music. The label's roster includes Fleet Foxes, Tad (band), Beach House, The Postal Service, Sleater-Kinney, Flight of the Conchords, Foals, Blitzen Trapper, Father John Misty, clipping., Shabazz Palaces, Weyes Blood, Guerilla Toss, Bully, Low, METZ, Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever, Kiwi Jr., TV Priest and The Shins. In 1995, the owners of Sub Pop sold a 49% stake of the label to the Warner Music Group.[2]
Sub Pop
Warner Music Group (49%)
1986
ADA (US)
Outside Music (Canada)
Merlin Network (digital)
- Various; primarily alternative rock
- punk rock
- indie pop
- hip hop
- comedy
United States
History[edit]
Formation[edit]
The origins of Sub Pop can be traced back to the early 1980s, when Bruce Pavitt started a fanzine called Subterranean Pop that focused exclusively on American independent record labels. Pavitt undertook the project in order to earn course credit while attending Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington. By the fourth issue, Pavitt had shortened the name to Sub Pop and began alternating issues with compilation tapes of underground rock bands. The Sub Pop #5 cassette, released in 1982, sold two thousand copies.[3] In 1983, Pavitt moved to Seattle, Washington, and released the ninth and final issue of Sub Pop. While in Seattle, he wrote a column for local music magazine The Rocket titled "Sub Pop U.S.A.", a column he ended in 1988.[4][5]
In 1986, Pavitt released the first Sub Pop LP, the compilation Sub Pop 100, which featured material by artists including Sonic Youth, Naked Raygun, Wipers, and Scratch Acid. Seattle group Green River chose to record their Dry as a Bone EP for Pavitt's new label in June 1986; Pavitt couldn't afford to release it until the following year. When finally released, Dry as a Bone was promoted by Sub Pop as "ultra-loose grunge that destroyed the morals of a generation".[6] Also in 1987, Jonathan Poneman provided $20,000 in funding for Sub Pop to release the debut Soundgarden single "Hunted Down"/"Nothing to Say" in July 1987, followed by the band's first EP Screaming Life that October.[7] Poneman soon became a full partner in the label. Pavitt focused on the label's artists and repertoire aspects, while Poneman dealt with the business and legal issues.[8] Both men decided they wanted the label to focus on "this primal rock stuff that was coming out," according to Pavitt.[9]
Commercial success[edit]
Domestically, Sub Pop has released three albums that have been certified as platinum, for sales of over 1 million units, by the Recording Industry Association of America: Bleach by Nirvana, Give Up by The Postal Service, and Oh, Inverted World by The Shins.[25]
Ten albums released by the label have been certified gold for sales of 500,000 copies: Chutes Too Narrow and Wincing the Night Away by The Shins, Fleet Foxes and Helplessness Blues by Fleet Foxes, The Head and the Heart by The Head and the Heart, Everything All the Time and Cease to Begin by Band of Horses, Our Endless Numbered Days and The Shepherd's Dog by Iron & Wine, and Depression Cherry by Beach House.[25]
Deluxe editions[edit]
Starting in 2008, Sub Pop has released Deluxe Editions of its top-selling albums, which features a remastered version of the album, as well as some live tracks and demos. The albums released under this were Nirvana’s Bleach, Mudhoney's Superfuzz Bigmuff, Sebadoh's Bakesale, Jason Loewenstein's Codes, The Postal Service's Give Up, and Red Red Meat's Bunny Gets Paid.
In popular culture[edit]
Sub Pop, its founders, and some acts on the label were featured on season 1, episode 5 of Vice Media's Dark Side of the 90's entitled "Grunge and the Seattle Sound."[26]
In David Fincher’s The Killer, the central villain, played by Arliss Howard, wears a Sub Pop T-shirt.