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Essay by Benjamin Hunter |
DESPITE ALL OF THE SUCCESSES of ‘89 and ‘90, a new challenge lay ahead for Poneman and Pavitt — Popular Culture. You see, once Seattle was put on the map; flannel shirts and Doc Martens were selling like crazy, as far away as Lincoln, Nebraska. Musicians from all over the States swarmed Seattle to “make it.” The Gap was selling pre-torn cut off flannel shirts, just in time for all the douche bag jocks to put them on their Christmas lists. It was a corporate hijacking of mass proportions. The cat was out of the bag and the wheels of market-driven product pushing were in full effect. Mass media had transformed Seattle’s culture into a profitable commodity, so you can guess what the major labels did. They went to town signing replica bands and offering advances that Poneman and Pavitt, couldn’t have dreamed of doing.
While the country was going bananas over the grunge explosion taking place courtesy of Sub Pop, financially the label was being eaten alive by the growing pains. The downsizing began in the spring of 1991. That year the company dropped from 25 employees to 5. One had to take into consideration the massive amounts of physical material that had to be produced to keep Sub Pop visible in the market. Inflating the rock megaliths of the Sub Pop was not cheap. For this DIY company, managing the growing pains proved to be difficult. It was a mess: the legal fees, thoughtless expenditures on meals and travel, something had to give. It was the perfect storm for a disaster. Eventually the internal quandary became the beat on the streets. Both The Rocket and The Seattle Weekly ran stories prophesying the end of the label.
The sky was falling at Sub Pop and Nevermind was blowing the fuck up. Nevermind was picked up by major label Geffen/DGC. Nine months after Nevermind’s release it had sold 4 million copies. This was a blessing in disguise for Sub Pop. They received a buyout on Nirvana’s contract, plus royalties on future albums. This helped turn the label’s finances around.
When the storm had settled from the grunge explosion, Sub Pop found themselves in the arena with major labels that had bottomless wells of capital. The artists began to demand bigger advances, so for Sub Pop to remain competitive, a deal needed to be made. In January of 1995, Sub Pop inked a deal with Warner Bros. Sub Pop was given the capital it needed to rock steady in a post-Nirvana world. In return, Warner received 49 percent of Sub Pop.
Later that year, co-founder Bruce Pavitt left the label to raise his family. In the middle years, Sub Pop had some excellent finds. They released ex-Dinosaur Jr. member, Lou Barlow’s Sebadoh records. Sebadoh are considered to be among the pioneers of Lo-Fi, along with other bands of the era, like Pavement, which embraced that style of production. In those days, Jack Black from the White Stripes put a record out on Sub Pop with his earlier project, The Go.
Although the label has had its ups-and-downs; from opening shop in other markets (Toronto and Boston), to spending to much on band advances - by the turn of the century, the label had fortified its brand with a broad breadth of talent.
“You can buy your way out of certain problems,” Poneman says. “You need to go back to your mission.” That mission has always been world domination. Really what they mean by world domination is that of discovering art and giving it to the world.
This decade has been very successful for Sub Pop. The diversity of their artistry is truly amazing. In 2001 they released the Shin’s Oh, Inverted World. Later, in 2004, two of their songs would appear on the Garden State soundtrack. In 2003 The Postal Service sold nearly 1 million records with the release of Give Up.
Keeping in line with their independent cultural sensibilities, Sub Pop embraced the realm of comedy; they gave the world David Cross with the 2003 release of Shut Up You Fuckin’ Baby. The album is by far the best roasting of American culture in a diluted idiot-centric post 9-11 world. While John Ashcroft was calling art “pornography” David was kickin’ the whole administrations ass with one hand behind his back. It’s interesting that Sub Pop picked the younger guy that could hang with the likes of the late, great George Carlin. Sub Pop just gets it. They also signed Flight of the Concords, and this year in February, they won the Grammy for Best Comedy Album for The Distant Future.
More recently Sub Pop has varied their buffet of sonic options with releases from an eclectic bunch. Iron & Wine is a surprise sleeper hit folkster film professor from Florida. CSS Brazilian is an experimental Internet sensation dance group that just released a new record entitled Donkey.Check the review at the back of this issue. Grand Archives are bringing back the awesome folk harmony glory of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young.
Sub Pop continues to bring the world a bridge between their roots and the new innovators in music — after all that is one in the same; they are the tastemakers of the American underground. From the indie rock heroes Wolf Parade, to the legendary dual of Mark Lanegan and Greg Dulli’s Gutter Twins, Sub Pop brings it. If you’re already a fan…I’m preaching to the choir, but the story must be told: Sub Pop fuckin’ rules.
