By
Rachel Galvin
When
grunge came on the scene in the 1990s, the soul-searching
rough-around-the-edges musicians were such a departure from the
glossed-up, big-haired entertainers that hit the charts in the Me
decade that preceded it. One of the biggest names in the flood of
newcomers in the ‘90s was Nirvana and the band’s angst-filled
frontman Kurt Cobain.
Sub
Pop Records owner Bruce Pavitt got to know the tortured artist and
gave his insights into him, the band and the evolution of the music
industry in a special event held Sept. 21 at the Pompano Beach
Cultural Center. The packed audience of about 200 people watched as
he showed many of the photos that were taken during a European tour
in 1989, pictures that are in his new book called Experiencing
Nirvana.
After
Sub Pop Records popped on the scene in the late ‘80s, their name
and logo became ubiquitous. But few knew the struggles going on
behind the scene as Pavitt and his partner Jonathan Poneman spent
their time on the phone promoting their artists and sending out
materials, working to keep the phone line from being disconnected.
They managed heavy hitters in the indie world like Soundgarden and
Mudhoney but it seemed that Nirvana might be their golden ticket.
They continue to “represent the spirit of independent creativity”
to this day.
Cobain,
according to Pavitt, was a humble, quiet, sensitive soul. He was an
animal lover. He owned gerbils and rabbits. He also had a sense of
humor. His simple dreams included having a single played on the local
radio station and “maybe opening up a petting zoo.”
He
never had an inkling of the fame he would attain. His ripped up
jeans, thrown-on vintage thrift store T-shirts and plaid flannel
would become part of the look of an age, and people would be
devastated when he was gone, a life lost too soon.
There
was a glimpse of what lied beneath the artist during that European
tour. On one stage in particular, Pavitt mentioned that Cobain “had
a nervous breakdown,” jumping up on the PA system and smashing a
guitar (which he was known to do). He was distraught. When Pavitt
spent time with him trying to understand, Cobain said that when he
looked into the audience, all he saw were the kids who bullied him in
high school.
Pavitt
talked about how the ‘90s really became very “inclusive.”
Instead of people feeling like they were watching an exhibition, they
could look at the ‘90s artists and what they were wearing and say,
“I have a flannel shirt” (for example), put it on and feel a part
of the group. In the ‘80s, everything “felt very excessive,” he
said. The clothes, hair and style all were too expensive for the
average person.
The
feeling of being part of the group that the ‘90s brought was also
captured in energetic photos by photographer Charles Peterson, photos
used by Sub Pop.
Sub
Pop has always been about capitalizing on the independent spirit, the
regional market, knowing there is something intrinsic about a sense
of tribal identity. Before grunge hit, people couldn’t find Seattle
on a map, he said. But, after, a lot of people moved there and the
area got international attention as people strove to understand the
“Seattle sound.” BBC writer John Peel wrote a great article
mentioning Sub Pop in 1989 that helped to get them on the map as
well.
Asked
where the next regional movement in music is, Pavitt responded, “Los
Angeles” and mentioned Billie Eilish, who recently made an
appearance on SNL and elsewhere, and graces the current cover
of Elle and can be seen elsewhere. She has been around for
awhile, but her star certainly seems to have grown brighter lately.
Perhaps her rise to fame is because she stands out from the crowd and
rebels much in the way Cobain did, although his seemed less
purposeful. One noteworthy example is that Cobain refused to be on
the cover of Rolling Stone Magazine unless he could wear a
T-shirt that said “Corporate magazines still suck.” (Magazine
cover in picture above, top left).
Whatever
he did, Cobain went from obscurity to one of the biggest stars around
in a short period of time. By 1992, he had sold four million copies
of his record.
Pavitt
added, “Every once in a while, things come together and an artist
breaks through. I live for those moments.”
Nirvana
would be spirited away by Geffen Records and left Sub Pop behind, but
Cobain’s talent and memory made a huge impression on the record
label and on Pavitt.
He
said, “People would come up to me and tell me where they were when
they heard ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit,’” which was on the next
album Nirvana did after leaving Sub Pop, telling stories of the
impression the music made on people.
Pavitt
commented on the evolution of music.
“People
don’t buy music. They rent music. It is amazing record stores even
exist [mentioning he stopped by Sweat Records in Miami]. Streaming is
here to stay,” he said. “[This generation is] not going to read
an article. They will read a headline. When I was younger, I read the
article, drove to the city, got the record, read the liner notes and
thought about it.”
His
“manic relationship with music” started at a young age. When he
was 9 years old, he worked hard to make money to buy a record player.
He never thought he would make money doing this, but said if you are
working with people you want to spend time with and doing what you
love, then it is not work; it is play.
“There
is always going to be art in society, always creative stuff. The
trick is getting exposure to creative people,” he said.
There
is a movie in the works about his own creative journey and that of
Sub Pop, which just celebrated its 30th
anniversary on Aug. 11, 2018.
For more information on what Sub Pop is up to now, visit
www.subpop.com.
