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1. Sub Pop Officially Becomes a Label
Sub Pop co-founder Bruce Pavitt had been using the name Subterranean Pop for a zine about indie music in America since 1979. By 1983, he was writing a column in Seattle's music paper, The Rocket, and doing a local radio show, both called Sup Pop U.S.A. While he did include the occasional cassette compilation along with the zine, it wasn't until he teamed up with promoter and fellow KCMU dj Jonathan Poneman around 1987 that the label really took shape. Some iconic Sub Pop releases were unleashed in 1987 - notably Soundgarden's "Screaming Life" ep - but the pair didn't officially incorporate Sub Pop until April 1, 1988, an April Fool's move that's now survived 20 years -- longer than many of the bands that made the label famous. If Pavitt and Poneman had never gone into business together, their tongue-in-cheek "world domination" - which began by documenting a scene and went beyond that - the world would not have ever really embraced that unique group of bands from the Pacific Northwest quite the same way. Sub Pop rounded up some good sounds and they gave it a brand name. And depending on how you feel about it, you can arguably either thank Sub Pop or blame them for popularizing the music usage of the word grunge.
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