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.