the actual origins of Sub Pop

It's about time someone put this up on the Internet. Trust K Records.

“What We Are All About: “Sub/Pop is concerned with U.S. bands and independent record labels. We are trying to perceive a network: a possible series of links between points, and points between lines. If we don’t maintain the radically localized approach to music and art that has been spawned by the, ahem, “New Wave”, the CORPORATE MANIPULATION OF OUR CULTURE will flourish as it did so predominantly in the fab ‘70s. We must all become energetic about the fact that there is great music in America; and, that some of the most truly avant-garde pop hysteria is coming out of traditionally boring environments (i.e. Ray Milland from St. Louis). Emphasis: EXPLOSIVE artistic hanky-panky is everywhere. Sometimes it just needs a little support, so…write these bands, communicate, buy their records, do something insane and send it to ‘em in a package…the addresses are here…for a reason. Use them.” Sub/Pop #2, Introduction, October 1980

“SUPREME STATEMENT OF PURPOSE “1. CULTURE IS CONTROLLED BY LARGE CORPORATIONS. IT IS BLAND. “2. SUB/POP COMBATS THIS BY SUPPORTING INDEPENDENT SYSTEMS OF EXPRESSION: CASSETTES, RECORDS, PUBLICATIONS, VIDEO, PUBLIC ACCESS CABLE TELEVISION, WHATEVER. “3. WE ARE VERY BIG INTERESTED IN REGIONAL TRENDS, MOVEMENTS, IDEAS, SLANG, RECORD LABES, WHAT HAVE YOU. WE ARE VERY BIG INTERESTED IN SMALL COMMUNITIES THAT AREN’T BIG TIME LIKE IMPORTANT N.Y.AND L.A. “4. A DECENTRALIZED CULTURAL NETWORK IS OBVIOUSLY COOL. WAY COOL. “5. IN ORDER TO HELP FACILITATE REGIONAL SOUNDS AND IDEAS, WE ALTERNATE (QUARTERLY) BETWEEN A C-60 CASSETTE COMPILATION AND A PUBLICATION. OUR NEW ADDRESS IS BOX 445, OLYMPIA, WA. 98507. IF YOU WANT TO SEND US LOTS OF MONEY WE WON’T STOP YOU. SUBSCRIPTIONS ARE 10.00/YEAR FOR 2 TRANS-REGIONAL CASSETTES AND 2 PUBLICATIONS. WE LIKE TO TRADE TOO, SO SEND US YOUR PROJECT.” Sub/Pop #8, Introduction, summer 1982 “Hi Folks, “Send in your tapes, please. SUB/POP will alternate between a c-60 cassette and a magazine. Okeedokee? Narrow-minded bigots need not apply, though; we want to hook up with open-minded people who flip on all kindsa music. “Cassettes are the ultimate tool. Unlike records, production and manufacturing can happen – within minutes – in your own living room(!). While we will continue to review independent records, we urge everyone to start making and trading cassettes. Our winter magazine issue will give addresses of as many cassettes as possible (flexi-discs, too)…so please, please, please let us truly sabotage the corporate record industry by ignoring their system completely. Personally, I refuse to allow my thoughts, my values and “our” music to be controlled by an economy based on exploitation and conformity. Network T.V., shopping malls and major record labels are doing their damnedest to homogenize and white-wash our thinking…In order to mobilize any kind of alternative, we need open minds and open lines of communication. We must maintain the network. Let’s decentralize, diversify and keep those local scenes going…O.K.? x Bruce” Sub/Pop #4, Introduction, Summer 1981 “New Pop! Manifesto “As our teen-bongo, Space Age counter-culture becomes infiltrated by wimpoid TV “mop tops” in skinny ties and leather pants, it becomes apparent that the bland sameness of the pop suprastructure is with us once again. Once-adventurous bands who now opt for major label contracts are immediately becoming the robot-slaves of a system that is interested in one thing only – money. Believe me, wealthy biz-execs who sit in their air-conditioned penthouses are not contemplating anarchy and invention. Likewise, the machine-like organizations they work for could care less about new sounds or new cultural heroes. “We must recognize the fact that BIG BEAT music (next to TV) is the dominant cultural force of our time. When people buy a record, they are not only plugging into the music, but into the values & lifestyles that are implied by that artist. By supporting huge New Hollywood music corporations, you (yes, you) are not only allowing middle-aged capitalists to dictate what goes over the airwaves, but you are giving them the go-ahead to promote macho pig-fuck bands whose entire lifestyle revolves around cocaine, sexism, money and more money. The ‘80s need new sounds, but just as importantly, they need new cultural heroes. “Only by supporting new ideas by local artists, bands, and record labels can the U.S. expect any kind of dynamic social/cultural change in the 1980s. This is because the mass homogenization of our culture is due to the claustrophobic centralization of our culture. We need diverse, regionalized, localized approaches to all forms of art, music, and politics. It is important to remember that bands like Pere Ubu, B-52’s, Specials, DEVO, Patti Smith, the Voidoids, the Romantics and Elvis Costello all started on independent labels; and we all know that fat, cigar-smoking dough-boys at Warner Bros. Didn’t give a fuck about these bands until they realized there was a profit involved. “A few of the aforementioned bands have been able to maintain a sense of strength and adventurousness since becoming employees of major corporations. Others have definitely not (drop dead Patti). The important thing to remember is this: 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, issue #1, Introduction