There have been countless books written about the grunge explosion of the 1990s, most of which center around Seattle and almost all give some sort of credit to Sub Pop Records. And while Sub Pop is a near constant in these grunge tomes, no author has chronicled the history of the of the seminal Seattle label.
Fortunately, local music journalist Gillian Gaar remedied that with her book “World Domination: The Sub Pop Records Story.” The book isn’t officially licensed by the label, but it features so many inside stories and interviews with those responsible for the label’s successes and failures that it’s as close to an official Sub Pop biography as you’ll get.
Gaar does an excellent job covering the formation of Sub Pop, its rise to prominence, its near collapse and how the label arrived at its current state despite seemingly going out of business for 30 years. The book includes interviews and anecdotes from just about everyone who played a part in the Sub Pop story. Former publicists, A&R people, members of bands signed to the label, receptionists, and of label course co-founders Jonathan Poneman and Bruce Pavitt, all get lots of ink and help flesh out the story of one of Seattle’s most important music institutions.
Gaar’s thoroughness in reporting makes the book read like a well-researched, well-written feature article penned by an expert. After all, she has the cred needed to write the book. Gaar is a former senior editor of fabled Seattle music rag The Rocket (RIP), a contributor to Rolling Stone, Mojo, MoPOP and has written books about Nirvana, Elvis and even occasionally appears in The Seattle Times.
There are plenty of twists and turns in the Sub Pop story but at the heart of it all is the friendship between Poneman and Pavitt. A thumbnail sketch of the story goes a little like this: After founding the label and achieving monumental success with a small band called Nirvana, they sold 49 percent stake of Sub Pop to Warner Brothers Music. That sale caused a bit of a fracture in Pavitt and Poneman’s friendship, which led to Pavitt leaving the label. His departure caused a bit of a schism in Sub Pop’s workforce which almost led to a corporate coup. Of course all of that was resolved and things worked out for the better in the end.
There’s definitely enough drama there to fill a book. It’s fascinating to read about the dynamics that were at play and how Sub Pop almost imploded, yet managed to survive and keep its bratty indie label spirit while championing a diverse roster of musicians across multiple genres.
Gaar covers all those things in great detail as well as provides great insight into what has made Sub Pop tick for three decades. What she doesn’t do is get into the minutia of the Heavier Than Heaven European tour, or elaborate on how the critical reception of the latest Father John Misty album has impacted the label’s bottom line. For readers looking for those sorts of details its best to seek out individual artist biographies.
Gaar gives a broad overview of the label itself, not its roster, which paints a comprehensive picture of Sub Pop and its identity. The omission of those details is probably a combination of Sub Pop not wanting to divulge trade secrets and the fact that those details likely aren’t all too interesting.
“World Domination: The Sub Pop Story” is an excellent documentation of all things Sub Pop and a surprisingly endearing story about how a seemingly ragtag group of underdogs managed to conquer the world and survive to tell the tale.
Gillian Gaar will be signing copies of “World Domination: The Sub Pop Records Story” at Easy Street Records on Dec. 7 and will also be appearing at an in-store event at Elliot Bay Books on Jan. 14.
