Wow. Tonight's show means a great deal to me.
Not just because Sub Pop Records is a legendary record label but because it was the first record label I really fell in love with as a kid and the soundtrack to my youth was absolutely fueled by their catalog.
Even more amazingly as a kid from NJ I could never guess that my love for the label could lead me to a love affair with the city of Seattle which in turn would lead me to move there in my early 20s. Even more remarkably that one of the owner's of Sub Pop Records would live just a few doors down from me and end up becoming a life long friend. It really still blows my mind.
While Sub Pop Records (a fanzine called Subterranean Pop that came with mix tapes) was initially started by Bruce Pavitt in the early 80's, Jonathan Poneman and Bruce Pavitt's joined forces in Seattle to release Soundgarden's Screaming Life EP in 1987 and well, the rest is history. A record label was born and Sub Pop went on to become the founders of what the entire world knew as a Grunge (and a little band called Nirvana) and over 20 years..and a few dark times along the way, have managed to not only stay afloat but release such heavy hitters as The Shins, Postal Service, Iron and Wine, The Obits Flight of the Conchords...the list goes on and on.
It is a HUGE honor to have Jonathan Poneman work with me on this week's track listing. He ponied up a list of songs that inspired him in his younger years (THANK YOU JONATHAN!!!!) and if you listen closely enough, you can certainly hear how the genres and styles of these songs interplay with the line up of bands we have all grown to love from the Sub Pop roster as a whole. It is the perfect example of Cause & Effect and again, this particular show couldn't possibly mean any more to me.
Tune in tonight at 97.3 FM in Richmond or stream the show at http://www.wrir.org/. We are pod casting now so this show will available for download next week. I will be telling some great stories about meeting the Sub Pop people over the years as well as a couple of funny band tales as well. I won't spill the beans on the track listing but all I can say is Alex and I have never spent so many hours putting together one show. There is a lot of love in this one!
Indeed, sub-pop records are did a great job from the past long years and they made history from some of their artist. More long years to come for them! :)
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