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Bruce Pavitt | |
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 Pavitt in 2015 | |
| Background information | |
| Born | March 7, 1959 |
| Origin | Olympia, Washington, U.S. |
| Years active | 1980–1996 |
| Labels | Sub Pop |
Bruce S. Pavitt (born March 7, 1959) is the Chicago-born co-founder of independent record label Sub Pop. [1] He attended Evergreen State College where he hosted a show on Evergreen's KAOS radio station before founding Sub Pop. [2]
After briefly attending Blackburn College in Carlinville, Illinois and subsequently transferring to The Evergreen State College in Washington State, Pavitt started a fanzine entitled Subterranean Pop in Olympia, Washington in 1980, about American independent rock bands. Pavitt wrote: [2]
“We need diverse, regionalized, localized approaches to all forms of art, music, and politics…the most intense music, the most original ideas are coming out of scenes you don’t even know exist. Tomorrow’s pop is being realized today on small decentralized record labels that are interested in taking risks, not making money.”—Subterranean Pop #1, 1980
Three cassette compilations were released through the fanzine. In 1983, Pavitt moved to Seattle and started a record store, Fallout, as well as writing a Sub Pop column for The Rocket , and hosting an independent-label specialty show on KCMU. 1986 saw the release of Sub Pop's (the "-terranean" was dropped earlier from the name) first LP: the Sub Pop 100 . Green River's Dry As a Bone EP followed in 1987.
Bruce Pavitt has since written two books: Sub Pop USA and Experiencing Nirvana.
Grunge is an alternative rock genre and subculture that emerged during the mid-1980s in the American Pacific Northwest state of Washington, particularly in Seattle and nearby towns. Grunge fuses elements of punk rock and heavy metal, but without punk's structure and speed. The genre featured the distorted electric guitar sound used in both genres, although some bands performed with more emphasis on one or the other. Like these genres, grunge typically uses electric guitar, bass guitar, drums and vocals. Grunge also incorporates influences from indie rock bands such as Sonic Youth. Lyrics are typically angst-filled and introspective, often addressing themes such as social alienation, self-doubt, abuse, neglect, betrayal, social and emotional isolation, addiction, psychological trauma and a desire for freedom.
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. They are often credited with helping popularize grunge music. The label's roster includes Fleet Foxes, Beach House, The Postal Service, Sleater-Kinney, Flight of the Conchords, Foals, Blitzen Trapper, Father John Misty, clipping., Shabazz Palaces, Bully, METZ, Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever, TV Priest and The Shins. In 1995, the owners of Sub Pop sold a 49% stake of the label to the Warner Music Group.
Beat Happening is an American indie pop band formed in Olympia, Washington in 1982. Calvin Johnson, Heather Lewis, and Bret Lunsford have been the band's continual members. Beat Happening were early leaders in the American indie pop and lo-fi movements, noted for their use of primitive recording techniques, disregard for the technical aspects of musicianship, and songs with subject matters of a childish or coy nature.
Calvin Johnson is an American guitarist, vocalist, songwriter, music producer, and disc jockey. Known for his uniquely deep and droning singing voice, Johnson was a founding member of the bands Cool Rays, Beat Happening, Dub Narcotic Sound System, The Go Team and The Halo Benders.
K Records is an independent record label in Olympia, Washington founded in 1982. Artists on the label included early releases by Beck, Modest Mouse and Built to Spill. The record label has been called "key to the development of independent music" since the 1980s.
Green River was an American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1984. Although the band had very little commercial impact outside their native Seattle, Green River were pioneers of the grunge music genre. The grunge style was featured both in Green River's own music and the music its members would create in future bands, including Mudhoney, Mother Love Bone, Temple of the Dog and Pearl Jam. Green River reunited for several live shows in 2008 and 2009.
KAOS is a hybrid college-community radio station licensed to The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington. It broadcasts at a power of 1,250 watts and also streams via the Internet. The station offers radio broadcasting training to students of The Evergreen State College as well as members of the local community.
Dry as a Bone is the second EP by the American rock band Green River. It was released in June 1987 through Sub Pop Records.
Glitterhouse Records is a German independent record label and mail order company based in Beverungen, North Rhine-Westphalia. It was founded in the mid-1980s. From the late 1980s until the mid-1990s it was the European branch of the American label Sub Pop. Since 1997 the annual Orange Blossom Special Festival has been staged behind the Glitterhouse headquarters. Glitterhouse created the subsidiary Glitterbeat Records label (2013) and Stag-O-Lee Mailorder record shop.
"Touch Me I'm Sick" is a song by the American alternative rock band Mudhoney. It was recorded in April 1988 at Seattle's Reciprocal Recording studio with producer Jack Endino. "Touch Me I'm Sick" was released as Mudhoney's debut single by independent record label Sub Pop on August 1, 1988. The song's lyrics, which feature dark humor, are a sarcastic take on issues such as disease and violent sex.
Feedtime is an Australian noise rock band from Sydney, New South Wales, that was initially formed as a duo in 1979 by Rick Johnson on guitar and vocals and Allen Larkin on bass guitar and vocals. They soon became a trio with various drummers until 1982, when they were joined by Tom Sturm. This line-up issued four albums, Feedtime, Shovel, Cooper-S and Suction, before disbanding in February 1989. They reunited in 1995 with Johnson and Larkin joined by the latter's younger brother, John Larkin, on drums for another album, Billy, before disbanding again in 1997. The Rick-Al-Tom line up reunited again, in 2011.
Seattle is the largest city in the U.S. state of Washington and has long played a major role in the state's musical culture, popularizing genres of alternative rock such as grunge and being the origin of major bands like Alice in Chains, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, and Foo Fighters. The city remains home to several influential bands, labels, and venues.
Room Nine was a Seattle based rock band active from the early-to-late 1980s. Contrary to many of the bands in Seattle at the time, Room Nine had a much airier and psychedelic approach to their music. Although they never found the success of their peers, Room Nine was one of the early pre-grunge era Seattle bands that helped lay the groundwork for much of the later scene.
Alex Shumway, known professionally as Alex Vincent, is an American musician, songwriter, and actor who is best known as the drummer for the rock band Green River. Along with Mark Arm, Steve Turner, and Jeff Ament, he is one of its founding members. He is also the founder, drummer, and songwriter for the band Ex's With Benefits; as well as a founder and guitar player for the band Thee Deception.
Les Thugs were a punk band from France. Their records are distributed in North-America by Sub Pop Records.
Aphonia Recordings is an independent record label founded by Ben L. Robertson and Andrew Senna in Seattle, Washington in 2006. Mostly regarded as an outlet for digital releases of experimental and ambient musicm, Aphonia also has released more pop oriented artists such as Desolation Wilderness and Slim Twig. Both signed with major labels.
Fast Forward was a cassette magazine documenting post-punk music in the early 1980s. It was edited in Melbourne, Australia, by Bruce Milne and Andrew Maine, with graphic design by Michael Trudgeon. The cassettes interspersed interviews with music and were packaged with printed artwork and distributed in record shops around Australia and abroad. Thirteen issues were produced between November 1980 and October 1982.
Jonathan Poneman is an American record executive and co-founder of two record labels: Sub Pop and Hardly Art.
Bruce Milne is an Australian radio presenter and music journalist. He co-founded Au-Go-Go Records and the cassette magazine Fast Forward, and was owner of The Tote Hotel.
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