Sub Pop 7"s (5 of 6)

As the title suggests, this is post number 5 in my series of 6 in which I am trying to cover all of the early Sub Pop 7"s that I have picked up this year and haven't got around to posting about. I'm doing this in catalogue number order, and here we are covering the 150s. By this point the label seemed to be just churning out any old shite, and most of these records are a reminder as to why I gave up on Sub Pop long ago.

SP148 Pain Teens 'Death Row Eyes b/w The Smell', released May 1992. There were 3,285 copies, pressed on at least three different colours of vinyl. The band was from Houston, Texas and active from the mid 80s to the mid 90s. This 7" is ok. I quite like it, but it's not hugely exciting me. ???

SP149 Mecca Normal / Kreviss 'You Heard It All/Broken Flowers b/w Going To Hell' released April 1992. There were 3,500 copies all on green marble vinyl. I'd never heard of this before nor either of these bands. Mecca Normal is real minimal sounding music, with a dude playing guitar and a lady doing a spot of singing. It's ok, but also sounds kinda amateurish to me. Kreviss was apparently a Riot Grrl band from Vancouver who were around for about two years and released two 7"s and an 8 track cartridge(!). Overall this looks kinda nice but is not one I really ever need to hear again.

SP151 Billy Childish 'The Ballad of Hollis Brown b/w Grizzerly Bear' released May 1992. Billy Childish was the singer of The Headcoats, whose 7" I posted in post number 1 in this series. This 7" is a solo record. The first song starts with a harmonica and the vocal sounds like it was recorded down the phone. The ssecond song has the same 'down the phone' vocals and, instead of instruments, a bunch of dickheads clapping and doing back vocals. If this were recorded in the 1930s then it would kinda make sense, but it was actually recorded in 1992. I am baffled as to how anyone could enjoy this. Total shite.

SP156 Sick & Wrong 'Wesson Oil b/w Sick Dog/The Ballad of Johnny Abortion' released July 1992. Apparently these were a punk rock band from Seattle. I've seen this record many times over the years. It feels like everyone who ever bought it sold it again. I can kinda see why. Just like the cover, the music on here feels low quality.

SP158 Crackerbash 'Nov. 1 b/w Halloween Candy' released August 1992. There were 2,752 copies, all on purple vinyl. This is probably the highlight of this post. Their profile on discogs describes them as punk-pop, but to me this is more just indie rock. The vinyl colour is rad, the cover art dull, and the music is just ok.

Credit where credit's due: the pressing info in this post came from the Pette discographies site. Thanks to John Pette for developing and maintaining such a great resource for Sub Pop collectors.

Sub Pop 7"s (4 of 6)

As the title suggests, this is post number 4 in my series of 6 in which I am trying to cover all of the early Sub Pop 7"s that I have picked up this year and haven't got around to posting about. I'm doing this in catalogue number order, and here we are covering the 120s and 130s.

SP127 Night Kings 'Night Kings Theme b/w Midnight', released November 1991. All copies on black vinyl. This one is part garage and part grunge. Reminds me of Mudhoney a bit. Apparently they were from Seattle, and if nothing else I can say that this absolutely sounds like early 90s Seattle band, but this is interesting enough to make me want to check out something else by them when I am in the mood.

SP128 Derelicts 'Don't Wanna Live EP' 2x7", released November 1991. All copies on black vinyl. This contains 5 short songs, and I'm not convinced that this really needed to be a double 7". I picked up an earlier Sub Pop 7" by this band earlier this year and enjoyed it as it was reminiscent of both The Dwarves and The Supersuckers, and this double 7" EP continues in the same vein.

SP134 Gories 'Give Me Some Money b/w You Don't Love Me' released in October 1991. There were 4,500 copies, most of which are red vinyl. This band is described as a 'blues punk band'. As fasr as I can tell, that seems to mean that some fool is tooting all over the place with a harmonica on here, which kinda ruins the vibe for me. But I guess some (deaf) people might dig it. I feel that I would be happy to never heard this again, but it seems more expensive than most of these old Sub Pop singles, so I'm sure there must be something here that people like that I am missing.

SP135 Love Battery 'Foot', released in November 1991. There were 4,500 copies on green vinyl. I think I once saw this band live, supporting Mudhoney on their European tour in 1992, but I could be wrong. These songs are great. Definitely has that early 90s grunge sound, but with a bit more melody.

SP136 Green Magnet School 'Singed b/w Slipper', released in December 1991. There were 4,000 copies, all on gold / yellow vinyl. Check the photo on the back cover - these dudes could be the stunt doubles for Pearl Jam circa 1992. To me this is another underrated record with a bad cover. They were from MA and are described as an 'experimental rock band', which is kind of a meaningless term in my view. What may have been experimental at a certain point in time becomes a defined genre in another. But hey. I've enjoyed this record and would definitely seek out more by this band. A real forgotten gem of the past.

Credit where credit's due: the pressing info in this post came from the Pette discographies site. Thanks to John Pette for developing and maintaining such a great resource for Sub Pop collectors.

Sub Pop 7"s (3 of 6)

As the title suggests, this is post number 3 in my series of 6 in which I am trying to cover all of the early Sub Pop 7"s that I have picked up this year and haven't got around to posting about. I'm doing this in catalogue number order, and here we are already into the post SP100 releases...

SP103 Unrest 'A Factory Record' released in March 1991. I didn't know about this band, but they were an indie rock band from Washington DC active from the mid 80s to the mid 90s. Usually I'd be interested in any band from Washington DC, but I'm not overly interested in checking out anything else by tihs band as this is possibly the worst Sub Pop 7" I have bought. The first song is just plain fucking annoying as shit.

SP104 Fastbacks 'The Answer is You' 2x7", released in July 1991. 2,500 on green and red vinyl. This band was going for pretty much forever. They formed in the late 70s and still seem to be cranking out records to this day. One of their biggest claims to fame is that Duff McKagen (from Guns 'n' Roses) was in the band at some point. They are referred to as 'punk rock' but sound more like indie rock to me. Overall I found this one a bit disappointing. It hasn't really excited me.

SP109 Urge Overkill 'Now That's the Barclords! b/w What's This Generation Coming To' released in May 1991. There were 5,000 copies, all on neon yellow vinyl, which looks pretty rad in real life. This one is a weird one. I'm not exactly sure what genre this is. But the band was from Chicago and had other releases on Touch & Go Records, so the weirdness kinda makes sense. I quite like this record, and I'd definitely be interested in checking out a little more, although I doubt these will end up becoming my new favourite band.

SP115 Come 'Car b/w Last Mistake', released in August 1991. There were 45500 copies, all on white vinyl. The band were from Boston and featured an ex member of Codeine, and sound very vaguely similar. A really great record and I love the cover and matching vinyl colour.

SP119 Gorilla 'Detox Man b/w Sober', released in September 1991. There were 4,500 copies and all came on grey vinyl. The cover looks pretty terrible, but this is a really catchy, fun, singalong record, even though some dickhead is playing an organ at some point. The song 'Detox Man' is so good. Another great example of 'don't judge a band by their record cover'. I would definitely listen to more of this band's output.

Credit where credit's due: the pressing info in this post came from the Pette discographies site. Thanks to John Pette for developing and maintaining such a great resource for Sub Pop collectors.

Sub Pop 7"s (2 of 6)

As the title suggests, this is post number 2 in my series of 6 in which I am trying to cover all of the early Sub Pop 7"s that I have picked up this year and haven't got around to posting about. I'm doing this in catalogue number order, so let's dive straight into the mid 70s...

SP75 Sister Ray 'The King' released in August 1990. There were 2,500 on green and 1,500 on black. The guitar slightly reminds me of the slower, less furious Dead Kennedys songs in places, but with singing over the top. It's ok, but I'm not in a hurry to listen to more of this.

SP77 Sister Double Happiness 'Don't Worry b/w Wheels a' Spinnin' released October 1990. Apparently the first 2,000 copies were on green, but other rarer colours also exist. The band was, according to discogs, an 'Alternative blues rock band' that existed from 1986 until 1995. Based on that description, I approached this one with caution, but goddamn, this is fucking awesome. I can see that they had an album on SST too. I will definitely be checking out more from this band. A good lesson in 'don't judge a band by their record cover'.

SP88 Poster Children 'Thinner, Stronger b/w Pointed Stick' released in October 1990. There were 3,000 on pink and 1,500 on black. The band are an indie rock band from Illinois who formed in 1987 and are surprisingly still going all these years later. This 7" has a really cool vibe going on and really reminds me of something that I can't quite put my finger on. I would definitely listen to more of this.

SP94 Thin White Rope 'Ants are Cavemen b/w Little Doll' released March 1991. The first 1,500 were on dark purple vinyl, and the rest black. My immediate thought was that I would not like this based on the cover art. I mean, look at it. Then the title of the first song 'Ants Are Cavemen'... what the hell are you talking about? I have to say though, when I put it on, there is something kinda interesting about the first song. The vocal sounds like a man eating gravel, and the whole thing plods along at a relatively slow pace. I kinda dig it. The second song, however, made me want to end my own life to escape it. It drones on for 8 minutes and at no point did I enjoy any aspect of it.

SP102 Velvet Monkeys 'Rock the Nation b/w Why Don't We Do It in the Road?' released in February 1991. There were 4,000 on clear, and 3,000 on black. This is ok, although no doubt the cover makes it look way better than it is. It kinda sounds like you would expect from the back cover photo. The first song kinda rocks, the second song is pretty stupid, but very early Sub Pop. It's ok, but isn't going to land anywhere near the top 50% of Sub Pop releases for me.

Credit where credit's due: the pressing info in this post came from the Pette discographies site. Thanks to John Pette for developing and maintaining such a great resource for Sub Pop collectors.

Sub Pop 7"s (1 of 6)

So this year I got sucked into collecting old Sub Pop 7"s. It started when I picked up a Nirvana 'Sliver' 7" last year, which snowballed into buying a further 8 copies.. and drove me to want to just buy more Sub Pop 7"s from the label's early days. I love the consistency of the labels and early sleeve layouts, and given that a lot of the records were pressed in relatively high numbers, lots of them are both easy to find and also cheap. So I set about trying to collect the Sub Pop catalogue up to SP200. After that the direction of the label kinda changed direction and focus and I have no interest.

Anyway, I have bought quite a lot of Sub Pop 7"s this year, so I decided to bundle them up into a short series of posts. If I tried to post them all individually it would take forever, and I have more things I want to get to before the year ends. So I'm posting a bunch a day, in order of catalogue number, starting here. So here we go...

SP35 Mad Daddys 'Take Me Back to Woodstock b/w Alligator Wine', released in May 1989. There were 1,500 copies, all on black vinyl. The song titles kinda suggest that this is some weird hippy shit, and I can confirm that this is just that. One for collection completeness completeness purposes only.

SP39 Das Damen 'Sad Mile b/w Making Time' released in July 1989. There were 1,500 copies, all on black vinyl. Apparently Das Damen is was an alt rock band from NYC, active in the 80s and just about making it into the 90s before calling it quits. They had a couple of LPs released by SST Records too. I quite like this record. I'd definitely give an album a go.

SP46 Lonely Moans 'Shoot the Cool b/w Texas Love Goat' released in October 1989. There were 1,200 copies on red vinyl and 800 on black. The cover suggests this will sound like The Beatles. It doesn't. The song 'Texas Love Goat' has a strange title, but is a very catchy tune. Definitely an enjoyable 7".

SP51 Honeymoon Killers 'Get It Hot b/w Gettin' Hot' released November 1989. 1200 on red vinyl and 800 on black vinyl. This one sounds halfway between garage and grunge to me. It's alright, but it doesn't excite me enough to want to seek out any of their other records.

SP71 Thee Headcoats 'Time Will Tell b/w Davey Crockett (Gabba-Hay!)' released June 1990. 2000 copies on blue vinyl and 2000 copies on black vinyl. I have memories of record shopping in Camden in the early 90s and seeing Headcoats and Billy Childish and thinking it looked like weird, old fashioned music. I mean, look at the front cover photo. Back then I never heard the band, but in my mind they earned a firm 'avoid' rating. When I decided to collect Sub Pop 7"s this year, this one was quite high on my want list due to nostalgia and curiosity. Ultimately, however, the 17 year old me was right.

Credit where credit's due: the pressing info in this post came from the Pette discographies site. Thanks to John Pette for developing and maintaining such a great resource for Sub Pop collectors.