When Sub Pop, Jon Poneman and Bruce Pavitt’s Seattle-based indie record label, released Green River’s Dry As a Bone EP in 1987, "grunge" peeked its head from the depths of the underground. After Green River/Mudhoney's Mark Arm apparently coined the term in 1981, Everett True, a journalist writing for the UK music magazine Melody Maker, picked out the word “grunge” from Sub Pop’s description of the album’s sound as being “ultra-loose grunge that destroyed the morals of a generation” and, at once, an emerging genre of music was named. A year later, in 1988, the label came out with Sub Pop 200, two years after their first release, Sub Pop 100. 200 was a three-EP box set with a twenty-page booklet of photographs and was raved about by one radio DJ as being “a testament to regional music." Through such a marketing strategies, Pavitt and Poneman made a cultural statement and created an identity for Sub Pop itself. As stated by Rocket managing editor Grant Alden, Sub Pop wanted to “create [the] trust that if it’s on Sub Pop, it’s worth owning, even if you haven’t heard the band."

Although Sub Pop, like all record companies, was trying to earn money and, at one point, began selling T-shirts that read “What part of ‘we have no money’ don’t you understand?,” they seemed to establish, from the very start, a relationship with music buyers in which one might come to feel respected, appreciated, and excited about each new band Sub Pop provided. This was certainly a fresh approach for the music industry. The photographs that accompanied album releases or magazine articles were calibrated to establish the look of Sub Pop, which was an important aspect to the label. Photographer Charles Peterson was hired to shoot trademark “hair shots” of the musicians as they head-banged while performing live. Since a good deal of mainstream rock music during the late '80s involved spandex, leather, and Aqua Net, Pavitt was intentionally “trying to create something that was the polar opposite to that, something that [he] felt people could relate to.” The indie Sub Pop wanted to divulge the fact that their musicians were “real” people, which marked a separation in terms of ideals and aesthetics between what was happening musically outside the realm of Seattle and what was happening within.

Subsequently, many of their original grunge bands went mainstream, like Nirvana; following grunge's eventual death, Sub Pop formed a joint venture with Warner Music and originator Pavitt left the company. Meanwhile, the staff grew and "The Difficult Years" set in. These years were tricky for independent rock music labels in general, since major label pop music and watered-down rock took center stage and dominated MTV and radio waves. After Sub Pop was forced to relocate from their original residence, they began to re-establish themselves as the premiere indie label by signing up-and-coming rock bands from the Northwest and beyond. In the past severanl years, Sub Pop has definitely made a comeback, as they were already firmly situated in the midst of this century's indie rock takeover. Sub Pop has put out seminal records by The Postal Service, Mudhoney, The Shins, and Iron & Wine, and continues to release new records by The Helio Sequence, The Rapture, The Album Leaf, Comets on Fire, and Wolf Eyes, among many others.

For 2 decades, they've been offering the world raw, attention-worthy rock n' roll records and this year Sub Pop turns twenty. To celebrate, the label is reissuing Mudhoney's Superfuz Bigmuff Deluxe Edition and will throw a series of "over-the-top birthday parties" for itself in the form of an all-weekend outdoor festival called SP20. on July 11, Sub Pop hosts a comedy show and on July 12, at Marymoor Park in Washington, such Sub Pop musicians as Mudhoney, The Vaselines, Fleet Foxes, Iron & Wine, Flight of the Concords and Low will play at the all-day event. The next day, performances at the park include Grand Archives, The Ruby Suns, Foals, No Age, Wolf Parade, and even Green River. The Gutter Twins will also play on July 12 at the Showbox, which is likewise presented by Sub Pop. Single day tickets as well as dual passes are both available here...that is, if you can spring it to the Pacific Northwest. Don't forget your party hat!

-Amy Dupcak