Sub Pop’s 10 best albums ever
Posted on July 19th, 2008 – 11:04 AMBy Chris Riemenschneider
Sub Pop Records celebrated its 20th anniversary in Seattle last weekend with SP20, a two-day shinding featuring a first-ever Vaselines reunion, Mudhoney, Wolf Parade, Iron & Wine, our very own Low and lots more. You can read the Seattle Times’ nice blog about it here: http://blog.seattletimes.nwsource.com/festivalblog/sub-pop-20th-anniversary
Reading about the festivities got me thinking about what a storied label Sub Pop actually is. And it’s still putting out great stuff. Never mind the fact that Flight of the Conchords are now their hotest seller (I like Bret and Jemaine, but…). Here are what I consider to be Sub Pop’s 10 best albums, ranked:
1. Mudhoney, “Superfuzz Bigmuff” (deluxe edition newly issued!)
2. Nirvana, “Bleach” (some of you maybe haven’t heard of this band, but it rocks)
3. Band of Horses, “Cease to Begin” (yep!)
4. Low, “The Great Destroyer” (that’s no local favoritism)
5. “Sub Pop 200” (1988 compilation with Nirvana, Soundgargen Tad, Green River; I consider it one of my collector’s items)
6. Afghan Whigs, “Congregation”
7. Sleater-Kinney, “The Woods”
8. Sebadoh, “Bakesale”
9. Red Red Meat, “Bunny Gets Paid”
10. Beachwood Sparks, self-titled
(Honorable mentions: Rev. Horton Heat’s “Full Gospel Sounds of…;” Sunny Day Real Estate’s “How It Feels to Be Somthing On;” Murder City Devils’ “Empty Bottles Broken Hearts;” Mark Lanegan’s “Whiskey for the Holy Ghost;” Fleet Foxes’ self-titled; this year’s CD “Nouns” by No Age, who play the Triple Rock on Mon.; Michael Yonkers’ “Microminiature Love;” and nothing by the Shins)
8 Responses to "Sub Pop’s 10 best albums ever"
wait… did you mean to list Band of Horse’s second album at #4?
it’s not even nearly as good as their first record, let alone Sub Pop’s 4th best release.
1) Mark Lanegan - Whiskey For The Holy Ghost
2) Sunnydayrealestate - Diary
3) Mudhoney - Superfuzz Bigmuff
4) Mark Lanegan - I’ll Take Care Of You
5) Sleeter Kinney - The Woods
6) Afghan Whigs - Congregation
7) Mark Lanegan - The Winding Sheet
Nirvana - Bleech
9) The Gutter Twins - Saturnalia
10) Nebula - To the Center
I’ll Take Care Of You is one of the greatest albums of cover songs that has ever been put together by any artist. It is a must have for any music listener that avoids pop music like the plague that it truly is! His cover of Buck Owens timeless Classic “Together Again” is worth the entire price of the cd! Picking Mudhoney and Nirvana are easy decisions without a lot of effort. I was impressed you chose Sleeter Kinney. I remember being given free tickets to see them at 1st Ave in 99 or 00 after a Henry Rollins spoken word performance. Those were hazy days, but a great show.
If I can ever afford a cd again I will checkout Band of Horses though. Somehow I missed them, and have not heard of them before.
I love music-geek battles.
I’m sure that we could spend hours tearing apart those two lists, but I’m also pretty sure that both of those list are exactly right.
Nagel
I know some of the old guard from Sub Pop so as a grunge lover Sub Pop brought me heavy doses of things that I couldn’t believe back in the day, and then Nebula, and a few other metal bands… but I am a huge Screaming Trees, and Mark Lanegan fan so I’m bias as hell. I admit it, but once others listen to it I think they will here it’s brilliance.
So I agree with the Band of Horses selection and was looking at their tour schedule….no Minneapolis show scheduled….and was wondering when the last time they played in the Twin Cities?
Also, I saw they are playing something called the Bumbershoot festival in Seattle in a few months…….why the heck can’t Minneapolis get something as cool as that?? Check out the lineups in this festival http://www.bumbershoot.org/
@ Chris T: Band of Horses played First Avenue, most recently, back on Nov. 14th. Frontman Ben Bridwell complained throughout the whole show about the sound. It sounded fine to me, but he mentioned that the next time they come back they will play “in the room next door”. Great show though.
I agree. If Des Moines can pull off something like the 80/35 festival, we should be able to put together something. I don’t want to drive all the way to Chicago to see the Pitchfork festival or Lollapalooza. Mr. Chan or Sue McLean need to get it together.
The self titled Fleet Foxes disc will shoot up that list as time progresses. Saw them last night at The Entry and was almost as blown away as when they opened for Blitzen Trapper back in March. Robin Pecknold is a treasure.
