PACIFIC NW PACK: Bruce Pavitt’s Sub Pop USA & Experiencing Nirvana

This is a crucial set of books by Bruce Pavitt, with SUB POP USA: The Subterranean Pop Music Anthology 1980–1988 chronicling eight years of all breeds of American independent, regional, and underground music; building to Experiencing Nirvana: Grunge in Europe, 1989, a “microhistory” of Nirvana’s first European tour, a watershed event for long-haired Seattle rock and the fledgling Sub Pop Records operation.

1.  SUB POP USA: The Subterranean Pop Music Anthology 1980–1988
The complete Subterranean Pop fanzines and Seattle Rocket newspaper columns by Bruce Pavitt; an unbelievably deep chronicle of regional American indie pop, punk, hardcore, art/noise, metal, spoken word, hip hop, and rock’n roll during the 1980s by the founder of Sub Pop Records.

• ISBN 978-1-935950-11-0
• Deluxe 400pp softcover
• Complete reprints of Sub Pop zine issues #1 through #9, plus Bruce Pavitt’s Sub Pop column from Seattle’s The Rocket, 1983–1988.
• Forewords by Calvin Johnson, Ann Powers, Larry Reid, Gerard Cosloy, Charles R. Cross

Over 1,000 recording artists hunted down and hyped in their original indie habitats, including Black Flag, Sonic Youth, Hüsker Dü, the Wipers, Dinosaur Jr., Run-D.M.C., Slayer, Beastie Boys, Mudhoney…plus an entire nation of inspired amateurs.

2.  Experiencing Nirvana: Grunge in Europe, 1989
At last, a Nirvana story with a happy ending. This intimate photo journal captures eight days in Europe with Nirvana, Tad, and Mudhoney in 1989.

• ISBN 978-1-935950-10-3
• Deluxe 208pp debossed hardcover Foreword by Keith Cameron (Mojo)
• Over 200 color historical images and diaries from historic 1989 tour of Europe by Seattle bands Nirvana, Tad, and Mudhoney
• Special gallery of b/w LameFest UK live images by legendary photographer Steve Double
• Extensive appendixes of breakthrough British and U.S. tour press
• Dimensions: 9″ x 11″ x 1 1/4″ (230mm x 280mm x 32mm); 4 lbs. (1.8 kg)

Experiencing Nirvana: Grunge in Europe, 1989, is a photo journal and a grunge rock micro-history; an inside look into a crucial eight-day period in the touring life of Nirvana, and two other Seattle bands, as seen through the eyes of Bruce Pavitt, the co-founder of Sub Pop Records, the Seattle label that first signed Nirvana in 1988. The dramatic eight days covered in this book, from November 27 through December 4, 1989, represented a turning point for Nirvana. In this brief period, the young band went from breaking up in Rome to winning over the influential British music press at Sub Pop’s LameFest UK showcase in London, setting the stage for their looming leap in popularity.