Indie Record Labels of the 1990s
The music business is very competitive and it has destroyed lives. Getting in is tough. There are agents and marketers and everyone is a critic. I’m a critic! A musician can make a living without being a superstar. There are cover bands in this area that had shows every weekend. There are bands that are local legends that the rest of the country never heard of. There are some musicians that can be legends before they sign a record deal. When jukeboxes first came out in the 1940s, people started record companies to meet that demand. Many of those labels went bankrupt or where bought out by big labels.
Back in the late 1980s there were labels that were successful, SST and SubPop, Discord, Twin Tone and Go.
SST was started by Greg Gunn to sell records by his band Black Flag. (The blog ideas I got from that last sentence.) SST grew into a label that had other bands signed before long. The Minutemen were the next band, eventually Husker Du and The Meat Puppets signed on. None of these bands were big in their time, but they eventually became names a decade later. Sonic Youth signed with them for a time.
Due to lawsuits and so-so accounting, SST went mostly dormant in the late 90s. They had a physical store that Sonic Youth sang about in the song, “Screaming Skull.” Today you can find SST merchandise on the web. wwwsstsuperstore.com
In spite of the success, the album covers didn’t get do overs by the big labels and you’ll see the same covers as they originally pressed.
Subpop records
Grunge was a genre of rock music popular in the early 1990s. The genre ended the hair metal 1980s. People feel the big time of the genre ended with the death of Kurt Cobain. I think you still hear it in songs today.
This genre change wouldn’t have happened without SubPop records. SubPop was an indie label that started with local Seattle bands that sold their music at shows. Bruce Pavitt started the label in 1986. Much like SST, the bands they signed didn’t sell many records till years after initial release. Mudhoney was an early band that sold only a few hundred records until later bands cited them as an inspiration. Mudhoney became a band to like if you were in the know. SubPop was the first label to sign Nirvana. Their first album called “Bleach” was recorded for $800. Major labels spend more than that on cover art for an album. That first album didn’t sell a lot of copies until Nirvana broke big and people looked back in their catalog. The soft verse and loud chorus that epitomized grunge was all over those Nirvana albums.
SubPop couldn’t keep up with the trend they created and they had to sell their label to another company.
They have a website featuring current artists and the older albums from J Mascis, Green River, Mudhoney and Nirvana.
Discord Records was founded much the same way SST was. Ian McKaye wanted to record his band and needed an avenue to sell their music. Much like Subpop was the Seattle Sound, Discord was the hardcore sound of Washington D.C. The label focused on hardcore so even years later many artists wouldn’t become names on other labels. Sorry SOA.
IanMcKaye and Fugazi on the other hand would become a big name. Fugazi would be the last of the indie bands of the 90s to hit big on their terms. ‘Waiting Room” is their classic big song.